Hi! I’m a graduating HS senior from Virginia who is narrowing down their college decision.
Right now, I’m deciding between a full-ride scholarship (along with some other enrichment opportunities) at Virginia Tech for the neuroscience major. I also got into UNC with no merit aid, no honors or special program. I know that UNC is better ranked overall, better ranked in pre-med, and has more clinical opportunities compared to VT.
My family can afford UNC OOS undergrad, but I may need to take out loans for about one year of medical school (I wouldn’t need to if I went to VT).
What would you pick? Thanks in advance, any guidance or advice would be really appreciated.
Is this a question? ie full ride so you are including room and board, this saving likely $240-250k at a world class school that has the highest ranked food and imho is the nicest campus in America. Adding to this they have a school of neuro.
What was your question again ?
If it was vcu the answer would be the same.
Med school is pricey. And where you go matters less. Gpa and mcat matter. Shadowing matters so find out from Va tech.
But this isn’t really a question. Whether one can afford or not -is not the issue here. You still don’t spend for unnecessary reasons.
Get qualified as an EMT this summer and join the VaTech Rescue Squad. You’ll get plenty of clinical opps during term & can do other types over the summers.
Have you contacted the school to ask how this works?
And what makes you assured UNC has them - and readily.
Ask each pre med advisor for placement stats. And shadowing. As I recall, there was a Pitt vs. VT for neuro - and you can find it or check on it - but I believe VT has shadowing opportunities in the campus health center. In fact, I found it - link below.
But there’s really no question here - and while your parents can afford, have they added hundreds of thousands more for med school?
There’s no question on this one. But don’t make assumptions - research if you have concerns.
I’d easily pick VT in this situation. The money saved can be used for so many other things for your parents, or if they share it, for you (car, house downpayment - or house itself pending location, trips, etc).
VT is more than capable of getting students into med schools if they do their part with grades, etc, plus it’s a great place to go to school. (Alum bias on that last part )
My daughter was premed at UNC. She volunteered at the hospital on campus and did all of her shadowing at home during breaks. There were plenty of opportunities to volunteer in the community, through clubs etc.
That being said, you were offered an amazing opportunity at VT and I think you should take it. Medical school is very, very expensive and you were offered a tremendous gift at a wonderful school. Congrats!
I know three UNC undergrads who are now in med school and residency. All 3 had to do post-bachelor’s degrees in med-related fields before getting admitted to med school. I don’t think any of the med schools cared about where they did their undergrad.
Speaking of VCU though, did you apply to their guaranteed acceptance program for their medical school? That sounds pretty awesome for someone who’s sure they want to go to med school. Too late to apply but just in case there are any 24’s who come across this thread…
Thanks! I did apply to the VCU guaranteed Admission program, but I didn’t get it; most students who got into the program typically have 450 to 500 hours of relevant healthcare experience in high school itself…
Yep, it’s super, super competitive, but if you got a full ride to VT I’d assume you are one of those competitive students. You should be super proud of yourself.
To me the only reason to choose UNC over VT is if something about VT puts you off that you don’t think you’d be able to thrive there. It has a very good STEM program (have you checked out the Integrated Science Curriculum?), and I’ve read through a number of student profiles that go on to very good medical schools. So you’d be in great shape, and you can save that money to have less medical school debt, which will be huge.
My son will be a freshman at VT next year, so I’m obviously biased.
I went to grad school at UVa, so I’m biased against both of these schools. But if these were my options, I’d take the money at VT. UNC is a fine school, but I don’t think it offers anything that is worth an extra $200k+ over four years.
I am not being rude, but why is this a question if you are even considering medical school? Medical school is expensive. You have been given the gift of free college at a premier university. Take it.
As I have explained before, I am a lawyer. My wife is a pediatrician. Neither of us had loans for undergraduate. Both of us had loans for professional school. It took us 20 years to repay those loans. We had an awesome rate of 2.25% (good luck ever getting that!). We repaid over $200K. It is paid, but think about what we could have done with that money.
Now…if you went to UNC, you would pile debt on top of debt. Worse, education costs are higher as are interest rates. Does future you really want that debt because some magazine says UNC is slightly better than VaTech?
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