<p>Here me out here before everyone comments:</p>
<p>My sister got off the waitlist for Mcgill yesterday and has till June 2nd (2 days) to decide. She also got into VCU Honors with a nice scholarship and is looking to apply for its preferred applicant track. She’s super interested in research but everyone’s pushing her into the traditional doctor route and thats most likely what she’ll do in the future even though she does want to do research on the side</p>
<p>We’re multiples (triplets) so money is a slight issue (My parents are willing to pay for 2/3 of Mcgill’s cost though. However its upwards of $50,000. But VCU is super duper cheap at $18,000). </p>
<p>She’s a really, really smart kid who just got effed up in this whole college admission game. I have no doubt that she’ll do awesome at VCU and get a good gpa, but McGill is supposed to be a lot harder and the average gpa is a 2.8 with a 3.0 being considered pretty good. I think having a low gpa would hurt her when she’s applying to medical school. Also, VCU’s preferred applicant track would be a guarantee for medical school, which is nice. </p>
<p>I know this makes me a bad person, but I want her to stay in VCU since she’ll be nearby me and my sister (I’ll be going to VTech honors for a year and I have a GT offer for Cornell AEM, while my other sister will also be going to VTech). But ultimately I want the best for her</p>
<p>She’s worried about not getting any job opportunities after VCU if she decides to go en route of the research field. She’s also worried she won’t be able to get into a top-tier medical school if she went to VCU because VCU doesn’t have an awesome reputation. </p>
<p>She’s also a bit of a safe kid. Like she’s not hugely adventurous (even though she wants to be) and I’m just scared how she’ll handle herself in a whole other country without any of us nearby (9 hours away from where we live - D,C).</p>
<p>What are your opinions? Does VCU have any good research opportunities? Will she be able to secure a job with a high ranking research firm (Bristol Myers for example) if she went to VCU Honors in its Preferred Applicant Track? Or should she go to McGill? Do top-tier medical schools care highly about the college you went to vs grades, ECs, etc?</p>
<p>Where does she plan to get the other 1/3 of $50,000 each year for four years? She can’t borrow that much on her own. Even if she could, she’d be heading into (possible) Med School with way more debt than she should have.</p>
<p>Med School admissions is all about the numbers. The name on her diploma barely matters at all. A good GPA and good MCAT score coming out of VCU are worth a lot more than a 3.0 from McGill. Get her to pay a visit to the pre-med forum here and read up on those issues.</p>
<p>She can get in touch now with the professors at VCU who are doing research that is interesting to her, and can ask them how soon she would be able to apply for positions in their groups. Some of them may have spaces for this fall. Since you are in the DC area, she also should be investigating programs at the NIH in Bethesda that are designed for undergraduates. Certainly there would be internships there that could work for her.</p>
<p>Is there any chance that going to McGill is on her want-to-do-list because your are planning a transfer to Cornell next year, and because your other sib is headed to VTech? If there is a bit of keeping-up-with-the-siblings going on here, help her find someone to talk her down off that ledge. There’s also no shame in deferring enrollment at VCU for a year and re-considering her options if she thinks that wants a better brand-name on her diploma and needs to come up with something more affordable than McGill.</p>
<p>She’s considering McGill because it’s a good school and I guess it would validate all the work she put into high school. Me and my sisters do not doubt that she is the smartest out of all of us. It’s just a shame that all her hard work didn’t get her into a ton of good schools. </p>
<p>That’s what I thought! Were currently interning in the invertebrate zoology department at the Smithsonian and I know D.C is filled with awesome internships. </p>
<p>Her main reason of going to McGill is because our dad is pressuring her about how shell get tons of offers if she goes to McGill in research vs nothing at VCU. I’m worried there won’t be huge research companies looking for college students at VCU graduates. But she’s trying for their preferred applicant track</p>
<p>We’ve also briefly mentioned her going to VCU for a year and then transferring to a better university (hopefully Cornell with me). </p>
<p>I really want her to go to VCU. She could transfer to be closer to me too. I just don’t want to tell her I prefer to go to VCU because it would be selfish of me</p>
<p>Also, I think through loans?</p>
<p>I am not sure why you don’t believe that VCU has a good reputation. Some of their depts are near the top in the country. Their nursing-anesthesia program is actually ranked #1. <a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/nurse-anesthesia-rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/nurse-anesthesia-rankings</a> It looks like the rank 68th in medical research. </p>
<p>A major downside to VCU is that it really doesn’t feel like a college campus. Downtown Richmond and VCU definitely intertwine and flow right through each other.</p>
<p>But she likes that urban campus! </p>
<p>Sorry I’m going off what I’ve heard. If VCU was strong in research, that’s only better for me to convince her! :)</p>
<p>Like I said, her major worry is that if she chose to do research instead of medicene, or if she chose to put off medicene for a few years and do research right after undergrad, is VCU going to help her get a job at a good research company? I have no doubt she’ll do well. I think she’s smart but I’m her sister so I’m slightly biased</p>
<p>VCU Honors.</p>
<p>Don’t know if you can borrow money for a Canadian U. But VCU has its own med school and has good science department. Med school does not care where you went to college, as long as you keep up the GPA and do well on the MCAT, you are fine.</p>