<p>My safety school IS my dream school, ironically. Looking back I mostly applied to more colleges to satisfy my parents/open the possibility in case my allegiances shifted haha.</p>
<p>and only because I got rejected by everybody else!</p>
<p>maybe not what you were looking for but</p>
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<p>I don’t want to sway you against your wishes but that’s a pretty weak reason for choosing VT over UVA</p>
<p>if you’re thinking about gunning for a 4.0, good luck. There are very few schools where it is easy to obtain a 4.0; VT is not one of them.</p>
<p>There are no impossible challenges; the ones that you overcome or fulfill without maximum effort are not challenges to begin with.</p>
<p>If you can obtain and maintain a 4.0 or any other comparably high gpa at VT, you might as well go to UVA because it’s not much harder, if it were harder at all.</p>
<p>I’d imagine that admissions are medical schools are aware of the differences among different schools; a 4.0 @ VT might be the equivalent of a 3.7 at UVA (making numbers up) so all other factors held constant, a UVA graduating with a 3.8 might have an edge over you. Otherwise, everybody would just go to “easy” colleges and blaze out with 4.0’s.</p>
<p>Finally, the reason Longuylind gave is also kinda weak but if partying is your thing, then what do I know?</p>
<p>4.0? Hardly. That’s impossible. I’d like anything from a 3.85-3.9+ which I think, with enough drive, is attainable. </p>
<p>More likely at Tech than UVA. </p>
<p>I’ve heard that UVA is immensely harder, in terms of academic rigor and pace, than Tech. </p>
<p>And, with the Medical school thing, I’ve thought LONG and hard about it. I came to the conclusion that Medical school don’t care about the name of your undergrad school as long as it’s in the top 75.</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that medical schools consider Princeton and whatever the 75th college to be equivalents.</p>
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<p>Why are you starting off with the preconception that a 4.0 is impossible?
With enough drive, a 3.85-3.9+ is attainable at UVA as well.</p>
<p>I suck at making analogies but if you were a track runner and you set your daily regime at a million yards per day or w/e instead of a million and 50 (obviously made up numbers), would you be OK with that?</p>
<p>Honestly College is what you make it…the fact is that you “settled” for a school that you put as “only needed” a 3.7 to get into is ridiculous and pretentious. There is some poor kid out there who got rejected from his dream school that you had to settle for.</p>
<p>Hopeiscool, what happens if you change your mind and don’t want to apply to medical school? You should go to the school that you feel will offer you the education and social environment that you will find most interesting and fulfilling.</p>
<p>SDonCC is correct. you need a backup plan if medicine somehow doesn’t work out. and UVA > VT no matter what. and yes, unless there is a cost difference, go to UVA. </p>
<p>Speaking as faculty at a school of public health, where you attend undergrad matters, and admissions committees know that you are less likely to have a high gpa at a harder school.</p>
<p>I would tell my kids to attend the more rigorous school. Oh wait, that is what I did tell them.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters, BUT, returning to the original idea of the thread:</p>
<p>I know one kid who turned down Princeton for a full ride to Georgia Tech, and several others who have turned down Ivies and their ilk for generous aid (or even just in-state tuition!) from Carolina. One of the kids got the Morehead; others were lured just by the in-state cost, finaid, or smaller merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Tech is a great and often underrated school, but I’d be real surprised if it’s a better choice than U-Va for a medical school aspirant. If you’re “settling” for Tech for the sole purpose of improving your chances for medical school, the smart choice would have been to go to VCU and enroll in its it program for guaranteed admission to MCV.</p>
<p>VT is a very reputable school. Although your reason for attending is not a great one, the school itself still puts you in a good place when applying to grad schools.</p>
<p>Med schools are pretty experienced and now the relative rigor of classwork. Hence, a student with a 3.75 from a rigorous school may beat your 4.0 from a less rigorous school.</p>
<p>And what happens if you get to the university and discover it’s not the cakewalk you expect? What if your GPA is about what it would have been at the other school. Then you’re toast, right?</p>
<p>I live with a med school Adcom and they’re a bit more saavy than you give them credit for. I hope your strategy works for you, but I’m betting it won’t.</p>
<p>*I know one kid who turned down Princeton for a full ride to Georgia Tech, and several others who have turned down Ivies and their ilk for generous aid (or even just in-state tuition!) from Carolina. One of the kids got the Morehead; others were lured just by the in-state cost, finaid, or smaller merit scholarships. *</p>
<p>Of course, many kids turn down their top schools not out of choice, but out of necessity. The ‘lure’ of in-state scholarships or merit aid is pretty powerful when the dream school comes with a price tag that is tens of thosands of dollars more than they can afford.</p>
<p>There is a significant cost difference (~$5k per year) between the schools.
I go to UVA and it’s obnoxiously hard to get even a 3.8 while that is not true at VT. OP is right. Even if you don’t go to med school then you will still have a great time at VT. It really doesn’t matter what college you go to, you’ll make friends and priceless memories and learn stuff and go wherever you end up going from there. CC blows it way out of proportion IMHO. UVA, VT, … Whatever, the same great college experience can be had at both schools. Anyways… Good luck at VT!</p>