<p>Hello!</p>
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My son is an IB senior and is looking to go into Pre-med. Cost IS a factor... He is introverted and quiet and being in an IB setting, would probably do better in a small class enviroment.
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Coincidentally, I am also a pre-med student at FAU... although I do not attend the Honors College (I preferred the main campus myself). </p>
<p>The situation sounds like he'd be a regular admit for UF and an Honors admit for FAU. I point that out because that sounds to me like he'd be taking classes with fewer people at FAU (more akin to the IB setting you described). The problem is that, for medicine, he needs to be exposed to and become more social and the Honors College may trap him in a social bubble. Premed students get shot down all the time in the medical school application process because they're not social enough. Then again, a lot of people come into college wanting to be a doctor and end up doing something different (like research, which is better for someone who prefers to do their own thing without constantly interacting with people).</p>
<p>It'll be important for him to test his interest in medicine. Both sites will allow him to do that (at FAU-Jupiter it would be local hospitals/medical centers, at UF it would be Shands)</p>
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He has been accepted to FSU, UF, FIU, UCF, UM, and FAU Honors College aka known as HARRIET L. WILKES HONORS COLLEGE. We've basically narrowed it down to UF and FAU. We visited each campus and feel comfortable with these two choices. FAU is only a three exit ride on I95 even though he will dorm his first year. UF is a good 4 hour drive.
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<p>One of the issues that results in second and third-year transfers from other places to FAU is the fact that many people move away and then either they don't like it or they find themselves consistently returning home to hang out with friends. It's a very real concern and it's up to your son as to whether he thinks that will be the case should he go to UF.</p>
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I just keep hearing that UF will offer the better education.
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Only a person who has attended both schools would truly know that, unfortunately.</p>
<p>A lot of people have graduated from UF over the hundred-some odd years it's been around and some of them have a Gators-or-nothing attitude (especially after the National Championships). Also, the school is highly ranked for research... which is great to advance technology in our community, but what does that mean for your son who is going there primarily to learn? The Honors classes will be more exclusive, smaller classes and these should be more conducive to learning than 100+ student Biology classes at UF.</p>
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Our main concern is not so much the campus social scene as much as we are the education offered at each school. Most importantly, if he decides NOT to go to UF this time around, will his FAU credits be transferable should he decide to make the move IF he doesn't like FAU?
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<p>Hmm. That's a question for UF: "Do you accept transfer credit for the FAU Honors college?"</p>
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I know the reputation of the Pre-med program at UF but I can't find much information on the program available at FAU. They are currently building their Medical program and we've been told that in four years, it will be fully up and running. Apparently, they have some kind of agreement with UM.
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<p>Right, well, our medical program is more or less 'built'. </p>
<p>The Boca Raton campus (main campus) of FAU serves as the site of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine branch campus. This means that these medical students at both FAU and UM are considered UM medical students and their MD diploma will reflect that. In Fall 2007, we will be admitting our fourth class of ~32 medical students (I noticed that as many as 9 of them may be grads from the Boca campus, since they are up on the wall of acceptances). </p>
<p>The UM@FAU medical school is smaller than the UM main campus and the Biomedical program here is basically built around it, so the students find it extremely accessible and tailored to their needs. </p>
<p>In 2008, we are scheduled to break ground on what will now be called the Charles E. Schmidt Medical Center (formerly known as Boca Raton Community Hospital). It is scheduled to be completed in 2011 and will be the first academic teaching hospital built in the nation in a long time. As a result, by the time your son is ready to apply, the majority if not all of the medical school rotations he would do would be here on site. This is great because it's a major pain to have to rotate to sites that are an hour+ away.</p>
<p>So that's the situation with the medical program at FAU.</p>
<p>My personal feeling would be to attend FAU for a year, see what he thinks, and if he wants to transfer to UF he should do it before the third year (If I recall correctly, you have to do two years at an institution before they'll grant you a degree with their name on it).</p>
<p>I think UF is a great school and it should be proud of it's reputation, but when I think of UF I just think about saturation. It's just so saturated with people up there. 50,000 people all over a humongous campus so big it needs its own bus system and everybody there because they heard that UF is the best thing going. Truth is, UF is not the best school for everybody, just like FAU or UCF or FSU aren't for everybody. People fit into colleges. A friend of mine was admitted to Yale with an athletic scholarship and he couldn't stand the people or the weather there. But if he asked around, people would have told him, duh, go to Yale over FAU!</p>
<p>Even though he took the road less travelled, he was happier here with down-to-earth people, a beach five minutes away, and he
still
got into medical school. </p>
<p>Just something to think about.</p>