My daughter got into many great schools but has narrowed down her choice to VCU where she got a full tuition scholarship and acceptance into the guaranteed medicine program and UNC Chapel Hill where we would have to pay the full tuition. She is really having a tough time deciding. She is “95% sure she wants to be a neurologist” so GMED seems to be a great option (not even accounting for the tuition free scholarship). However, she is worried about the prestige and opportunities from
VCU should she ultimately decide she doesn’t want to be a doctor. She also loves the UNC campus, school spirit and sports scene but is a bit concerned about what is described as extremely treacherous weed out classes. I am too close to give her good advice. We can afford the difference in price if she chooses UNC although saving the funds for Med school would be nice. Does anyone have advice for her as a student or me as a parent?
As a NC resident who has visited UNC hundreds of times and who fell in love with VCU while visiting with my son when touring colleges in 2020, I put in a strong vote for VCU.
UNC is nice and has the “ooh” factor when telling friends where you’re going. But VCU is a fine school in its own right and the other factors personal to your situation make it a better choice IMO.
Congratulations on the two great options!
Thank you!
Congrats! Take the money and run!
I wish it were that simple😊
So she 95% wants to be a neurologist - it may be 25% because what kid really knows at 17/18 but she has the guaranteed medicine option.
And free tuition.
And we are debating this because some think UNC is a primo name ?
So she gets a neuro degree from UNC. But no medical school. Then what ?
Grad school. Generic job that anyone from any liberal arts school would get ?
VCU wins if she goes medical. Outcome wise, if she doesn’t go medical, other than a bit of prestige, I’m not sure what she’d actually lose. She’ll likely end up in a similar place to a UNC grad with the same major.
If you’re OOS, that’s going to be $170k-$190k - just to say you’re a Tar Heel instead of a Ram. And with no assurance of anything outcome wise.
Seems silly to me!!
Congrats to her on earning such a fine opportunity.
Thank you
Here are the requirements to retain the guaranteed medical school admission at VCU: Requirements - Honors College - Virginia Commonwealth University
As onerous as it seems, wouldn’t a student have to be at similar levels anyway to get into another grad school ?
Thanks. We have those and they seem very reasonable, especially since those (or more - such as higher GPAs and MCATs) are typically required of applicants, but the program ensures a spot for medical school without the stress of applications.
Here are the things to consider:
-
By the time this student starts medical school, it will cost about $100,000 a year. So…if you are thinking about helping with costs for that, consider what those costs will likely be.
-
There are some firm criteria to progress to the medical school at VCU…it’s not exactly automatic. Sure, the student doesn’t have to “apply”. But they must have a minimum GPA and MCAT score to progress.
-
Is OOS full cost of tuition at UNC CH within your annual budget without taking out any college loans at all for undergrad school?
-
I hate to ask this….but are there any other options beside full pay at UNC, and full tuition at VCU?
-
My free advice is to take medical school out of the equation. Pick the school that fits the kid best.
First of all, CONGRATULATIONS… VCU guaranteed med program is very difficult to get into, and a huge accomplishment. UNC-CH is also a great school.
This is a no brainer to me… take the scholarship and the guaranteed med school acceptance. This is both a huge cost savings, and a guaranteed med school program should provide some wiggle room to lower the stress of undergrad for a pre-med student.
VCU has a very good reputation for it’s med school and it is putting a lot more money into it’s research program. My son was accepted to their biomedical engineering program, and was very seriously considering before he got ED into VT (he’s not sure what kind of engineering he wants to do)…
One of my son’s soccer teammates has an older sister who mismanaged her applications (she was high stats and did not apply to a true safety), and was shut out of her schools initially and they had to scramble to find a college for her. So she applied to VCU (also biomedical engineering), got in with the intention of transferring after her freshman year… however she fell in love with it and can’t imagine being anywhere else. She was doing research, and observing brain surgery her freshman year. They are thrilled with the school, the academic rigor of the classes and the opportunities she’s getting.
My sister went to UNC-CH, and loved it, but for an aspiring med school student, I can’t imagine a better situation than a full ride at VCU and guaranteed acceptance to their med school.
