<p>So I'm applying to college this year, awesome, right?</p>
<p>Basically, I'm extremely tempted to chose my safety over my reach school.</p>
<p>The rationale behind it might not be so logical though...</p>
<p>I want to go to Medical school, and I know that at my safety (Which is still tier 1) I will be able to maintain a REALLY good GPA, whereas I'm iffy about my reach.</p>
<p>BTW, my safety is Virginia Tech and my reach is UVA.</p>
<p>From experiences of friends who have transferred between the schools, I would probably lean towards Virginia Tech if my sole criteria was a higher GPA for medical school admissions. I doubt a medical school would give any bump to a UVA applicant with the same GPA as a Tech applicant. Pre-med classes seem to be easier at Tech from what I hear, but I am not a pre-med student at either.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s what’s been making me go crazy these last few days.</p>
<p>When people ask me where I want to go, I automatically spit out UVA! I guess it’s been my “dream” school for a while, but after having visited both campuses, I do not prefer one over the other.</p>
<p>I believe that I could be equally happy at either, and my happiness depends partly on my GPA, so I guess I’d be happier at Tech.</p>
<p>This doesn’t seem quite logical to any counselor that I’ve talked to.</p>
<p>I would go to the safety for the great GPA…</p>
<p>When you look at GPA’s for med school, they often want to see a 3.7+ And, med schools especially want to see a high GPA in the sciences.</p>
<p>I dont see how tech can be a safety if uva is a reach. If UVA is a reach, tech is a match. If UVA is a match, tech is a safety.</p>
<p>picking a school mainly because 4 years from now you might want to attend med school, especially if you don’t have a lot of 1st-hand experience as a volunteer or worker in the medical field, is not the best idea. A lot may change once you find out more about medicine, you may find you don’t like the classes that are required and that you can’t see yourself doing them for the next 6+ years, etc.</p>
<p>As a potential future patient of yours, I’d prefer that you go for the hardest school and still earn a great GPA! :)</p>
<p>Go for the institution where you will be engaged intellectually and where you will learn the most. This might be your safety. It might be your reach. Its about EDUCATION.</p>
<p>mikemac, thanks for pointing out a valid reason, however, I have 400+ hours of volunteer experience and I’ve never wanted to be anything but a doctor. My ambitions are pretty ardent, and most of the things I do are based around my goal to go to medical school.</p>
<p>MisterK, future patients don’t be afriad! I want to go to a good school (Tech is Tier 1, so not a bad school by ANY stretch of the imagination) so that I can go to an EXCELLENT medical school, and recieve the best education possible.</p>
<p>Also UVA is a much better feeder school than tech. So while youll get a better gpa at tech, you will probably get into a better med school with uva.</p>
<p>Have you looked at the guaranteed admission to medical school program at VCU, btw?
<a href=“https://www.pubapps.vcu.edu/honors/guaranteed/medicine/index.aspx[/url]”>https://www.pubapps.vcu.edu/honors/guaranteed/medicine/index.aspx</a></p>
<p>BZVA, I’d like to see the data you have on UVA and Tech as feeder schools. Your VCU link seems to contradict your message since it requires high GPAs and in high grades in certain classes which you state would be easier at Tech.</p>
<p>The primary reason people choose their safety school is money, which is a signifcant concern, especially if you are going to grad school. Money being equal though, go to UVA over VTech.</p>
<p>First of all, “better med school” is a silly phrase. Your goal is to get INTO med school. The state medical schools are excellent and much better financial choices. It’s the residency program that needs to be “better”. My son in law went with a full scholarship to a lower ranked undergrad school than he might have attended, chose an excellent in-state med school and is now at a top residency program. He STILL has debt- but not nearly as much as he would have with other choices.</p>
<p>Either UVA or Tech would be a fine place to attend college.</p>
<p>I really doubt that it’s valid to assume that VT is an easier school - esp. in the sciences - than UVA. These are two very strong public universities. Both should be challenging.</p>
<p>Have a son who graduated from UVa and a son now at Virginia Tech, both in engineering. Both schools are challenging and provide good opportunities. You can’t go wrong with either of them . They both have medical schools now. I agree with the poster who said that if you consider UVa a reach, then VT is probably more of a match for you than a safety. Good luck!</p>
<p>No one should ever assume one school is easier than another simply because it is lower ranked or easier to get into. If you take that gamble and do badly, you’ll always wonder if you could have done the same or better at the better school. In which case, you will highly regret your decision.</p>
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<p>MOWC is right. All US based medical schools are just fine, and they are relatively level with one another. There are not major differences across medical schools and the opportunities they provide. It’s a very level playing field. It isn’t like law, where it’s T-14 or bust (I exaggerate, but you get the idea).</p>
<p>Your reason for concern makes perfect sense. But the truth is that most students who think they want to go to med school as seniors in high school and freshman in college end up changing their minds along the way. It would be a shame if you turned the “better” school, and then had a change in plans anyway.</p>
<p>informative, I definitely agree with the point you made about not basing school difficulty on ranking, but the reason I suggested VT may be easier comes from the experiences of some of my friends who attended both schools. I have some friends who went from 3.9 GPAs at Tech to 3.5/3.6 at UVA. Of course, this is just anecdotal evidence and I have no way of knowing how common that is. </p>
<p>But in any case I think it would be a bad decision to go to UVA simply because one believes medical schools give a boost to UVA. All evidence I’ve seen shows that they doesn’t. If my friends who said it was easier for them to get As at Tech than they have at UVA are right (and the OP is sure she wants to go to medical school), Tech may be a better choice if she doesn’t prefer one over the other.</p>
<p>Of course, if the OP wanted to go to UVA more than Tech it’s a different story, but she said they were an equal match. UVA is a great school and there are a lot of opportunities here, but the same goes for Tech.</p>
<p>@ WHoever asked:
<a href=“http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf</a>
Wall street journal list of top feeder schools, UVA is like 31. In front of UCLA, Berkley, etc. Tech isnt on it. If your plan is to go to a top med school, think about feeding potential.</p>
<p>Also the VCU Guarenteed medical admission isnt that hard once you make it in. If you aply and are accepted, you need to maintain like a 3.5 GPA and a 3.7 in the sciences. VCU isnt that difficult, it’s a piece of cake compared to Tech and UVA, at least.</p>