Hey, I got accepted into USF, and UF decisions come in February. I've done a lot of research and a lot of people say that where you go doesn't matter too much as long as you have a good GPA, MCAT score, and strong EC's. Apparently, it's negligible unless you go to an IV League or something. I was wondering if that's true or not. I've heard from a couple of friends that USF has more hospitals associated with it and more surrounding clinics, so I'd be able to find opportunities to shadow and scribe easier. But the UF pedigree has a lot of weight. UF is apparently a "pre-med weed out" so that could potentially harm my GPA. I don't know how the research opportunities fair for both universities. When I look up pre-med success rates for UF, it shows me about 45%. When I search the same criteria for USF, it doesn't show me the success rates. Can you guys give me some guidance or knowledge about which university would give me the best chance for medical school as a pre-med, assuming I do well and work my butt off at both schools. Thank you so much!!
Which school would be better for pre-med? USF or UF
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I’m at USF. The advisors are ok. Plenty of resources and opportunities. I am currently getting an award from the school for things I did during covid and am getting many volunteer hours with leadership roles and full time clinical employment. Yea USF may not be as prestigious but it’s getting there. It is definitely something I’d think hard about
Thank you for the quick response. Do you know how scribing is at USF, is it competitive since many students want to go into medicine? Also do you recommend USF's MRU? Am I able to apply to these jobs as a freshman?
Idk about scribing. I work for a hospital system that doesn’t use scribes and I’m not sure if Tampa General uses them either. I am biased towards the MRU since I am part of it but it gets clinical volunteer hours. And yea you can do either but MRU needs to be EMR or higher first but UEMSA (University Emergency Medicine Student Association) offers the EMR course every semester and occasionally has volunteer resources.
Oh okay, thank you so much this is very useful!
Any time. Maybe I’ll be the one to interview you if you join the MRU if you come here. Go Bulls!
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The best school for pre-med will be the one where you are the happiest and do the best. What you heard about your success being totally dependent on your performance (GPA, MCAT, ECs, etc.) is 1,000% true. I don't think Ivy League even means anything with respect to giving you a boost -- they have a disproportionately high success rate because they have a disproportionately high number of great applicants, not because they shower their students with magic pixie dust that you just don't have access to at a state school. 🙂
All schools have weed out courses, and plenty of people who enter UG as pre-med either get weeded out or change their mind along the way. UF has a great reputation in FL, but, honestly, it's just another flagship state school. There are 50 of them! 😎
UF's published success rate of 45% is nothing to write home about. The national number for MD is 43%, and the UF number almost certainly includes both DO and Caribbean MD (where the success rate is around 100%). UF and USF are both great schools and will both give you all the opportunities in the world to succeed. Honestly, just pick the one YOU like more, without regard to the supposed prestige of UF or so-called greater opportunities in Tampa. Both schools will give you a great education and all the opportunities you can handle.
If you do in fact work hard and do well, you will be successful no matter where you go. 22,000+ people enter MD school every year, and most of them are not coming from Ivy League or T20 UGs. Good luck!!!
Thank you so much! This was very detailed and made me feel much better about the topic. I think I'd be better off at USF so this helped a lot 😊
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Ivy league, not IV.
Oh, my bad. Thank you
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UF has a lot of pre-med weed out courses, but I think that's common across universities, orgo is never fun (unless you're one of those people). I think I went to the advisor's once for premed stuff? There are TONS of research opportunities at UF, but they can be annoying to find at first, but there is a group here that is dedicated to helping find you research (also if you get into UF Honors there are even more resources to make the premed journey easier). DM if you (or anyone else) has questions about UF, but really go wherever you are most comfortable and maybe look at city size, diversity efforts (I know UF is definitely lacking here), and a ton of other factors
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deleted889094
UF alum here. If you want to ask any questions, fee free to PM me!
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deleted889094
Not to start anything, but I'm surprised they got poor marks for diversity. It always felt very diverse to me. But I think that article is really only talking about black representation. UF has a crazy amount of international students which I enjoyed
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Fair enough, every study has it's limitations, and I'm just a white lady, but I think UF doesn't value diversity and inclusion as much as they like to say they do (granted I don't think many Universities do but still), and feel free to DM if ya want (I think we're not allowed to side track threads in SDN?)