Thank you!
There are other options like in-state at UVA and W&M but she doesn’t really want to go to either of those for various reasons.
Mom, you have to also provide your input because this decision does involve your future dollars.
We paid $240+ K for four years, but that didn’t include all of the “extras” that came with those fees.
While she was preparing for med school, we helped pay for one year of rent, car maintenance (to get to her medically indigent volunteer sites), car insurance, test fees, (and applications to schools)-that add up, scrubs, stethoscopes and supplies not provided by the hospital, “professional clothing” because wearing jeans and t-shirts under a lab coat doesn’t convey “professional”, interview flights to Austin, Seattle, LA, San Francisco, and Aurora, Colorado. The fees, do add up.
Yes, you love your daughter, but you need to love your future retirement dollars, too. It is expensive for us, as we age, to maintain our health and surprises do come up. She needs to know that your expenses, for her, need to be budgeted.
Good luck!
It doesn’t matter where she goes to school as long as it is affordable and that you both know that she will thrive there.
Even leaving aside the opportunity at VCU, I personally would be salty about full-paying for UNC OOS for a student who has their pick of UVA or W&M at in-state rates. Especially for a generic major like the premed life sciences. Going one state away and paying half again as much… for what? It’s not like she’s admitted to some unique specialty program that these absolutely top-notch in-state schools don’t have.
UVA or W&M vs. her VCU offer would be a more interesting question (although VCU looks awfully compelling in this situation), but turning down the VCU scholarship + med school admission deal to pay almost 60K/year for UNC… it’s hard to see an argument for that, unless money is truly a non-issue for your family.
I am pretty familiar with the VCU medical school. Had a friend’s daughter get into the same “assured” program. My daughter goes to UNC and I know their medical school and research programs well too. And, I am going to leave aside my bias about paying as little as possible for college. That said, please do not turn the VCU offer down. Even if she chooses not to pursue medicine, VCU will offer many opportunities in the biomedical field.
You take VCU in a heartbeat. Let’s assume that your daughter realizes her dream of being a neurologist. I am sure she realizes that requires four years of college, four years of medical school, internship, residency, and more specialization in internship and residency. So, at high school graduation, she would be looking at about sixteen years of education and training before she is properly licensed to practice medicine and make money. During that time, she will have educational, housing, and other expenses. Those can be paid by money she currently has, money she earns, money from you, or loans (most likely this last option). College isn’t cheap; medical school is worse. Any money you can save now is money in the bank. Why? It isn’t just the money you are borrowing, it is the interest that you will owe and the opportunity cost. For example, I am a lawyer and my wife is a pediatrician. We have both been practicing for 20 years. Neither of us had any loans in college. All of our loans were in professional school. It took us 16 years to repay those loans. With interest it cost over $200K (and we had a great interest rate of 2.25%!). What will it be for your daughter? My neighbors are both pediatric oncologists (they work at St. Jude). They borrowed for college. They borrowed for medical school. They got a 100% loan for their house (it’s a really nice house). They even bought a Tesla (bad decision that). All of it on credit. All they do it work. They do not travel. They are constantly exhausted. They are in debt up to their eyeballs (if not beyond). Your daughter has the gift of full scholarship for college. That’s awesome. Some people may think UNC is better. Well, college is, has been, and always will be what you make of it. There are many UNC graduates who have made nothing of themselves. It is up to your daughter to make to the most of her education.
What’s the beef with UVA?
I cannot imagine turning down UVA if you are instate.
The idea of a teenager already knowing she wants to be a neurologist makes me nervous. There are an awful lot of intubating and baby delivering and indigent people throwing up on you in the ER and sawing off a gangrenous leg of a non-compliant diabetic in the D’s future before she gets anywhere NEAR neurology.
But putting that aside… why turn down one of the top public U’s in the country when you are in-state? To me VCU makes sense if it’s med school- and only med school. If there is a scintilla of a chance that your D could decide that public health is more interesting, or that epidemiology gives her the opportunity to save more lives, or that creating robotic arms and programming other devices is more cutting edge-- I’d be evaluating the other options.