Unless the OP asks about post-grad employment and salaries, any further posts on the topic will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding.
UConn and Penn State will be similar in terms of environment, class sizes, etc.
Big spectator sports are different but will be there. State college is a good college town (I donāt really know Storrs).
Both should have lots of biology-related majors should he wish to pivot (at Penn State, college of Agriculture has quite a few that are in-demand). You can look for all the Biology-adjacent majors each university offers.
If you really want differentiators, you can look at ease of finding housing after freshman year, whether thereās a Biology- related LLC, weather, access to any activity heās been involved in HS that heād want to continueā¦
Theyāre really equivalent, so, if choosing one of those 2, Iād pick the least expensive.
Rutgers is urban and the split campus is an issue imho but will be just as good for Biology.
If he doesnāt like Rutgers and you can afford one of the other 2, whichever one he chooses will be good.
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Lists like this are pretty misleading. Do you really think Farmington Valley Dermatology is a āmost common employerā? Itās just a list of places with one person working there who is a recent grad.
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Iām familiar with UConn. Storrs is a fine college town and there is plenty to do there, as well as on campus.
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Excellent - though it doesnāt make OPās choice any easier 
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They can pivot to any number of careers: OT, PT, speech, nursing (accelerated program), MPH, genetics, etcā¦the list goes on and on. Itās not just those who do not get accepted to medical school- itās also those who change their mind as their interests develop and change.
Keep in mind that these careers require some form of graduate school, which of course costs money. Rutgers might be the best choice here, depending on finances (and itās a very good school).
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My kids looked at all three. Academically, they are very similar.
Rutgers - the campus layout just sucks. It is really three campuses that are kind of close to each other. Too bad, because they liked New Brunswick and the downtown area, plus the proximity to New York, but the far flung campuses was a big turnoff. The school also has a reputation for getting pretty quiet on the weekends.
Penn State - Everyone I know that goes to Penn State likes it. The knock for pre-med is that you need hours and experience in a healthcare setting, and there are not a lot of hospitals in the greater State College, PA area, and there are a lot of kids competing for the same positions. This issue crops up for pre-med majors in other remote schools.
UConn - also a fun school, and while it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, Connecticut is a tiny state with a lot of hospitals within driving distance. It is relatively easy to get hours for pre-med.
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While I agree that the bus system and layout of Rutgers may turn some students away, others are not bothered by it. I have colleagues with kids there and they donāt mind it at all.
I think these 3 schools are academic peers, and Rutgers has hospitals right near the main campus.
It should be mentioned that many premeds do their shadowing at home during breaks, and most/many premeds take time before applying to medical school to strengthen their application, volunteer, etc.
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CT resident here. You will need a car to do this stuff at UConn. BUT I will add that many premed students do their shadowing, patient facing contact job during the summers and school vacations, or they wait and take a year after undergrad to beef up these things. You should be able to find volunteer work with less privileged people near any town.
Looking forward to hearing which choice your student makes! @simonpeter
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OP, not sure if youāve decided yet, but in case not. My D26 actually likes the layout of Rutgers because the multiple campuses make each campus feel a lot smaller. She hasnāt liked the larger campuses she saw which all felt too big and spread-out. At Rutgers, each campus is fairly contained, and she almost thought of it as a consortium where you could āoptā to take classes at each one until you got to your major courses.
Of course, your mileage may vary. Good luck with the decision!
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