UM or UCF?

[Flakey22]

I've narrowed my colleges down to UCF and UM, and I'm pretty sure I want to go to Med school at this point. The only other profession I would want to do besides medicine is law.

I'm from Miami, and I'm basically tired of the city, but I think UM would be a lot better for pre-med and they have neuroscience, a major that I would like to take, specifically psychobiology. I missed the neuroscience major by ten points on my SAT, and so have to try and get in after freshmen year if I attend. I've visited both campuses more than once, and I like the UCF campus more than UM. I personally believe I'll be more happy at UCF, even though UM is in a party city, beaches close by, and I've been a fan of their sports since birth. The only thing that's really pushing me away from UM is the cost...I got a 50% scholarship, which is really good, but even with my scholarships and financial aid, I will still be paying $24,000 a year. With loans offered by the government, it'll be $19,000, and in today's economy that's a scary number.

Is it worth it to pay this amount of money to go to UM, a better school academically and a lot more personal in size, or save money for grad school and go to UCF for free? I'll probably graduate UM in $20,000+ debt too.

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[ksmi117]

If you like UCF better and it's free, I'd say this isn't a hard decision. Grad schools don't care much about where you attended undergrad or what your major was. Go where you'll be most happy.

 

[DLi]

If you like UCF better and it's free, I'd say this isn't a hard decision. Grad schools don't care much about where you attended undergrad or what your major was. Go where you'll be most happy.

I concur with this advice. I have several buddies currently in UCF and they say they love the campus, the student life, and the classes are pretty easy. If you get a high GPA and high MCAT score, the advantage you get from going to UM does not outweigh the extra $20,000 in debt.

 

[orangeANDgreen]

UCF isn't as friendly as UM's campus would be. Most people commute to UCF and live in the surrounding area. But UCF is definitely on the upward trend, especially with their new med school. I'm from Orlando, but go to UM and if the difference is 20k per year, id go with UCF

 

[135892]

Is it worth it to pay this amount of money to go to UM...

No

UM really isn't that great of a school (no where close to being worth $20 grand at the very least) and UCF is very much on the rise.

 

[orangeANDgreen]

No
UM really isn't that great of a school (no where close to being worth $20 grand at the very least) and UCF is very much on the rise.

I would say Miami is on the rise as much, if not more so than UCF. They are filling positions with people from Duke and Michigan, and expanding to build an entire state of the art research complex in the next few years (Life Sciences Park).

Classes are small, I have 15 people in my spanish class and 18 in my english, something UCF probably can't really offer, or any other big name school in florida for that matter

Research is always progressing, they help to match freshmen in labs, and the overall campus staff is great, absolutely no wait lines for pretty much anything you need or want to ask of any of the departments

So I would say you definitely are getting a lot more by going to UM rather than UCF, it just how much value do you give the extra stuff UM have to offer

 

[135892]

I would say Miami is on the rise as much, if not more so than UCF. They are filling positions with people from Duke and Michigan, and expanding to build an entire state of the art research complex in the next few years (Life Sciences Park).

Classes are small, I have 15 people in my spanish class and 18 in my english, something UCF probably can't really offer, or any other big name school in florida for that matter

Research is always progressing, they help to match freshmen in labs, and the overall campus staff is great, absolutely no wait lines for pretty much anything you need or want to ask of any of the departments

So I would say you definitely are getting a lot more by going to UM rather than UCF, it just how much value do you give the extra stuff UM have to offer

Well, I'm assuming you go to UM, so obviously you would know better than me. But personally, I wouldn't pay that much go there. Now if you had a full scholarship to UM, it would be a completely different story. And I didn't say that UCF was a better school than UM necessarily, but that UCF was a better value. "More bang for your buck" as they say...

But I don't go to UCF nor UM... I go to the real "U" in Florida

 

[Flakey22]

Thanks for the replies so far. It's nice to get some insight from someone at UM.

I actually got to shadow a student at UM for their Cane 4 a Day program, and the class sizes were amazingly low. I'm actually thinking that UM would prepare me a lot more for Med school, and that since my class size is relatively small, I'd be able to learn more and get closer to the professors. But the money I'd be paying is pretty steep. My mom would have to work two jobs, six days a week, and some of the money we were saving for college was in the stocks so...Yeah, I'm basically looking at barely making it if I attend UM versus total financial freedom, and getting a car with the saved money.

 

[nlax30]

Thanks for the replies so far. It's nice to get some insight from someone at UM.

I actually got to shadow a student at UM for their Cane 4 a Day program, and the class sizes were amazingly low. I'm actually thinking that UM would prepare me a lot more for Med school, and that since my class size is relatively small, I'd be able to learn more and get closer to the professors. But the money I'd be paying is pretty steep. My mom would have to work two jobs, six days a week, and some of the money we were saving for college was in the stocks so...Yeah, I'm basically looking at barely making it if I attend UM versus total financial freedom, and getting a car with the saved money.

