Hi, I’m a high school senior and I’m struggling to decide between attending UF or FIU honors. I am committed to becoming a doctor and want to study biochemistry. Money is really affecting me since I don’t really want to have undergrad debt before I enter med school and so I want to be smart about this. My tuition will be covered in both schools with bright futures and pre-paid. However, UF room/board will cost me around $10,000 a year while FIU will be giving me money back. Besides the money, I know that UF has so many great academic and outside opportunities but I want to know more about what’s it really like to study pre-med at UF with all its competitive and high achieving students. FIU honors on the hand, won’t have so many engaging classmates I can relate to but it does come with a potential early acceptance to FIU med school. I will also be staying home which has its pros and cons. Is anyone in the pre-med track at UF or FIU that can offer me some insight?
Not that my stats really matters since I already got accepted into the colleges, but just to give you an idea of where I’m coming from: 9 AP classes, 5.34 GPA, 3.98 unweighted, and SAT 1330. Part of a lot of ECs, 2 sports, 9 clubs, 6 honor societies, and I volunteer at a hospital where I can continue volunteering at if I attend FIU
Based on your stats, it sounds like you could hack it at UF.
However premed there is brutal and FIU would certainly be more supportive.
Don’t you have other acceptances with honors college such as at USF or FSU?
If you choose to attend FIU, don’t commute - live in the honors dorm. Studies have shown it helps getting involved and resident students have better grades, not to mention it helps you grow and make friends.
The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Class of 2020 profile shows 8 FIU graduates, while UF had 12 graduates as part of their Class. UF and FIU both have their own medical schools, with UF have one of the largest pool of candidates applying to US Medicals schools each year. IMHO, FIU might give you the best shot at medical school, given the competitive nature of UF “Pre-Med” pool.
Your SAT is good, but you may find that successful premeds at UF will be stronger than you. Your SAT is about equivalent to an ACT 29.
UF has a ridiculous number of premeds and even after heavy weeding, it has a crazy number of med school applicants…about 850…and likely started with 2000+ freshmen premeds. FIU has about 200 applicants.