OK, this is a lot and I’m not sure if I’m asking this in the right place–I’ve never posted here, only stalked forums when waiting for decisions lol. I just finished my freshman year of college at UNC-Asheville as a communications major. I’ve done a lot of thinking and talking and now I want to switch to pre-med.
After this year, I know that I don’t want to go back to UNCA. It’s a good school but not right for me, especially since they don’t have a pre-med program at all. Since I’m already halfway through my undergrad degree, whichever college I go to next will be the one I graduate from. I applied to UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, and UNCC, and was rejected from Wake and UNC (boo) and accepted to UNCC on their pre-health track.
Stats-wise, I have about 60 credit hours and a 4.0 GPA at the current school. About half of those hours were dual enrollment from a local CC. I went to a low-income high school and I’m first-gen. In high school I had an OK GPA (3.4-ish), a ton of ECs and involvement, went to NC Gov School (for Natural science-the pre-med thing is not out of nowhere) and had good recommendations. My SAT was 1250 and ACT was 27–like an idiot I didn’t study for these so if I reapply I will retake them. My transfer apps were good- I thought essays were good but that’s subjective. My profs liked me and presumably wrote good recs.
I have friends that go to UNCC and like it but they say that it’s fairly easy, even the ‘harder’ majors like pre-med tracks. I’m not interested in sliding by and really want to work hard and participate in research & med-related ECs to prepare for med school, which is what made Wake and UNC attractive to me. One of my biggest problems with UNCA is the lack of opportunity to make strong post-grad students and I’m afraid that will be a problem at UNCC too. Also, I just don’t love the vibe of the school. But it’s kind of my only option at this point- I can either settle for UNCC, or take the fall 2020 semester off and improve (retake SAT or SAT subject tests), and reapply to Wake and revise my list of schools for better chances. I’ve been rejected by UNC twice now so I’m not very optimistic about my chances there.
Ultimately, I don’t know if I should cut my losses and move on to an OK school, or if this is the part where I have to buckle down and fight harder. I’m totally conflicted. What should I do?
Ok form reading the board where , med school is very very expensive so getting there w little debt is a good thing, also it seems where you go for undergrad means less than your GPA and how well you do on your Mcats… Do you like UNCC? it seems UNC and Wake are not in the cards so think about if you can see your self at UNCC.
My understanding is that once you graduate from high school, you can not retake ACT/SAT tests. Double check websites of the schools you are looking at.
UNCC is ok- It seems like a good school but it’s never felt like quite the right fit for me. I already made the mistake of trying to ‘make it work’ at a school I don’t love, and I’m worried that will happen again. But other than reapplying to UNC/Wake, I could apply OOS- more expensive but career outlook for pre-med is pretty good so I’m willing to go into debt if it means better chances or a better fit.
You can retake them with relatively the same process as long as you’re under 21! I already checked on this and what upcoming testing looks like with the COVID situation.
@scvannah sorry to hear things didn’t work out as you planned. I can understand that as a transfer student myself! I have some ideas and options you might want to consider. You can feel free to PM me if you like
@scvannah I understand you CAN retake the standardized test but the bigger question is will the school take the new score into account. The SAT/ACT are meant to be taken by high schoolers. Getting a higher score as a college student is: 1) unlikely to impress and; 2) depending on the college may not even be taken into consideration.
I don’t understand what you mean by UNCA doesn’t have pre-med program. You can major in anything and apply to med school, one just has to take all of the med school pre-reqs…which UNCA offers all of them.
I agree with happy1 that schools won’t place much weight in standardized tests taken after one has earned 60 hours of college credit, and really don’t think re-applying to WF or UNC Chapel Hill would result in a different decision.
IMO your choice is between staying at UNCA or transferring to UNC Charlotte.
They do offer the pre-reqs but that’s really the bare minimum for med school apps as I understand it. I meant opportunities for undergrad research, connections to physicians/mentors… things that make you a competitive applicant.
As far as reapplying, I should have been more clear. If I don’t go to UNCC, I would be casting a much wider net and look at out of state schools like University of Washington. I probably will not reapply to UNC or Wake- my decision is really whether I want to go through the transfer app process again or not.
Have you met with the pre-med advisor at UNCA? That person can tell you how many students have been successful with med school admission in recent years. It might not be as impossible as you think.
I’m not entirely clear about your question though, are you trying to decide between UNCC and a gap year since you aren’t happy at UNCA?
