<p>If UGA and GA Tech are both covered for you, I see no reason to attend UNC. (The rankings in departments are for graduate programs - usually doctoral programs - and the things that make them great aren’t necessarily directly applicable to undergrad programs.)</p>
<p>I think you have a lot of misconceptions about the schools here. Don’t assume that you will get a higher GPA just because it’s ranked lower - there are a lot of factors that influence student GPA, and engagement and challenge and peer environment all count, too. I also don’t see how UGA is “dumber” than UNC. Also, doing well at Georgia Tech won’t “guarantee” you a spot in medical school. Medical schools don’t care where you went to undergrad; they care about your GPA, MCAT scores and volunteer and research experiences. So it won’t necessarily be more difficult to get into med school from UGA.</p>
<p>Anyway, you don’t like Tech and UNC is unaffordable for you, so it seems like UGA is your best option. UGA and UNC are pretty similar university environments. I would also like to point out that UGA and UNC also have very similar middle 50% SAT ranges and similar percentages of students that were in the top 25% of their high school class, so…just like at UNC, you’ll be surrounded by plenty of bright and ambitious scholars, especially in the honors college.</p>