<p>IMO, Dartmouth would be a good choice for you. Or Wellesley. Check out which school is more supportive towards premeds. Some schools are not. They gate keep their own students out. </p>
<p>The reason I think you should take the opportunity you are getting to go to some top schools is because there is no guarantee that you will end up going to med school THe number of kids at age 18 who start out premed always dwindles by quite a bit. The STEM and natural sciences do get huge dropouts and transfers out of their programs and classes because the work is difficult and often students do not want to put the time, effort and stress that it takes to get the grades to be a viable medical school candidate. Grades are a very important part of the package to get into medical school. Can’t do well in O-chem , labs or any of your courses and you are often done. I took Cornell out of the picture because that is definitely a school with a steep grade curve, tough courses and a lot of competition. Not known for its warm and fuzzies there.</p>
<p>I have no idea how well your local UT shuttles premeds into med school acceptance. That is something to research too. DO they nurture and help premeds along so that they have a high med school acceptance rate? It’s normal for a state school to have a high number of instate kids because they do give preference to in staters but those numbers do include students who went to college OOS. But find out how many kids start out premed at UT Dallas and how many end up in medical school and what the accept rate and stats are for those kids going from the college to the med school. YOu can see pretty clearly if there is an advantage. Though state medical schools might have some seats reserved for various counties and have some reciprocity with their undergrad college, it’s usually not much much there. </p>
<p>If you graduate with a Dartmouth degree but change your mind, you’ll have gained quite the experience going this school , coming from Texas. And ivy can pack a whallop of sorts. The question I have is more what you would do if you go to your local school and decide not to stay pre med than making that change at some of your private choices. I’ve known many, many kids who were dead set on becoming doctors…and they changed their minds. You are young yet, and it is very possible you find an interest, passion in something else and/or decide medicine is not for you. </p>