Boston University vs U Miami (Crazy cheap + Honors)

College Search & Lists
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At U Miami I’ve been offered the President’s Scholarship of $26,000 every year and also the honors program (Foote Fellow). The honors program removes all Gen Ed. requirements and prioritizes me for everything at the university. At Boston University I got into Sargent College and I’d be majoring in Human Physiology on the Pre-Med track. At U Miami I’d be in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences majoring in Health Science (might consider changing to Biology.) With the Miami Scholarship and my father’s employee benefits my tuition for Miami is 5K per year whereas BU is 17K. My parents have already saved up money for undergrad though and so cost isn’t an issue for them at all. To them the scholarship is only a great indicator of merit and achievement, not a financial benefit so we aren’t taking that into consideration.

Boston University:
Pros:

  • Research opportunities will be plenty and very good in quality
  • Urban campus I am familiar with and know I would enjoy
  • Instead of a Senior Second semester I’ll be interning at some medical facility
  • BU’s Med School is ranked much higher than U Miami’s and by attending BU I’d be increasing my chances of admission assuming I am qualified and deserving of it.

Cons:

  • Grade “Deflation” i.e. consistently ranked among the toughest colleges to get an A at.

University of Miami:
Pros:

  • Beautiful campus
  • Honors Program means ill be getting priority for a lot of things and that includes any new research or intern opportunity that pops up
  • U Miami has the nation’s first simulation hospital for its undergrad pre-meds
  • I feel that I’d be getting the grade i deserve at U Miami much more often (students there have told me they know people with high 3.8+ GPA’s, nobody I’ve talked to at BU has heard of any pre-med with a 3.8+ GPA).

Cons:

  • The Reputation as a party school makes it really hard for me to be proud of my university, and it sucks that it has this reputation despite being academically on par if not better than Boston University
  • Statistics suggest a BU degree is worth more in the job market than a U Miami one
  • Quality of extracurricular pre-med opportunities aren’t as good as in the Boston area.

I am waitlisted at Emory College and NYU; I plan to attend whichever of these two sends me an offer first, of course assuming I get an offer off of the waitlist. Between my current options I’m more attracted to BU but the ending up with a lower GPA makes me nervous, at the same time I’m hoping that a highly successful MCAT would serve as an equalizer and show Med Schools that my GPA at BU is relatively lower because of BU’s exceptionally strict grading not my own lack of medical aptitude. I also intend on applying to top medical schools and am confident that I could pull a 3.7+ at U Miami. I’m not trying to sound cocky, I just know myself and know how hard I am willing to work. If anybody could please give me their opinions or advice and help me make a choice I would really truly appreciate that! Thank you!

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I am also technically an international student but I have been living in a large U.S metropolitan city for around 3 years now. I know med school admission will be a lot more tough for me but I do plan on applying for citizenship senior year of undergrad.

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Considering your goal is med school, I’d go with UMiami for two reasons:

  • GPA is a major factor in getting into med school, more than which college you go for undergrad. The "ranking" of your undergrad university on USNews doesn't necessarily increase your chances of getting into med school. UMiami may not have the prestige of BU (especially internationally) but it's a fine, well-respected school.
  • While your family has saved up for undergrad, med school will be expensive. Save the $48K and put it towards med school.

NYU is notoriously stingy with aid. If you get off the waitlist (unlikely - no offense, but the reality is you should look at a waitlist as a polite no), I’d still go with UMiami if the cost diff is significant unless your parents have saved up for both your undergrad and med school.

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@insanedreamer Yeah GPA is a pretty big concern for me for the same reason you mentioned, but at BU the hope is that Med Schools would understand and know about BU’s notorious “grade deflation”. From what you know, would one receive a better pre-med education at Boston University? If so, that may be worth the hit on GPA considering med schools will probably take into account BU’s notoriety and that I’ll have gained a better medicinal foundation.

And I personally fully agree with the idea of saving that money for later in my career but my parents actually also have a few real estate properties in our home country that they plan to sell to cover my med school cost so I’m technically financially good on that end too. If it all goes to plan id become a doctor with no debt. I’m very thankful for their great financial planning and that’s why they really don’t want me to consider cost in any of my choices. Also, I fully agree with the waitlist being a polite no, I definitely am not planning to get an offer from either of those Uni’s, just figured it might help knowing for context sake. Thanks so much for the reply!

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@redbricktuta I honestly don’t know if med schools will look at a GPA from BU any differently. Everything I’ve seen from pre-med parents on this forum indicates “no”, but maybe BU is a special case.

@mom2collegekids will likely have more/better advice, as she posts a lot about med school. So I’ll tag her here and maybe she’ll comment.