<p>This is a sort of a multi-part question. I am currently deciding between the three aforementioned schools. I plan on majoring in Biology or Chemistry following a pre-medical track. Now my first question is, is there any one quality that sets one of these schools apart? From what I’ve seen (I visited each campus and toured) Maryland has the best programs for pre-med while Pitt is second and VT is a little behind due to internship opportunities. As a caveat I am interested in study abroad or world wide philanthropy work while in college. Sorry for the long winded message as you can see I am stuck with this decision any help is extremely appreciated.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1484178-if-you-high-school-please-read-before-posting.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1484178-if-you-high-school-please-read-before-posting.html</a></p>
<p>Check out posts by plumazul–he doesn’t post here much anymore, but he goes to UMD and apparently loved it so much after getting in that he allegedly picked it over a variety of elite schools because he thought he’d have better opportunities there.</p>
<p>Pitt or MD or VT, you couldn’t really go wrong academically as far as your class room instruction. All of them have great study abroad opportunities.</p>
<p>The advantage of Pitt over Maryland and VT would be the wealth of research and volunteering opportunities that exist right on the undergrad campus that aren’t matched at the other two. Volunteering, physician shadowing, doing undergrad research that results in authorships on publications and/or presentations; these are things that can help separate a med school applicant from another doing world-wide philanthropy work will as well. It’s not like you can’t do research or other such things elsewhere, but the amount and variety of biological and medical science research on Pitt’s campus dwarfs the other two schools on your list. Pitt has the fifth most National Institutes of Health (NIH) research allocations of any undergrad university in the nation ($420 million) which is the primary indicative of the number and breadth of possible research opportunities that a student can get involved in even as an undergrad. In comparison, Maryland-College Park has $38 million (#123) in NIH allocations and Virginia Tech are about $21 million. Pitt also has US News’ #10 medical center right on the undergrad campus. These resources help facilitate getting involved in volunteering opportunities at the hospitals or getting involved in substantial research projects because you essentially just walk across the street from your dorm, an advantage that allows students to more easily squeeze in these opportunities between other academic and social commitments that come with undergraduate life. Pitt’s medical center, btw, also has overseas operations in Dublin, the UK, and Sicily. The Sicily location has some research exchange programs with the medical school but I’m not sure if those opportunities extend to the undergrad level.</p>
<p>wgmcp101, wow that’s almost exactly what I needed thank you.</p>