Should I should transfer to Vanderbilt as a pre-med (2024)

"Starting over" is always a risk, especially since you clearly seem to have a good thing going on at Wake. You do need to keep your "eyes on the prize," which ultimately is getting into med school, so being in an environment where you can be successful is ultimately the most important thing. However, if Vandy offers classes that you're more interested in and is also ~$60k cheaper over the course of your remaining 3 years... those would be good potential reasons for the transfer.

Ultimately it comes down to you, your values, and to a certain extent your risk tolerance. However I would not make the swap because you think that the "Vandy" name is going to open doors to you--it's not.

It sounds like you have given yourself an unnecessary ultimatum. Either transfer AND start over or not transfer…. I would propose this to you: why not transfer; finish what you started and take some extra classes at Vandy in the field you are interested in? Another option would be to transfer to Vandy, finish, then take a gap year working on a research project with the university. Or combine all of that; the sky is the limit.

Another thought; take with a grain of salt because this is mostly anecdotal and grapevine: I grew up in Nashville and I know current vanderbilt undergrad students; attending there as an undergrad has absolute zero bearing on whether or not you will get into the medical school. From convos I have had with past applicants, it seems that Vanderbilt is primarily looking for people interested in a medical scientist career, or academic medicine. This is because they are a huge research institute. They also weight stats extremely heavily, per people I know who have applied in the past. I know someone who had an MCAT of 518, didn't get in, and when they asked for feedback from an admissions advisor at the medical school, Vanderbilt told them to increase the MCAT to a 520+.

TL;DR don't limit your options, and Vanderbilt has very specific criteria for med school. Make sure you weigh that against what you are seeking in a future career.

Best of luck!

If you’re premed you should stay wherever it’s easiest to get As. Nobody is going to care that you went to Vanderbilt over wake forest. If this was Harvard, that would be a different story. Get easy As and focus your free time on standing out of the from crowd with interesting extras. That’s what I would tell my kids or myself if I could go back.

It sounds like you’re doing great at Wake Forest. I don’t know why you’d want to change that.

Wake Forest, the Vanderbilt of the ACC. Or is that Vanderbilt, the Wake Forest of the SEC.

Seriously, they're peers. You aren't "moving up." Get your profile in gear whatever you do. Do summer research at Vandy/WF and get the best of both.

Your logic here is incredibly flawed. Nobody cares where you went to college. I also promise you the research opportunities aren’t really any better at Vandy than where you’re at.

If you want to transfer, and you have the money, transfer. But don’t let medical school admissions factor into your decision at all.

This question often gets asked. A recent example of someone wanting to transfer to a more "prestigious" school: