UGA vs Georgia Tech vs Vanderbilt for Premed

[futurebio]

I have applied to UGA Biology Honors, GIT/Georgia Tech Biology, Vanderbilt Biology . I want to join MCG medical school or any other MD medical school upon completion of graduation with bio major. I have the following questions for alumni of above colleges/any other. I will be paying same price for all the three colleges per my estimation. I visited all three and liked all three . Please let me know which college is good for premed among the three for me in terms of GPA, research opportunities and curriculum ( which prepares you for MCAT) . Thank You in advance for your response.

1. Does UGA Honors provide research opportunities for undergraduates in the field of bio ? How valuable are these research opportunities when compare to Vandy and Georgia Tech research opportunities.
2. I heard that Georgia Tech restricts A, A+ s only to very few top (10 ) students in each subject/class because it is a tech /engg school. In this case how hard is getting 3.6 GPA for a bio major in Georgia Tech College of Sciences ?
3. Does Georgia Tech provide research opportunities only in bio medical engg or Does it provide research in non engg biology ? I am not interested in engg field.
4. Does getting 3.6 GPA in Vandy Biology major is difficult (same like in Georgia Tech/John Hopkins/Washu ) ? I mean does Vandy also restrict the A/A+ to very few top (10) students.

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[chilly_md]

Large state schools, particularly the honors programs, have the opportunities available to get research and ECs. Its more important that you had some hands-on work with experiments as opposed to washing glassware for a famous lab. Go to UGA if you don't want to worry as much about grade deflation or how only the top X% get A's. If you are not interesting in engineering, you probably would want to avoid Georgia Tech as they probably require a lot of extra calc and physics classes vs the regular requirements most schools have. Vandy was notorious for having tough exams and curves, not sure how it is now. I would say it is similarly difficult to Wash U.

For the MCAT, you are going to have to study on your own anyway if you want to do well.

 

[futurebio]

Large state schools, particularly the honors programs, have the opportunities available to get research and ECs. Its more important that you had some hands-on work with experiments as opposed to washing glassware for a famous lab. Go to UGA if you don't want to worry as much about grade deflation or how only the top X% get A's. If you are not interesting in engineering, you probably would want to avoid Georgia Tech as they probably require a lot of extra calc and physics classes vs the regular requirements most schools have. Vandy was notorious for having tough exams and curves, not sure how it is now. I would say it is similarly difficult to Wash U.

For the MCAT, you are going to have to study on your own anyway if you want to do well.

Thank You for the suggestion.

 

[JohnJacobJingleheimer]

Go to Vandy 100%. It is far and away better than the other two schools here, without question. Its name is mentioned among the top institutions in the nation; those conversations have never included the other 2. There will be all of the resources you need to get into the best med schools in the country if you do well there. Having the vandy name will also look good on your CV, whether people like to admit that or not. Nothing wrong with going to a state school, but neither of the Georgia schools carry the same clout as Vanderbilt.

 

[mediocrestudent97]

Yeah I agree ^ between the 3 Vandy by far will look the best as far as academic rigor goes. It's true that you'll have to study for the MCAT alone but going to a more challenging pre-med program with tougher classes can make studying for the exam a lot easier when the time comes. Good luck!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Wait until you have acceptances and financial aid offers in hand. Vanderbilt has become much more competitive for UG in recent years and is now in a category of schools in which nobody is a shoe in for admission.

If you’re set medicine, I’d lean UGA. If you could switch, then Vanderbilt

 

[planet]

I minored in Bio at Georgia Tech and have a friend who majored in Bio. Georgia Tech is definitely seen as an extremely rigorous school, at least in the south/GA. To answer your second question, it wouldn't be too difficult to get a 3.6+ at GT in Bio. A lot of the engineering courses do grade on a curve but most of the Bio courses don't need to from my recollection. There aren't any extra calc or physics classes you'd need to take as a Bio major. For your third question, GT has a ton of research experiences in the College of Sciences. I did research in biochemistry for several semesters and my friend worked in a few different labs as well. I didn't love GT as a school personally, but it definitely won't hurt you if you're trying to go to MCG. Several of my classmates ended up at MCG. Just keep in mind that the pre-med community at GT is smaller so the pre-med advising may be less developed than UGA or Vanderbilt.

