I’m a VCCS student transferring next year (hopefully spring) with a pretty high gpa but UVA/WM are unrealistic. I could probably get into VT/GMU/JMU with some luck, but I’m looking at guaranteed admission options (application fees are ridiculous in a sub-$30k income household) and right now I have UMW, VCU and CNU (also places like odu/longwood/radford but I don’t want to go to those). I’d honestly really like to go to CNU but I’d take more than 4 semesters in order to complete a bio degree and I really don’t have that money. UMW seems to have some really negative reviews. VCU is probably my best option right now, but I’m curious as to how it compares to other virginia schools, particularly for bio/pre-med students.
Personally I’d day UVA/WM>VT/JMU/GMU/CNU>VCU/UMW>everything else. I feel like an douchebag but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m too good for VCU; would you guys consider it a decent school? I just don’t want to feel like I’m settling.
If you can afford VCU, you can graduate from there in only four more semesters, and you are guaranteed admission, well then you need to have it on your application list. When you find out all of the places you have been admitted, and you have all the financial aid packages in your hands, that would be the time to worry about whether or not VCU is marginally better/worse than the other VA universities for your major and your goals.
What matters for pre-med is solid preparation for the MCAT and opportunities to get the volunteer/shadowing hours in that the med schools will expect. To find out how VCU is doing along those lines, you should have a conversation with the pre-med advisors there. They will be able to look at your record so far, and let you know what it would take to get through their program and into med school.
If you look at stats for accepted students CNU is more selective than JMU and VCU is more selective than GMU. It’s probably because their Art School is #2 in the nation and so many future med students go to VCU with top grades and SATs. You haven’t said what your major is.
http://cnu.edu/premed/psp/index.asp CNU has several special programs in their pre-med advising program including Rocovich Scholar, which you may want to look into. I’m not sure how some of these programs work for a potential CC transfer, but you should contact them and find out since your CC GPA is 3.8. CNU’s sciences building is very new and was one of the nicest I saw when touring schools with my son. I have not seen VCU’s facilities. VCU also has a few programs for pre-meds similar to those that CNU has. You should research those as well. VCU has an affiliated medical center on a separate campus in downtown Richmond. CNU has programs with Riverside hospital, which is directly across the road from CNU.