I have been accepted into the above colleges (University of Florida, University of South Florida, Florida State University, and University of Central Florida) and I have to make a decision on which one to attend. I am not sure which one is my best option. I will be entering the pre-med program at whichever college I choose.
UCF and FSU both offered me around $2000 per year, while USF offered me $4,000 per year. UF did not offer anything at all.
I have visited and seen USF, UCF, and UF, so I am familiar with those campuses. I am not much of a partier.
I am just looking for some advice! Anything would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT: I forgot to mention, as I am an in-state resident all of the colleges are fairly inexpensive and will have Bright Futures (Florida scholarship) so the prices do not make too much of a difference.
@Gator88NE@SouthFloridaMom9 either biology (at FSU/UF) or biomedical sciences at (USF/UCF). I do kinda like the idea of the biomedical sciences (you take classes for your major that are meant for pre-med, pre-dental, pre-PA, etc. students). Since I eventually hope to go to medical school, I know that networking and the connections that come with each school are not as beneficially, say if I was doing engineering or computer sciences instead.
There are multiple parents on CC with kids who have gone to medical school - maybe one of them will chime in. But one thing I’ve picked up from reading their comments is that GPA is very important, so you’ll want to go where you can do well.
On the other hand, if there’s a chance you won’t go to med school, which school would give you the best employment opportunities straight out of UG?
@SouthFloridaMom9 I know for sure that I want to go into a health field, be it medical school or dental or PA. Those would be what my backup plans, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I do believe that those are GPA based too.
I honestly don’t know what else I would do if it is not medicine/health-related. I can’t see myself doing much else and enjoying it.
Thanks for your response! I wanted to get some responses (without including my experience touring the schools), before I brought up my opinion of the tours. So here it is:
I have been to UCF and UF multiple times for various reasons (competitions and such) and I’ll be honest. I wasn’t too impressed by UF. I didn’t really like the campus and Gainesville all that much. UCF has a nice campus, but it’s way too big for me. I think that 30,000 students is a lot at some of the other schools, and UCF has close to 60,000.
I visited USF and I like the campus and I know that Tampa has a lot more to do than just the typical college scene. I have not been to FSU, so I don’t have any insight there. Also, I don’t know how the pre-med advising differs at each school. I assume that UF and USF probably have the better advising and pre med program only because their medical schools have been around a lot longer than UCF and FSU.
UF is nationally ranked way higher, and has much better graduation rates and other stats than all the others on your list. Academically it is in a different league from all accounts and will most likely be much more rigorous.
One of my cousins graduated from med school a few years ago. He is a CA resident so i can only give you CA examples but it should communicate the point. From what he told me, GPA matters a ton, college prestige not as much but if you get a 4.0 at UCLA and a 4.0 at a UC Merced, you should logically expect the UCLA kid to have a much greater chance of admission.
I would also recommend you research the resources to supplement your education at each of these places. A buddy’s son just entered med school a few months back and he got the opportunity to do intensive research while at undergrad level within the university’s med school - he went to Pitt. This also helped him tremendously when applying to med schools. UF has a very established med school and they also have other centers like the McKnight Brain Institute. If you get to do undergrad research it will matter.
If you are seriously interested in medicine, go to a school that helps increase the probability for acceptance into med schools. And has resources to prepare you best as well. Going to the easiest colleges might help your GPA but there are other aspects as well.
@khanam I did forget to mention that I was accepted into the USF Honors college. That allows me access to other, more specific advisors and first choice class registration among other things too.
Wonder if @mom2collegekids has any thoughts (hate to impose on you m2ck, but thank you if you do!). Premed planning seems very important.
UF campus might leave something to be desired, but that’s because they don’t have to get in the campus arms race due to the demand for UF. Just speculation on my part though. I respect that the quality of education is UF’s focus (not taking anything away from USF though).
I am a,so looking at these four schools for pre med but am only a high school junior. I personally like Uf and Usf the best. Fsu is also good but not for me due to personal reasons. I have been told by two people not to do pre med at Ucf due to large quantity of students trying to take the same classes. I have heard that a large portion of Uf students are pre med and it it tends to be very competitive. They are always listed highly for schools that send the most student APPLICATIONS to med school(I phrased this weirdly). The scholarship also makes Usf cheaper and I really like the biomedical science program there. I think it makes it easy to double major as most of the BMS required courses are pre med courses also. Personally, I would make the decision between Uf and Usf on personal factors. For me:
Uf campus>Usf campus but Tampa>Gainesville
Good luck in whichever you choose!
@khanam I wasn’t considering it as my SAT scores are on the low end for the Honors program. @pitt2021 Thanks for your response! I do like the fact that USF has the BMS major. That is pretty nice. I agree that Tampa is a lot better than Gainesville.
One other thing I forgot to mention is that I am thinking of doing a public health minor as that may be beneficial for my future career. I know that I have to compare the education quality between the schools. So do you all think that I should probably narrow it down to USF and UF? or keep FSU and UCF in the running?
It’s all up to you and where you think you’ll succeed! I really like Ucf and if I was doing engineering I would gladly go there. However, I also like the other schools and think overall I would do better at the others.
I’m really hoping a med school parent chimes in.