UF [$35k] vs UTD [<$15k] for incoming freshman applicant

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Hello! I got into UTD and UF and am struggling on deciding which college to attend.

Some background for each college (out of state tuition):

  • I was admitted into the CV Honors at UTD and have my tuition costs waived and I have the AES Scholarship, meaning 3k of the money intended for my tuition will instead go to housing, etc. Therefore, UTD is my most financially safe option.
  • I was admitted into the Honors program at UF, and got a scholarship by their Research Scholars program (6k/yr) and have a waiver.

Currently, I am still waiting on more scholarship money, but I have right now a total of 2k.

About me:
I am undecided on what exact major I want to pursue, but my interests lie in going into Neuroscience (or a pre-med major track) or a CS major. I want to go somewhere with plenty of internship and lab opportunities, a diverse campus, and strong academic support.

The environmental for both Florida and Texas doesn’t really matter to me; I also actually prefer hot weather.

The conflict:
Both of my sisters attended UTD under its Neuroscience major. They are now both in medical school. I would have family comfort with my sisters and cousins living in texas. I would also have my sisters guide me through UTD’s community groups, faculty relationships, and opportunities like labs.

UTD is also more financially stable. Although my parents have said money is not an issue, my sisters disagree and have highly pushed me to go to UTD.

However, UF is more well-renowned (especially for pre-med) and, from what I have researched, has great internship opportunities.

UF would also let me experience independence. My sisters have said that being separated from family is hard, though, and therefore have made me question whether being farther away from home is a smart choice regardless.

Would anyone be able to provide me more details about these two colleges? I would appreciate any help towards helping me make a decision!!

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UF is more renowned? Yet in your family you have two UTD grads in med school. Hmmmm

So where you go undergrad matters little, if at all, for med school. UTD and UF both offer the pre-reqs.

Now UF is huge, with football, Greek life and more. Full pay - it’s a competitive cost. With an OOS waiver, it’s great. And Honors is tough to get into. Congrats.

UTD is a different type of school. It won’t have the UF flair.

So it’s a question of affordability - your parents are best to answer and don’t forget your journey is more than four years, so you need to budget for it.

If UF works for them and it’s your preference, then great. If it doesn’t, UTD is great.

Neither is better for med school. Yet it appears UTD has proven its mettle in your house. But really, it was your sisters, not the school.

Best of luck.

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Those are two completely different schools. UTD is, shall I say, BORING. Athletes have to hold events just to get students to attend games. There is zero school spirit. Florida is the complete opposite. It’s a real college experience and it is a strong flagship school. I vote UF.

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If you vote to spend more money - then the OP should definitely go to Florida. I’m value. You’re value on steroids :slight_smile:

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This is true at Rice too, and there’s nothing boring about going to school there. Sports fandom isn’t everybody’s priority. The OP can tell us whether this is an important factor for them. If their sisters had been bored and miserable at UTD, they probably wouldn’t be urging the OP to follow in their footsteps.

Some questions and thoughts for OP:

