I was accepted to both the University of Miami (FL) and UNC chapel hill. I am instate for Carolina and so the cost would be significantly lower. I was offered a $21k scholarship to Miami but it would still be around 41k.
I am interested in biomedical engineering but have no interest in pre med. UNC’s BME program seems to be mostly premed kids while miami seems to have some actual engineers. Now here’s where my decision gets harder…
I have an identical twin and we’ve grown up together pretty close but definitely want to go our own separate ways and do our own thing and unfortunately we are both leaning towards UNC. Also I have a bunch of friends who go to UNC and they all still hang out with people they went to high school with, which is the last thing I want to do. Plus chapel hill is only 25 minutes from my house so I feel like I wouldn’t really be getting all that much of a “going a way to college feel”. I don’t really like that Miami is a smaller school and I don’t know him much of its rep as a party school would hurt me. If you guys could tell me what you would do I would really appreciate it, as this decision is killing me.
Disclaimer*
I know money is a significant factor to go to UNC, but my parents are very well off and have assured me not to let that be a deciding factor. Still to not consider it would be unrealistic.
UNC-CH has over 18,000 students on campus. If you don’t want to hang out with your twin or with people from your high school, then you don’t have to - there are plenty of other people to choose from. I also went to college about 25 minutes away from my house, but I lived on campus and had a great time. What makes it ‘going away’ is not so much how far you are but how much you detach yourself from home life and really engage in the campus. If you go home less often, then it won’t matter.
I’m sure that UNC’s biomedical engineering program has lots of people interested in engineering and not just medical school.
On the other hand, lots of very excellent schools have reputations as party schools. I would ignore that - it’s not that UMiami has a reputation as a school that parties and nothing else; it has a reputation as an excellent university where the students also party hard. The main thing to worry about there is if you don’t like to party.
^Completely agree. Personally I’d go with UNC, great school, great opportunity for you. Not many people actually get that chance, I’d take it.
I’d go with UNC - although I’m biased, the North Carolina education is, in many regards, superior to Miami. Also, Carolina is big enough that you can make a new friend every day. You’re incredibly lucky you live in a state with such a phenomenal state university. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to meet 20% OOSers, who have excellent credentials and worked extremely hard to be admitted to UNC.
UNC without a doubt. One of the elite public universities in the nation - one of the original “Public Ivies”. In state tuition and close to home make it a virtual no-brainer.