I see “Pre-med” in the title of the thread. This shapes my reply.
First of all, medical school is insanely expensive. You need to budget for a full 8 years of university if you are serious about taking this route. If your parents are fine with spending between $800,000 and $900,000 over 8 years then you do not need to worry about budget. Otherwise it would be much easier to save money on the undergraduate part of this trip than it would be to save money on the medical school part of this. You do not want to take the full cost of medical school as debt, or even half the cost as debt. If you get your bachelor’s degree in 2 or 3 years this might reduce the cost, but note the risks mentioned below.
Premed classes are tough. Both daughters had majors that overlapped with premed requirements (one was pre-vet and is now a veterinarian, the other is currently getting a PhD in a biomedical field). I have heard lots of stories about how tough these classes are. Things like premed classes full of very strong students with a mid-term exam with a class average in the mid 40’s or mid 50’s would be entirely normal. You do not want to rush to get to the toughest premed classes as fast as possible. Instead you should be taking these classes at a measured pace, scheduled to complete all premed requirements by the time that they hand you a bachelor’s degree, but being very careful to be solid on the prerequisites before taking any particular class and also being careful with regard to how many tough classes you take at the same time.
It seems that students may vary in terms of which premed classes they find toughest. For example I have heard that some students find the required math and physics classes to be difficult. Some other students see the math and physics classes as the solid A’s that help to make up for the B and the B- in two semesters of organic chemistry. A small number of students seem to breeze through premed classes, although even they are working very, very hard in these tough classes and even the few students who do best in the premed classes might in some cases decide that they want to take another path in life.
And we have seen a few posts from students who were taking organic chemistry as a freshman in university and suffering quite badly. Be cautious about taking classes early.
Another issue is that experience in a medical environment is essential for applying to MD or DO programs. If you get through your bachelor’s degree in less than 4 years this reduces the time available to get this experience. Most students applying for MD and DO programs however take some time off between getting a bachelor’s degree and applying to medical school. This gives more time to get experience in a medical environment, and also more time to prepare for the MCAT.
The large majority of students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. There are lots and lots of forms of “something else” available. Fortunately the schools that are good for premed students are also generally good for a wide range of “something else”. If you get through your bachelor’s degree quickly, in some ways this may reduce the time that you have to explore other options, although of course some exploration can occur on the job after getting a bachelor’s degree before applying to any graduate program (medical school or otherwise).
If you look at the students in a highly ranked MD program, or in a highly ranked biomedical PhD program, you will find that they come from a very wide range of undergraduate universities. Assuming that you avoid arts academies and music conservatories and other very specialized programs, there are hundreds and hundreds of schools that are very good for premed students. There are also hundreds of schools that will be full of very strong premed students.
As one example, one daughter attended an undergraduate university ranked somewhere in the 100 to 120 range. She nonetheless at one point had a boyfriend who was premed who had never had a B in his life, plus a good friend who had only had one or two B’s in her life. Both are now MDs. Attending a school in the 100 to 120 range did not stop this daughter from being 4 for 5 in acceptances to very good DVM programs (she is a veterinarian now).
This might be a slow way to say that the ranking of the undergraduate university that you attend really does not matter if you want to become a medical doctor. You really do not need to attend a “top 50” school.
Regarding your ECs, I like them. I like the fact that you have both some experience in research and some experience in a medical environment. This might help you to know which path makes sense for you. Also, you really don’t need “well rounded” ECs. The point with ECs is to do what is right for you, whatever you do you should do it well, and you should show some ability to get along with people. This sounds like what you have been doing.
I have heard very good things about Rice, but do not know it personally. A “normal” 3.77 unweighted GPA might be lowish for Rice, but given the schools that you have attended I think that it is hard to guess how this will go. Certainly you have attended schools that might be tougher than normal and I expect that admissions at any university will take this into account.
Make sure that you apply to safeties. Given what you said about possibly attending a top 30 public university, and your apparent lack of concern for getting in, I am wondering whether you are auto-admit to UT Austin. If so then yes it is a very good university and is very good for premed students. Of course Rice, TA&M and any one of a couple of hundred other universities are also very good for premed students.
I think that you should think less about how a school is ranked, and think more about what makes a school a good fit for you. Do you want a large school or a small school? Do you want to be in an urban or rural environment or small town? Do you want a school with a big time football social scene? Since the premed and pre-vet classes are the same, if you attend a school with a big pre-vet / animal science program you might have lots of academically strong down to earth rural / farm folks in your premed classes (TA&M might fit this description). Would you want this? For one daughter the answer would have been “of course”, but what is the answer for you?
I think that you are doing well.