UVA vs. UF - worth it to wait until May for waitlisted school?

[Cbnto222]

Hi All,

I'm a URM hispanic male, MCAT 506/516 bilingual Spanish/English, hopefully first doctor in my family. I will have dual degrees - Biology and Philosophy, with minors in Chemistry and Psychology from a state school. I have been accepted to UVA and Creighton (YAY!) but waitlisted to my top choice school UF (Gainesville). I'm debating how to proceed. I just visited UVA for the second look and loved it. I also spoke to the admissions director at UF who told me I was high up on the waitlist so if I was interested, to wait until May. UF is half the price of UVA. I have no idea if I will be given any merit money or discounts? My parents are middle class and live in South Florida, only 5 hours south of Gainesville which is nice. I was given money during undergrad bc of the FAFSA, but they had a good year last year and made 180K since my mom started working and my dad got a promotion. I have 2 small siblings ages 13 and 15.

A big concern i have in waiting until May to decide is housing. If I just accept UVA now, I can start looking for nearby housing now. If I wait until May, I will only have a month or so to find a place to live in either UVA or UF. I would like to find a place that is walking distance so I don't need a car as parking in both school is terrible.

Another big factor for me is how hard is the school? How stressful? I've read and spoken to some UVA students that have told me that their quality of life in UVA is excellent. UVA is very aware and sensitive to mental health and is very helpful to their students by providing take home tests and many other accommodations that make it a great medical school but as least stressful as possible. Also, in UVA think I will be one of the few URM's that is bilingual (English/Spanish) which might make me more useful to the school. In UF, I'm sure there will be a ton of spanish speaking URM's since it's Florida. I think UF might be more work and stressful that UVA but not sure on this because I dont know anyone in medical school there.

I would love to get your feedback on my situation and how you would proceed?

Here are the rest of the schools I have applied to:

· ALL FLORIDA SCHOOLS - waitlisted UCF, waiting on the rest

· Saint Louis University - interviewed and have not heard back

· Georgetown - rejected

· Creighton University - accepted but leaning UVA or UF

· Vanderbilt - applied but have not heard back

· Yale - applied but have not heard back

· Johns Hopkins - applied but have not heard back

- Harvard -applied but have not heard back

- UPenn - applied but have not heard back

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS

· cGPA: 3.8

· sGPA: 3.9

2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown

ATTEMPT 1: 506(124/129/126/127)

ATTEMPT 2: 516 (128/ 127 /130/131)

3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)

· Florida - US Citizen

4. Ethnicity and/or race

· Hispanic - Cuban/Puerto Rican

5. Undergraduate institution or category

· State University - FSU

6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

· Patient Care Technician 1.5 year, ~750 hrs, started and worked during pandemic on the Covid floor of the hospital

7. Research experience and productivity

· 1 Year lab: ~800 hrs, school presentation. No publication

8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented

· 50 hrs - Neonatology

· 32 hrs - Pediatric Surgery

· 16 hrs - Pediatrician

· 32 hrs - Neuroradiologist

· 8 hrs - Plastic Surgery –

· 4 hrs – Infectious Diseases

9. Non-clinical volunteering

· Friday Feed the Homeless: 100 hrs (from freshman year to application time)

· Dance Marathon: 16 hrs

10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

· Vice President - Catholic Student Union

· International Outreach Director/Board Member – AED Premed Honor Society

· Microscopy Photography Enthusiast

· Fisherman/Free Diver

11. Relevant honors or awards

· Special School award given to only top 1% of graduates of this school


let me know if there is anything significantly lacking in terms of ECs. THANKS EVERYONE!!

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[chilly_md]

let me know if there is anything significantly lacking in terms of ECs. THANKS EVERYONE!!

I am not sure why you are asking this after you’ve gotten some acceptances and are waiting to hear back from other interviews. Your app was well received.

You could wait to see what financial aid you get from UVA in April and then it’s just another month or so to hear back from the UF waitlist. Looking now wouldn’t help too much as you likely would need to start your lease and be paying them within a month. They won’t hold the property for you till summer. You could look into seeing if there’s graduate student housing provided by the university and if many med students are able to get a spot.

 

[traveler15]

I would accept UVA for now and wait to hear from UF. Many people do not sign leases until after May anyway. You can try to negotiate money out of UVA with ur other acceptances. But if you like UF the best then definitely stay on the waitlist, especially if you are high up.

 

[Cbnto222]

Big thankyou to @greatwhiteshark18 and @chilly_md for your answers! i really appreciate it. i think i'm leaning to just waiting until May. i dont really mind. it's my parents who are stressed bc they are thinking since i will be there for 5+ years it might be best to buy than throw away all that rent money. REnt is SUPER expensive in both UVA and UF. so if we buy a 2/2 and rent out the other room, we might just breakeven in 5 years than lose tons of money renting. Do you guys have any advice on getting scholarships? i'm a hispanic male URM. Do you think any school will actually give me money if my parents made 180K last year. it sounds like a lot but it really isnt, they have 3 kids and loads of expenses and they live in Miami which is a super high cost of living. DO any of you know which is a more difficult school as far as work load and quality of life, UVA or UF?

 

[chilly_md]

they have 3 kids and loads of expenses and they live in Miami which is a super high cost of living.

Definitely don’t have them buy then. It will also be much harder than they think to also try to rent out the other room and then sell once you start residency.