Is my dad right about which Pre-Med school I should go to?

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1

i just wanted some advice for where i should go to school for premed

context: my dad wants me to go to A&M (where my entire extended family has gone) which im not too hot about, he says its where my sister is, its cheap (am a texas resident), and its a safe town but i dont like the lack of research opportunities or hospitals/medical centers compared to my other options

  • other schools im considering but my dad doesn't like because its more expensive and wont give me any advantage into getting into medical school are UT Austin, CWRU, Rice, UPenn, with the last two being reaches and the first two being match schools

CWRU: i like the research opportunities and the hospitals at case western but my dad says that its expensive and again if it wont get me an assured acceptance to their medical school then theres no point

  • despite what he says its prob my top realistic choice rn so any insight would be super helpful
  • how competitive is it to score research/internships at Cleveland Clinic and other medical centers there?

UT Austin: i like UT a little less just because of the size of the school, meaning more competitive and it doesn’t have as many opportunities or medical centers again

  • i think it would be a better option if i got into the honors program as i hear its quite good
  • i have family and family friends that had high GPAs MCATs and good ECs but didn't get into any rlly good med schools, so my dad doesn't feel like this school would give me a good chance and would rather send me to A&M he says

Rice & UPenn: Rice and UPenn are reaches so idk if I’d even get in but my dad considers them to be way more expensive than any value id be getting out of them, going to ivy leagues for premed doesnt give u an inherent advantage either so that makes them really unnecessary in his eyes

  • how much would it benefit me to go to one of these schools if i get accepted instead of A&M?

Final Thoughts: at the end of the day med school acceptance rates are around 4% and lower, so in my dads eyes going to a school that wouldn’t improve that chance directly by going there wouldn’t add any benefit compared to going to A&M.

Is my dad right or wrong? Do my preferences to these schools really matter? I want to go to a pre-med school that can give me the best chance at getting into a med school, to me that would be having good and available medical research/internship opportunities, and idk how to measure this but anywhere that can help me get the highest GPA + MCAT as that is the winning formula to getting into a med school as I’ve heard.

2

TAMU will provide you with everything you need to apply to medical school at a reasonable cost. If your dad is paying for this and you get into medical school it is best to save money on undergrad.

3

He’s right. Any of these fine schools will offer a solid path to med school, so is there is a great difference in cost of atendance, the cheapest option is a strong option.

4

Med school acceptance is mostly due to GPA and MCAT score.

5

More accurately, earning a high college GPA and MCAT score are the first gate that pre-meds have to get through to get admitted to medical school. Then there are lots of other things beyond that…

However, at least the in-state Texas public medical schools are relatively inexpensive by medical school standards (but there is still a lot of money involved, so keeping cost down for undergraduate can help). Staying in Texas would help make them more accessible to medical school interviews.

6

You’re a Texas resident? You’re not going to qualify for need-based aid? Then both Texas A and M and all the UT schools are cheap for you. And BTW, Texas has something like FIVE fine public medical schools, with the cheapest in-state tuition in the country, I believe. If you can get into one of them, you’d be smart to go there.

UT Austin is the flagship state U. If you can get in, go there. There’s a medical school, so there will be research opportunities. Austin is a bigger town than College Station. UT Austin is the most selective public U in Texas. It’s the obvious choice. If you’re afraid that you cannot hack the competition at UT Austin in the premed classes, you’re unlikely to do well in them at Texas A and M either. Forget Rice, Case Western, and Penn. First of all, they are hard to get into (like REALLY hard). Secondly, if you’re afraid of the competition at UT Austin, it will be much, much more competitive at Penn, Rice, and probably CWRU. Most importantly, the tuition will be literally 45K more/yr at the private schools, an extra 180K at least, and with you talking about medical school, you really need to keep your college costs as low as possible.

Third thing - tons of people who start out as pre-med wind up changing their minds along the way. UT Austin is going to have a LOT of really good departments and majors, since it’s the flagship.

You should look at all the state U’s in Texas, but if you can get in there, UT Austin is probably your best bet. It DOES matter what undergrad school you’re coming from. All other things being equal, med schools are going to take a person with a high GPA from UT Austin over someone with a high GPA from U North Texas.

