(Semi)International Student

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therebehl

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Hi everyone, I don't know if this is the appropriate thread to post this, if not can someone direct me somewhere else.
I'm planning to be a pre-med student in college and have narrowed down my options to Virginia Commonwealth University(VCU) and Virginia Tech; I was waitlisted at University of Virginia. I have received a 45k merit-based scholarship form VCU but didn't get anything from VT. My main concern is that I'm currently on a H-4 visa and still haven't received my EAD. I have no idea when and how long it will take to get our green card even though I have lived in the United States for nearly 10 years; I have attended an American institution of education pretty much my whole like. I would be majoring in biomedical engineering at VCU with a pre-med track that VCU is somewhat known for. At VT, I would be majoring in Industrial Systems Engineering (ISE) which is ranked 6th in the nation and would take the required pre-med requisites to still have a chance to apply to med school. With VT, I would have a wonderful backup just in case med school doesn't work out. I With VCU, I feel like I would be gambling a lot even though the 45k would be extremely helpful as H-4 visa holders are not allowed to receive government aid. I also understand that Engineering is extremely difficult to maintain a good GPA in for med school so I have no idea what to do. If someone could give me their two cents about what the best path of choice would be, I would be very appreciative. I'm extremely confused as to what I should do. Thanks!

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Is med school really the only thing you can do with the biomed engineering + pre-med track at VCU? If I were you, I'd ask the school what graduates from that program go on to do if they don't go to med school. Also, you would be able to change your major at VCU if you realized early on that medicine isn't for you, right?
I would go where the money is if I were you. I assume you/your parents would have to take out private loans otherwise, right?
 
Just FYI that VCU med school does not take non-canadian international students
 
You need to determine what YOU value and how these two schools stack up.

What I did 30+ years ago when I was faced with a similar choice was to make a list of the attributes I valued such as cost, location, reputation, career opportunities, etc on the left sideof a piece of notebook paper and made a column for each school. In each cell I put a - or a +, ++, +++, or ++++. I felt this was a better visual than Arabic numerals. I suppose you could also use colors. Anyway, you make your list, you judge each school against your list, and you'll have the answer that is right for YOU.
 
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