<p>So i was accepted to Vandy as a cornelius vanderbilt honors scholar with a full tuition scholarship, and i got into University of Miami as a Singer Scholar (full tuition) and a Foote Fellow, which is an honors program that waives all my General education requirements (core curriculum) so i can go straight into my major. (economics and pre-med)
I'm having trouble deciding which one would be the best school to go to, as Vanderbilt is ranked higher (17th vs 38th), but UM allows me the Foote Fellow program to advance academically and possibly double major.
UM is close to home/family, i grew up in miami and love the city, it has the latin/jewish community that i'm used to. I visited Vanderbilt and liked the campus, but wasnt a huge fan of nashville, at least when compared to miami. also, it seemed that vanderbilt has more of the "college town" type of atmosphere, whereas at Miami you have the suburb of coral gables as well as downtown right nearby.
is nashville better than i think it is? do the vanderbilt students stay mostly on campus or is there actually nightlife off campus?
is going to UM or vanderbilt going to affect my entrance into Medical school or any type of graduate school, for that matter?</p>
<p>I have full costs covered at both universities as well, and I’ve chosen UM without question. I’m not looking into medical school (although may consider grad school of some sort), so don’t have that factor to consider like you do. </p>
<p>Nashville is supposedly a good city as well, but it’s nothing like Miami: a vibrant, international city known around the world. </p>
<p>Being a Foote Fellow pretty much sealed the deal for me and unless I had gotten into Stanford with some sort of amazing offer, pretty much outdid all other options I had. The flexibility with being a Foote Fellow is so tremendous, you can easily double major and still take a variety of random classes that interest you, ultimately allowing you to completely customize your undergraduate education. This, IMO is worth quite a bit, even 21 places in rank. </p>
<p>From what I hear, U Miami does a fine job preparing candidates for medical school, though I’m not too caught up on the latest information as medical school is not one of my prospects. It certainly doesn’t have a bad rep or dings against it though. </p>
<p>Best of luck in your decision! It’s all about the []_[]!</p>
<p>yeah pre-med and econ might be a tough act to balance at vandy. i would think that vanderbuilt has a better reputation, but UM has been rising fast (last year they weren’t even top 50). as for graduate school, there’ll probably be less competition for higher GPAs at UM, and you will have the flexibility to tailor your classes (and subsequently professor recs) to what you want to do as a foote fellow. It’s true that Coral Gables isn’t much of a college town, but I personally find that better. In college towns, people get bored easier. Plus as a latin jew, Nashville might be a bight of a culture shock. For grad schools, if you work hard in any top school, you’ll get in places. This isn’t UF we’re talking about…
All of this is pretty biased towards UM, but then again, you are on the UM board.
In the end, understand that you’ll essentially be learning the same major and subject matter at both schools. What should separate them would be the subtler things: the quality of life and stress level of the student, city v collegetown atmosphere, presence of sports and spirit, ability to connect to your teacher, find diversity or close friends in the student body, flexibility of curriculum, work and internship opportunities.
At the end of the day, coming from a big UM family and area, I have never seen anyone regret the decision to go to the U</p>
<p>For medical school, it doesn’t matter where you go to undergraduate school. Your GPA and MCATS are the only determining factors. It might help a little, but for law and medical school, as long as your numbers are fine, you should be a solid candidate for top medical and law schools. </p>
<p>The experience at Vanderbilt and Miami are tremendously different, so you better decide what matters most to you. Coral Gables and the University of Miami are not going to give you that ultimate college-town field. Vanderbilt has a beautiful campus and it is a great college town. If going Greek is something important to you, take into account that Vanderbilt has one of the biggest Greek life communities in the U.S. </p>
<p>Honestly, not to be judgmental, but staying at Miami will kind of defer you from stepping outside of that comfort zone and gain new, worldly experiences. As you said, you like that Miami has that Latin-Jewish vibe, but a part of college is too expand and grow, not just intellectually but socially. Nashville is a great city and Vanderbilt attracts a diverse student body. I know people say UMiami is very diverse, but it has a large concentration of students from South Florida, Latin America, South America and the Northeast. </p>
<p>I think you really need to figure out what it is that is important to you and what you want to get out of college. This is a big decision. Don’t be afraid to step out of your bubble, college is suppose to be a huge learning experience in itself.</p>
<p>I like both but feel Vandy is a bit more prestigious, Nashville is a nice city but no where close to Miami. Go visit I guess.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind me asking, vandum and SeekingUni, what are your stats/credentials? I’m a junior right now and EXTREMELY interested in medical school (I couldn’t imagine a future doing anything other than helping people). However, my dad makes just enough money so that we don’t qualify for very much financial aid and I go to a private school right now, so I won’t be able to pay anything more than maybe $10-$15,000 a year. I noticed both of you have full costs at both Vandy and University of Miami, two of my top choices right now (especially Vandy because I live in Huntsville and love Nashville), and I’m trying to figure out which schools to apply to to get close to a full ride and be set for medical school. Is there anything in particular you did to get those scholarships (especially Cornelius Vanderbilt)? Any advice you could offer would be great!</p>
<p>@heymap: Definitely apply to Miami, as they have some really awesome, large merit awards. These are scholarships based solely on stats and academic promise and are not dependent upon financial need (so theoretically, you could be Bill Gates’ son, i.e. rich, and still get a full ride from Miami if you’re what they’re looking for in the awards they give). For these scholarships from UM, unlike Vanderbilt, you do not need to apply separately or do anything more than just complete the Common Application. All applicants are automatically considered for all scholarships.</p>