Forget about any place "preparing" your for med school. Won't happen. And as for the class size...... I went to FSU and never had an issue with the class sizes. Sure, the main lectures for the big classes such as chem and bio may have had 100+ students, but the lab class sizes were very small, and most of my other classes like english, spanish, upper level bio, were all relatively small. Just because you go to a large public univ. doesn't mean you're going to be in 200 person lecture halls all the time.

The interaction with the professors could be a fairly solid reason to consider UM. I didn't go there (have had family and friends go there though) so I don't have any 1st hand experience, but with less students overall there may be a slight advantage in having professors who may be a little less busy with classes. That said, I never had an issue going to see any of my professors, and at these large schools there are tons of research opportunities available, you can be as involved as you want to be, no matter where you go.

All that to say I'd lean toward UCF. It's undergrad, just do really well, get some good rec letters, and do well on the MCAT. It may not matter a whole lot to you right now but money and loans can be a HUGE issue.... You mentioned $20,000+ in debt? But you said you'd still be paying ~$19,000 in tuition? No, you need to look at it as ~$80,000 in debt.

I just wouldn't be able to get past the financial aspect of this. In Florida we have some great bargains with FSU, UF, and UCF with each offering a LOT of opportunities. Just can't justify that kind of money for undergrad unless it was a very specific/unique program only offered there that I just had to have.

 

[orangeANDgreen]

I go to the real "U" in Florida

alright louis murphy, you've got 1 more year on top and you'll be back to 2nd in the state

 

[orangeANDgreen]

My mom would have to work two jobs, six days a week

take out a loan instead of having her do this, and did u get the bright futures/frag?

 

[DwyaneWade]

Go to UCF

I went to UM on full scholarship and had a great time, but in all honesty UCF is a very nice school as well and the money difference is significant. You really are not going to be better prepared coming from UM than UCF for grad school.

 

[Flakey22]

take out a loan instead of having her do this, and did u get the bright futures/frag?

I'm eligible for $3,500 subsidized Stafford loans, and $2,000 unsubsidized Stafford loans. I'm wary of getting any other loans since I'll be taking on more debt at higher interest rates. My parents are also not eligible for alternative loans or PLUS.

The financial aid I have is the Dean's scholarship ($16,000 a year), the full bright futures, and the FRAG, which totals to just about $23,000 a year. I'm only taking into account the tuition, room and board (including meal plan), and books at UM that I have to pay for.

 

[orangeANDgreen]

have you visited UCF?

 

[135892]

alright louis murphy, you've got 1 more year on top and you'll be back to 2nd in the state

And OP, I wouldn't worry so much about the class size issue. I go to a HUGE school, and I've had classes with less than 30 students starting my freshman year (and this was calc 2 nonetheless, so it wasn't even one of those "bs" classes). Although of course, the intro chem and bio classes were pretty large (~300 people per section). But once you get to the upper division courses, the class sizes become very reasonable, ranging from about 20-50 students. When I was choosing a school, I had these same misconceptions about class sizes, but in my opinion it absolutely should NOT be a factor in your decision. Of course, this isn't to say that there absolutely aren't any negatives of going to such a large school, but all I can say is that I've enjoyed my time at one. And in my opinion, the only reason to pay a lot for a school is for the prestige factor. For medicine this doesn't matter so much, but if you want to go into politics, or finance especially, it would be a worthwhile investment. But of course, Miami nor UCF carry too much prestige when compared to Princeton, Stanford, Yale, etc...

Best of luck in your decision.

 

[Flakey22]

have you visited UCF?

Yeah, once to walk around, another for the admitted students open house, and I went a third time with my friends to check out the area and hang out with the students there to get a feel for the atmosphere. I enjoyed the actual campus more than UM since it's brand new and I'll also have really nice dorms there (the Towers). It seems more of a resort than an actual college. UM is nice, but to me it's nothing special since I'm used to the weather and city, and some of its facilities are kind of run down. I've also visited the campus there three times, two open houses and the Cane 4 a Day, so I was able to actually see the classrooms. I'm also leaning towards UM because of its following. I'd really enjoy being part of the U.

When it comes down to it, it's all about the money and if it's worth it to shell out that much as compared to free...

And OP, I wouldn't worry so much about the class size issue. I go to a HUGE school, and I've had classes with less than 30 students starting my freshman year (and this was calc 2 nonetheless, so it wasn't even one of those "bs" classes). Although of course, the intro chem and bio classes were pretty large (~300 people per section). But once you get to the upper division courses, the class sizes become very reasonable, ranging from about 20-50 students. When I was choosing a school, I had these same misconceptions about class sizes, but in my opinion it absolutely should NOT be a factor in your decision. Of course, this isn't to say that there absolutely aren't any negatives of going to such a large school, but all I can say is that I've enjoyed my time at one. And in my opinion, the only reason to pay a lot for a school is for the prestige factor. For medicine this doesn't matter so much, but if you want to go into politics, or finance especially, it would be a worthwhile investment. But of course, Miami nor UCF carry too much prestige when compared to Princeton, Stanford, Yale, etc...

Best of luck in your decision.

Thanks, this is pretty reassuring, since that's my biggest qualm about UCF. That and their sports..