No, I haven’t. Staying there isn’t on the table for me, I wasn’t happy for a variety of reasons there and their strength is definitely in liberal arts, not STEM. I guess my choices come down to taking the Fall 2020 semester (hopefully not the full year) and applying as a transfer to more schools including some OOS, or going to UNCC.
I’m just worried that the time off will look bad on applications. Plus there’s not much I can do to improve my apps- I have a 4.0 already and previous posters are right that SAT/ACTs don’t matter now. My options are really take a shot in the dark at more undergrads or go to a school I know I won’t love.
“they say that it’s fairly easy, even the ‘harder’ majors like pre-med tracks.”
I think that you are going to find that premed classes get more difficult than you are expecting. For a premed student, there is nothing wrong with getting quite a few A’s (if you can do it).
To me it sounds like UNCC is affordable (if I am reading the thread correctly), you have been accepted, and it is a solid choice to get in the direction where you want to go, which is medical school.
It is not clear to me that you have any other path that is equally likely or more likely to give you a good chance to get to a medical school.
“out of state schools like University of Washington”
This is definitely not a safety. If you were “rejected by UNC twice” in-state then Washington OOS is probably a reach.
Since your goal is getting into Medical School, you are probably better off finishing as soon as you can in a school that makes it possible for you to get the experience necessary for a competitive application. It sounds like UNCC is that school. You will be graduating in 2 years and very busy doing research, shadowing physicians, and volunteering. UNCC is only a temporary place for you and you should focus on getting into the best medical school you can.
If you really don’t like the school, you won’t like it anymore once you’re there.
How much debt are you talking about? You can only borrow ~$7500/year as a junior and senior.
@scvannah Did you consider ECU? It sounds like you just don’t want to go to UNCC; I get it, but it’s 2 years. Coincidently, I have a neighbor in the same position with the same 2 schools and also wants to go the med school path. They too were hoping for a more “prestigious” school, but since they only have one year in at UNCA, they don’t have enough college track record (half of their credits are DE credits) to be considered without taking their high school stats into account. Unfortunately, they are now realizing the long-lasting effects of their good-but-not-great high school stats. UNCC has access to two large health systems: Atrium and Novant plus many independent labs and outreach non-profits doing clinical research, so there are a lot of research opportunities. The most important things for you moving forward are internship/shadowing/research, community service, building relationships for LORs and getting a high GPA and mcat score. Med school means big $; if you are local and can commute, even better. Save the $, get good grades, study for the mcat, get lots of time in at the health systems in Charlotte (or Greenville/ECU) and make yourself the best applicant you can for med school.
Hey everyone! Thanks for all these comments, they’re really helpful and I’ve gotten a lot of perspective over the past few weeks. I want to clarify- yes, I am a junior by credits but have only completed one year of university and it’s a real possibility that I’ll spend 3 more years, not 2, in college before matriculating. I just got accepted to the University of South Carolina as a transfer student for Fall 2020 and I’m currently waiting to hear back from ECU, so my options look way different now.
I still don’t know where I’ll be going, but USC is a really attractive option for me- it’s a large public university and has a medical school attached, and it is closer to home than ECU. ECU is ~4 hours away and doesn’t really have the reputation that USC does, but tuition is a major factor for me as a low income student so it looks like it will probably come down to the financial aid. UNCC is not out of the running yet but as a smaller university and a commuter school, it’s not my most attractive option now and the only real “pull” it has is that most of my good friends go there/off campus housing is great/I know and like the area already. But academically I think it’s the weaker of the three schools. Does anyone have any advice pertaining to those 3 schools in particular?
@Tigerwife92 - I really think UNCC is a stronger option than I originally thought for pre-med but against ECU and USC I’m not sure. I really feel for your neighbor, it looks like our situations are almost identical! Unfortunately I’m not quite close enough to UNCC to commute, plus I really like campus/student life.
At this point, I’m able to move on a little from the sting of rejections from UNC and Wake. I know it’s kind of silly but it really takes time to accept and move forward from things like that. I think I’ll be fine wherever I go- like most people have already said GPA/MCAT/volunteer work & experience are most important now and it looks like I have 3 solid options in front of me.
Transfers usually don’t get really good financial aid. You may want to double-check. In this pandemic, a lot of schools have limited funds. They will fund their current students and instate Freshman first, before they fund a transfer.
If you want to do med school, at $200K to $400K, you need to start saving some money. Everyone in med school did well, so there is no real merit money; most students are funded by the Bank of Mom and Dad or by LOANS, LOANS and more loans.
Yes, this is something I am aware of. I won’t be making any final decisions till I receive a financial aid package from all schools. But I’d like to sort out other considerations now too.