Baylor vs Rice vs Vanderbilt for statistics/mathematics/pre-med

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I am a statistics major (Vanderbilt doesn’t have a stats major, so I’d major in math) on the pre-med track. I also plan to minor in Spanish. Additionally, I am very set on attending medical school (have been since I was 5), so I want to give myself the best chance to gain admission. Some things that matter to me for college:
-close proximity to a medical center for research/volunteering
-great social life/experience separate from partying
-diversity/unique experiences
-Opportunity for Christian small groups etc.
-Pre-med advising
-Ability to apply/get into medical school; worried about getting weeded out of pre-med at elite schools
-529 balance: about $45,000

Baylor:
Intended Major: Statistics, minor in Spanish, pre-med track

Pros:
-Very affordable (wouldn’t have to use 529 account=money for med school)
-Christian environment (never really planned to attend a Christian school despite being religious, but it would be nice)
-”less stressful”
-local marina
-Amazing sports
-Great pre-med advising
-More opportunities for study abroad
-I’d have a car
-Baylor Interdisciplinary Core: aspect of the Honors College that promotes a interdisciplinary education and replaces gen-ed classes
-Invited to the “Leadership Academy” through the Honors College (comes with research money and a free spring break mission trip)
-Paid summer programs for statistics and biostatistics
-Hopefully I can establish residency in Texas because Texas has higher in-state acceptance rates and lower tuition for med school

Cons:
-Less “prestige”
-No large medical center nearby (I’ve always wanted to spend a lot of time volunteering at the hospital in college)
-Not a fan of Waco
-More expensive for travel
-Stats program isn’t ranked
-Tiny stats program (7-10 majors a year)
-Lots of in-state students
-Far from home (I live in Tennessee)
-Not a lot of diversity

Costs and any aid/net price, merit scholarships
-Family has an employee tuition benefit that stacks with my scholarship to make total cost of attendance to be about $9,600 per year

Any special considerations
-Would live in Honors Residential College; could potentially have a suite-style dorm

Rice:
Admitted Division: Engineering
Intended Major: Statistics, minor in Spanish/Portuguese; pre-med

Pros:
-Residential college system is really cool and allows for unique social experiences
-No Greek life
-diversity
-Close to Texas Medical Center
-Same thing with residency in Texas
-Chance to make connections with Baylor College of Medicine
-Beautiful campus
-Great stats program
-Free museum entry :slight_smile:
-close proximity to professional sports
-Great local Christian groups
-Big city, so I can go to concerts
-Nice park nearby
-Cool orientation process

Cons:
-Wouldn’t have a car so difficulty getting around/couldn’t use train for safety reasons
-not a lot of sports at Rice
-Far from home
-Really stressful
-May weed out pre-meds
-Expensive
-wet campus/lots of partying
-Would have to minor in Spanish/Portuguese

Costs and any aid/ net price, merit scholarships
-about $25,000 a year for total cost of attendance with family tuition benefit
-Family can afford it without loans, but would have to use 529/less opportunity to study abroad

Vanderbilt
Admitted Division: College of Arts and Sciences
Intended Major: Mathematics, minor in Spanish and Medicine, Health, and Society; pre-med

Pros:
-close to home (I live in Tennessee)
-Vanderbilt has always been my dream college since I was little but that was before I researched other schools
-close proximity to Vanderbilt University Medical Center
-nice campus
-SEC conference
-access to a car after first year
-AXLE (liberal arts)
-Diverse
-closeish lake
-Lots of research opportunities
-Medicine, Health, and Society major/minor
-possible addition of data science minor
-My personality seems to fit the vibe of Vanderbilt
-All of my friends are going to Vanderbilt too (pro/con)

Cons:
-hard work load/less time for a college experience
-Doesn’t have a statistics major
-Expensive
-Questionable dorm experience
-Expensive to study abroad
-Campus felt weird//too spread out?
-Party school

Costs and any aid/ net price, merit scholarships
-Same as Rice with about $25,000 a year for total cost of attendance with family tuition benefit; have to use 529 account

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You already know this, but Rice and Vanderbilt are in a different league than Baylor.

What those two colleges give you over Baylor are multiple exit paths outside of medicine. If for some reason you don’t go to medical school, then your statistics degree from Rice or your math degree from Vanderbilt make you more marketable than a statistics degree from Baylor. Many students also end up in Economics at those two schools, which also has great career paths.

It’s important to note that far fewer students end up in medicine than those who start off as pre-med. In some cases it is because 18-year olds don’t really know the full set of opportunities that are available at places like Rice or Vanderbilt and find something else that interests them. And some find it too hard.

In a sense, the extra cost of Rice and Vanderbilt is the price of giving you options outside of medicine. Is that worth over $60k more? That’s for your family to decide.

Rice and Vanderbilt are similar in many ways. Both compete for “happiest students” award, with one or the other usually winning it. Both have excellent pre-med advising. Having visited both with my kids, my preference is Rice. It has a stunning campus and everyone from Rice always seems to be happy. And the Texas Medical Center is a huge plus for pre-med students.

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Thank you, I appreciate the insight. I definitely love Rice’s campus and their Residential College System! I recognize the difference in leagues between the schools, but I would likely attend graduate school if I did not go the med school route. I am just worried that Rice or Vanderbilt would make it more difficult for me to get into med school.

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I know that Vandy has been your dream school, but looking at your interests, Rice seems to offer more of what you’re interested in. Having said that, Baylor is a very good school and will save you $62,000 over 4 years. That would seem like the most practical decision.

