Choosing between full rides

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>I guess it's a happy problem to have, but I'm having trouble deciding where to go for pre-med. Unless I get into Yale/UChicago/JHU, which is a shot in the dark, I'm probably going where the money is (I'm NMF). Problem is that it's hard to figure out which school would be best for a pre-med track.</p>

<p>I've done my research and spent plenty of time browsing the forums, but I basically end up hearing over and over again something like, "It's a great program if you work at it." I KNOW this is true, and I'm gonna be working my butt off wherever I go, but I'm just wondering about the reputations of the programs and their effectiveness in preparing undergrads for med school. So here are my options I'm currently considering:</p>

<p>University of Arizona
University of Texas -- Dallas
University of Alabama</p>

<p>I think I would be equally happy at any of these schools. I do find Arizona particularly attractive because of their public health pre-major, but I'm not even sure that's what I want my major to be or if it's even doable as a pre-med. I don't want to base my decision just on that. They all have their pros and cons.</p>

<p>Any outside opinions/experiences would be welcome :) I'm wondering about things like weed out classes, competency of advising, the student body, research opportunities, getting LORs, preparing for the MCAT, flexibility of schedule, etc.</p>

2

<p>“it’s hard to figure out which school would be best for a pre-med track.”
-Do not think strictly about Med. School when choosing. “I do find Arizona particularly attractive because of their public health pre-major” - Would it be still the best place for you if it did NOT have this major? Keep in mind that most original pre-meds change their plans.
There are must be some other personal criteria that are important to you. Make a spread sheet, schools down, criteria across, assign numerical value to each criteria (1 thru 10 as an example) and attach specific number to each school then see which one gets the highest score based on your personal reasons, not somebody else’s.
In regard to weed out classes, take them as soon as possible. The best is a first semester of freshman year, then you will know soon if you are still interested in pre-med track. Good number of HS valedictorians fell out of it after first Bio killer class (most if not all had 5 on AP Bio exam) at D’s UG. They did not waste much time before they realize that medicine is not for them, it is much easier to change your plans that early in a game. Classes is not enough to prep. for MCAT, you will need to spend few hours every day for several weeks (some people take few months if they have very busy schedule) to prep. for MCAT. However, other points are extrememly important, the most important is pre-med advising / committee. As far as I know research opportunities are everywhere even at coleges that do not have Med. School. LORs will depend on your personal performance and relationships at your UG, Research place…Unfortunately I do not know specifics of schools on your list</p>

3

<p>I don’t know much about pre-med at the other two schools, but I know that Bama has very good pre-med advising and DOES do Committee Letters…which are super helpful for SOM admissions. Many publics do NOT do CLs because they are time-consuming, so this is a big deal.</p>

<p>The pre-med director and his team routinely host events, guest speakers, etc, and are very good advisors.</p>

<p>Have you visited Bama? It’s gorgeous, has strong academics and very friendly people. </p>

<p>Here’s a link to the Bama Pre-Health website…
[The</a> University of Alabama Health Professions Advising Website](<a href=“http://premed.ua.edu/]The”>http://premed.ua.edu/)</p>

<p>If you scroll to the bottom, you can sign up for the email alerts.</p>

<p>Bama has about 600 National Scholars on campus…182 NMFs enrolled last fall. Over 50% of the frosh class is from out of state. Bama has students from all 50 states.</p>

<p>Bama has a brand new mega-sized Science and Engineering Comples…all new equipment, labs, techology, etc…very state of the art and amazingly beautiful.</p>

<p>Bama also has an amazing Honors College. You need to visit. :)</p>

<p>If you’re OOS for UT-D, I’d be concerned about being lonely on weekends if most kids are instate and might go home. It may be a commuter/suitcase school.</p>

4

<p>^Bama sounds awesome! Everything that my own D. got at her public, and I agree that great pre-med advisor / Committee is the most crucial.</p>

5

<p>I go to one of those schools. You cant go wrong with any of them.</p>

6

<p>D is a current junior at Alabama. In addition to M2Ks answer I would like to add…</p>

<p>She has had the opportunity to do research since her freshman year.<br>
Started shadowing as a freshman. </p>

<p>Is active in Alpha Epsilon Delta, pre med honor society.
AED constantly has speakers, volunteer opportunities and sets up shadowing.</p>

<p>She is currently taking a one hour class through the honors department that basically walks you through the steps of applying to med school. </p>

<p>She has an advisor for A&S, Honors and Pre Med.</p>

<p>I believe with the National Merit Scholarship in addition to tuition, room you also get the opp. to travel abroad. I wonder if you could use that towards a med mission trip? </p>

<p>Best of luck with your decision!</p>

7

<p>Miamidap offers very good advice. So many pre-meds change their majors. Pick the school that makes sense for you and then see how you do in the classes that are prerequisites for med school.</p>

8

<p>Which city do you like the best? How easy is it for you to fly there from your home?</p>

<p>The premed life is just a small part of your college life. You will likely do a lot of things besides doing things a premed would do. Being at a place where you will more likely be happy is important. The premed classes are really not that different at most reputable schools (all these schools you mentioned are reputable ones); but the life outside of the academics could be quite different depending on where the school is and what kind of students the school tends to recruit. Going to a premed power house or factory is not necessarily good for your college life. As long as there are “enough” premeds at a school, it is likely good enough for a premed to go there.</p>

<p>I would think Tuson AZ (where U. of Az is located) could be quite boring. The other two locations may be better.</p>

