BHP and Premed

<p>I'm still a junior, but I'm already thinking about majoring in business and, simultaneously, taking the premed route. So, would it be a good idea to go to UT's BHP and Dean Scholar? Would the workload be too heavy? Would it be impractical? Do you guys know anyone who's doing this?</p>

<p>Also, are there any people who are in UT BHP and not in Dean Scholar, but still want to go to medical school after they graduate?</p>

<p>And, what exactly is Plan II? i heard it mostly stresses upon liberal arts, yet premeds still attend plan II.</p>

<p>first off, if you're really considering premed, my advice to you is to focus on a particular major you enjoy. premed is really tough and its not a good idea to double, triple major. you need to take the time to focus on your studies and do well in your classes, particularly in your science classes, to up your gpa, take time to study for MCAT, use your free time to volunteer, and so on.</p>

<p>with this in mind, you should not be doing bhp, dean scholar, and plan ii all at once. but thats not to say that doing an honors program is bad. maybe one is okay, esp deans. in my opinion, i would not do plan ii and premed together. planii is almost like a major in itself. it requires a lot of work and a lot of focus - an opportunity to bring down one's gpa. although this seems like such a negative view on planii, in reality premed is mostly about having a high gpa (of course there are other factors, but gpa is an important one. i would say having a high gpa is more important than having planii under your belt). of course, if you find yourself ready for the challenge and you're interested in liberal arts or you're not sure of premed and you want to diversify, then by all means, take planii or any other honors prog.</p>

<p>also, bhp, deans, and planii are pretty tough to get into. bhp has a class size of about 150, deans is about 30, and planii is about 180, so that gives you idea of how many they accept each yr, meaning you better be doing pretty darn well in HS to get into these progs.</p>

<p>and i should have said this in the beginning, but ill say it now, you can still major in business and go the premed route. some major in philosophy and go premed. whatever floats your boat.</p>

<p>all in all, premed at UT is pretty tough due to its large student body, so there is def more competition around. and in fact, most any large public university you go to, you'll find premed to be very competitive. if you do go to ut austin for premed, be prepared to study your butt off, whatever your major is.</p>

<p>thats my take on it. ill be doing premed at ut as well. :D</p>

<p>thanks for the input! so would it be better to go to rice (a private institution) for premed? As of now, rice is basically my first choice. but i also like business, so thats why i was looking into UT's BHP.</p>

<p>and any other opinions?</p>

<p>heres my take on what are the best places for premed in texas:</p>

<ol>
<li>austin college</li>
<li>rice</li>
<li>a&m</li>
<li>utd</li>
<li>ut</li>
</ol>

<p>i say austin college first, because they have an 8 yr program where as long as you maintain a particular gpa (i think its 3.5), u get automatically accepted to texas tech medical school. they have a 97% rate. rice is second because they have an 8 yr program as well, called the baylor/rice program, but it is extremely hard to get into. they accept about 15 students a yr. but even if you dont get in, you can still do premed the old-fashioned way, and their rate is about 90% w/o being in rice's 8 yr program. i say a&m next because i have heard that their premed program is pretty good. i have no stats on it though, only by word. utd is 4th because i have heard their marticulation rate to medical school is high. not to mention, classes may be easier there, thus easier to get a good gpa. also, southwestern is nearyby, so you could probably get some research done there. and sadly, ut is last because i think the competition is too great there. theres just too many students, esp in the sci department, who all want to do premed. its scary. however, it is still doable. u just have to study and try to stay away from the party scene i suppose.</p>

<p>but you're right, i would think that UT probably has the best business program in texas. and in any case, whichever university you end up choosing, make sure either 1) you totally want to do premed or 2) you go somewhere where you can easily diversify, such as ut or rice or whatever, in the case that, you dont want to do premed anyways.</p>

<p>if UT is the worst texas school to go to for premed, then why are u going there for premed? is it maybe b.c its more prestigious than the other colleges?</p>

<p>because in the case that i dont want to do premed anymore, i can switch to another major since they have so many of them.</p>

<p>i didnt choose austin college because its out in the middle of nowhere. i really dont want to spend 4 yrs in sherman. i didnt get into rice (its so harddd. out of probably some 30 students who applied, only 2 from our school got in). i have no interest in a&m. and utd narrows my options in the case that i dont want to do premed anymore</p>

<p>dont get me wrong, its still doable at ut, just a bit harder.</p>

<p>okay i see. thank you so much for your replies. they were very helpful.</p>

<p>Another good school you might want to check out if money is not a factor is Trinity University in San Antonio. They have a pretty good acceptance rate for students going into medicine as well as an above average business program. Also their campus is extremely nice and the dorms there are well maintained.</p>

