Hello everyone!
I am struggling to choose between UNC Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University for college next year. For context, I am a premed student and am OOS for UNC. If I went to UNC, I would graduate with money leftover to pay for med school. However, Vandy has always been a dream of mine. Is the prestige of Vandy worth the money or should I save for med school and attend UNC, another amazing institution?
Save - UNC - where you go is less important - there are other factors for med school more important. MCAT, etc.
If the difference is more than 5-10k a year I would go to the cheaper one if you’re planning on med school. You should prepare for about 300k in debt from med school alone so you’d rather graduate undergrad debt free or with as little debt as possible. Also, people only care about where you got your MD, and the prestigious medical schools accept students from less prestigious undergraduate programs all of the time.
You’ll want to choose a school you can afford. College is a maturation process where you find hidden passions, and there’s still a good chance you’ll end up choosing another major. You want to be in a place where you don’t have large amounts of debt hanging over your head. Whichever career path you choose, you can’t lose if you choose affordability.
hmmm… i feel like more context is needed. when you say you’ll have money leftover to pay for med school, how much are you talking about? otherwise, UNC seems like the decision you should go with. (plus, the sports teams are infinitely better than vandy (if that’s your scene), and the basketball rivalry with duke is hard to beat.)
If (you maintain you desire to go to Med School):
UNC is most certainly Good enough AND you save money
elif (you change your mind):
UNC is still good enough school AND you save money, but it’s marginally closer
Conclusion: UNC
Thanks for all the help so far from everyone! By money left over, I wouldn’t have enough to make a dent in med school costs but it signifies that I wouldn’t have any undergrad debt. I would still take on most of the med school debt but choosing Vanderbilt would result in debt from both med and undergrad, which could be crippling as many may imagine.
if you totally kick major ass in undergrad - who knows you may get into NYU Med School (and that baby is freeeee)
OP to answer your question the answer is no. Vandy is not prestigious enough for the extra financial burden. If it were Duke vs UNC-Chapel Hill or Northwestern vs UNC-Chapel Hill you would have something. For Vandy the answer is no. They are too much on the same tier reputation wise. I would focus on minimizing your student debts by the time you graduate. I know way to many kids that graduate with 100k+ of student loan debts. It hinders them years after graduation.
What makes Vanderbilt your “dream”?
Can your parents afford Vanderbilt without debt (ie., you’d have to take on the federal loans but nothing else)?
I’d go with UNC because it’s an amazing university and graduating debt free will really help, whether you end up going to medical school or not.