<p>Hi, I was recently accepted into the University of Florida, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Michigan. My first choice is UM, but if they don't give me enough money, its going to be between Pitt and UF. </p>
<p>My question is which school is better? I plan to major in Biology or Biochemistry while taking the pre-med track. I visited both schools, and liked both campuses. The money is going to be about equal, as I only need to pay about ~6k a year at Pitt, and although I didn't receive my financial aid stuff from Florida yet, I received the 20k a year GatorNation scholarship, so I can only assume it will also be at or less than ~6k a year. (I have an EFC of 0). I also got into the honors college at both.</p>
<p>So short version, money aside, Pitt or UF (Honors College) for pre-med/biology?</p>
<p>Could Pitt and Florida be much different? Pitt is in a northern city. Florida is in, well, Florida. Pitt is smaller. Florida is still in the basketball tournament…</p>
<p>This is the Pitt forum, so you may not hear much about Florida. Pitt has great opportunities for undergraduate research. It also has MANY hospitals where you can work and volunteer; some are within walking distance of campus. A large percentage of the student body is working toward a degree in a medical field (pharmacy, nursing, pre-dentistry, pre-med, etc.).</p>
<p>Pitt is flat out better place for pre-med/biology, and I say this as someone with a PhD in Neuroscience with experience in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh and Philly, as well as in Miami and in California). Pitt is one of the top places in the nation for those fields. As mentioned above it has greater [undergrad</a> research](<a href=“http://www.undergradresearch.pitt.edu/]undergrad”>http://www.undergradresearch.pitt.edu/) opportunities. Pitt is 5th in National Institute of Health sponsored research funding (behind Harvard, Penn, Hopkins, and UCSF) and that is the primary barometer of biomedical strength at any institution. Pitt also has a much larger and more prestigious [medical</a> center<a href=“that%20is%20also%20right%20on%20campus”>/url</a> to do shadowing and volunteering in, and to make connections with faculty in. Pittsburgh is also a growing [url=<a href=“http://edsmedspittsburgh.org/]center”>http://edsmedspittsburgh.org/]center</a> of med/biotech](<a href=“http://www.upmc.com%5Dmedical”>http://www.upmc.com), and there really is a dearth of top biotech in the state of Florida. However, they are in very different settings though as Gainesville is a polar opposite from Oakland as far as rural vs urban and everything that goes with that, so each school’s setting may weigh in on your choice.</p>
<p>I applied to UF and the campus is really nice. The majority of my friends go to UF and say that their curriculum is rigorous. The weather is always nice so you don’t have to worry about being cold. Both institutions are good when it comes to academics, but I believe that UF has a better national ranking overall according to several websites.</p>
<p>Here are some overall rankings, but in the field of biomed, there is no contest (for comparison above, UF is ranked around 47th in NIH funding)</p>
<p>Domestic:
Center for Measuring University Performance: Pitt 25, UF 28-31
Princeton Review (academic score, higher is better): Pitt 83, UF 70
…(selectivity score, higher is better): Pitt 92, UF 90
…(quality of life score, higher is better): Pitt 98, UF 90
US News Best Colleges: UF 53, Pitt 64
Washington Monthly: UF 42, Pitt 104</p>
<p>World Rankings:
Academic Ranking of World Universities (China): Pitt 56, UF 68
HEEACT (Taiwan): Pitt 23, UF 40
RatER Global (Russia): Pitt 42, UF 69
RPI Worldwide (Australia): Pitt 31, UF 50
Times Higher Education World Ranking (UK): Pitt 64, UF > 200
University Ranking by Academic Performance (Turkey): Pitt 25, UF 34
US News/Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (UK): Pitt 119, UF 193</p>