  • Can you tell us your actual costs at each school? Scholarship amounts aren’t that illuminating when the baseline costs differ so much between schools.
  • What kind of diversity is most important to you? UF is about 50% white; UTD about 20%. UF is 21% Hispanic; UTD 15%. UF is 9% Asian; UTD 35%. Both are <6% Black. UTD has a lot more international undergrads than UF - 19% vs. 2.5%. UF’s student body is a bit wealthier than UTD’s, but it’s not a dramatic difference.
  • Is school spirit around athletics important to you? Is party culture important to you?
  • Your sisters majored in neuroscience, but given your interest in CS, the neuroscience track of the Cognitive Science major might strike a great balance. (And you could probably pivot into neuroscience or CS from there if your interests and career plans were to shift.) The life science requirements for this major would overlap well with the prereqs for med school, but you’d also get a computing foundation and a strong neuroscience concentration. Is there a major at UF that would cover the bases as well, and allow you to blend CS, neuroscience, and preparation for med school?
  • I have a friend in Florida whose three kids all attended UF (golden handcuffs for FL residents!). One of them realized part way through that he wanted to pursue a health profession, but he was thwarted at every turn - he couldn’t change his major, couldn’t add a semester to get his prereqs in - he ended up just having to suck it up and finish the program he was in. There’s a lot of red tape at UF, and not a lot of flexibility. If you consider UF, make sure you can position yourself in a major you’re comfortable with, and make sure you know what the process would be to change into another major of interest.
  • Not all honors programs are created equal. UF Honors is known for being a bit capricious about who they admit, and a lot of top students are just as glad to skip it. UTD Honors provides a community of all of the top students that the school buys in with their generous NMF merit, among others. Both schools give priority enrollment for Honors, but at UF it’s limited to your first 10 units each semester. There are likely other differences as well, so do a close comparison.
  • When your parents say money isn’t an issue, what do they mean? If you spend more on undergrad, will the same resources still be available to you, to pay for med school, or will you have “spent down” more of what your parents are willing/able to contribute?
  • You say that UF would let you experience independence; could you not be independent at UTD if you wanted to be? Would family not respect your boundaries if you were closer to home? Or are you just saying you’d value the challenge of taking on a new environment farther away?

You can do great at either school. How big is the cost difference? What environment do you prefer? Which gives you the best access to the academic options that are important to you? Being “well-renowned for pre-med” has no meaningful impact on your prospects for getting into med school. You should choose the environment that you think would be most conducive to your individual happiness and success, not the one that you think will impress anyone else, as that won’t really end up mattering.

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Thank you, I truly appreciate all of your guys input into helping me make a decision!

For your questions:

  1. I did not receive the OOS scholarship waiver from UF. I would be paying 21k tuition. In total, I would expect it to cost 35k/yr for UF.
    With UTD, it’s full-ride + stipend, but with external costs I expect my total to be 10-15k/yr or less.

  2. I am Asian, but I have had many friends of different backgrounds at my high school. I would love to continue to continue being exposed to a high variety of diversity.

  3. I don’t think school spirit or party culture is a big factor for me. I don’t enjoy drinking either. Instead, I prefer students actively engaged in clubs, organizations, literary platforms or academic culture. I enjoy an extroverted, environment more in these cultural aspects.

  4. Whereas for UTD I got accepted into neuro, for UF my major is undecided. I think the Cognitive Science with neuro track is amazing, though I would definitely still need more pre-med reqs like bio. Looking at UF, neurobio sciences with a cs minor could address my interests and gives me all the reqs for med school, but I could likewise go into neuro at UTD and minor in cs (although it seems in both schools there is not much overlap between neuro and cs courses specifically). I am unsure whether or not I would be eligible for CS^2 at UTD if I changed majors.

  5. Could I ask when your friend decided to switch majors? From what I have read, the process is rigid, but it is relatively easier to switch during freshman year. For UTD, it is much easier to switch majors, but after the second major change you need to pay $50. Truthfully, my academic journey is still evolving, so having freedom to change majors and combine different interdisciplinary fields I do consider an important factor.

  6. From what I know, UF honors holds different ranks like cum laude. Early registration from both schools is a major perk to me. I was not NMF merit, so I do not know if this will make a difference for me at UTD. UTD CV seems to be more structural (required core courses), whereas UF honors can choose which honors courses they want to do. UF built a new honors house, which looks pretty nice. What I like about UTD is how much research + fellowships CV prioritizes despite its intense curriculum.

  7. Yes, they will be able to. I had a deeper discussion with my parents, though, and their preference is UTD because it’s closer to home and I would have familial resources in case I have an emergency. For UF, I only have one family-friend (not as much as UTD).

  8. After deeper thought, yes I do think UTD would give me independence as well. My sisters could help me get situated in my dorm at UTD, which is good. As my top priority, I want to be in an academically challenging but stimulating environment: I do not want an environment that trivializes my mistakes as failures.

