Hello,
I need urgent help. I have committed to UNC as a Honor Carolina Student with guaranteed admission to Gillings School of Public Health, but got off the waitlist from Vanderbilt yesterday . I have only 72 hours to make a decision.
Here is my Scenario:
-UNC Honors with scholarship ( cost 24k/year)
-Vanderbilt No funding 77k-5K(NSF)=72K/year
I plan to do Premed and go into a reasonable good school school in 4 years. My parents are supportive and will fund about 300k total for my undergraduate and med school.
So my question:
- Should I use their fund and go to one of the prestigious school and take loan for med school as I am thinking it will be little easier to get into a Med School from Vanderbilt considering the prestige( I know I have to do well in MCAT and have good GPA)
- I have heard UNC has grade deflation, and as a Biology/Neuroscience major, I might struggle to keep a good GPA and in that case, even though I would have saved 200K of my parents’ money, I might be struggling to get into a med school.
3.Shall I chose a different major to get good GPA at UNC( of course staying on track to complete the pre-med requirements)
Please respond as I need to decide in a short time
This is a no brainer. UNC all the way. You will be saving $200K+ that you can use for med school. Personally, all things equal costwise, I would still choose UNC. Such a great school and you will have a fun time there too. Grad schools respect it for sure.
Med school comes down to GPA and MCATs. Prestige of undergrad matters very little I would imagine. And it’s UNC vs JHU and Vandy, so little difference. Not Vandy vs Minot State. (sorry Minot)
Study what interests you while completing prereqs. Your grades will be reflected in what you love.
I never heard about medical schools preferring Vanderbilt or any undergrad school over UNC. I’ve not heard about UNC having grade deflation for Premed either.
I can tell you that you will be paying a lot more out of pocket if you go to Vanderbilt and deplete what your parents can pay. You’ll feel that likely med school When you have to repay it. I know any number of doctors who can tell you what a financial drag that is. I’ll ask them about your UNC vs Vanderbilt , but Questions like that have gotten the same reaction I got upon reading your question.
It all depends on what kind of student you will be as to whether you should temper your major. I’ve known students who were chomping at the bit and wanting the challenge of difficult science courses. Many of them wanted to go into research. I’ve also known kids who just wanted to get into med school. Plus all degradations in between. I’d see how it goes at whatever school.
I seem to know more research oriented premeds at Vanderbilt than UNC, by the way. Although UNC has courses right up to any difficulty level, that Vanderbilt is connected to a top research hospital leads to great opportunities in that area for the top of the top.
@sbdad12 @cptofthehouse
Thanks a lot for your quick and thoughtful replies. I feel UNC too has a great hospital in the campus for research and shadowing opportunities
Vanderbilt is a wonderful school…but there are thousands of kids out there who were crying back in March about not being able to get into UNC…it’s considered one of the premiere pre-med & med schools in the country (trivia: the singer James Taylor’s father was dean of UNC Medical School…which is when he wrote Carolina on My Mind thinking about his childhood)…take the UNC offer and congratulations indeed!
@SouthernHope
Thanks a lot for your advise.
UNC. med school is expensive, save the money. vandy is an amazing school but it is not worth triple the price whatsoever.
As a Carolina scholar you’ll get perks that’ll help you manage your schedule and get opportunities.
BTW the trick is to take your first semester easy - don’t take three weedout courses all at once. Take General Chemistry and Calculus, not General biology for instance. Learn whether calculus 2 is “the”, math weeder, or whether the honors version of it is proof-based.
I have heard BIO 101 H is a new introduction this year. I am planning to take BIO 101 (non honors) and may take Cal 2 honors. I have done well in Calc AB/BC(5 and 5) and Cal III/ Def Eq in high school.
Is Calc in UNC much harder than calc in high school?
Take the win of getting an offer from Vandy- and keep that $200K dry for med school (see if your parents will cut you a deal that anything you don’t spend on college/grad school will come to you by way of a down payment on a house!).
As for calc in college, it partly depends on your HS, ofc, and how well you take to Calc in general. The big difference is the speed- college is typically a lot faster- and the amount you are meant to do for yourself- and that is true for all of your college courses.
So: never get behind. Work in advance. You will get a pretty detailed syllabus for every class- do the reading before class, not after Go to every TA section, etc. If you tank on a quiz / test / assignment go to the TA/prof immediately- and don’t be slow to use any support going- math labs / writing centers / etc. Watch out for midterm crunches, where every class has a lot due at the same time.
Fwiw, if you have had a rigorous HS, you may find 1st semester CH not too hard- maybe easier than the last part of HS…do not be fooled! it will ramp up when you aren’t watching 
Then, consideribg your background, take Calculus 3 at UNC (never a weeder even if it’s typically hard) and Honors Bio (honors classes aren’t weedout since the selection took place before you even registered and honors bio will give you the background you need).
The big difference will be the pace, but if you take 4 classes (+ a possible “adjust to college/honors” seminar) you’ll be ok.
Thanks for all your help. I chose UNC