I’m looking to transfer out of my top 10 LAC to a college where I feel genuinely happy and supported. I am pre med and have finished my pre reqs but my schools science department is a hot mess and with junior year coming up the best time to leave is now.
My school has negatively affected my mental health so my stats aren’t very high right now. I am a student of color and my top school is University of South Florida. What are some schools similar to USF like it’s stem, location, affordability, diversity, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated as the deadlines are coming soon!!!
I’d same Pitt except for location. You are really limited yoursel to UCF, UNF, FAU, FGCU, UF, FSU unless you go to a private like Rollins or U Tampa not rigorous), Miami, Stetson etc.
I attend a top 10 liberal arts college in the northeast. It’s a small college so I’m trying to remain anonymous but it lacks diversity and the school vibe isn’t something I can do for another 2 years. Plus the pre med is not very good
When I mean pre med is bad they are flipping over the whole department and they dont offer any stem classes outside of the pre reqs unless I want to take ecological science classes until I graduate plus the research on campus isn’t too hot.
I’m just looking for schools that are sort of affordable for out of state with better stem departments
What is your budget and home state? Is it Florida? Transfers generally don’t get merit and most public colleges don’t give financial aid to OOS students.
My state college would be in NJ but I’m really open to any affordable schools like University of South Florida. I’m just looking for oos right now but plan on applying to my state college as well.
For real? It appears you are just entering your 4th semester. The recommended premed STEM courses (in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics and math/statistics) typically represent 11 semester-length courses. In addition to these, it would be expected or recommended that you take courses in literature/writing, psychology and sociology.
My school is very hard… I’m a sophomore and I’ve done gen chem, gen bio 1&2, psych, Orgo 1&2, Calc 1, English, and stats. Im doing soc right now and I just need Biochem and physics. The rest would be finishing my degree which are all ecological science classes, which isn’t ideal.
Im just trying to see my options and any help would be appreciated.
Rutgers, College of Nj, Montclair State, ramapo etc. I worry OOS schools won’t have the diversity you need or be affordable. You mentioned USF. It seems like that’s what you want.
I really like USF. I just feel like I’m putting all my eggs in one basket. So I’m trying to see if I can find anything similar. But thanks for the recommendations! My hs grades are very good but my colleges grades are a bit…So I’m trying to find a school that’s a better fit
Unfortunately, your science GPA from your current school will carry forward to your medical school applications even if you transfer to another college. Nonetheless, I recommend you pursue your plan to transfer since you don’t appear well matched to your current environment. After transferring, you can regroup under a fresh set of advisers.
Yup I’m really trying for an upward trend. That’s why I wanna go to an school were i can spend my second half focusing on my grades in a safe environment. I’m just trying to find affordable out of state colleges
Hadn’t you expressed an interest in transferring to schools such as Northeastern, UPitt, or UIUC one year ago? If so, it seems you should be well-versed in colleges that might be suitable for you at this stage. In any case, it doesn’t appear that pursuing liberal arts and sciences courses across a diversity of fields holds intrinsic appeal to you, and this may be the source of your academic discontent. It might be best, then, if any future school offered less of an emphasis on core sciences, humanities and social sciences, and a greater orientation toward majors that might be classified as “health services.” As specific suggestions, along with USF, look into the University of Central Florida and East Carolina University.
Using USF as a guide, it seems you’re looking for a non-flagship public university with 10000-15000+ enrollment and good diversity, in a city or maybe suburban setting, on the east coast. Obviously, you’ll be able to do pre-med at almost any such public university. Here are some that come to mind that might be worth further investigation by you.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Temple
East Carolina University
UM Baltimore County
UNC Charlotte
Georgia State University
There are several others, but these would be a good start. I didn’t list any in NJ as I assume you are familiar with those.
Fit is a tough thing to figure out before actually living on a campus. If your current situation is such a bad fit for you it’s a detriment to your life and grades, I agree you should at least investigate transferring. Good luck!
You have mentioned ‘affordable’ several times but we don’t know what your budget is. USF will cost about $30K per year, is that affordable? Do you qualify for need based aid at your current school? Are you Pell grant eligible?
Posters can make much better recs for you if we know the budget, and your GPA.
My gpa for undergraduate is a 3.4 and my budget would be about 40k full tution for out of state. I’m looking for a school that has some diversity and a STEM program like legitimate research opportunities and local hospitals for me to get involved thanks!
Because your GPA is on the low end for med school, I would only transfer to a school which does NOT gatekeep med school applicants by way of a committee letter. Start with USF and the school’s on econpop’s list.
I would also try to spend as little money as possible on undergrad, because you may have to do an SMP to juice up your GPA before applying to med school…not to mention saving on undergrad makes sense because med school is expensive. So, I encourage you to see what NJ publics might represent the best balance of med school prep and COA. Good luck.