Help me make a decision? UT, A&M, or stay at UTSA?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I swear I live my life in confusion. This may be a long story and if you have decided to read through it completely and provide feedback, I thank you ahead of time. I'll try to be as blunt as possible.</p>

<p>I'm currently a CAP student at UTSA planning on majoring in Biology or Neuroscience with a Pre-Med track. However, I feel like I've already messed up my GPA beyond repair for med school. Maybe that's exaggerating it a little, but I've just been really...anxious about this whole ordeal for a while. I'm very scared of failure and because of that I'm not sure what I would do if I didn't get into med school or go into a health-related career. Anyways, continuing on, I was CAPed and chose UTSA as my one year refuge, planning to get into UT to major in Neurobiology until I realized that due to some screw ups I made in high school dual credit, transferring to UT may not be best for my GPA. In high school, when I decided to do dual credit, I was under the impression that the grades did not factor into anything; they didn't factor into my high school GPA so I assumed that they wouldn't hurt my college GPA. However, after one semester of college I learned this was not true and that dual credit will factor into my TRANSFER GPA, which I need high in order to get into UT or A&M or any other college I decide to apply to (which at the least will be of both UT and A&M's caliber.) My dual credit GPA was a 2.98 and my current GPA is a 3.66...which together equals an unimpressive 3.30. </p>

<p>Now to fill in some gaps, most of you that know about CAP know that since I want to transfer into the College of Natural Sciences, I should be a straight shot in because through CAP Natural Science majors get automatic admission. However...I think I screwed my CAP contract all together when I decided to take Orchestra which was not on the CAP list. In my defense, I never knew that taking classes that weren't on the CAP list broke your contract and they never said anything about it in orientation...to this day I'm still not sure if its true because when I signed my CAP agreement I researched a lot on the program and I don't think I found anything that said I'd break my agreement if I took a non CAP approved course. Could somebody who knows for sure clarify this for me? Idk how much it would matter, because I don't think I could even transfer into UT because of my terrible dual credit GPA.</p>

<p>Lastly personal issues and details that will give you a more complete picture of my thought process and...confusion. Since I want to go to med school, I need to have the best GPA possible, correct? Currently my options are transfer to UT, A&M, or possibly somewhere else, or stay at UTSA. I'd like to avoid the last option as much as possible...I really love the city of San Antonio, but personally UTSA just wasn't a right fit for me. Even though I have the greatest chance of making a high GPA there, I really hate it and the thought of staying there for four years completely irks me. Then there's the choice of UT. I love Austin and have ALWAYS wanted to go to UT and had no doubt in my mind that I would; it was a complete shock when I was CAPed. The issue that arises with UT along with the breaking of the CAP contract and the low transfer GPA is that at UT my GPA will reset, and all of the time and effort I put into getting good grades my freshman year will be wasted. So the first classes that will factor into my UT GPA will be classes like O Chem and Genetics and Calculus and I won't have my GPA boosting freshman year courses to compensate for the lower grades I will probably end up making in these tough courses. Also, I heard that classes like Government, History, and the languages, curriculum mandatory classes that should be GPA boosters, are really hard at UT. Idk if it is worth it to go to a school where I'll have to study HARD for these should be easy courses when I should be worrying more about my major specific courses. And then the yucky +/- grading system is another fiend to deal with. In general, at UT I'd probably end up having the lowest GPA, but I'd be at a place I love. The last option is A&M which doesn't have a Neuroscience major, but a minor so I'd probably major in Bio and minor in Neuroscience. They have a flat grading system and the school is very nice...too bad I'm such a longhorn fanatic that even the thought of me considering A&M runs a chill through my body. But I think I'd be fine there, I just would be part of the 2% of the student body that could care less about the traditions. Plus, I'd have my best friend who doesn't care too much about school spirit either. </p>

<p>So, what should I do? To an extent, I'd be willing to give up a fun college life as long as long as I'm able to major in Neuroscience and keep up my grades. I don't want to stay at UTSA because I really just can't stand it there, and it doesn't have the major/minor I want to study. But if I have to, I will. Let me know anything there is to know that you love about UT or A&M because right now...I'm just completely confused about what I should do and what I need to do. I'm not even sure at how much of this makes sense!!!</p>

<p>Again, thank you so much to anybody that reads this whole thing and can help me make a decision!!!</p>

2

<p>i would suggest A&M</p>

3

<p>The academics at utsa are bad. I would go to ut or am if you want to learn anything</p>

4

<p>Although I’m biased…I’d go to UT. Yeah, you might have to study harder, but you’re going to have to do that in med school anyway…might as well start now. Plus, Austin’s a much better city than San Antonio and UTSA just kind of sucks in general, tbh.</p>

5

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<p>Exactly what laurennicole said. Also, better start fresh than with a lower overall GPA.</p>

6

<p>Every school and city has its perks.</p>

<p>I love San Antonio because it is so culturally diverse. It’s the 7th largest city in the nation and there are so many things to do in your spare time- Fiesta Texas, Seaworld, the Riverwalk, the Alamo, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Natural Bridge Caverns, the museums, all the historical landmarks…</p>

<p>There’s 3 campuses total- 2 of which you can take classes</p>

<ul>
<li>Main Campus- avoid downtown traffic and you’re literally walking distance from La Cantera Mall and Fiesta Texas.</li>
<li>Downtown Campus- not really near all the downtown commotion and the campus is beautiful!</li>
</ul>

<p>I’m a senior now and aside from all the knowledge I’ve gained, I’ve made so many friends, got involved in so many organizations, and learned to live in a real world environment.</p>

<p>I can’t forget all the student services UTSA has to offer. Their faculty and staff are freaking amazing!</p>

<p>Not to mention UTSA is among the top 100 schools in the nation that are younger than 50 years old.</p>

<p>I guess to sum up everything I just said, San Antonio and UTSA give you the small town feel in one of the largest cities in the nation. </p>

<p>I know I am late in this thread but I couldn’t help it. I love my school and I really believe if you take advantage of all the opportunities here, you will love it too!</p>