Hi everyone! I’m deciding between selecting either Vanderbilt or UF as my school and wanted to get as much advice and opinions as possible on which I should choose. I am graduating with both my high school diploma and associate of arts and plan to become a doctor in anesthesia (I want to get both my MD and PhD at some point). I have a full MFOS scholarship at UF and will be receiving a full ride plus other benefits. UF would also take all of my credits and allow me to double major minor as well as finish a master of arts in medicine (Free!). For vandy, I have almost a full ride from them (5k-ish a year), they will take credits but not all, I will most likely only be able to finish one major in my time there.
Right now I’m leaning towards taking UF’s offer and then doing my graduate elsewhere as it would be more affordable and I’d be able to afford doing summer semesters at UF. But people are telling me to go to Vanderbilt for its prestige and opportunities. Also considering a social aspect of this convo, I would be alone at Vanderbilt (Most of my friends are headed for UF).
Net price per year at each college, after applying scholarships and financial aid grants.
Vandy: about $5,000
UF: $0 + grants (I’d be making money)
Maximum parent contribution per year.
(Single parent, low income family): $0
Major/division admitted to at each college, if applicable to the college. Also, any special programs like honors programs or combined degree programs (e.g. BA/BS->MD).
Biology
Desired major and post graduation goals (including if pre-med, pre-law, etc.).
Anesthesiology - MD/PhD
International or domestic student (and state of residency if domestic).
Florida resident
I will provide a counter-perspective, since the difference is $5,000, which may be manageable.
Vanderbilt is a top feeder to medical schools, and they claim that the acceptance rate for their graduates is 78%. For PhDs, unfortunately, prestige matters, and Vanderbilt has an edge there as well.
For UFL undergraduates, acceptance to medical school is 45%
If the difference was full pay Vanderbilt at close to $90,000 a year, versus in-state UFL at less than $24,000 a year, the answer would be clearly UFL.
The question is, really, can you afford that $5,000 a year through work-study, or something similar?
The scholarship you received to UF looks impressive. What is the level of support you will receive at UF vs Vanderbilt?
You mentioned that the social aspect is better for you at UF. None of us know you - how are you with transitions? How would you do at a larger school?
Can your family afford the $5000 cost at Vanderbilt, plus transportation?
Vanderbilt is a great school and would be my choice …but it depends on the answers to the questions asked. If UF is the better fit for you, I have no doubt that you would succeed! It is also an excellent school.
Sociality isn’t a grave priority for me and neither is location. The $5000 cost should be manageable though I would most likely have to work myself to pay for it. I’m also in a program to become a CNA over the summer so I’d most likely be working part-time in a hospital to pay for the funds. The only thing is within the 4 years I’d only be able to complete a bachelor’s while at UF I could complete 2 majors and a master’s (Because all my credits will transfer). So in this case is prestige better than education completed especially for medical school. Also, Vanderbilt is extensively harder so I’d probably be struggling to try and balance my work-life balance.
The $5000 is manageable as I’ll most likely be working as a CNA during my time there. The only struggle would be balancing the extremely difficult classes (pre-med struggles) and working.
I would choose Vanderbilt, at 5k it’s a bargain and if it’s for full cost of attendance (ie., books, transportation…) you can probably reduce it. If you can work full-time over the summer and add a few hours during the semester as a CNA you should be okay.
First, you don’t need 2 majors and a Master’s degree - you need one major (and ease of switching into whatever you like&do well in, just in case)+ A’s in your premed pre-reqs. If you want to add a minor in Medical Humanities, Spanish, statistics, or whatever else, excellent! But you don’t need to double major. Note btw that med schools want either the pre-reqs taken at a university or a more advanced course taken in addition to DE prereqs you’ve claimed credit for.
Second, Vanderbilt is a private university with lots of funds and resources per student. Even though UF is a great university, it simply doesn’t compare in terms resources per student (that’s why wealthy full pay families pay 90k to send their child there even though they could pay a third of that at their state flagship). These resources will come in handy when you need to do an unpaid internship that furthers your career, support, alumni…
Third, at Vanderbilt you will have a personal adviser - UF advisers will not consider you premed till Jr year (post Orgo, basically - before that there would just be toooo many would-be premeds) and you may get an assignment with one person at orientation, a different one in the Fall, another one in the Spring… If, as I suspect, you’re FGLI, having a personal adviser who knows you+a dedicated FGLI office at your disposal will make a difference. No risk of falling through the cracks.
Fourth, if like most freshmen you don’t end up attending med school, Vanderbilt will help you pivot more easily (it’s related to points 2 and 3).
In short, Vanderbilt will be good to you whether you continue with your med school plans or whether you don’t. It may even be life-changing.
Not if you are trying to be accepted to Medical school. To get a high GPA in the required courses at UFL, you’d still need to work just as hard as at Vanderbilt, because those are some of the most challenging classes that UFL has. Vanderbilt also has a lot more academic support than does UFL.
