My daughter faced a similar dilemma when she applied to the University of Minnesota, and she wound up with a major in the ag college rather than the biology college. She had no idea what the differences were when she applied to one versus the other – this was a quick choice without much thought. Now that she is there, we have discovered the differences.
All the pre-med students are in the biology college, and the courses there are extremely competitive, with the professors giving out average grades of 60. She has taken a couple of courses in that department so she knows first-hand. The courses are also larger, with grad students handling a lot of the responsibilities. Meanwhile, in her ag department, there are smaller classes and an overall sense of camaraderie, and the grading in the classes is normal and reasonable. She is not a pre-med student but rather intends to get a PhD and pursue a research career. However, she is so glad she is in the ag college versus the biology college. She can take whatever classes she needs to prepare for grad school in the biology college, without having the bulk of her classes there. For that reason, it is much less stressful and she is likely to wind up with a higher GPA than if she was in the biology college.