Hi, I am stuck between what college to choose. USF is covering full cost of attendance and I am in their honors program. VCU is covering 16k per year for tuition and fees, as well as room and board for a total of 115,000 for all four years. I also live in state in VA, so VCU is also basically free. For William and Mary i got into there honors program so I am guaranteed research money. Both UVA and William and Mary cost around 40k. I plan on applying to med school. USF has a 7yr program that I got into. However, I am not 100% sure on premed. UVA has a good business school i can switch into if I change my mind, but at USF I am stuck doing premed on the 7yr track. I also heard that William and Mary is really good for premed. Basically, I don’t know where to go. I feel like I would like UVA environment more, but I can’t tell if that’s because I internally care a lot about the prestige. I feel like I would really like finance as well, which is my main reason for considering UVA as it allows me to do both finance at a good business school and also get my premed courses done. If i go to UVA i want to apply to their honors program for sophomore year as well as apply to their business school. Either way, pls help me choose or give me advice.
I’d start with eliminating W&M. The reason is - you like UVA’s environment more. It’s never good to go with - I hear. But frankly both UVA and W&M are OUTSTANDING!!
That gets you to three -so the next question is:
Can your parents afford - or more likely - are they willing to afford $160K - when you can go elsewhere for free?
If so, then you can choose UVA.
So a couple things with that:
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You can be pre-med anywhere and I’m not sure the where matters. I’ll give you examples below. But obviously the USF deal, if you’re going to be Pre-Med gives you a leg up admission wise - although med school will still have a cost.
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You can study business at VCU or USF but yes in most cases - UVA will outperform them.
btw - why not get the best of both worlds - study business but take the pre med pre reqs? You can do that at UVA except for one thing - there’s no assurance you’ll be able to study business - as it requires admission after the fact.
So if it were me, because many pre med decide against, I’d find out:
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Are your parents willing/able to spend $160K - that’s two different questions - if yes to both, go to UVA - but know you might have to do econ or another major - and you can still do pre-med.
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Go USF -I’m sure there’s still a way to study business there - because again, pre med is an intention. You have to major in bio there so ask if - for example it might be 8 years - but can you do business too? Or what happens if you drop the 7 year MD - is your cost still the same?
That’s at least a path I find logical.
Have you been to Tampa to check out the school?
Good luck.
PS - the problem with choices - but these are nice choices 
Here is a list of residents at top academic hospitals and where they went undergrad - so I think you can take prestige (for pre med) out of the equation:
- I was a patient at Vandy in Radiology - and here’s where the residents went to school (first two year residents):
Auburn
CWRU
Florida A&M
Florida State
Fordham
Lipscomb
Luther
Murray State
Northern Illinois
Pitt
Princeton
Tulane
Tuskegee
U North Carolina
U Puerto Rico
U Tennessee
Taking it further to Johns Hopkins - resident undergrads:
JHU
UMD
UMBC
U Miami
Morgan State
South Carolina
TCNJ
U of Puerto Rico
UT Dallas
Towson
Vandy
and more
Duke Medical - this was just the early letters of the last names of the alphabet
Arkansas
Michigan
UNC
Princeton
Rochester
South Florida
Southeastern Louisiana
Texas
If you’re not sure about premed, then cross out USF. Most freshmen, even those who don’t doubt for a second they want to be doctors, never make it, either find something more interesting or get weeded out. In your case, you already have something more interesting to you (business). Even among BSMD students with plenty of nursing home/hospital based time and single-minded dedication, students change their minds so if you’re half set on business..
Combining the requirements of a business school with the premed requirements might be difficult - not impossible but certainly tricky.
Try to map out how that would work in practice.
Look at the requirements for your business major of interest then add 2 semesters each of inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, general biology, physics, English composition/communication/literature, and one semester each of sociology, psychology, calculus, Biostats, Spanish for health professions or proficiency in another foreign language, neuroscience or cognitive science, anatomy/physiology, ethics, a diversity-focused course. (A lot of these would fall under gen eds but not all )
How do the pathways look at each school? Do you need to take classes over the summer?
UVA’s business school admission process will make combining premed activities and business activities necessary to be considered for McIntyre admission almost impossible - you can’t dedicate all your time pursuing a holistic, competitive secondary admission process alongside all the premed activities you’d be supposed to dedicate yourself to.
Have you visited all three from VCU, UVA, W&M during admitted student days?
If you are really set on medical school, the 7 year program at USF is a plus as medical school acceptance is no given. Acceptance rate is about 40%. The financial package is a big plus. However, it sounds like you are not convinced. You have to be really committed to get through the path to be a doctor.
UVA and W&M are great schools for pre-med or business. But keep in mind that you will have to apply to the business school if you intend to major and acceptance rates are somewhere around 50%.
What are you looking for in a school? USF is huge and would be pretty far away but would offer a change of scenery and weather. VCU is pretty large, as is UVA. USF and VCU are in urban areas, UVA a small college city. W&M is a bit of a different school in that it is much smaller, more residential, and in a smaller city. UVA and W&M are more “traditional” schools. USF and VCU are going to be a newer, different vibe.