I have been accepted into UT Dallas with a 13k/ year AES scholarship. Premed with a major in neuroscience. Being in Texas would be super helpful for the future (I would become a resident). I would be involved with the pre matching that Texas residents have, and the medical schools are way cheaper than other medical schools. Should I really weight UT Dallas for undergraduate just because it sets up my future really well?
Sounds logical to me! What are your other options?
Some other options I have applied to are the following: Davidson College, Carnegie Mellon University, Lehigh University, Binghamton University, and Washington and Jefferson College! I’m just worried that if I skip out on a bit more prestige college, I will also lose the personalization and better preparation for medical school. Thank you for your response!
You don’t need to accepted anything now, wait until you have the full picture. Is the AES 13 k year for instate tuition rates? What is your actual award?
@Sybylla Since it is an AES award, it qualifies me for instate tuition. Therefore, I would be paying $1,000 per year left on tuition and housing and meal plan etc. around $16,000 / year I would still have to pay.
Your cost would be near 12K than 16. Unless you are eyeing the most expensive dorms . If it is anything like TAMU the cheapest dorms are much cheaper than overpriced desirable dorms. Once you move off campus it is likely to be even cheaper.
UT Dallas has very nice dorms. Most are suites and students do not need to share a bedroom.
I don’t like the idea of doing something just for med school. The reality is that the chance of you actually going to med school is really low. If you like UTD without any med school consideration, then do it
If you are set on going to medical school, UTD does a good job of preparing you for that. These are the prehealth statistics from 2018: https://www.utdallas.edu/pre-health/results
There are many opportunities for doing research starting in your freshman year. There is even the Clark Research program that starts before your freshman year.
My daughter has had several friends that were premed students and most have been accepted to every medical school that they applied to. The only one that is having issues is an international student which is having issues because of that.
As far as cost, @Sybylla is right, it will be closer to $12,000. All the dorms cost the same but after the first year there is cheaper housing both on and off campus.
UTD only has one type of freshman dorm - 3 three bedroom suites, with one person per bedroom.
Unlike TAMU, it is a very young undergraduate school. They did not have freshmen until 1990 - and very few for the first few years. It’s only been a freshmen live on campus type place for 10 years or so. So all the dorms are relatively new, and the same, modern style.
I keep talking with people that think of it as a commuter school -but things really changed in the last decade. Totally different.