A major consideration my family mentioned was “is it worth it?” This I don’t know, but their reasoning was: UF would still be OOS, meaning UF med would still consider me OOS. They told me I would need a MCAT Score of 520+ to truly feel safe, but if I did get a 520+ I should aim for even stronger med schools. With texas though, one of my sisters got residency, so I might have more room for med options. Of course, this only applies to if I decide to go into pre-med; with CS or tech, especially with job layoffs, this situation could be much different.

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I don’t remember exactly, but it definitely wasn’t his first year. It was just striking to me that where many schools would have been like, “Okay, you do you, but it’s gonna take you longer to finish,” UF’s stance was “You’re not allowed to take longer to finish, so at this point, finishing the program you’re in is your only option.” Also, the same student had a significant athletic injury shortly before final exams one semester, and everything around that just seemed to be so much more difficult than it needed to be. So many colleges would be like, “Don’t worry, we’ve got you - have your surgery and then we’ll figure it out,” but UF just made it gratuitously stressful and adversarial, even though there was no question about the seriousness of the injury. Obviously this is all secondhand, but the pattern of nothing being easy seemed consistent.

I think the way this question is framed almost presupposes that UF is preferable to UTD, but perhaps not to an extent that justifies the cost difference. I am not sure I see it as a foregone conclusion that UF is preferable at all. It’s a fine university, but I’m not hearing that it is offering you anything tangible that surpasses what UTD is offering, and I’m not hearing that your personality and interests suggest that you’d be happier with the “vibe” and campus life at UF vs. UTD. I don’t think your prospects for med school or for a CS career are meaningfully different at one school vs. the other.

So what I’m coming to is that UF is just regarded as a bit more prestigious, and that’s mainly what “is it worth it?” refers to. Every other aspect, as you describe it, sounds like both are good and neither is a slam-dunk relative to the other.

Personally, I wouldn’t see the point of that much expense and inconvenience to be in Gainesville vs. Dallas. UTD obviously hasn’t limited your sibs’ prospects, and it’s terrific in your areas of interest that weren’t as important to them (i.e. CS), and it’s a fantastic financial deal. City-wise, Dallas>>Gainesville. If you wanted a party and sports-fandom school, UF would have a lot more to offer on that front, but that doesn’t seem to be a priority. UTD seems like a good fit!

But then again, I’m basing my impressions on limited information, and there’s certainly no wrong choice here. It sounds as if UF is within budget and won’t impact your ability to afford med school, so if you do find that you prefer it, there’s nothing wrong with choosing it. Both excellent schools and I’m sure you’ll do great at either one!

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Diversity - both - different types. UTD Asian is the largest ethnicity. UF is white followed by Hispanic.

This sort of contradicts itself I think - “After deeper thought, yes I do think UTD would give me independence as well. My sisters could help me get situated in my dorm at UTD, which is good.”

This is a bit deep - I think you’ll find this - if you want it - anywhere but it’s up to you.

“I want to be in an academically challenging but stimulating environment: I do not want an environment that trivializes my mistakes as failures.

Good luck.

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Already covered in some detail.

Okay, the way the two statements were juxtaposed was slightly awkward, but I think we all understand the OP’s meaning. And having help getting situated in your dorm is nice and normal and in no way diminishes subsequent independence, so this is just nitpicking that doesn’t point out a real problem.

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I may have overlooked it, but I’m not sure where homebase is for you and if transportation costs are at all a factor. Also, I’m sure you are aware UF will require you to spend the summer on campus. Having lived there for many years attending grad school there it can get pretty hot, but certainly if you are from Texas he would understand that! If cost is a factor, you should not worry at all about the “name“ of either school. Keep your grades up and do well on the MCAT and maybe take a year off after college to work in the field when you apply. If money is a factor you want to save that for medical school if you’re certain that is the direction you will take. So many students change their majors. It’s a difficult four-year decision. I know someone whose son literally chose The day he was supposed to start his classes for med school not to go. So things happen.

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