Wake Forest vs UT Austin Pre Med [TX resident, similar price]

i am a texas student wanting to do pre med and i have gotten accepted to UT and wake forest and i was wondering which would be better for pre med, price is about the same, UT being slightly less and i like more of city vibes rather than suburban

UT Austin

Wake imo would win out if interested in political sciences and humanities.
Never considered it for my premed student.

Texas - you like city vibes.

But they are vastly different. UT is huge. Wake is not.

Don’t know anything about UTA. WF has a medical assurance program if you’re not familiar.

thanks i have not yet looked in to that program although that sounds good i don’t think i would want to spend 8 years in WS although this seems like a great opportunity

Definitely understand, just thought it may be helpful to note they seem invested in their pre-meds. If you really want city, UTA is the way to go. Good luck!

Texas has the city vibes but i also want to get out of Texas since i been here all of my life and i would like something new but i don’t think WF would be more fun than UT so i think that might outweigh that preference

no i’m definitely sticking to sciences such as biochem (which is my major) so i don’t know which one would be better in regards to preparation and Grade inflation or Grade deflation

Thanks

Texas public medical schools are relatively inexpensive for Texas residents, though that means that non-Texas medical schools may be reluctant to admit Texas medical school applicants (yield protection).

So attending college in Texas could be helpful in being convenient to getting to medical school interviews at Texas public medical schools.

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Wake seems to have a good reputation among the pre-med families at our feederish HS. The basic pros are good science departments, a faculty really devoted to teaching, and lots of opportunities for experiences. The main con just seems to be cost.

It is definitely not what I would think of as a city school per se. But of course Winston-Salem is not far away, and actually the location of the med school and where a lot of experiences would be. I gather Wake students do go there quite a bit in general.

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Weedout at a school like UT is going to be BRUTAL - but it’s tough everywhere. I think it’ll be tough at Wake too but being private it’ll have more support&resources + professors with more timeto devote to undergrads. Plus, you won’t be competing against the top 6% from every strong HS around. Nevertheless it’ll be tough and odds are against you finishing the premed pre-reqs and getting into med school.
So, if you were to graduate with a biochem major and NOT go to med school, where would you rather spend 4 years?
Which university will be the easiest for you to add a minor (statistics, biostats, data science…)?
How good is the career center with freshmen who need guidance and later on sophomores looking for opportunities?

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UTA is UT- Arlington.

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So you have one school you applied to you don’t want to attend.

And another that’s on the outskirts of a small city (but they get some great concerts although not often - I saw both Paul McCartney and Billy Joel there.

In the end, those that say - take med school out - where would you rather be?

That’s the answer.

You say Wake wont’ be as fun…depends on how you define fun.

Both may be great fits for you or neither…one never knows. But hopefully both would be so pick one - and run with it. it’ll probably be great.

Best of luck.

OMG thank you for saying this. It’s been driving me crazy on many threads. First world problems.

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Sorry guys, I was honest when I said I was clueless on it. I have no familiarity with Texas schools. It’s noted by me!

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Funny enough, the town of Wake Forest where WFU originated is in Wake County. No one here calls it Wake, the school itself encourages Wake Forest. Issues all around haha!

I lived in Winston-Salem for several years. It is nice town, but I think my 18-21 year old self probably wouldn’t have liked it as much as my 30-40 year old self who raising a family and working there. Wake undergrad can be demanding but there is a lot support.

If you go to Wake for undergrad and do apply to med school, the pull of that low Texas in state med school tuition will be very hard to resist.

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My 2 cents here, I think UT Austin is better all around for those who don’t have a large budget to use when attending college. Wake Forest, to my knowledge, historically doesn’t give out a lot of merit aid so your FAFSA will have to provide an SAI enough to bring down their cost to being affordable. Although they are about the same, cost wise, you should aim to save as much money as possible before you go to Medical School—It ain’t cheap.

Being in-state means you get the low in-state tuition which can be brought down even further with internal or external scholarships. If you fit that income bracket, you can consider looking at if you qualify for the Texas JAMP Med Program. Plus UT has Dell Medical School right next to campus, and connections to the Med Schools in the Texas Medical Center out in Houston.

https://www.texasjamp.org/index.html

The only downside I see of UT is that they don’t have an assurance/abridging program that Wake Forest has.

What I will note, however, is that this question really comes down to whatever major you’re pursuing. Most schools offer Pre-Med in a form of a focus, or advising, and never as a direct major. You can take the courses you need to fill pre-med requirements at both institutions, but if one school has a better program than the other for your major I’d lean towards that one.

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Op, you should ask admissions to arrange an overnight at Wake. I have a premed student there. I don’t think it’s a accurate criticism of Wake to say it’s not fun, it’s an extremely social school with lots of parties, a high level of involvement in clubs, and P5 athletics (baseball and soccer ranked number one in country this year, off year for football, but students still attend, and basketball looking strong)

There is a shuttle from the main quad to Wake downtown where the medical school and some research labs are located (10 minute trip). Because of Wake’s medium size and commitment to small classes (my freshman has had no classes with more than 50 included introductory STEM classes), there is lots of opportunity for students to interact with faculty.

As for W-S, it has changed significantly in the past decade. There are now a good amount of restaurants and bars in the downtown area. There is also a theater.

Freshman chemistry a Wake is a weed out class, but the kids study collaboratively. I think you would find the same at UT. I think around 20 percent of freshman class is interested in premed, so plenty of people interested in medicine do consider it, particularly since the medical school and hospital have a good reputation.

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