GPA can be lower for applicants from Vanderbilt, which mitigates a bit more of the fact that some classes may be more challenging:
On the other hand, part of the reason that UFL has a lower acceptance rates to medical schools is that colleges like Vanderbilt also tend to discourage students from applying to medical school if they think that the student is unlikely to be accepted. That can also be an advantage, sine your academic advisors will be more honest about your chances, giving you more of an opportunity to change your future plans.
One more thing to consider is what will happen if you decide not to continue on to med school. Many students who are thinking of medical school when they start college change their minds during college. While for a mid or upper income student, the benefits f attending either of these schools isn’t that different, for a students coming from a low income family, the benefits that Vanderbilt provides are higher than those of UFL.
All that being said, fit beats everything. No matter what the colleges is doing, if a student does not feel comfortable, they will find it challenging to succeed and thrive, and a person thriving at UFL is more likely to succeed than that very same person being unhappy and Vanderbilt.
Med schools don’t consider graduate degree or coursework when making admission decisions. So having a MA wouldn’t help there.
Are you talking about this program-- Arts in Medicine Online Graduate Program This is really for people who have a passion for the fine arts and want to study how art affects healthcare and public health. It’s a 2 year long program that requires a capstone project.
Otherwise, Master in Medical Arts (or Sciences) is typically a grade enhancing post-bacc for students who want to go to med school but have a less than med school worthy undergrad GPA.
And if the program you’re talking about is the one I linked above then it really won’t help you with a MD/PhD since the PhDs for the combined degree are biology/biochemistry based
There are only 9 medical schools that offer a medical humanities PhD (Duke, Emory, USC, UC-Davis, UC-Irvine, UCLA, UTMB, UT-Houston, UWashington. None of these are funded programs. (Which means the student will need to pay for both their MD and PhD studies.)
I have a son who was a Soph->Junior transfer from UF to a US News top 10 school. He is a STEM double major. He says his STEM classes at UF were more difficult.
Probably not in terms of content but in terms of weed-out (because the resources aren’t there to support the number who wish for this path and AFAIK UF doesn’t admit freshmen by major but rather lets the chips fall where they may; it means students are culled by any means necessary where there’s more demand than supply.)
For STEM classes, I agree that UF will be as hard if not harder than Vanderbilt. I also believe the pre-med track at UF in general will be more challenging than at Vanderbilt due to the weed-out. For humanities classes, you may see more rigor at Vanderbilt.
Not an easy decision, but my suggestion is to accept the MFOS scholarship at U Florida due to the mentoring program and other extra benefits which make earning a college degree much more likely for a low income, first generation college student. Additionally, the ability to double major can be a significant benefit as many intended pre-med students switch majors and/or career goals.
Question: Is the free master’s degree limited to one program or can you earn a master’s degree without charge for any MA program for which you are qualified ? (If free for any MA program for which you are qualified, then the choice is easy.)
P.S. Moreover, you do not need the added stress of paying $5,000 per year on top of additional travel expenses and, most likely, additional social expenses that you would incur at Vanderbilt.
I do not see any benefit of a Vanderbilt undergraduate degree in your situation.
Honestly, I think the vandy experience would be better over the 4 years, and UF will require you to spend a summer on campus. It is HOT (ask me how I know!). And I am still sad for my UF professor friends who have been unhappy with the policies of the new(ish) university president and what he did to tenure.
The Masters and CNA will be of zero value when applying to med school.
For $5k, Vandy is a great deal. (smaller classes, better advising/recs, housing). That said, a FGLI student would likely fit better at the large public.
I’ll give you a chance to explain yourself before we go off on a tangent about the bigotry of low expectations. Why would an FGLI student who has been admitted to Vanderbilt-- presumably smart and capable enough to get admitted AND graduate, NOT fit in? I’ve observed that first gen students often get MUCH more support, attention, mentoring and yes- extra cash when they’re in a pinch, than students at big public U’s.
Kid’s eyeglasses break. RA’s know which Dean has a quiet and discreet fund to help the kid purchase a replacement pair. Kid needs to fly home for grandma’s funeral. Kids advisor can cover the plane ticket. etc. These are difficult to navigate at a public U even if the resources are there.
OP: Have you considered the additional costs of travel to Nashville as well as the cost for books & supplies (which are covered by MFOS at U Florida) ?
Also, it seems clear that OP wants to attend UF, but others are pressuring OP to select Vanderbilt due to prestige and unspecified opportunities.
FWIW Typical family income for MFOS scholars at UF is about $20,000 per year.
The Chronicle of Higher Education September 29, 2023 article:
“No Misperception That Vanderbilt Educates Primarily Wealthy Students”.
OP: No posters know you beyond what you have shared in this thread. Your primary goal as a FGLI students from a one parent household should be to earn a college degree. You need to minimize roadblocks to that goal–both financially and otherwise. As per your plan, you can attend graduate school elsewhere, but, for now, you need to prioritize your goals.