Austin College or UT Austin?

[Apps]

How's it going everyone! Been a lurker for a month and finally decided to join! 😀 I have a bit of a dilemma on choosing which college would be better for my wallet and pre-med. It's down to two schools, UT Austin and Austin College and I'm not sure which would be the best. So I'll just break it down:
Austin College (visited twice)
Pros:

• Was offered 33K in gift aid
• Small, great atmosphere when I visited and nice people over all
• Very good pre-med program with an 80%+ acceptance rate to med school
• Research is fairly easy to get into if you get to know your professors very well 1 semester freshmen year and show them you are a determined and interested student. Students can usually start research 2nd semester. Guaranteed research junior and senior year
• Very small student to teacher ratio (12), so you have a very good relationship with your professor unlike with UT
• #1 study abroad program in the nation
• Building brand new science building which looks very nice and fairly large
• Close to home, 1.5 hour drive
• Not a lot of partys, very academically centered college.

Cons

• Somewhat old campus with old classrooms and that early 1900s feel (outside looked nice though)
• Middle of nowhere
• Dorms were descent but I HATE the shared restrooms that are shared with 15 other people on the same floor. When I went, no one flushed the urinals and the sinks were kind of dirty. FYI I'm a VERY germaphobic person. Sharing a restroom with 15 other guys sounds like a nightmare.
• Not a many opportunity's for doing much outside of the campus as Sherman is a rural. The homes around campus are falling apart and in Ghetto like conditions.
• Forced to take a foreign language course as part of the "liberal arts experience. I hated Spanish in junior high and took another language to get out for there. Sadly, that other language can't be tested out of at AC. I made a 4 on the IB SL exam for that other language if it helps.
• Won't accept as much AP and IB credit as UT will (Such as my 3 in AP Language)
• Have to take out 12K in loans each year to close the gap between my COA and gift aid
• One pre-med advisor who happens to be a doctor, not sure if a con but I'll throw it in any way

UT Austin(Visted three times)
Pros

• In the city amazing city of Austin
• Lots of opportunities for fun in the city and just enjoying the bustling setting
• 16K in gift aid
• Have a few friends going their versus no one I know going to AC
• Lots of volunteer opportunities
• BIG PLUS!!! Get my own dorm with a private restroom and bath, no roommate or anything!!
• Huge and very nice campus full of energy and life
• Highly ranked (which I know doesn't matter for med school but I thought I might throw it in any way)
• New buildings being built and Medical school (might be easier to get in if you already got to UT)

Cons

• Not a lot of opportunities for research unless you are in one of the selective programs such as Honors, Freshman Research Initiative, TIPS Scholar etc. I did not get accepted to any of these so that is a huge downer 🙁
• HUGE CLASSES!!! 1:18 student to teacher ratio
• Next to no pre-med advising. Have fun planning courses and figuring out what to do
• Going to end up getting not as great professors (not bad but harder) and early classes since it is a large state school and early orientations have been taken and Honors/TIPS Scholars get first choice on registration.
• Will be hard to make a good professor student relationship since you will see them maybe twice a week. Office hours will not be as nice as AC
• Cold calling professors to try to scrape for a research opportunity
• Need to take out 5K in loans to close gap between gift aid and COA
• Large party and Greek school, not into that life style
• Med school acceptance rate is 54%, goes to 73% for applicants who had a GPA greater than 3.5

I know that is a lot to read and take in so I really appreciate all of your kind feed back and advice.
Hope to hear back soon!
-Apps

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[nysegop]

Whichever is cheaper for you.

American University in Washington DC has the best study abroad program.

Liberal Arts colleges tend to have better records at getting students into medical schools, but finding opportunities is a pain (you have to seek research experience through separate entities, you have to contact hospitals directly, etc.), so it really doesn't matter if it's a liberal arts college or national university.

 

[Apps]

Whichever is cheaper for you.

American University in Washington DC has the best study abroad program.

Liberal Arts colleges tend to have better records at getting students into medical schools, but finding opportunities is a pain (you have to seek research experience through separate entities, you have to contact hospitals directly, etc.), so it really doesn't matter if it's a liberal arts college or national university.

"Colleges and universities that were mentioned most often are listed here, in alphabetical order." The list you looked at goes in alphabetical order, so its not the best but one of the best according to US News and World Report. I went off of the Institute of International Education for the #1 figure.

Thought so but UT would be 16K vs 48K for AC in loans for me. I know that's a huge difference but isn't it worth it? Btw i did mention research was very easy to do at AC and mandatory junior and senior year. I would be doing what you mentioned at UT not AC ironically.

Thanks for the feedback.
-Apps

 

[nysegop]

"Colleges and universities that were mentioned most often are listed here, in alphabetical order." The list you looked at goes in alphabetical order, so its not the best but one of the best according to US News and World Report. I went off of the Institute of International Education for the #1 figure.

Thought so but UT would be 16K vs 48K for AC in loans for me. I know that's a huge difference but isn't it worth it? Btw i did mention research was very easy to do at AC and mandatory junior and senior year. I would be doing what you mentioned at UT not AC ironically.

Thanks for the feedback.
-Apps

A lot of colleges have mandatory research junior or senior year, especially for science majors. Any respectable honors college would have mandatory research. Are you applying to any honors programs?

 

[clutch21]

Let me put a few of the cons of UT Austin in perspective.

-Don't worry about the party life at UT. If you want to go to parties you can, but if you want nothing to do with them just don't go to them. Campus is HUGE and there are plenty of other things to do that are more synonymous with your personality.

-Yes UT has some pretty large classes. However, once you start taking more advanced/upper division classes (when it is more important to build relationships with professors), they become smaller. Moreover, regardless of what size classes you take, professors are generally pretty accessible outside of class. So no matter what size the class is, if you want to build a relationship with the professor you can.

-Getting a late orientation date shouldn't matter with registration. Unless it's changed, UT segments the seats for courses for the incoming freshman. In other words, only a certain percentage of the course rosters can be filed up by students in the first orientation session, then second session, and so on (I had the very last orientation session and had little trouble with getting the classes I wanted). Even if it is more difficult to get your courses, this only matter for one semester.

-UT does have an advising center for pre-med students. Unfortunately though, I haven't found it very helpful. With that said, there really isn't that much of a need for advising. Anything you need to know, MCAT scheduling, personal statement advice, etc. can be found on SDN.

-Lastly, there are a ton of research opportunities at UT Austin. Just be diligent, and you'll find something.

Hope this helps. If you have any questions about UT feel free to ask.