I can't seem to come to a decision in which undergraduate school to attend for Pre-med in Texas.

[premed4456]

I've already applied to these schools: UT (Austin), Texas A&M (College Station), Baylor, Texas Tech (With Honors), and Austin College. Major is Biochemistry. Given the fact that UT and A&M are more of a reach for me, and Baylor is a little expensive, I've been heavily considering Tech with honors and Austin college, because I want to be able to have excellent research opportunities (tight-knit honors community or tight-knit private school) and be heavily involved with clubs and leadership. Am I overlooking certain aspects about UT, A&M, and Baylor that you guys could give me some insight on? What intimidates me about those big schools is that things such as research and leadership roles in school clubs may be more difficult to attain with more students to compete against.

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[jarednogeek]

Baylor grad here. Baylor is a great school but if you’re paying for it yourself it’s probably not worth the huge amount of debt. Any of those schools you will get what you put into it, big or small school there will be opportunities. Pick the cheapest school you’d be the happiest at.

 

[Lucca]

Austin, TAMU, and Baylor will all have more and higher quality research opportunities than the other schools you listed. Location wise, UT Austin wins hands down. I graduated from UT Austin and I absolutely loved it, recommend it without reservation. It is a challenging school with a large premed population and the intro classes will be fairly competitive and have a reputation of weeding a lot of people out. I’d say you can’t go wrong with any of those 3 in terms of overall career prospects although obviously UT Austin is best 😉.

Pick the school you like the best and are happy to afford, not just because it would be the easiest/simplest place to be premed.

 

[Nysor_bttw]

Literally does not matter. The Texas schools will not look at your undergrad and make a large assessment based off of it. Of the "smaller" schools you noted, Austin college has a pre-med program with very high success that I know TAMCOM seems to draw from a lot.

As a differing opinion than the post above, however, A&M pre-med blows UT out of the water. Of course, there is probably hard evidence of this, but I can say it without citing sources because it is purely universal truth.

 

[puahate]

Slightly off topic: what are people's opinion on Rice University?

 

[HockeyGuy30]

Literally does not matter. The Texas schools will not look at your undergrad and make a large assessment based off of it. Of the "smaller" schools you noted, Austin college has a pre-med program with very high success that I know TAMCOM seems to draw from a lot.

As a differing opinion than the post above, however, A&M pre-med blows UT out of the water. Of course, there is probably hard evidence of this, but I can say it without citing sources because it is purely universal truth.

Yeah, what? Can you actually cite something on that? What are you counting as Pre-med at each school? UT doesn’t have a “Pre-med” program you just take the required classes. If you’re just talking about med school acceptance rates from each school, I’d still like to see numbers on that if that’s the case.

 

[HockeyGuy30]

I've already applied to these schools: UT (Austin), Texas A&M (College Station), Baylor, Texas Tech (With Honors), and Austin College. Major is Biochemistry. Given the fact that UT and A&M are more of a reach for me, and Baylor is a little expensive, I've been heavily considering Tech with honors and Austin college, because I want to be able to have excellent research opportunities (tight-knit honors community or tight-knit private school) and be heavily involved with clubs and leadership. Am I overlooking certain aspects about UT, A&M, and Baylor that you guys could give me some insight on? What intimidates me about those big schools is that things such as research and leadership roles in school clubs may be more difficult to attain with more students to compete against.

I’ll only speak for my experience at UT just cause that’s where I go. While it is a large school, there are still plenty of leadership and research opportunities. For leadership, there’s so many student orgs that you can join one that interests you and just by showing up consistently and getting to know everyone, you’ll be in a good spot for running for officer positions (I.e. leadership positions). For research, I can’t speak to biochemistry specifically, but most people I know are involved with research in some form or fashion. So many professors here do research that if you ask around you can generally find something that interests you. I actually ended up outside of my major doing research for a nursing professor, which was a great opportunity.

Your mileage may vary, but don’t be intimidated by the large size of the schools. So many people get into medical school from all these big schools so the opportunities are definitely there. And any school you listed will be perfectly fine for getting into med school, just visit them and see which you like best.

 

[Nysor_bttw]

Yeah, what? Can you actually cite something on that? What are you counting as Pre-med at each school? UT doesn’t have a “Pre-med” program you just take the required classes. If you’re just talking about med school acceptance rates from each school, I’d still like to see numbers on that if that’s the case.

Dude, chill. It's called school rivalry. They're both great.

 

[HockeyGuy30]

Dude, chill. It's called school rivalry. They're both great.

No I was genuinely curious if you actually had numbers on that haha. I feel the same way, healthy rivalry is good

 

[MyOdyssey]

The OP should consider the University of Houston, especially its Honors College.

UH is a Tier I research university in its own right with research facilities to match. It just started its own medical college and UH's main campus is located close to the Texas Medical Center.

Entire class of medical students at University of Houston to get free tuition, thanks to anonymous donor

 

[Isoval]

Going to plug my alma mater here:

I would take a good, hard look at UT Dallas. UT Dallas has a huge emphasis on science classes, an excellent premed advising center, and a lot of research.

 

[JStokes870]

Where will you be most happy?

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Slightly off topic: what are people's opinion on Rice University?

It's too competitive. Do you want to graduate from Rice or do you want to be a physician?

