I got into both UNC-CH and VCU. I received no scholarships and don’t know if I will get invited to the honors college and UNC-CH. At VCU, however, I received enough scholarships to make it $5000 per year less than UNC-CH, and I was accepted to the honors college here. What are the merits of each? Which is the better option?
Is there something specific you want to study? UNC is generally better known, though VCU has made a name for itself recently (in basketball - yay Shaka). Since you received no aid from UNC your family must have good income. How do they feel about paying that much? Look up what Honors College means at VCU. At some schools it really doesn’t give you much.
If your family can comfortably afford the price difference, I’d go to UNC.
The ability of the average student at UNC will be far higher than those at VCU. Honors Colleges can be good, but remember, all honors students eventually take classes with their “regular” peers, and if those peers are intellectually unmotivated, it can be disheartening, and possibly encourage intellectual laziness.
UNC is also stronger in almost every overlapped department than VCU. If it’s financially doable, I would choose UNC in a heartbeat.
Erin’s Dad,
I most like want to major in public health with a premed track. I know VCU is good for premed students. The difference in price with the merit aid is not component in choosing between the two. The reason I’m considering VCU is because my parents say that I’ll be one of the top students here, as I received $84000 in merit aid, so I will get research and leadership opportunities more easily and will get better advising in the honors college there. I am think ahead to medical school admissions, in which these two help greatly. I am somewhat worried that I may be just an above average student at UNC.
I will definitely do some research to see if the VCU honors college is worth it.
Also, I was only talking about merit aid for both colleges.
Also, thank you to @ErinsDad @happy1 and @whenhen !
if you can be happy at both schools, then it doesn’t really matter where you go for pre-med majors. Both will do the trick. It matters what YOU do when you’re there. saving 20K now might mean 20K for med school. med schools won’t give a care where you went to school.
… “The reason I’m considering VCU is because my parents say that I’ll be one of the top students here, as I received $84000 in merit aid, so I will get research and leadership opportunities more easily and will get better advising in the honors college there…”
I thought of that after I posted. The fact that VCU has offered you that much money must mean you will be one of their top students. That will certainly help with med school admission. I thought VCU had a program that would admit a student for undergraduate and promise admission to VCU/MCV. That would be sweet.
I live in NC. Read in the newspaper last week that out of state student costs at UNC will be over 50K next year. So over 200K for undergrad and then Med. School. Yikes!
I would go to UNC. BUT, I also think VCU is a great school. However, both schools have medical schools and pre-mad programs. You could always go to UNC for medical school if you get in or vice versus, just a thought. I feel like UNC is better known, but that is a generous offer from VCU. VCU has an excellent biomedical engineering program as well as a wonderful nursing program. I’m not saying VCU isn’t competitive, but you’re most likely way above the average student there. UNC is harder to get into and has a better reputation. I agree with what some of the above commenters said about VCU. You will be level with everyone at UNC, but most likely you will excel more at VCU, if you want to be “above” everyone else.
VCU is a great school. You’ll have the benefits of being in the honors program plus it’s cheaper. You can always transfer to UNC down the road.
Yay, public health! That’s my field.
In that field there is absolutely no question that UNC is the better choice - UNC’s school of public health is in the top 5 in the country, generally ranked about #2 (right behind Hopkins). That doesn’t matter so much for undergrad, especially if you are pre-med, but there it is just so you know. The research opportunities at UNC are likely to be more varied and cutting-edge - although again, that doesn’t necessarily matter so much at the undergrad level. VCU is a good research university and you can get great research experience there, too.
You will probably be one of the top students at VCU, but that won’t matter in terms of research and leadership opportunities unless the honors college explicitly offers better opportunities for honors students. Professors at research universities will take both honors and non-honors students to assist them in research; most of them won’t make a distinction between the two. It’s more about skills and abilities. Leadership opportunities are elected within organizations, and I bet your classmates won’t care about whether you are in the honors college or not - they will care about your leadership skills.
BUT it might be easier to keep a high GPA and stay near the top of your class at VCU - important for med school admissions.
So basically, IMO, if you stick with pre-med and get in to med school, VCU would be the better choice. Otherwise, UNC would be the better choice.
Are you at or above the top 25% threshold at UNC?
For the record,
97% students have 3.75 and above (weighted), average is 4.5.
Top 25% is 710 and above in math, 700 CR, 690 W; 31 ACT.
If you’re below that, you’re better off at VCU since you’ll be at the top of the class there.
If you’re top of the class at UNC, then it becomes a better choice.
@OspreyCV22 I was not accepted to the guaranteed medicine program that you are talking about.
@PackMom I am an NC resident also, so I won’t have to pay that much.
@MYOS1634 My SAT is 770M, 640R, and 730W. My ACT is 33. Does this mean I am better off at UNC-CH?
You said in your first post that it’s 5K more than VCU, now it’s not that much? Don’t worry about where you will be “better off” at just because of your academic stats. It’s where you FIT as a person. Do you like the campus? Do you like the dorms? How are the classes and professors? Where do you feel more comfortable at? THAT’S how you determine your decision. Stats are irrelevant right now. If you want to rely on which college will be the better job pumper and what’s “more prestigious”, then that’s your decision. Nevertheless, as long as you are a stellar student in college, it won’t matter where you go.
I don’t really understand why people keep saying where you’d be “class wise”.
@TheDidactic, “$5K more” doesn’t sound different from “not that much” to me.
@PurpleTitan - If my in-state public university gave me less merit than an OOS public, I wouldn’t even give it a second glance. What’s the point of going to the in state public if the OOS is going to be more affordable?
@TheDidactic: Because it offers more opportunities, has better faculty, or has other aspects that I may like more? For a MI resident with high stats, UMich may cost more than 'Bama with a full-tuition scholarship, but if I’m aiming for a prestige industry like Wall Street or consulting, UMich is more likely to get me there.
You can apply that logic to a comparison between any 2 schools. Why attend an Ivy/equivalent if they don’t offer as much merit money as an in-state school? What’s different about that example?
I don’t know. I always considered the in-state public school to be the “safety” in a sense. Not a total safety, but a safety where it’s affordable and close to home. The Ivies, IF you manage to get in, actually do provide decent aid. That’s why they’re always at the top of the Best Value lists. They carry the prestige, the quality academics, and the financial possibility.