I got accepted into UF’s PaCE program, but I was accepted for Fall at FSU, USF, and UCF. My end goal is dental school, so I plan on majoring in biology. I just wanted to know if it is better to attend a different university for the first year and then transfer to UF or just enroll in PaCE and take classes as a transient student at another public university. I have Full Brights from Bright futures so I am not worried about the tuition but I do want to know which option would be better for me. I do want the full college experience, but I have heard from almost every PaCE student I know that the program helps develop study skills faster than if you were to be the typical freshman in college. So this makes me wonder which option has more benefits. I also wonder if it would be harder to be admitted to UF as a transfer student from FSU or USF.
If you are a PaCE student or a transfer student please help me make a decision! I am desperate!
…and maybe you’ll like FSU and stay there. Hard to really give it the old “college try” if you’re planning on transferring before you get there. I’m sure plenty of kids go to dental school from FSU.
I don’t believe that Biology is a PaCE major, and UF also doesn’t recommend PaCE for pre-professional medical students. Many medical schools (I would assume dental is the same) will not accept online science classes. Also, you must stick with one of the PaCE majors throughout undergrad, and can only apply to change majors as though you are a transfer student.
Just make sure you are aware of these constraints before committing to PaCE.
My son also got into UF PaCE, and is planning on going pre med (major yet to be decided, leaning biology, not offered by PaCE). As @rccoble said above, PaCE will not work for pre med students. Even if he picked a PaCE major outside of the sciences, he still needs to take pre med Bio Chem Physics Math etc pre-requsites. Most of these are not offered online, and online classes are not always accepted by med schools. It would waste too much time to start these pre-requisites once he gets to campus after 60 credits.
So unless he is granted a term change request to UF fall on-campus admission (still waiting), he will instead be going to FSU.