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CC’s medical school expert is @WayOutWestMom. She may have an idea of medical school admissions rates from Rice, Baylor, and Vanderbilt and how they are calculated (percent of all students, or the students that receive a recommendation letter).

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All three schools --Baylor, Rice and Vanderbilt-- use a health committee letters to control which student are allowed to apply for medical school. Only those students whom the committee feels have a very strong chance for med school admission receive committee letters.

Neither Rice nor Baylor make any claims about their medical school admission rates. Vanderbilt claims that during the 2018-2019 application cycle, about 70% of Vandy applicants who received a health committee LOR were accepted into med school. However, nowhere in the document does the pre-health office define what a “medical school” is. (While the common assumption is this means a US MD program, that isn’t always a safe assumption.

Also note that Baylor University and Baylor School of Medicine are no longer associated (Baylor SOM “divorced” the undergrad in 1969. ) and there is little or no interaction between the Baylor U and Baylor SOM. Baylor SOM is in Houston–which is 3+ hours by car from Waco where the undergrad is located.

Hopefully I can establish residency in Texas because Texas has higher in-state acceptance rates and lower tuition for med school

You cannot establish state residency in TX as a college student. You would need to take a gap year between undergrad and applying to med school in TX to become a TX resident.

BTW, it’s a common pre-med misconception that TX is some sort of paradise for med school applicants. Although TX has a reputation for having a very high in-state acceptance at TX med schools–it actually doesn’t. TX has an in-state matriculation rate of 32% (meaning only 32% of in-state applicants receive an acceptance to an in-state public or private med school.) That’s not even in the top 15 for highest in-state matriculation rates. Additionally TX OOS matriculation–TX applicants who receive acceptances to OOS public or private med schools–is one of the lowest in the US at 6%. This is because there is some real bias against TX state resident applicants by non-TX med schools. (They know TX applicants won’t matriculate if they have an in-state acceptance because of TX low med school COA so OOS med schools don’t want to waste one of their limited number of interview slots on a candidate who probably won’t attend.)

In-state and OOS matriculation rates here:
https://www.aamc.org/media/6016/download

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+1 for (Vandy, Rice) since your family can pay for it without loans.

and out of (Vandy, Rice), I’d always vote Rice, but it’s a pick-em

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Baylor and Vanderbilt have Greek life while Rice does not. You do not have to be part of Greek life at those schools, but many are. Although Rice is a secular campus there are lots of Christian organizations with an on campus presence. The Chi Alpha group is very popular. https://ricechialpha.com My daughter is part of a Chi Alpha small group bible study with other women. Groups carpool or walk together to church on Sunday. There are lots of denominations close to campus. Both Vanderbilt and Rice have nearby medical centers for internships etc. Vanderbilt has a connected med school while Rice does not. There isn’t a med center near Baylor. Nursing students at Baylor go to Dallas for their last 2 years. If you decide against premed, Rice statistics is strong. You do not have to have a car at Rice. The metro train that stops near campus is safe and fine to use to get around, especially if you are only going a few stops to the museums or med center. You can also take the train downtown or to NRG Stadium for pro sports. Rice runs shuttles to Target and the grocery store on the weekends. Rice Village is within walking distance for shops and restaurants. Rice is more collaborative than cut throat. I went to Vanderbilt for law school and my daughter attends Rice. They are both great and Nashville and Houston are great towns. You have 3 good choices.

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Great info! Tufts med school data shows a seemingly robust amount of data around allopathic success rates. Other schools also add in osteopathic acceptances. Many schools further dilute the data by including ALL health professions graduate programs, not just medical, dental or vet schools. It would be great to see what level of data Rice, Vandy and BU provide.

I believe there’s a strong correlation between the undergrad ranking and performance on the MCAT. However, do you think there’s much causation as well (course rigor, access to best test prep and advising)?

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There’s also a strong correlation between undergrad ranking and performance on SAT. So, of course the top schools which take in top talent to begin with, are turning out top talent on the other end. Causation? I doubt it.

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Correlation, yes.

Because students who already strong academically and who gain admission to an elite school tend to have better test-taking and study skills, as well as excellent self discipline and goal-drive. Academically strong, highly self-motivated students will do well in every field they pursue, not just medicine.

Causation–definitely not.

Med school advising is very hit and miss–even at highly ranked undergrads and undergrads which are known for their robust pre-med program.

MCAT test prep is NOT a standard part of an undergrad pre-med program. This something a student needs to pursue on their own, whether it’s a formal prep class or self-study.

And rigor–again doubtful since

  1. even Harvard students complain that their coursework doesn’t adequately prepare them for the MCAT
  2. students from all sorts of academic backgrounds–including directional state Us, community colleges and lesser known rural SLACs end up in medical school–including top ranked medical schools.

Academics are only part of what makes a strong med school applicant.

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My wife has a PhD in stats. She recommends Rice. Their statistics program does a lot of work with Baylor COM and their department chair will be next year’s president of the American Statistical Assoc.

Vandy has its own med school and is also a fine choice. I assume you’d want to do a biostats focused undergrad with the pre-med core.

Rice and Baylor have specific statistical science departments. Vandy has a data science major and a strong math program.

All three are in prime areas for Christian activities. I found Rice Chi Alpha that looks like it has potential. Baylor will of course have a larger percentage of the student body attending mid-week or Sunday services. Maybe 20%?

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