<p>I'm a premed student trying to decide on which school I should go to.</p>
<p>Austin: Beautiful city, good food, lots of opportunities, University Fellows Honors, Neuroscience, my first choice if this was a perfect world BUT SO EXPENSIVE</p>
<p>Dallas: Dull, study city, but only 200 dollars a year.</p>
<p>Can anyone convince me why Austin is worth the 60,000 debt I would pay?</p>
<p>I would agree that Austin is more traditionally “beautiful” than Dallas. But to say that Dallas is dull, and not to credit Dallas for its food or its opportunities would be a mistake. 200 dollars a year? Wouldn’t even be a question in my mind.</p>
<p>Agree with above. Sure, Austin is great, but in many ways a city is what you make of it, and in any case college students don’t have that much time to spend enjoying live music, good food, etc. Unless you would literally rather die than go to UTD, go there.</p>
<p>Thank you all!</p>
<p>KninjaXD, I was in the SAME exact position until I went and set up an appointment with the director of University Fellows on Monday. I have a full ride to UTD as well and I am planning on going on to med school afterwards and got into the University Fellows. But my parents and I both agree after talking to a pre-med student in the University Fellows and the Director, we have agreed that UT austin is the better route for me just bc of all the opportunities- research and career building wise- that UT austin is able to offer me that will help me build my resume for med school. We think the debt is worth the gain at the end of my eight years. But that is my take on it.</p>
<p>Medical school is very expensive.</p>
<p>KninjaXD,
If your parents don’t have unlimited resources to pay for many years of study you should go to UTD. I guess they don’t, since you have to borrow $ 60,000.</p>
<p>tuttifrutti24
you are NOT in the same position if you don’t have to borrow $ 60,000.</p>
<p>Actually I’m hoping to get stipends from internships and fellowships and FRI from UT austin since I am NOT in a position to pay as well- and UT Austin does have scholarships solely for its current honors kids. I haven’t decided which university yet, so don’t come to a quick conclusion- who wouldn’t want to take a full ride to get a college education? Right this second, I just saw more opportunities in Austin, and that may change.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m not understanding your posts correctly tuttifrutti, but it sounds like you were on the fence between UT and UTD, and talked to UT people about where you should go. They probably know all the opportunities available in Austin, but I wouldn’t expect them to have an accurate idea of the opportunities in Dallas. I would expect that at best the information you received is probably biased, and at worst downright wrong. Check with someone at UTD about opportunities there and see what they say.</p>
<p>I was almost about to accept UT Dallas- I have visited their campus twice now and done alot of research on how UT Dallas prepares you for medical school- I am not saying that UT dallas is a bad school. In fact, their health professions advising center is spectacular. More so than UT austin and everyone knows this. They have faculty that work at UTSouthwestern and UT Dallas so when it comes to time for recommendations you might have a leg up. UT Southwestern is really close by so there are opportunities to intern there as well, and to top it all of, the full ride. Yes, I have done my research in both schools, I have friends that go to both schools taking pre-med. What changed my decision was my honors letter from UT austin. I still am considering UT dallas, don’t get me wrong. But at the moment when I thought about all the research opportunities that are available at UT Austin- my decision wavered.</p>
<p>It turns out I have enough scholarship to go to either UT or UTD at a relatively cheap price. So the issue comes down to which environment will best benefit a premed student.</p>
<p>tuttifrutti24, it looks like we really are on the same boat. I’m worried about the competition and large classes at UT though. UT will probably give me the social skills -networking, communications, public speaking ugh- I desperately need, but at the same time UT is so huge that I can get lost. The huge class would probably not give me a close interaction with the faculty either… I wonder if University Fellows will give me any advantage or will it just add to my work load and take up my time I need for volunteering or research.</p>
<p>While at UTD, I did hear that the Health Professions advising was a lot better than UT, and the curriculum is already preplanned for premed for some majors. </p>
<p>In the end, it’s a decision between risk or safety, growth or stagnancy, UT or UTD?</p>
<p>Kninja, if the price is the same definitely pick the honors options at it. Freshman scharships are not the end all be all of scholarships and most of ut Austin scharship money goes to honor students first. The honor workload will NOT make it harder for you to succeed. You will have smaller classes and more interactions with the professors that wil give you the opportunity you need to succeed. Tuttis case is totally different because UTD is giving him so much money it would put him on great financial footing for medical school (that decision sounds so hard, I cannot even comment on it!) however in your case kninja I would pick Austin in a heartbeat. Medicine is a profession about pushing yourself. No one does it because it’s “easy” or “safe” and I think the harder you can make your undergrad then the easier med school will be.</p>
<p>Kninja, Like deregon said, UT university fellows is an honors program and thus you would be eligible for the honors classes- after talking to the student, she said the honors classes are tough but the professors are amazing so it would actually make the subject easier to learn. Ofcourse we would probably have to put more effort but then again, a normal college course is pretty compared to what high school courses are like. Apparently since the University Fellows is such a research heavy program, it gives many interactions with faculty and gives internship opportunities and shadowing opportunities right at your doorstep. But UTD definitely has its benefits. So I am really confused. And like deregon said, since ut austin is offering you money, I would take it. I talked to the CNS financial aid office and the scholarship office- apparently they don’t have enough funds for prospective freshman- which tightens the amount of money they can offer the freshman. You have a higher chance of getting more scholarships after your first semester of freshman year.</p>