University of Houston...looked down upon?

[zees09]

well i am currently a student at Houston Community College. i just completed a year here and am planning to transfer out to a 4 year university. the biggest university in Houston is obviously University of Houston...

well i was looking at mdapplicants.com and see a obvious trend. U of H student dont really get into med schools unless there GPA is in the high 3.8s and above. I really want to go to a Texas med school but im seeing that students from University of Texas in Austin are getting in with much lower GPA versus students from university of Houston. my family is pretty poor and i dont get much help from finiancial aid...so from a finiacial standpoint i really cant afford to go to UT in Austin even though i can easily get accepted as a transfer student. I can afford University of Houston, but am scared that med school admissions will look down upon me for going to a much lower ranked school compared to UT in Austin.

what the hell should i do!!!! also im also very scared for the fact that med school admission will also look down on me going to a community college as a freshman.

so basically how bad does it look when applying to med school if a student has gone to a community college for a semester or two and then transfer to a lower ranked university like University of Houston? also is it worth it for me to try and make it by transfering to University of Texas after i finish my second semester here at Houston Community College...should i just go to U of H because i know im gonna need at least a 3.8 to get into a texas med school or say f*** it and just pack my bags and move to austin and still be just as competitive if i end up with a slightly lower GPA (3.4-3.6). i saw all these ppl get in from UT-Austin with GPAs as low as 3.4s. the lowest GPA of a U of H student actually get accepted was a 3.73...

this is really bugging me out, and any help, advice of words of wisdom will be appreciated. thanks!

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[Wylde]

i can just offer you this: take mdapplicants.com with a HUGE bag of salt.

There just might not be people from U of H putting their stats up on mdapps that are getting in with lower gpas/mcats. Or maybe visa versa for other schools, regardless it is in NO way conclusive.

 

[Revenant]

This is why MDapplicants is a double-edged sword.

Yes, people with 3.4's from just about anywhere get into medical school. Hell some (lucky) people with 2.9's find a way to make it into medical school. No one really cares that much about where you did undergrad or what you even did for undergrad. Relax.

 

[KublaiKhan]

When I was applying for undergrad I made a trip to UH to check out their biological sciences program and had a chance to speak to a dean there who told me that very few students from UH apply to med school. I believe he told me that usually only two or three students are accepted to med school from there each year ( this was in 2004). I am not sure of the exact number that applied, but he led me to believe that they don't really have any well defined med school geared curriculum and basically told me to go elsewhere if I wanted to do med. This really turned me off from UH, but it's not to say that you won't be able to do it, you'll just need to do well on your MCAT and rack up some good EC's and I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[zees09]

well im glad that mdapplicants.com is a double edge sword because when i saw that ****, it really discouraged me...another reason i wanted to go to U of H was due both my parents being graduates of U of H...

well im glad...maybe i can relax a bit...

oh i also had one more question. will becoming an EMT/ Paramedic look good as far as getting accepted...the only volunteering i do right now is with Texas Childrens Hospitol. i do ER family therapy. i just started so i dont have very many hours but i will over time...so will becoming an EMT/Paramedic help much?

also how bad is it for me to having taken my freshman year at a community college. i havnt taken any of my sciences here. i plan to take it at a university. i have a 3.78gpa here but i have 5 W (withdrawals) i had to withdraw from all my classes 2 semester ago when my dad had open heart surgery to take care of my family. will my 5 W's look bad because it is on my community college transcript that i will need to transfer over when i go a university. thanks for all ur help guys!!!

 

[Revenant]

well im glad that mdapplicants.com is a double edge sword because when i saw that ****, it really discouraged me...another reason i wanted to go to U of H was due both my parents being graduates of U of H...

well im glad...maybe i can relax a bit...

oh i also had one more question. will becoming an EMT/ Paramedic look good as far as getting accepted...the only volunteering i do right now is with Texas Childrens Hospitol. i do ER family therapy. i just started so i dont have very many hours but i will over time...so will becoming an EMT/Paramedic help much?

also how bad is it for me to having taken my freshman year at a community college. i havnt taken any of my sciences here. i plan to take it at a university. i have a 3.78gpa here but i have 5 W (withdrawals) i had to withdraw from all my classes 2 semester ago when my dad had open heart surgery to take care of my family. will my 5 W's look bad because it is on my community college transcript that i will need to transfer over when i go a university. thanks for all ur help guys!!!

There are many EMT's applying, which is not to say that it isn't worthwhile, because it is. The volunteering at a hospital is good too.

You not only have a good excuse for the 5 W's, you have a fantastic reason that you have 5 W's. Explain the situation in an interview or personal statement, because it shows a large amount of personal growth, responsibility, and maturity, which is far beyond 99.99% of people applying. Once again the community college thing shouldn't hurt you, as money is a perfectly valid excuse for not attending a 4 year institution right off the bat.

