Medical Best Choice for undergrad: Univ. of Washington, UHouston, or Baylor?

[lord999]

Hello,

I am a currently a high school senior who is looking for some advice on where I should go for college next year. Although this might not be the most ideal, I am interested in looking for the easiest route to get acceptances into some med schools, entailing getting a high GPA and MCAT rather than more risky routes that might cause my GPA to tank in exchange for attending a more prestigious UG or whatnot. I know I'm not the brightest kid out there, so that is why this route is essential if I want to be a doctor.

Background: I am a WA resident, parents are in 125-150k income bracket, previously applied to a bunch of BS/MDs (ultimately only got interviews at RPI/AMC and UMKC, rejected and waitlisted respectively), 3.9 UW GPA, 34 ACT (~1500-1520 SAT). I would consider myself a slightly above average student, as those grades don't truly reflect my actual learning ability. My good ACT score doesn't reflect my intelligence, only that I figured out the system and knew the right way to study the test. My GPA doesn't reflect my smarts either, since all I did to get that GPA was follow instructions at school and submit all work on time. I've taken like 8 APs from 9th-11th grade, and I haven't gotten a single 5, the highest score being a 4 on AP Calculus AB and AP Lang, the rest all 3s.

Notable extracurriculars pertaining to this topic: shadowed the UWSOM Otolaryngology Residency Director and got to go w/ her on her early morning weekend medical rounds w/ her resident students, so I have connections to a few of her residents and chief resident. Also am a research assistant at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (apparently is one of the top research facilities in US)

With that being said, my main options I am considering is UW (IS tuition, no scholarships), Baylor (42k for me), or UHouston (will apply soon since it's rolling). As a byproduct of applying to BS/MDs, I also got into URochester, Penn State, RPI (no scholarships), UMKC, UAlbany, RIT, NJIT, VCU, Hofstra, Adelphi (all with ~20k scholarships), but those aren't worth mentioning b/c bad schools or I have to pay full OOS tuition. The reason why I targeted UW (in-state) or the TX schools is because if I apply for TX residency, TX will be easier to get into med school IF I can maintain near TX avg (like 3.7 GPA, 511 MCAT).

Benefits/Cons of Attending UW:

[+] in-state tuition, can live at home (~14k/yr)
[+] connections at Fred Hutch, Seattle Children's Hospital, UWSOM Oto Residency Director, other UW doctors and residents

[-] asked around, and average BCPM classes curve is set at 2.6-2.9 (brutal)
[-] well-known for weed-out (if I go to an easier college, GPA could probably be raised a decent bit more which is my main concern)
[-] extremely large class sizes
[-] hard to get quality LORs
[-] 20% of incoming students are international I heard, the competition will be very cut-throat
[-] 32,000 total students
[-] WA residency doesn't really do me any favors considering UWSOM is insanely hard to get into, and according to the LizzyM MCAT Rank and Matriculating % Chart WA is the 45th best state to live in as a pre-med, pretty terrible (If you were to establish residency to get into Med School, what state would that be?)

Benefits/Cons of Attending Baylor:

[+] private school, more grade inflation
[+] more attention from professors and smaller class size, easier LORs unlike UHouston and UW
[+] more lenient grade curve than UW, more likely to actually even SURVIVE to see past the 4 years of UG and still be a pre-med
[+] TX residency will make acceptance to med school easier than anywhere else if GPA and MCAT is around state average since 90% of med school seats are reserved for Texans, also TX med is cheaper which balances out the expensive UG cost
[+] only 17,000 students

[-] triple the cost of UW at 42k
[-] will lose my research and shadowing connections and go to Waco, TX, a more unknown/less-developed place than Seattle (are there even good extracurricular opportunities there?)
[-] religious affiliation (Baptist university)

Benefits/Cons of Attending UHouston:

[+] costs ~27k, which is basically double UW but half of Baylor
[+] doesn't have Baylor's religious affiliation
[+] doesn't have UW's brutal curves that weeds out as many pre-meds
[+] TX residency will make acceptance to med school easier than anywhere else if GPA and MCAT is around state average since 90% of med school seats are reserved for Texans, also TX med is cheaper which balances out the expensive UG cost

[-] NOT a top 100 or top 150 UG (it's 185th. Is top 200 still viewed as good enough for admissions officers, or is that too low and will possibly harm me? I did hear from some SDNers that top 200 is fine though)
[-] will lose my research and shadowing connections BUT going to Houston will have great opportunities like Baylor College of Medicine and a lot of medical centers to do research/shadow unlike Waco
[-] 38,000 students


If you could please let me know your opinions on where I should go to optimize my chances of beating the 4 years at UG and making it to medical school, I would greatly appreciate your feedback! My parents have told me that they are fine with paying whatever tuition the college I choose requires as long as it is the school that will allow me to get on the easiest path to med school for my academic ability. Of course, they said they would like to save money, but they said that is not as concerning as if I were to attend UW and then end up with a 3.0 GPA. I really want to do 4 years UG, 4 years med rather than doing post-bac to boost my GPA.