<p>In my case, my Vanderbilt money is largely need-based aid, while my Miami money is largely merit-based, with need-based filling in the rest to meet full cost of attendance.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! I definitely plan on applying to UM. Do you know if the full-ish ride scholarships to Miami are super competitive? I’ve been trying to read up on the scholarship opportunities but I haven’t been able to find much. I know that Florida residents probably have more opportunities for scholarships but I think I have set myself up so that I’m at the top(ish) of the applicant pool (hopefully!) (35 ACT, 1530 SAT, 4.45 GPA, lots of leadership, etc.). Also, my dad has been pressuring me into going to a Texas university for college because the in-state tuition for Texas medical schools is the cheapest in the country, and he said that I need to avoid large amounts of student debt at all costs. Have you heard anything more on that?</p>
<p>(I’m still working on getting that SAT/ACT higher)</p>
<p>The top scholarships are the Singer and Stamps scholarships. Singer covers full tuition for all four years, while Stamps covers full cost of attendance plus a stipend for research and studying abroad. These are not just for Florida residents. About 150 kids attend Stamps weekend I believe (I was there this year, I forget the exact number). 25% of those kids get Singer and 5-7 students are invited to move on to an interview with Mr. Stamps to potentially get the Stamps scholarship. There are then two more weekends of just Singer candidates and I think 1/4 of the students at each one of those weekends get Singer. In a class of 2,000 these are pretty competitive as you’re going up against the best of the best. </p>
<p>There are threads for each year that talk about the Singer/Stamps weekends and everyone (I’ve posted a lot about my experience with it, and IllinoisMom has posted full-detail reports on the entire weekend, literally play-by-play and it’s definitely an enjoyable read!). Filter through those threads and you’ll get a lot of insight to those two scholarships.</p>
<p>With your stats, you are definitely in the running. I had a 35 ACT as well and got into Stamps weekend. My SAT wasn’t even 1530 if you’re talking just CR + M… mine was a mere 1320. You are a fine candidate and definitely have a shot at these. Get stellar recommendations and write a brilliant essay and you’ll be a big target!</p>
<p>Excellent! I have been perusing those threads and they are very helpful! Thanks!! I guess I’m just really overwhelmed by the possibilities right now - I can’t wait until this time next year when I’ll have finished deciding where I’m going to go</p>
<p>It’s certainly a very exciting time, as someone who applied to 9 schools with a variety of amazing offers and options… Once you do decide where you go though, it’s such a relieving and great feeling. The best thing you can do for yourself is have your applications 90% (or 100% if possible) BEFORE you start your senior year, leaving just recommendations to be done after school starts. It’s really great to be done when all your friends are scrambling in October and November, even December and beyond, to finish their apps and essays.</p>
<p>(I’m still working on getting that SAT/ACT higher)</p>
<p>@heymap - you only have 1 more point in ACT and a few questions on SAT to achieve perfect scores. Your stats remind me of others on CC who have reported being awarded Singer scholarships and/or been invited to meet with Mr. Stamps for a true full ride at UM.</p>
<p>If the rest of your “resume” is as impressive as your test scores, you’ll have no problem snagging the $24k University scholarship and a Singer/Stamps invite - with perhaps some grant money thrown in if you don’t get offered either Singer or Stamps.</p>
<p>Good luck in your senior year and on your decision making process this coming Fall.</p>
<p>Don’t think you should go to Texas with those Grades, probably better off in California since the Level of Education there is MUCH Higher across the State for the Colleges.</p>
<p>@heymap, sorry for the late reply, my stats are 35 ACT, 750 sat2 bio, 740 sat2 ushistory, 720 sat2 math 2, 4.0/4.0 unweighted gpa, 6.0 weighted, top 2% of a class of 650.
with the credentials you posted above, youre set for the miami singer/stamps invite.
about vandy, i honestly don’t know what they look for in their CV candidates. i applied last minute without caring much about vanderbilt in the first place and ended up being chosen. all i can say is i think its based on test scores (which you have) and leadership in extracurriculars</p>
<p>Hi, I wanted to know what is the lowest unweighted required for a Singer scholarship. My goal is get that scholarship. Also, this is the same for a SAT score. Would it be 1500 or higher? (just math and verbal)What extracurriculars did you have?</p>
<p>There isn’t really a set “requirement” for GPA and SAT scores to get Singer. To get invited to the weekend, they look at your application holistically (I know that many colleges say this, but for Miami it’s actually true), and if they believe you should compete for the Singer, you’ll move on to the scholarship competition, which is a weekend in March where you have an interview. You can be invited to interview for either both Singer and Stamps, or just Singer, depending on the strength of your application. It’s pretty up in the air; someone who has a high GPA and SAT but not very many extracurriculars may not have the same chances as someone with a lower GPA and SAT with meaningful, involved extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Oh okay, thank you for your help. Could you give some examples of "meaningful, involved extracurriculars? Also, what is the Stamps? I know what the Singer is a full tuition scholarship that involves an invitation and an interview. I do not know anything else about that and I have no idea what Stamps are. Also is an unweighted above 3.75 great?</p>
<p>basketballer323- If you scroll up a bit on this thread Seekinguni posted a great explanation of the Singer and Stamps scholarships including the numbers awarded 
</p>
<p>Also this thread : </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-miami-florida/1283135-class-2016-early-action-decisions-thread.html?highlight=stamps[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-miami-florida/1283135-class-2016-early-action-decisions-thread.html?highlight=stamps</a></p>
<p>includes lots of posts from students who received invites to the scholarship weekends this year which should give you an idea of what kind of meaningful ECs the _ is looking for, as well as the stats of many of this year’s invitees.</p>
<p>Wow this looks insane, the best of the best are applying. Whoever gets an invitation for the Singer/Stamps but does get those scholarships, do they automatically get the University Scholarship or they get nothing?</p>