MYOS1634: Thank you so much for your valuable inputs and time. Very helpful and insightful. We should then keep Rice, Case Western, Emory and Richmond in our top choices. Yes, we are instate for NC (thanks merc81).
My son has always been in a small (charter) school with low faculty and student ratio and always had a close relationship with teachers and peers. I feel he might be lost in a big university but no doubt both UNC CH and NCSU are great universities, specifically for self motivated students.
^Make sure he applies to Honors College (if it’s by application rather than by invitation only). Have him add UNC Asheville if he wants a somewhat smaller setting (ie., fewer lectures, more interactive small classes).
It’s not just about being self motivated:
A difference between a large public university and a smaller private college is that the student at a large public university will not have a pre-health adviser or even a personal adviser, unless he’s in the Honors College (and even, not always - you need to check). Because so many would be premeds are weeded out, using limited resources on freshmen who claim they want to be doctors when in fact half won’t make it through the weed out sequence would be a waste of time and money. Resources are better used advising students who have survived Orgo.
At a LAC he’ll have a personal adviser from day 1 and may have an additional pre-heath adviser. At a private university the advising and guidance are much better, too, simply because there’s more money for personalized advice. They don’t have “too many” premeds. They have exactly as many students as they can handle.
Any college with a sub-25% acceptance rate has to be treated as a reach regardless of stats. If a large public university with honors isn’t a certainty, look for colleges that share his top choice’s favorite characteristics, but with a ~35% acceptance rate.
thumper1- thanks, appreciate your inputs. We did not post ACT/GPA but they are perfect. NCSU could be a great fit if he gets into honors/scholars program. We are seriously considering UNC CH but its very competitive even for instate. Agree about Furman.
Hamurtle- thanks for the info.
I’d suggest adding up the cost of a private school vs UNC or NCST and a couple of different med schools. IIRC Emory was a little more than $400k for med and about $250k for undergrad for example. If he can go instate for both undergrad and med school there will most likely be significant savings.
If he is a National Merit Finalist he might want to check out some of the Florida schools that are free with that distinction. UF for free, gain instate residency while in school, and attend Shands at UF for med school could be under $100k for everything.
Always-moving: that is a very practical advise; we should give it a serious consideration. Unfortunately he is not a NM finalist; his NMSC index was 218, barely missed it.
I agree with the comment above that you should be looking at the total cost of eight years of university (for years undergrad, four years of medical school). I would not take on debt for the undergrad part – you and your son will have more than enough debt after four years of medical school.
I think that there are some advantages of being in-state when applying to medical schools. Given how strong UNC is for both undergrad and medical school, I would put it very high on your list of preferred schools.
Premed classes are tough. To get into medical school your son will need to be in the top 1/2 and preferably top 1/4 of his class in university. If he goes to a school where he is entering in the bottom 1/2 of the class, this is not going to make it easy to end up in the top 1/4. As such I personally am in favor of what might be called “boring” for undergrad admissions for premed students. Since you have a great in-state public university with a strong premed program, if you son is in the top 1/4 of incoming students at UNC-CH then it looks perfect to me. Be aware that a very large number of the other premed students will also be in the top 1/4 or top 1/10 of incoming students and the classes will be very competitive at UNC-CH or at any school.
Also, you should keep in mind that the majority of students who start university as premed end up never applying to medical school, and the majority of students who do apply to medical school do not get in anywhere. Do not be shocked if your son (or any student) changes their major or their intent at some point.
@RadGeek , you may not be aware, there is a NC med school that limits admission to NC residents. Brody School of Medicine has mission to improve care in rural areas. https://medicine.ecu.edu/admissions/faqs/
Take a look at mededits website, includes admission data for med and allopathic colleges by state.
Last thought, have you considered Virginia Commonwealth U in Richmond? Has med school, guaranteed admission opportunities for undergrads in honors
Or freshman track with 11/15 deadline https://www.vcu.edu/admissions/apply/freshman/
After a response above from HippoBirdy, we actually explored VCU GMED (BS/MD) program and eventually submitted app on 13th Nov. Today, we have received an invite to attend a (Scholar’s) luncheon with president of VCU. This invite is limited to 100 applicants and says " As an invitee of this special event, if you apply to VCU by our scholarship deadline and meet our scholarship criteria, you’ll automatically be offered an academic scholarship for the 2020-21 school year". As we have already applied, hence I assume that we will receive some scholarship if we decide to attend this luncheon.
Any experiences or inputs?
Also does it increase the chances of acceptance to GMED?
How many students receive interviews for GMED and how many are accepted?
Thank you so much Hippobirdy- these threads are very helpful. I sincerely appreciate your selfless assistance, you are awesome! I could not have applied to GMED if you have not told me. God bless.