<p>yes, i forgot to mention that, you're right sagarvachhani, i would second that. trinity is also a good place for premed; i have a friend going choosing to go there for premed. but other than that, i think that pretty much covers it. i dont really know much about premed elsewhere in texas, and they're probably not as good as the 5 schools + trinity that sagarvachani and i mentioned.</p>

<p>Quote from tuke: "...utd is 4th because i have heard their marticulation rate to medical school is high. not to mention, classes may be easier there, thus easier to get a good gpa...."</p>

<p>Tuke,</p>

<p>Thanks for your input to this thread. I am interested to find out more about the acceptance stat. on UTD's pre-med program. </p>

<p>Do you know approx. how many pre-med students are there at utd and how many successfully matriculated to med school? I appreciate if you can provide some weblinks if you have them. </p>

<p>Is it true that it's easier to get a higher GPA at UTD as compared to say UT Austin? </p>

<p>Again thanks for your help. Enjoy reading your posts. </p>

<p>PaulRyan.</p>

<p>utd's stats are not posted online. however, their marticulation rate hovers around 78% from what i hear (ask a utd student or email the premed adviser there). this rate is extremely good. however, just as john hopkins does, you must have certain qualifications to receive advisory help (called the HPAC process). at jhu, you need a 3.2, or else they wont give you advisory help. i suppose at utd, it is similar, and in any case, one probably couldn't get into medical school with a 3.2 anyways.</p>

<p>i have talked to many students and friends who go to utd and they all say generally the same thing: classes are not difficult at utd. for instance, classes there are much smaller - it is not like ut austin, where everywhere squarefoot is occupied by a body; in comparison, utd is much smaller, and thus has less students per class. soo in this case, its easier to get to know the professors and make a higher grade - there is less competition among other students to get the A (if the professor has quotas on A's, like UT). even so, they have said that most of the classes do not have grading curves - what you get is what you end up with. GPA is calculated differently at utd though. a 93 is a 4.0, but at ut, a 90 is a 4.0, and at utd, a 90-92 is a 3.67, and at ut, a B is a 3.0. so do the math. both gpa scales have their advantages, i dont think one is particular better than the other - you'll have to work hard either way.</p>

<p>i think among other factors, it is easier to do the other stuff, like research and volunteer work, at utd. research is abundant at utd. my friend, a freshmen, got research work his first semester i think (although it is EE research). at ut however, i hear there is even a research club, where you wait in line to get research! uttlerly amazing...</p>

<p>overall, i would say, in my unbiased opinion, utds premed is superior in that its easier to get into med school. its school is smaller, more resources seem to be available, and if utd has such a high rate, it must mean that students are making the grade they need while also being just as prepared for the MCAT as UT students. however, as always, stats can sometimes be moot - they never include those who dropped out of premed nor does it show what med school the students made. yes, in general, it does not matter where one goes to medical school if you just plan on practicing. but if you want to be a medical professor of some kind, better hope you get into harvard med (or something high up there), which honestly, i bet is near impossible to make from utd. one can probably only get into texas medical schools (there are 8), although i am sure some go elsewhere as well.</p>

<p>oh, and just to answer your last question a little more, getting the grade is competitive at ut austin. im not a college student yet, but i already know it is - a couple of hundred students crammed into a lecture hall for bio 101, probably at least a quarter of which are premeds, everyone competing for the A because of quotas and curves. soo yeah, its probably easier to get a better gpa at utd than at ut.</p>

<p>however, just because premed is probably easier at utd than at ut, does not mean one should pick utd. as i have stated earlier, if you find out medicine is not for you, as that might be the case, then you might have a hard time finding a particular major you like at utd - no doubt utd has many majors, but ut has even more and it is much easier to diversify there. in any case, you could still go to utd for premed, see if you like it or not, and if you dont, transfer out if the major of new interest to you is somewhere else. and finally, ill just add that, premed at ut is not impossible, it is just much more difficult and you will find yourself studying 24/7 - you can forget about the party scene.</p>

<p>Tuke,</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your time and your prompt reply to my questions. I really appreciate your insight and the very valuable information. You must have done a lot of research and put a lot of thought to your college planning. I wish you the very best in whatever you decide on for your higher education.</p>

<p>PaulRyan.</p>

<p>np, if you have more questions, feel free to ask or PM me. it gives me the opportunity to look back at my own plans/analysis, heh.</p>

<p>i'll just add that im saddened by the fact though that it seems that im dominating the premed discussion within the UT-forum. ive asked previous questions about premed at ut or seen other posts and noticed that most answers were either useless, speculative, or too short and so ive had to depend on my own research, but it still does not cover what i'd like to hear from premed students at UT (i've only talked to two). i wish some UT premeds would come out from the shadows and enlighten us all or even counterargue all my points - its all about dialogue and exchange of ideas!</p>

<p>for those interested, i have started a thread at the following website about premed at UT and got some pretty good responses. its a good read.</p>

<p><a href="http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=275601%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=275601&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>