<p>I'm a rising junior, ranked #1 out of 700,
2060 SAT (1390 CR & Math) (going to retake), 780 USH SAT II
Current GPA of 4.98, 3.98ish UW, probably about 5.4 when I graduate
13 or 14 APs by end of senior yr, so far I've taken AP USH and Psych and got 5s, 3 or 4 dual enrollment classes, all A's</p>
<p>A lot of academic awards, strong but not completely outstanding ECs (mostly school and church leadership), 500 volunteer hrs projected</p>
<p>I want to go into medicine. I'll get 100% bright futures, plus a few other scholarships
Should I aim to attend UF or try to get into a more selective/ivy league school?</p>
<p>i dont understand why its one or the other.</p>
<p>your scores will bar you from getting into the honors college at uf, and are low for ivy schools. your ECs dont sound overly impressive enough to guarantee admissions at any of these schools.</p>
<p>you’re very likely to get into UF, and it’d be worthwhile to apply elsewhere, but i wouldn’t get ahead of yourself just yet.</p>
<p>If you like UF, definitely apply there because you will be a strong application. But also apply to top schools, it really can’t hurt. You never know with top schools admissions, you might just get lucky.</p>
<p>The answer to your question is very dependent on your financial situation. UF is affordable and a pretty good school for medicine. Also, it would be a great segue into a better, more expensive school for your graduate studies. </p>
<p>However, if your family is comfortable with their money and it won’t be a big deal, then look into some good schools for pre-med. See what scholarships/grants could be sent your way.</p>
<p>Dude-gangsta…you don’t even qualify for the honors program at UF, yet you leave the impression that it “may” be too lowly of a school for you? Go to where you will get a full ride and enjoy living debt free. UF is a GREAT school!</p>
<p>Outside of Florida, the school doesn’t have much name recognition, so I would say aim as high as you want. And he is only 10pts off of his SAT for qualifying for honors, (2070).</p>
<p>There seems to be a little bit of cognitive dissonance around here.</p>
<p>The OP thinks he is almost is too good for UF, thinking he should go to more “prestigious” schools, yet simultaneously can’t reach the minimum threshold for honors college, which I assure you will not grant admittance barring you are not merit finalist.</p>
<p>Since you already stated you have no good EC’s, a key distinguishing factor for Ivy League schools, I would recommend you get your SAT up to at least 2100 to be competitive for Honors, write good essays, and not apply to Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>All that matters Pre-Med is your undergraduate GPA and your MCAT.</p>
<p>Since this post seems to be getting alittle ridiculous, I’ll give my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I personally chose to go to UF because I couldn’t rationalize oweing about 160,000 dollars for an undergraduate degree, no matter how prestigious. I’ve done very well at UF, and while I’m sure I would have also enjoyed a top tier university, I’m good with my decision.</p>
<p>What will really matter is what you do when you get to whereever you are going. Having a bachelors from harvard, while impressive, wont mean a damn thing if you don’t have a strong GPA, strong recommendations, strong MCAT and strong extracurriculars (the same thing you’d need from UF, or FSU, or anywhere). Also you should be open to new avenues of interest, since I was deadset on becoming a doctor, but now I’ve chosen to become a chemist, a career I never really thought about before coming to UF. </p>
<p>I would totally suggest that you apply to whatever schools you want to get into, since I only applied to UF (early decision and whatnot) and am alittle angry that I didn’t at least apply to other schools. If you only get into UF, dont feel all is lost since UF is a very strong school for its cost.</p>
<p>Oh come on… I can see the kind of person the OP is and not applying to a bunch of Ivies would mean she would spend a lifetime wondering “what could have been”.</p>
<p>Such programs could save you a lot of money on your undergraduate education yet still enable significant and substantial research opportunities. You could then opt for medicine or medicine and research. Really, as we recently learned when my D1 just entered FSU Med (and she selected it over other schools) it is more about grades, MCAT score and maturity than what school you attended for undergraduate work. The vast majority of first year students at FSU Med for example graduated from either UF or FSU and enjoy a state resident tuition of about $18K vs $50+K. </p>
<p>Parent2noles…do you ■■■■■ the UF forums constantly?
He specified UF or other top tier schools!
UF is a pretty good school. My cousin went here for undergrad although he was accepted to Upenn and Cornell.
The cost of UF was a big factor for him. He got accepted to Harvard dental school from doing undergrad at UF.
If you are thinking about med school, take into consideration how much your parents will be able to put in towards your education. You are a solid candidate for UF and other top schools (UCLA, GT, etc). If you go to UF, you save loads of money and are still a solid candiadate for a top ivy league school for med school assuming you maintain a good gpa and are actively involved in school.</p>
<p>To be honest, you need to have a much, much higher score on your SAT to get into the Ivies. Since you might not even be able to get into the honors program at UF, I highly doubt you’ll have a chance at an Ivy. Plus, as someone else mentioned, Ivies are all about the whole package, and with an absence of ECs, that hurts you a lot.</p>
<p>^“Gator Nation” is an amusing sports-type reference for this conversation - lol.</p>
<p>Sure, as an FSU alumnus I am interested in my alma mater, no denying it. However, neither that nor whatever “nation” the UF marketing department thinks up is the point. </p>
<p>FSU’s med opportunity is likely very tough to qualify for and would be an enormous amount of work in a relatively short time for anyone…then to pipeline right into a killer residency would be beyond difficult. Yet, one would be rewarded for such toil with a very unique opportunity to save themselves time and possibly over $100,000 in tuition expense.</p>