I’m planning to go the pre-med route, so I am essentially looking for the school where I’ll have the best pre-med experience. I’ve been accepted to the Neuroscience programs at both Brandeis and UT (not the honors program at UT, however). I have been performing research on both schools but I was looking for some second opinions on this thread.
As of now, I am leaning more towards UT for the purpose of convenience… It is close to home (I’m from Houston) and I have numerous friends who went there so it would be easy to receive good advice about classes and extracurricular activities. But at the same time, I’ve heard from multiple people that UT’s status as a public school makes it rather difficult to obtain research opportunities and detailed pre-med advising. While Brandeis would definitely not be as convenient for me due to the distance, my dad has always told me that no one has ever been successful by staying in my comfort zone… Would that apply to this? I know that Brandeis would give me an overall better pre-med experience due to the small school size, and my family is willing to pay for either school, but is it worth-it for me to go so far out of my comfort zone (while I am slightly embarrassed to say this, I don’t feel completely ready to move halfway across the nation)?
I have visited both campuses, I fell in love with both of the environments. That’s what’s making this decision so difficult. Please let me know what you guys think, and thanks in advance!
Wanting to stay closer to home has many benefits and is a perfectly solid reason to pick a school.
It sounds like UT is the right fit for you. In this case, choosing a school that is not the right fit purely to “go out of your comfort zone” is not valid advice. You’re already making a huge change in your life by moving to college; you don’t need to add more stress by going to the wrong school for you. The fact that it’s cheaper is another plus!
Note that most prospective pre-med students end up dropping it, and most college students will change majors at least once, so pick a school where you’ll be happy regardless of what you end up studying.
I prefer Brandeis, but these are two very different schools: in terms of size, in terms of culture, in terms of social life (UT will be much more fun that Brandeis). OP, you must have a sense which place is best for you: the ginormous UT with its well-respected name, football culture, and incredible social scene? Or the perhaps more well-regarded (academically) Brandeis, with its 3,000+ students, its intense academic focus, its huge Jewish population, and its lesser social scene?
Brandeis would be more my style, but what’s yours, OP?
I wanted to respond to this as someome who went to UT Austin (light years ago but it wasnt that different!), graduated at 22 and moved to the Boston area. I grew up in Texas, but I still live in New England. It is a very different environment here. There is a different culture that may seems subtle to others, but at 22 it was a big change. At 18 it would be even bigger. Expect some culture shock and some moments of thinking you’ve made a mistake!
Brandeis is a very different academic and social environment than UT, though. Both are excellent schools. I will say you learn a lot about life at UT and will have to actively seek out opportunities. Excellng there in a competitive major definitely requires a certain type of student. Having gone there , I have some regrets as it wasn’t the college experience I had imagined…lots of people love it, but it does require a certain type of person.
If you are prepared for the change and challenge and understand that it won’t be smooth sailing moving across the country, then I’d say you should go to Brandeis given that it is a supportive environment where your professors will really care. You won’t be required to advocate for and prove yourself academically in the same way you would have to at a large school like UT, especially not being part of the honors college. But yes it will be an adjustment to be so far from home, and it may feel enormous at times… expect to miss home. But there are direct flights to Houston that will have you home in 3.5 hours. There are summers and long winter breaks. Good luck with whatever you decide!
If you’re intent on pre-med, Brandeis will be much more supportive of these aspirations. If (like most pre-meds) you end up doing something elsewhere it’ll be supportive too late cause as a private school it has lots of resources.
Don’t expect pork barbecue though.
Depending on your faith, or lack thereof, Brandeis and Boston may require some adjusting compared to Texas.
Football will be no big deal (you can cheer on professional teams but UT’s devotion to football and its status in Texas are unknown in Boston. People live professional football, they where for their college team, but it doesn’t “close shops”).
If you think you can handle this - and you must have thought so since you applied and kept Brandeis on your final list - then I’d go with Brandeis.
If you are going to be paying for medical school as well, you might be wise to save money at UT. There are plenty of outstanding medical centers in Texas, and I believe the new UT medical school, Dell, gives preference to UT graduates for admission. UT is a much more diverse school than Brandeis, in an increasingly popular city, though Boston has lots for the college aged as well. Personally, I wouldn’t pay the cost differential for just Brandeis.