My son is accepted into all three of the aforementioned colleges and would like to pursue a career in medicine.
He has received scholarships from each of the colleges, by National Merit Finalist and other scholarships.
We are Texas residents, and live in Dallas, so we are close to UTD.
UTD: full ride (housing and tuition)
TAMU: nearly full tuition, have to pay for housing, approximately 60k total/4y
Baylor: 30k scholarship, 56k/yr
My son seems extremely reluctant to the option of UTD, however, we are not sure and would like to gather some information to make the best possible decision, to prepare for Medical college.
He is leaning towards TAMU, due to its quality of education and relatively low cost.
Please suggest.
If you can afford A&M and med school, it’s a reasonable choice.
If he wants the four year big school experience but wants free, why not apply to Alabama, which is an A&M equivalent and gives you five years tuition, four years housing and an annual stipend which will cover most food as an NMF. You still can.
Thank you for the quick reply. These are all great choices.
There is some concern that federally funded loans might be changing…and this could affect loans for professional schools. So…maybe keep that in mind if you hope to help financially should he get accepted to medical school (and my understanding is the public medical school costs in Texas are very favorable),
If he likes TAMU, a full tuition scholarship there is fantastic (probably comes with some academic perks like priority registration or special honors classes?). It’s affordable, he likes it, it’s a great school .. no brainer
If, like most would-be premeds, he discovers more interesting subjects to pursue, a TAMU degree will serve him well; and if he does keep on this path, he will receive an excellent education.
To prepare for med school he needs to
take General Chemistry with Chemistry majors and rank in the top 20%; take General Biology with Biology majors and rank in the top 20%; limit damage in Organic Chemistry; also take Calc1, Biostats or Statistics, English Composition, further English or Interpersonal Communication, Psychology, Sociology, Spanish for Health Professions, Physics1&2, Biochemistry, Neuroscience or Cognitive Science, Ethics and get as many As as possible (most of the above classes count as gen eds).
have a major that allows him to pivot to a job if he doesn’t get into med school (most students who completed the pre-reqs never make it into med school) - that major can be anything he can get As in. If Biology, add courses in DS or Statistics and/or add lots of lab experience.
be of service toward various groups and people - volunteer at a shelter, for instance; get clinical experience as a CNA, EMT, scribe.. helping in clinical settings.
He may want to add TAMUs Student/Campus Life where students volunteer.
Most students who start university thinking premed end up doing something else. However, for a student who is seriously considering medical school, for the purpose of budget planning I would assume that medical school might happen and would budget accordingly. For a student who will be a university freshman next year, by the time that they get to medical school it is likely to cost well over 100,000/year, and might well cost more like 125,000/year – hopefully a bit less if he stays in state.
Given this, the only way that I would pick Baylor would be if you could handle the full cost of Baylor for four years without taking on any debt at all and still leaving enough in the bank to help a lot with the cost of medical school. For most of us this just is not going to happen.
Otherwise I would pick from among the other two options.
To me this makes a lot of sense and seems like a great choice.
I might add, we have a daughter who is on track to get her DVM in a few weeks. This is not quite the same as an MD, but the eight year path is similar, and the amount of hard work and determination that it takes to get there is similar. Given how hard it is to get to the point of earning either an MD or a DVM, I would not want finances to get in the way, and would not want to leave a newly minted MD or DVM saddled with piles and piles of debt. Your son can get there with a degree from either TAMU or UTD, and picking a relatively affordable path, or at least not-quite-so-horribly-not-affordable path, seems like a very good plan.
And I am pretty sure that TAMU has a very good medical school.
I don’t think this is necessary - many schools have a special/honors section of chemistry meant for chemistry majors which isn’t required and some have a chemistry sequence meant for premed students which can fulfil the premed requirements.
General Chemistry1 is the typical 1st class for would-be Chem&Bio majors AND the one premeds take; premeds cannot take the “lighter” version in this subject.
Universities often offer an Honors version of many premed pre-reqs, that is NOT mandatory; of course a few universities have enough chemistry majors to offer a specific class just for them but it’s rather uncommon. Obviously if the chem majors have their own special sequence, non chem majors premeds don’t take that class.
I’ll check for TAMU.
ETA: at TAMU, the first year sequence for Biology and Chemistry majors is the same.
The difference is in the Math sequence (Calculus for Biology majors vs. Calculus).
On the other hand, there’s typically a calculus-based Physics class for Physics and Engineering majors, different from the Algebra-based Physics class for Biology and (generally) chemistry majors. Some universities (such as WashU) can require the calculus-based class but most universities don’t.
Ultimately it’s not the most important part of the post.
Adding another voice to the “if it’s affordable and you can give your child the gift of letting them choose their college, that’s the way to go” . We have never regretted allowing our children to choose their undergraduate schools that they felt was the best fit for them. One, like your child, thought he wanted to be pre-med and he started that route, double majoring in chemistry and history. Pivoted to chemical and biomolecular engineering and psychology. Your child can get premed courses at any of those schools and be on track, depending on their MCAT, if they continue that route, to be able to apply with no benefit to any one of those particular undergraduate schools. And yes, if your child is sure they want medicine, having the funds available for that long-term plan is important, recognizing that many who think they are premed will not go that route as I just exemplified. You may hear others mentioning return on investment, etc., but even with a planned bio major, that may be off topic and not relevant to your question and your child’s choice. Keep us posted.
I’m usually on the side of the full ride…but UTD is the most BORING college in existence. Athletes have to hold events just to get students to attend games. A&M is much more exciting to go to.
In fact, TAMU’s SECOND med school has received applicants status with the LCME and should be opening in about 2 years.
TAMU has one [traditional] med school in Bryant Station and will open Texas A&M University School of Engineering Medicine in Houston shortly. (The building has been completed and they have already hired many of the faculty.)
Texas has many excellent medical school options. And Texas in-state tuition for any of its public med schools (and Baylor SOM) are the envy of med students everywhere.
My son has decided to go to UTD instead; he re-evaluated his options and found that UTD may be a better choice for him. He felt that the big school nature at TAMU could impede his access to EC’s (since there’s so many people). With comparable educations, a little easier access to EC’s at UTD, and a full-ride here, he decided to commit to UTD instead.