Thank you so much in advance!

Honestly, you're too early in the cycle to really need to worry about GPA's between school,. It is always theoretical until you arrive and perform your first semester though I can tell you that Baylor and UW are a bit closer than you think as I do not know where you get your grade curving information from. UW is a fine school with good opportunities for their medical school or OHSU. All the highlights are things that WSU could have done instead and you should have applied there if you wanted an "easier" experience while still maintaining in-state. Going to Texas, you will not establish residency unless you spend a year out of school down there, which you can do in a gap year if you are really that serious.

Also, you seem to have connections at UW. That is fine, you should exploit them for what they are. Undergraduate research is overrated and patient contact experiences are far underrated, and at any of the three, you would be fine. Your standardized testing scores are actually below average for subject matters though your aptitudes are high, so you would probably have trouble at all these schools to be in the top 10% unless you really shape up your exam schools. Again, what was wrong with WSU if you wanted an easier experience but still wanted to spend some in-state connections? UW is not the UC system by any stretch in terms of international students affecting scores. If I were you, I would really take some time to self-examine your actual study motivations and whether you intend to work hard enough and be self-directed enough to perform at the standard necessary. Though your GPA is high, your AP scores are unacceptably low relative to what a science major should be, and your ACT is higher. I think the cold-blooded read would be high ability scores, low subject domain scores, and a high GPA indicate that you came from an easier high school, have the theoretical capability, but lacks the drive to reach subject matter understanding. If you do not work on that, it really is not going to matter which school you go to as the curve is not as dangerous as yourself if you are not willing to work for domain depth.

Thank you so much for the feedback, it really means a lot to me! Ironically, my school is a pretty good one as it places usually 1st or 2nd in WA yearly and is actually 20th in the nation right now (https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings)

Anyways in response to your feedback, the reason why I didn't apply to WSU was because it was a school I thought that wasn't going to be respected in the eyes of adcoms since, at least in WA, WSU's "vibe" is it's the place where average students (ex: 3.2 GPA 1300 SAT) go to party. The main reason, though, is WSU is 3-5 hours away from Fred Hutch, UW, and Seattle Children's, so basically it's almost as if I would have lost all my connections anyways unless I only came back during the summer to do those extracurriculars. I also didn't really think about applying to 4 year traditional UGs, since at the time of admissions my main goal was to get into a BS/MD so I made UW my safety (I knew I could get in) and focused solely on applying to those programs. As for the AP scores, I think my studying method is wrong since I always ace the homework, never submit any assignments or projects late nor without first self-grading it based on the provided rubric, pay attention to my teacher's lectures, and take my own handwritten notes after class to make the lectures more concise. Yet, I still ended up with a "pass" AP score average. Do you have any tips on how I could fix this to further better my subject domain depth?

After reading what you have sent to me, I understand that I will need to fix up my study skills in order to truly excel at the collegiate level. But regarding my current situation that I am stuck in, however, which school would you advise would be the best course of action to take in order to have the best chance at getting into some medical schools down the road?

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[Mr.Smile12]

Having worked with high school students and parents on direct-admission pathways similar to the BS/MD tracks described, I make it my policy never to influence a decision on where to go to college. Students need a supportive environment, especially in undergrad, to help with courses, community service experiences, and peer support for pursuing careers in health care. Things can change in 3-4 years. I've also seen many of my direct-admission high school students with exemplary academic records and documented dedication to a health care profession fall flat on their faces in the first year or two because they pressured themselves too much or something unexpected happened in their lives. Every one of these high school students say the same thing: they "understand what it takes to succeed" and maintain top grades. Most of them are capable. But not everyone adjusts to college properly.

I will say that whatever you do decide, cost of education is a big deal. In most of the direct-admission tracks I was responsible for, those who were accepted got some scholarship money similar to honors students at their colleges. I tell everyone get as much scholarship money as possible at the undergraduate level since most financial aid packages at that level are leveraged towards grants, while in professional school, it will be more loan-based. Yes, keep in mind you should try to go to a medical school with the lowest amount of debt after 4 years, but the undergraduate debt counts too.

How well does each school work with premed students, and how involved are prehealth student clubs on campus? Given your choices, you will get some different responses when it comes to student culture and premed culture, which to me is part of the recipe to being successful. But in the end, it is what you do in the environment that you have chosen that will truly impress anyone who will review your future application, not the school where you attend.