School Selection Help

[USERX]

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Hello everyone, sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place (maybe even on the wrong website), but where I did post this question, I didn't get the answers I was looking for.

So here I go 🙂:

I am a high school senior and about to apply to college, I am very interested in the medical field so I am looking for a college with a good pre-med program (i know that mostly it doesn't matter what your degree is for med school but I still want a strong school). My HPA is around 4.2 and I am taking plenty of AP classes. I took the SAT and ACT for a 1850 and a 26 (also planning to retake the SAT because i got a lower score on math approx: (Writing - 560)(Reading - 590)(Math - 700)). I have extracurricular activities but I am low on volunteer work (I know, I will volunteer way more when I get to University). I live in Texas.

Now here is the question part 🙂)) I was looking at University of Washington: do I have a good chance of getting in ( I really like Seattle for some reason and I hear they are not bad for pre-med and even better for medical school)?
Also would University of Texas - Austin and A&M University (for in-state 🙂) be a good choice for what I want to do? (I dont know about RICE: prob wont get in, and dont really like it)

Do med schools accept people from Universities like these (UT & A&M)?

Also if you have good school suggestion please post I need all the help I can get. (I know I wont be able to get into the top tier schools with the scores i have right now). Out/in-state doesn't really matter but the cost does (at least for pre-med [i know med school costs a lot] xD)

Thanks for your help! 🙂

 

[mcworbust]

Hello everyone, sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place (maybe even on the wrong website), but where I did post this question, I didn't get the answers I was looking for.

So here I go 🙂:

I am a high school senior and about to apply to college, I am very interested in the medical field so I am looking for a college with a good pre-med program (i know that mostly it doesn't matter what your degree is for med school but I still want a strong school). My HPA is around 4.2 and I am taking plenty of AP classes. I took the SAT and ACT for a 1850 and a 26 (also planning to retake the SAT because i got a lower score on math approx: (Writing - 560)(Reading - 590)(Math - 700)). I have extracurricular activities but I am low on volunteer work (I know, I will volunteer way more when I get to University). I live in Texas.

Now here is the question part 🙂)) I was looking at University of Washington: do I have a good chance of getting in ( I really like Seattle for some reason and I hear they are not bad for pre-med and even better for medical school)?
Also would University of Texas - Austin and A&M University (for in-state 🙂) be a good choice for what I want to do? (I dont know about RICE: prob wont get in, and dont really like it)

Do med schools accept people from Universities like these (UT & A&M)?

Also if you have good school suggestion please post I need all the help I can get. (I know I wont be able to get into the top tier schools with the scores i have right now). Out/in-state doesn't really matter but the cost does (at least for pre-med [i know med school costs a lot] xD)

Thanks for your help! 🙂

First of all, good foresight about the exorbitant costs of medical school! Correct me if im wrong, but it looks like UT Austin is ~ 10k/yr, A&M is ~20k/yr, and U Wash is almost 30k/yr for Tuition. If your parents can cover some undergrad, thats great, but if you have aspirations to go to med school try and make a deal with them to put the extra $$ they would spend for you to go to U Wash toward graduate level education (and then go to UT-Austin and come out with 80k in the bank to help cover med school). By the time you graduate medical school, average indebtedness just from medical school for medical students could be 200-250k (+~40k more with interest compounded over those 4 years), unless you can get into your state medical school (by the way, Texas has some of the better tuition rates for med students in the country, so you are lucky!). The less debt you have coming out of med school the better, and minimizing Undergrad related debt is easy to do but most only figure this out in retrospect. The less debt you have, the more feasible certain specialties will be for you (i.e. you might be able to pursue a lower paying specialty/subspecialty that you love if you aren't overburdened with debt!)

Secondly, Med schools accept people from all sorts of universities, and I'm sure going to UT-Austin or A&M would not harm your chances of getting into medical school. Also, I'd advise you go where you will be most comfortable and focused!

If you can squeeze in any more volunteering and prepare well for your next SAT/ACT you should be just fine, in the meantime I'd look into other in-state schools as backups just in case (im not from texas so I cant really give informed suggestions...)

Finally, I'd just like to mention that, while you can major in anything and get into medical school, it might be easier to major in the sciences for both the MCAT and medical school (I did Biology, Medical Microbiology and Immunology). Your major won't necessairly make medical school easier, but you will come in "speaking the language" of the topics you cover in medical school, which will help you get off to the right start (my history/literature/communications major classmates have had a harder time adjusting but are succeeding nonetheless).

Props to you for being fiscally aware - IMHO I think UT-Austin would be the best option for you. Good luck!

 

[dsoz]

Hello everyone, sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place (maybe even on the wrong website), but where I did post this question, I didn't get the answers I was looking for.

So here I go 🙂:

I am a high school senior and about to apply to college, I am very interested in the medical field so I am looking for a college with a good pre-med program (i know that mostly it doesn't matter what your degree is for med school but I still want a strong school). My HPA is around 4.2 and I am taking plenty of AP classes. I took the SAT and ACT for a 1850 and a 26 (also planning to retake the SAT because i got a lower score on math approx: (Writing - 560)(Reading - 590)(Math - 700)). I have extracurricular activities but I am low on volunteer work (I know, I will volunteer way more when I get to University). I live in Texas.

Now here is the question part 🙂)) I was looking at University of Washington: do I have a good chance of getting in ( I really like Seattle for some reason and I hear they are not bad for pre-med and even better for medical school)?
Also would University of Texas - Austin and A&M University (for in-state 🙂) be a good choice for what I want to do? (I dont know about RICE: prob wont get in, and dont really like it)

Just know that U of W takes almost zero out of state students, unless they are from WWAMI states (Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho). It reserves all of the OOS spots for students from the western states that do not have their own medical school.

As for the rest of it. Go to college. It does not matter which one, but pick one where you feel comfortable and you will be able to do well. Pick a major that you enjoy and will do well in. Chances are that you will change your major at least three times.

When you are a Junior, if you are still interested in medicine, then start back here on SDN. For now, just do your best to be the best person and student that you can be. Don't do stupid things like getting caught drinking, DUII, or drug possession. Don't get caught cheating in a class, and don't get a criminal record. When I say don't get caught, that really means don't do those things.

dsoz