Hi I am currently deciding between ut austin and uw madison for undergraduate. I get in state tuition for both, so cost is not a factor. I was admitted to both as a biomedical engineering major, but I am thinking about switching to biochemistry.
Which school would be easier to maintain a higher gpa, get research and volunteering opportunities, and which would prepare me best for the mcat? Thanks!
I think they are really a toss off. Both are very large schools with very large premed classes. You will be a number and it’s easy to get lost there. OTOH, they are excellent schools with high reputation. My advice, whichever is in state to you where you have an edge over oos competition is you should attend. Texas is a state with a lot of med schools and they are heavily biased to in state applicants.
@jm2510 If you will be classified as IS for TX during MD application, then it is a toss up. If not, UW M edges over.
Of course contrast weather but if you are used to cold or hot extremes it does not affect the decision. Finally UT A has only 50 MD seats and looks for diverse and other activities (beyond academic and MCAT scores) and it is very hard selection.
Texas has the best advantage in terms of residency since they reserve 90% medical seats for residents. However, UT is not the easiest to graduate with a high GPA unless you are paying a lot of attention to your grades for each class.
Most of the schools in Texas are listing 3.8 as their average GPA.
I don’t think Madison is a slouch either, in comparison to Austin. To me, it’s a toss off still.
Hello, UW-Madison senior here who has interviewed and been accepted to top 20 med schools. UW-Madison has very strong science departments and a wealth of excellent instructors and researchers. You will not have any shortage of opportunities, whether it be volunteer, extracurriculars, or research. Regarding which school will be easier to have a good GPA, MCAT, etc, UT-Austin and UW-Madison are both well-regarded public institutions and will serve your educational purposes as long as you work hard and diligently.
Wisconsin and Texas both have med schools that heavily favor in-state applicants, although Texas has significantly more, to the point that they have their own general application (the TMDSAS) for their in-state schools. However, because of Texas’s extensive med school system, quite a few OOS med schools, especially OOS state schools, are sometimes disinclined to interview and accept TX applicants as many TX applicants historically end up matriculating to Texas schools anyways due to cost and location. This situation is great if you want to stay in Texas throughout med school and beyond, but perhaps less great if you want to leave Texas. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for you to interview at OOS schools eventually (I met several Texans on the interview trail!), but generally it might be a bit tougher.
Ultimately, I think the right way to approach this is to pick the school you’ll be happier at for the next 4 years and which one will fit your goals (eg. are you willing to practice forever in Texas?), as the academic/opportunity differences between the two aren’t significant enough to concretely sway a decision. Also, you might change your mind about being a premed over the next 4 years, which makes it even more important to pick a school you’ll be happy about.
I might also recommend you read a little bit about the Texan med school admissions process, there are a lot of threads discussing it on the SDN forums.