 

[154465]

i can just offer you this: take mdapplicants.com with a HUGE bag of salt.

👍

 

[zees09]

trust me iv already starting studying for the MCAT, at work, school, on the can...lol, whenever i get a chance. i did have another question though...

how does med schools look at CLEPs...i really dont want to sit through eng comp I or II...i was thinking of just taking the CLEP test and get it over with...is that not a good thing to do?

 

[bigkdawg161]

As a student at UH, I can tell you that you truly get what you put in. Forget about rankings and all that non-sense, the fact is that UH is an urban commuter campus, it'll take many years before it receives the kind of "merit" other more traditional Texas campuses enjoy today, i.e. UT, A&M, etc. However, with that in mind understand that UH prepares you greatly in your pursuit of med school. Ask many college professors around the country about UH, and they will tell you about the well noted research that is going on here. UH has a great chem dept. and the classes you take Gen. Chem, Orgo 1/2, more than prepare you for the MCAT, but as with every college, you just have to know which professor to take. There are also many student organizations here such as AED, AMSA, AHPS, which can help you get started or supplement your list of EC's. Not to mention UH's connection with Baylor and other organizations at the TMC, UH is not a bad idea if you are pursuing med school. The tuition at UH has been going up in the past few years, and im sure it is comparable to that of UT. Wherever you go, you must understand that your school's prestige will not make up for the hard work and effort that you yourself must put forward. There are tons of people here at UH just like you, and I know many that have gotten to med school. Good luck on your decision!

 

[number77]

When I was applying for undergrad I made a trip to UH to check out their biological sciences program and had a chance to speak to a dean there who told me that very few students from UH apply to med school. I believe he told me that usually only two or three students are accepted to med school from there each year ( this was in 2004). I am not sure of the exact number that applied, but he led me to believe that they don't really have any well defined med school geared curriculum and basically told me to go elsewhere if I wanted to do med. This really turned me off from UH, but it's not to say that you won't be able to do it, you'll just need to do well on your MCAT and rack up some good EC's and I'm sure you'll be fine.

I'm in [what is left of] their biochem/biophys program.
Tons (50+%) of people (mostly biology majors) are premed and tons apply (I'm not sure about the numbers that get in though).

 

[Lozza]

trust me iv already starting studying for the MCAT, at work, school, on the can...lol, whenever i get a chance.

woah... cut that out. study in a couple of years when in matters. There are much better ways to use your time now

 

[midn]

woah... cut that out. study in a couple of years when in matters. There are much better ways to use your time now

Agreed. Studying for the MCAT this early seems like a recipe for disaster. Keep your GPA as high as it is now, and score decently on the MCAT, and you're golden (plus extracurriculars, yadda, yadda, but you seem to have that covered). Texas medical schools seem to make very little discrimination against your sending institution, but I don't know if it is there or not. Certainly, some school like Baylor may have a favorite school they accept a lot from (*cough* Rice 😛), but they still accept from many other places.

Do the best that YOU can. If you know you can handle medical school, then keep at it. If a school discriminates against you for your sending institution, why should you burden yourself with that knowledge knowing that it is something you cannot control now?

Best of luck.

 

[RangerD]

I am a 3rd year med student at UT-Houston medical school and I graduated from University of Houston-Downtown. That's right...the downtown campus, not even the main UH. I would say the downtown campus is not rated as high as the main UH. I went there because I had to take my college classes in the evenings so I could work during the days. Not only that, I was a business major! Not only that, approximately half of my credits were from HCC, and I took the rest at UHD. And to top it off, I never even attended college full time, I took only a couple classes per semester on the average. So, needless to say, if you make good grades and do decent on the MCAT, you should be in good shape. Don't worry what others tell you. Good luck.

 

[JackDanielMD]

trust me iv already starting studying for the MCAT, at work, school, on the can...lol, whenever i get a chance. i did have another question though...

how does med schools look at CLEPs...i really dont want to sit through eng comp I or II...i was thinking of just taking the CLEP test and get it over with...is that not a good thing to do?

Ummm....you might wanna chill out a bit too. College is supposed to be fun. Go to party, get drunk, do something debaucherous, hook up. Keep the grades high, have fun, study for the MCAT later when it counts. Take Eng comp I and II, you might learn something interesting.

 

[skyeblue0610]

I've noticed that too. I know alot of people around Houston will be sort of blah if you tell them you go to UH, don't know why though.

I've been told by numerous people if you must or just want to take some classes at a CC in Houston, always go for North Harris (soon to be Lone Star College System😱) as opposed to HCC.

I've taken 12 hours of basic classes (speech, sociology, etc) in the summer and one dual credit classes in high school from North Harris