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

I've already applied to these schools: UT (Austin), Texas A&M (College Station), Baylor, Texas Tech (With Honors), and Austin College. Major is Biochemistry. Given the fact that UT and A&M are more of a reach for me, and Baylor is a little expensive, I've been heavily considering Tech with honors and Austin college, because I want to be able to have excellent research opportunities (tight-knit honors community or tight-knit private school) and be heavily involved with clubs and leadership. Am I overlooking certain aspects about UT, A&M, and Baylor that you guys could give me some insight on? What intimidates me about those big schools is that things such as research and leadership roles in school clubs may be more difficult to attain with more students to compete against.

The first question to pose is how your ACT/SAT scores compare to the averages at each school. If your scores are below the 70th percentile at any school, avoid it. The second question is whether each institution offers algebra based physics. If a college only offers calculus based physics, avoid it. The third question to ask is whether the school has inflated grades. If some school has gone on some campaign to reintroduce grading rigor (e.g. only 10% get an A in every class) avoid it. Finally, don't go to any private school which is significantly more expensive, after factoring in scholarships, than Texas Tech. You don't want to be knee deep in debt when you apply to med school.

When you get to college, keep your nose to the grind stone. Avoid drinkers and dopers. Leave the partying to late on Friday and Saturdays. Find research and volunteering activities but don't become some professor's slave.

 

[premed4456]

The first question to pose is how your ACT/SAT scores compare to the averages at each school. If your scores are below the 70th percentile at any school, avoid it. The second question is whether each institution offers algebra based physics. If a college only offers calculus based physics, avoid it. The third question to ask is whether the school has inflated grades. If some school has gone on some campaign to reintroduce grading rigor (e.g. only 10% get an A in every class) avoid it. Finally, don't go to any private school which is significantly more expensive, after factoring in scholarships, than Texas Tech. You don't want to be knee deep in debt when you apply to med school.

When you get to college, keep your nose to the grind stone. Avoid drinkers and dopers. Leave the partying to late on Friday and Saturdays. Find research and volunteering activities but don't become some professor's slave.

Can you elaborate more on the algebra vs calculus based physics? Does the mcat lean more towards algebra based physics?

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Can you elaborate more on the algebra vs calculus based physics? Does the mcat lean more towards algebra based physics?

The MCAT's physics component is entirely algebra based. There is an old article in "Teaching Physics" by a guy named Blado that addresses the teaching of algebra based physics to beat the MCAT. (That article is now behind a paywall.) Algebra based college physics is just plug and chug and doesn't require the student to go through the torture of two terms of calculus. Furthermore, if you have to go through this misery you will be competing in calculus and physics with the engineering nerds.

All of the universities in the Big 10 and some Ivy League schools, such as Cornell and Princeton, offer algebra based physics. The narcissistic jerks who run physics departments often hate offering algebra based physics because it isn't "pure" enough for them. Tough rocks to them.

 

[Nysor_bttw]

OP, I encourage you to listen to more of this posters suggestion:

Where will you be most happy?

And less of this persons suggestion:

The first question to pose is how your ACT/SAT scores compare to the averages at each school. If your scores are below the 70th percentile at any school, avoid it. The second question is whether each institution offers algebra based physics. If a college only offers calculus based physics, avoid it. The third question to ask is whether the school has inflated grades. If some school has gone on some campaign to reintroduce grading rigor (e.g. only 10% get an A in every class) avoid it. Finally, don't go to any private school which is significantly more expensive, after factoring in scholarships, than Texas Tech. You don't want to be knee deep in debt when you apply to med school.

When you get to college, keep your nose to the grind stone. Avoid drinkers and dopers. Leave the partying to late on Friday and Saturdays. Find research and volunteering activities but don't become some professor's slave.

I did everything different than the latters suggestion, and made it just fine. Scores are just scores, and have little to do with how you will ultimately perform in college. Calculus based physics is fine if it's what you're most comfortable with, though yes algebra based is easier. Grades are a reflection of YOUR effort and mastery of material, not whatever grading scheme the school has. About money and private schools: if you get into a place like rice and love it, go. There are scholarship opportunities aplenty, and you will perform best where you are happiest.

Finally: college is not a stepping stone to medical school. College is an experience. Please don't throw away that experience by being stuck in your books. It's all about balance: that's what creates the most attractive applicants. That's why this fear mongering about grades, money, and courses is a bunch of BS. They're all important, but so is your ability to become a well rounded individual.

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

OP, I encourage you to listen to more of this posters suggestion:

And less of this persons suggestion:

I did everything different than the latters suggestion, and made it just fine. Scores are just scores, and have little to do with how you will ultimately perform in college. Calculus based physics is fine if it's what you're most comfortable with, though yes algebra based is easier. Grades are a reflection of YOUR effort and mastery of material, not whatever grading scheme the school has. About money and private schools: if you get into a place like rice and love it, go. There are scholarship opportunities aplenty, and you will perform best where you are happiest.

Finally: college is not a stepping stone to medical school. College is an experience. Please don't throw away that experience by being stuck in your books. It's all about balance: that's what creates the most attractive applicants. That's why this fear mongering about grades, money, and courses is a bunch of BS. They're all important, but so is your ability to become a well rounded individual.

Whenever I see a post like this, especially the nonsense I emphasized, I suspect a troll is at work. If standardized tests weren't good predictors of academic success, universities wouldn't use them.You may be sincere but who knows?

Your spiel contradicts the evidence at hand. Med school admissions is a numbers game and the easier it is to get high numbers at a college, the better it will be as a place to apply from for medical school. I'm sorry but chasing your bliss does not get you into medical school. Furthermore, adcoms at the overwhelming majority of medical schools do not handicap transcripts to account for academic rigor.

The OP stated that UT and A&M as undergraduate schools are a reach for him. Why should he try to slug it out with people who are better test takers than he/she is. That's just stupid.