You should check on tuition rules at UNC in terms of whether they will give you instate a year after your parents move.
In addition to checking whether you can gain in-state residency in NC after your parents move there:
- Whether Rutgers and other NJ public universities will let you retain in-state residency after your parents move.
- Whether NJ and NC public medical schools will consider you in-state for their purposes.
From UNC’s The Daily Tar Heel:
“We find that when students come to orientation, you know, before they start classes at Carolina. About half of the students say that they want to be biology majors and go to med school,” May said. “But what we know is biology graduates about 500 majors a year out of a class of 4,000. So that means something happens.”
You can consider UNC to definitely be a weed-out school for premed.
Most big schools operate this way - premed weed out programs.
OP
As all the others commented about your top heavy list of schools, you should add some local schools to balance your list. If medical school is your goal, other than Rutgers, you should consider:
TCNJ - it is a great school for premed
Rowan- it has two medical schools, graduates from that school might have an edge. In addition, the competition for pre-med required courses will be lower.
Yes, these schools may hurt your egos, but what’s important is to get into a medical school. An undergraduate bio major is as useless as from UNC or Rowan.
Here are the requirements for N.C. instate tuition. https://www.uncsa.edu/mysa/current-students/academics/office-of-registrar/residence-status.aspx
I think you should look into how your parents intended move will impact tuition at both UNC and the NJ schools.
Schools in NJ seem like perfectly good options for pre-med.
My D was an OOS biology major at UNC. I can try to answer any questions.
First, clarify what state will be “instate”. You may have to take a gap year to qualify as an instate applicant to UNC.
Admission to UNC is harder than to Rutgers, however North Carolina has lots of good public universities. Start exploring them beside UNC-CH.
Second, clarify your parents’ budget. You want as little debt as possible and absolutely not above the 5.5k federal loan limit. Will you need merit aid? How much?
Third, think of what majors you may be interested in. Keep in mind that biology has one of the lowest professional prospects if, like most would be premed students, you dont make it into med school. Start exploring other majors you may be interested in, from the Ag school to biostats to anything else.
Biostats is in the school of public health…which is a very competitive entrance. My D was accepted and turned it down when she realized it wasn’t what she wanted (I kept my disappointment to myself).
I agree about applying to additional schools in NC, if you have instate tuition.
A biology degree from UNC does come with employment options; some/a few are relatively well paying, while many others are not. You need to be assertive, resourceful, and realistic if you decide against medical school or any other type of grad school. Most bio majors end up continuing their education (my observation).
Take a look at the early assurance program at SUNY Binghamton. Keep in mind that these programs are highly competitive. Binghamton is a good addition even without the early assurance program.
SUNY Buffalo will have a lot of good opportunities for volunteering.
SUNY Buffalo and SUNY Upstate also have early assurance programs.
SUNY Upstate accepts college freshman applicants for an guaranteed early med school admissions from a list of public & private universities.
List here: https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/options/bs-md.php
SUNY Upstate also accepts college sophomore for early med school admissions from any undergrad.
Program info here: https://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/options/soph.php
SUNY Buffalo partners with a 6 public & private colleges in the Buffalo area for its early assurance program.
More information here: http://medicine.buffalo.edu/education/md/diversity/early-assurance/partners.html
SUNY Buffalo will be C-O-L-D with tons of lake effect snow.
Just to elaborate a bit on the helpful info provided by Wayoutwestmom, it is more advantageous to get in to SUNY Upstate medical school through the specific list of private and public universities that have an arrangement with SUNY upstate (when applying to college during senior year in high school) because no MCAT will required to be taken. This is huge!! . In contrast, an MCAT is required and a score of at least 80 percentile (510) is needed —not such an easy task at all—-for students who apply at the end of their sophomore year in college to the Early Assurance program from any public or private university. On the other hand, I think that not being required to take the MCAT will put students at a disadvantage not only for doing as well in medical school but also for when it comes to preparing for Step 1 exam in medical school. Because the 7-hour MCAT exam (shortened your 5 hours during the pandemic) is extremely rigorous and requires learning a lot of supplemental material that may not have been covered adequately in the undergrad science courses. And the MCAT score is a very good predictor of whether a student will be able to be successful in medical school.