UPITT vs. UMASS Amherst vs. Rutgers vs. UMD vs. RPI for Premed Track

  • UPITT - PreMed Track - No Scholarship
  • UMASS Amherst - Honors College (Biology) - PreMed - $16K Scholarship
  • Rutgers NB - Pre-Med & Biological Science - No Scholarship
  • Rutgers NB - Pharm D 6 yr - No Scholarship
  • UMD - FIRE program (Biological Sciences: Physiology & Neurobiology) - No Scholarship
  • RPI - Biological Neuroscience - $35K Scholarship
  • Temple - Honors College (Neuroscience: Cell & Molecular) - PreMed - $18K Scholarship

Rutgers is my in state school. Ultimately want to get into Medical School.

Totally confused which should be the best options for under grad. Cost is not a concern

Want a school that will provide me the best opportunity for Shadowing, Research, Volunteering in medical settings.

Appreciate if anyone knowing anything special about any of these school that will tip the scale in its favor?

I would advise caution at UMD.
FIRE is great.

However, there will be top incoming premed frosh on scholarship in the Honors College and the Integrated Life Sciences living learning program. Also top premed kids in Scholars. Many of these students will have taken AP courses in the premed required classes and expect to get As at UMD.
Generally, many, if not all premed reqs are graded on a curve and UMD allows just two attempts.
And, only 18 credits may be repeated.

https://registrar.umd.edu/current/Policies/Repeating%20Courses.html

Another invited group is BioFIRE, with many premeds.

FIRE is generally the next tier.
Consult the student ambassadors in your college and major

Imo, consider which university you’ll be among the top incoming students and receive mentoring support and have better chance of getting As in premed reqs. In general, UMD is more of a sink or swim experience.

Part of the question is in what type of environment do you want to live - Temple is in a very different setting from College Park.

All of these schools are fine choices. Pitt is well regarded for both pre-med research and academics, there are plenty of shadowing and volunteering opportunities at surrounding health systems, and Pitt medical school is top-notch. My daughter is strongly considering it for neuroscience (research, not pre-med). Best of luck!

Pitt would be a very good choice. Tons of medical opportunities. Cost would be around $50k/year OOS. Add more for med school. You said cost not a concern. Do your parents have $200k for undergrad and another $300-500k for med school? If not, maybe look at your lower cost options.

I would look at the Honors programs at UMass and Temple. The good ones offer many perks including research and special advising. S20 had a very nice offer from Temple but turned it down because of the surrounding area and safety concerns.

Good luck.

You can take the required courses for medical school applicants at any of these colleges.

Which one has the least costly net cost annually for you? I know you say coat isn’t a consideration, but will any of your undergrad studies be funded by loans? Because really…medical school will be likely funded by loans, loans and more loans.

Update, if interested in a living learning program at UMD, you can apply to BioFIRE

“BioFIRE enrolls highly motivated students with interests in the chemical and life sciences and limited previous exposure to scientific research. Most invitations will be made at the time of admission to the University of Maryland, but a limited number of students may be invited afterwards on a space available basis. Students may be directly admitted to the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences or may be in Letters & Sciences. Students participating in another living and learning program (e.g., Honors, Scholars, Global Communities, Civicus, Carillon) are not eligible.“
If you have not yet been invited, but are interested in being considered for BioFIRE