How much does pretige affect me? (two questions)

[Wishingwell]

Hello all, I'm vacillating between two schools right now(and deadline is almost here!), both state schools. One of the schools I absolutely love every minute being in and the surround town, but it is not too well known. The other school- which is nice don't get me wrong- is more of the "academic" school that doesn't really make me feel as welcomed or at home. However this school is more nationally recognized.

Eventually, I plan on going to a medical school(hopefully). I'd prefer going to a more "top" school such as maybe Columbia University or UCLA(It has always been my dream to go to either one.), but when I mean top I think more in the top 30 rankings.

All in all, would I be looked over if I didn't go to the more "academic" school? I know there are other factors, but I don't want to let the name of a school bring me further away at my goal.

Thanks in advance!
(And the two state schools were University of South Florida, and Florida State University.)

 

[ice109]

Hello all, I'm vacillating between two schools right now(and deadline is almost here!), both state schools. One of the schools I absolutely love every minute being in and the surround town, but it is not too well known. The other school- which is nice don't get me wrong- is more of the "academic" school that doesn't really make me feel as welcomed or at home. However this school is more nationally recognized.

Eventually, I plan on going to a medical school(hopefully). I'd prefer going to a more "top" school such as maybe Columbia University or UCLA(It has always been my dream to go to either one.), but when I mean top I think more in the top 30 rankings.

All in all, would I be looked over if I didn't go to the more "academic" school? I know there are other factors, but I don't want to let the name of a school bring me further away at my goal.

Thanks in advance!
(And the two state schools were University of South Florida, and Florida State University.)

which is which? is fsu the homey one?

anyway I am just finishing a physics degree here at fsu and i would suggest you stay far away from the department. terrible pedagogues all around. plenty of research to go around but that's useless if you have no idea what you're doing. i don't know anything about usf but i hear it's by the beach.

 

[gatorphys]

Hello all, I'm vacillating between two schools right now(and deadline is almost here!), both state schools. One of the schools I absolutely love every minute being in and the surround town, but it is not too well known. The other school- which is nice don't get me wrong- is more of the "academic" school that doesn't really make me feel as welcomed or at home. However this school is more nationally recognized.

Eventually, I plan on going to a medical school(hopefully). I'd prefer going to a more "top" school such as maybe Columbia University or UCLA(It has always been my dream to go to either one.), but when I mean top I think more in the top 30 rankings.

All in all, would I be looked over if I didn't go to the more "academic" school? I know there are other factors, but I don't want to let the name of a school bring me further away at my goal.

Thanks in advance!
(And the two state schools were University of South Florida, and Florida State University.)

Which one is the more academic school? Which one is more nationally known? I don't know about their physics departments, but I don't think USF nor FSU are too highly ranked nationally, not that this matters too much of course. If you want to go into politics or something, FSU would be good, being located in the state capital and all. If getting into UCLA Med is your ultimate goal, I don't think it will matter too much whether you attend FSU or USF... it is going to be tough either way (of course, it would be tough even if you attended Harvard or something).