9

<p>Lol there’s our resident Bama sponsors! :D</p>

<p>Good to know that these schools are all pretty strong academically, but little things like advising, location, travelling, e/cs, etc. can definitely tip the scales. </p>

<p>I think I’ll take MiamiDAP’s advice and make a spreadsheet and rank what I feel is most important. I guess it’s true that everything about the college really has to be considered, not just the pre-med aspects (although those are definitely factors too).</p>

<p>I wish I could visit, but that’s kind of out of the question. So thanks for the advice everyone :slight_smile: helps a lot!</p>

10

<p>Have you visited any of these schools? if not, you should.</p>

<p>You can also get more info about Bama on the CC Bama forum</p>

<p>[University</a> of Alabama - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/]University”>University of Alabama - College Confidential Forums)</p>

<p>What state are you in?</p>

11

<p>I’m in Michigan. I haven’t visited any of these 3, which really sucks. I only started considering them a little while ago – wish I’d known sooner. It’s hard to visit since airfare/gas can cost so much. Plus I’ve got IB exams coming up…</p>

<p>It definitely makes it difficult to judge the colleges since I don’t have the “feel” for them that I could get by visiting. There’s really no way to know the atmosphere of the campus besides visiting.</p>

<p>Would you say there’s a lot to do in Tuscaloosa? I honestly have no idea what the city’s like. Not so sure about Tucson either. I’d guess that Dallas would be the biggest social city of the three</p>

12

<p>Tucson is a very pleasant town–if a bit warm in the summers. (Cracked me up when I was visiting there one January and the weather went below 50–everyone broke out their down coats and complained how cold it was!) However, Tucson has been known to get several inches snow during Dec-Jan-Feb.</p>

<p>There’s plenty to do there, esp. if you like to get into the outdoors. Santa Catalina Mtns and several other mountain ranges are close by with excellent bird watching (best hummingbird watching in the US), hiking, camping, rock climbing and mtn biking. And the first wild jaguar sighting in the US in the last 100 years happened not far from Tucson about 3 months ago.</p>

<p>Tucson is also host to several major league baseball winter training camps and there are two very pleasant ball fields where pre-season league games are played. (Tickets are cheap compared to regular season major league tickets…)</p>

<p>There’s also a huge (like nationally famous, drawing major talent) outdoor folk and jazz festival every May.</p>

<p>Downtown Tucson is nice with some very trendy boutique shopping areas, It also has a more than decent nightlife scene (clubs, bars, restaurants, etc)</p>

<p>Tucson is a whole lot more liberal (given AZ’s political reputation) than most people would believe. It’s a national leader in public campaign financing, and hosts a major Wicca-Pagan festival every fall.</p>

<p>U AZ campus is pretty, fairly self-contained and has a very nice campustown adjacent.</p>

<p>All-in-all, it’s not a big-town Dallas, but it’s not the butt end of nowhere either.</p>

13

<p>I would go Roll Tide or UA, def not UTD.</p>

14

<p>Hey! I am in the same situation as you! I have applied to ten top colleges and am also a NMF, but my two safeties are </p>

<p>THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS - DALLAS
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA - TUSCALOOSA</p>

<p>Because I live IN Tuscaloosa, I am definitely looking into UTD! Though its overall rankings are not as high as UA’s, consider how far this new school has come in the past forty years. It’s worked its way from unknown to 143! A lot of schools that have much more historical background have not made the progress that UTD has made!! It is a university with MUCH potential. </p>

<p>Plus, consider the city, Dallas - HUGE opportunities for fun, entertainment, culture, AND (most important when applying to graduate school) INTERNSHIPS! UTD is well regarded among the Dallas community. Many businesses (I would guess hospitals, too) look for UTD students because they are considered the smartest students in North Texas. Where else does UTD get its “nerdy” stereotype from? Plus, have you seen their diversity rates??? Wow!! There are people from ALL walks of life. </p>

<p>I also was lucky enough to talk to a current UTD student on CollegeConfidential. When he was a senior in H.S., he was offered admission to an Ivy and many top schools. However, he turned them all down for Dallas. Looking back, he says that he would not have changed a thing about his college decision. UTDallas prepared him VERY well for medical applications and interviews. </p>

<p>The scholarship offers are SO generous, too! I was offered the NMF Scholarship (full tuition + $8000/year + 2000 study abroad) and their Academic Honors Scholarship (full tuition + $6000/year). When I called their office earlier today, admissions said that they will combine both of them so that I will be receiving full tuition AND $14000/year AND $2000! I bet you have the same offer, right?</p>

<p>In contrast (though I may be biased for which I will apologize), I don’t have such a positive regard of Alabama. Perhaps it’s because I have lived here for five years already and have never found anything particularly exciting about this small town. I guess if you are an ENORMOUS football and Greek life fan, then you’ll fit right in. There is absolutely NO diversity in this town. We have a few restaurants, a mall, and ONE movie theater–that’s all in the way of entertainment. If you want to have fun, you’ll probably have to drive to Atlanta, GA because Birmingham and Montgomery are both very run-down. Different ethnic groups also sadly keep to themselves. There is SOME intermingling among races, but it does not happen frequently. I applied to Alabama as well, but their admissions has not been as helpful. I applied for scholarships but have heard NOTHING back from the university. In contrast, at UTD, I’ve already applied to TWO honors college (Collegium V and a major-specific honors program) that are very involved in the community. </p>

<p>My point: Just think about it–VERY wisely. Are you from a diverse, big US town? If so, coming down to Alabama will be quite the culture shock.</p>