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deleted889094
That's probably true. Most colleges exaggerate
All good, I just wanted to insert my experience for the sake of OP getting as much input as possible. No need to continue
Luv4Medsun
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Hi, I have been accepted to the Judy Genshaft Honors college @USF for Fall 2021. I am interested in the premed/Biology major and wondering what additional opportunities the Honors college will offer. How are the professors at USF? Does the Honors college students attend the same classes as regular students?
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viralpitch
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Hi, I am on the same boat. Got USF honors for Fall 2021 with premed/biology major. Can someone help on how pre-med advising is at USF and also the faculty, research opportunities please
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i think an important thing to consider as well is the class size at UF. UF is a huge school which means tons of pre meds trying to clamor for LORs. I didnt go there for undergrad so idk how competitive it is for LORs, opportunieies etc but just something to keep in mind. I have no doubt youll be able to get LORs and research easily at USF. Plus, if the classes are gonna be easier i would totally go to USF as long as i liked the school and the area.
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damn i just googled it and the difference seems bigger than what you wrote but still inconsequential. Had no idea USF was so big tbh. In that case, i would just go to UF
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Surprised me as well, but not as much as UCF's 60k+
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wait...what lol? thats insane
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Nope --- you were right the first time, you just didn't realize that you're looking at the wrong metric now. 😎
Total Applicants by Institution -- UF - 869 (#3 in the country!) -- USF - 409 -- UCF - 356!!!
The size of the school is irrelevant for this. The number of premeds, as measured by the number of people actually applying, is. If anything, a bigger school is going to have more opportunities. When spread over relatively fewer premeds, that could make a difference.
UF is a premed factory. With 869 applicants last year, you don't have to worry about the school not knowing what you need in order to apply. The two other schools mentioned also know how to mentor applicants, since they are both among the top producers of premeds in the country, even though they are an order of magnitude smaller than UF. The basic advice holds - the best school is the one at which YOU will do best. All of these schools produce many successful candidates each cycle.
viralpitch
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Hi, I got accepted to USF honors for fall 2021 and would like some guidance. Can I have a few minutes to get some guidance one-on-one please?
viralpitch
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Hi, I have a few questions and would like to talk to you please. Thanks. Can you please let me know a convenient time today/tomorrow
Infinite Descent
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Location is everything. I was between UMiami and UF in undergrad, and initially picked UF because of cost. But then, when I went to Gainesville in the summer, I absolutely hated it. It’s nothing but a college town with literally nothing to do. I’m not much of the college frat party type, but I do enjoy going out to bars and clubs. So my decision was made purely based on location. And in fact, that paid off more for me because of the Jackson Health System at Miami, which gives plenty of shadowing opportunities to undergrads. Coupled with diverse city life and tons of research funding, the choice was clear and rather obvious in hindsight.
Now as for the whole UF vs USF dilemma, location becomes the deciding key factor, given that their prestige is practically negligible. I’d rather spend 4 valuable years of my life at Tampa (which is basically a less fancy, but still very nice, version of Miami). USF has an amazing cancer center in the form of Moffitt, which is comparable to the cancer center Miami has (Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center). The research and shadowing opportunities are almost second to none, and far surpass that of UF. And best of all, you don’t have to deal with the small, but non non-significant amount of people who think UF is literally a Public Ivy and one of the best schools in the South (it’s really not). At least from my experience, UF had limited diversity and some of the students seemed a bit uppity to say the least. Go with USF, make the most of your time there, and you might even end up as a USF Med Student!
tl;dr UM > USF > UF, but if money is a factor, USF > UF > UM
Now as for the whole UF vs USF dilemma, location becomes the deciding key factor, given that their prestige is practically negligible. I’d rather spend 4 valuable years of my life at Tampa (which is basically a less fancy, but still very nice, version of Miami). USF has an amazing cancer center in the form of Moffitt, which is comparable to the cancer center Miami has (Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center). The research and shadowing opportunities are almost second to none, and far surpass that of UF. And best of all, you don’t have to deal with the small, but non non-significant amount of people who think UF is literally a Public Ivy and one of the best schools in the South (it’s really not). At least from my experience, UF had limited diversity and some of the students seemed a bit uppity to say the least. Go with USF, make the most of your time there, and you might even end up as a USF Med Student!
tl;dr UM > USF > UF, but if money is a factor, USF > UF > UM