 

[futurebio]

Thank You all for your helpful advice.

 

[Dogruffle01]

Team Vandy.. Research powerhouse, top ranked school, and has a good school life. Final note: In the event you don't want to do medicine, they are good at other fields so you would still be competitive in finance, tech etc.

 

[Kmani6]

Keep in mind Vandy UG classes are difficult. My friend went to Northeastern and coasted with a 4.0 GPA before transferring to Vandy and she found the classes much harder to get A's. The average science GPA for Vandy UG's who applied to medical school last year was ~3.43. I'd imagine it would be pretty hard to sustain a very high GPA as opposed to your state school.

 

[Dogruffle01]

Keep in mind Vandy UG classes are difficult. My friend went to Northeastern and coasted with a 4.0 GPA before transferring to Vandy and she found the classes much harder to get A's. The average science GPA for Vandy UG's who applied to medical school last year was ~3.43. I'd imagine it would be pretty hard to sustain a very high GPA as opposed to your state school.

In that case, don't go op.

People rave about how if you like your major a hard school will be bearable... Well you know what more fun then studying Orgo II for 5 extra hours, playing call of duty or working out. Having gone to a " grade deflation" school, its just not worth the extra headaches. You will have your whole life to study hard stuff and worry about grades, no need to start now.

 

[JohnJacobJingleheimer]

Keep in mind Vandy UG classes are difficult. My friend went to Northeastern and coasted with a 4.0 GPA before transferring to Vandy and she found the classes much harder to get A's. The average science GPA for Vandy UG's who applied to medical school last year was ~3.43. I'd imagine it would be pretty hard to sustain a very high GPA as opposed to your state school.

Correct. This is just a result of how many of the top 20 schools curve their premed classes. Emory uses a similar curving system to Vandy, I believe, where the class average is curved to a B-. Thus, the average student in each class gets a 2.7 added on to their GPA.

You can see how this would be a disadvantage, considering I believe the average student at any of these schools is still quite intelligent and capable of being a doctor. However, I do think a student that graduates w a 3.6 from a top 20 is viewed differently than a 3.6 elsewhere. Just my two cents and something that was confirmed to me by my academic advisor (who is on the adcom of a top 20 med school).

 

[laupaw27]

I just graduated from Tech with BS Biology and BS ALIS (basically just majoring in Spanish) in 3.5 years with a 3.85 GPA. There is certainly not a limitation like what you describe on how many people get As. We also don’t do A+/-, just the letters. There are a TON of premeds here; it’s not terribly difficult to maintain a high GPA, get good research opportunities, and get into med school. I was pre-vet, so I had very little support because of how rare that is but I was still accepted to a great vet school. I think you can really play the Tech name, as well as the influence of the more techy stuff you’ll do and how that makes you a unique applicant. As a bio major, extra weird courses you have to take are just linear algebra and physics II, but most med schools to my knowledge require physics II anyway. Our physics II class is notoriously hard, so a lot of student choose to cross-enroll it at Georgia State and transfer it over.

I think Tech was an awesome choice for me for classes, reputation, and research opportunities. Feel free to DM with any questions!

 

[chilly_md]

I just graduated from Tech with BS Biology and BS ALIS (basically just majoring in Spanish) in 3.5 years with a 3.85 GPA. There is certainly not a limitation like what you describe on how many people get As. We also don’t do A+/-, just the letters. There are a TON of premeds here; it’s not terribly difficult to maintain a high GPA, get good research opportunities, and get into med school. I was pre-vet, so I had very little support because of how rare that is but I was still accepted to a great vet school. I think you can really play the Tech name, as well as the influence of the more techy stuff you’ll do and how that makes you a unique applicant. As a bio major, extra weird courses you have to take are just linear algebra and physics II, but most med schools to my knowledge require physics II anyway. Our physics II class is notoriously hard, so a lot of student choose to cross-enroll it at Georgia State and transfer it over.

I think Tech was an awesome choice for me for classes, reputation, and research opportunities. Feel free to DM with any questions!

The OP has already chosen their college by this point as they posted this a year ago. Closing thread.