So, yes, your father is right in that you should choose a public Texas university over those private schools, unless you would qualify for need-based aid. But you should choose the most competitive one that you can get into, and if you’re not in the ballpark for UT Austin in-state, you’re not in the running for Case Western, Rice, or Penn. Consider yourself lucky. If they’d had a better teacher for my kid’s instrument at UT Austin, I would have been pressuring him to go there, transfer his residence, and go to med school eventually in Texas. It’s a fantastic deal, in-state.

7

Wouldn’t UT Austin be either a safety (if you are in the top 6% if your Texas high school’s class rank and are not trying for a competitive major) or a reach (if you are not in the top 6%)?

8

@ucbalumnus my school doesn’t rank but I think I have a pretty good chance at getting in, am really trying for their honors program which is prob more competitive so we’ll see how that goes.

9

@parentologist Thanks for the insight. Just curious, I know that texas med schools have a large preference in favor of residents, would that preference still work in my favor if I go to pre-med out of state at Case Western for example? Do you also think that I would miss out on making connections in Texas maybe? If I got to Case I would try to make connections with some of their own medical school professors etc.

10

you’d still be in state if you maintain your Texas residency while attending Case Western, so you’d have the same chance of admission to Texas med schools, all else being equal. But yes, you might make connections in state that would help win you admission, if you go to a UT school.

But the real issue is, do you qualify for need-based aid? If not, how can you justify spending an additional 160K on a Case Western undergrad degree vs a UT Austin undergrad degree?

11

You’re dad is right. Both my niece and nephew went to UT Austin for undergrad, got into med schools in Texas (UT San Antonio Med School & Baylor College of Medicine in Houston) and matched at top residency programs (nephew at anesthesiology at Wash U St Louis now in his Fellowship there as well, niece is a second year of pediatric residency at NYU Langone, which is number 2 in the nation for peds).

There is absolutely no reason to take on OOS undergrad debt if medical school is your goal. UT and A&M will more than prepare you and their are plenty of amazing med schools in Texas.

12

If your high school is non-ranking, then Texas public universities will calculate / assume a rank for you to use in admissions, based on things like previous years’ applicants and your high school’s profile.

https://texadmissions.com/blog/nonranking-high-schools-ut-austin
http://mycatalog.txstate.edu/undergraduate/general-information/admissions/freshman/applicants-non-ranking-schools/

13

@parentologist Makes sense. I guess I’m hoping to get a merit based scholarship from them hopefully that or an acceptance to UT Austin Honors Program. Either of those would definitely make the selection process easier.

14

In Texas I would choose, UT, Rice, Baylor, Texas Tech, and A&M in that order. The first three (excluding Rice) have med schools and will have more options for research, etc. UT has more hospital access than A&M. For price UT, Tech and A&M will be about the same for IS residents and give you the best bang for your buck. Any will give you great chances for med school. Go with price. Staying in state is really your best option because Texas med schools are more affordable than most.

15

Try to determine where your approximate rank is based on your high school’s profile so that you can realistically assess your chances at Texas public universities.

Depending on where it is relative to the various Texas public universities’ automatic admission thresholds, you may have to additional ones for match or safety purposes.

16

Go to a smaller GOOD school for pre med where you will be taught by professors vs. TAs. You’ll be a number at a large state university in a pre-med program.
St. Olaf’s is good as is Bowdoin. The college with the most acceptances to medical school is West Point (which obviously has its own rigor in getting in).
Also, here’s a pointer. TAKE Organic Chemistry for audit during a summer vacation before you take it for credit. Many top students get C’s in it, and it is a make or break class for medical school.

17

@momocarly Baylor Med is in Houston; Baylor University is 150 miles away in Waco. The schools have not been affiliated since 1969.
https://www.bcm.edu/about-us/mission-vision-values/history

18

So, this is probably the LEAST important of all of the considerations that have been previously mentioned, but according to recent data from AAMC, A&M, Tech, Baylor all have MD admit rates slightly below the national average, UT is on the high side of publics, CWRU is a little higher, and Rice is among the highest in the country. Again, as others have mentioned, you can get into med school from ANY of them and your compatibility with a college’s academic environment (which should contribute to your ability to have a higher GPA), finances, and your ability to find a “Plan B” should probably all be much more important to your decision.