This is so interesting because I️ always look on CC but have never posted my own until now… I️ am a high school senior not sure where to go for college. I’m not sure about my major probably Biology, Biochem, Neuroscience or something in that category. I for sure will be premed so my number one priority is a good school that willl give me a lot of opportunities to help me into a nice med school. UT Austin, Univeristy of Michigan, Notre Dame, Emory and Duke are my top 5. I️ got in to the first 3 but I️ applied regular decision to Emory and duke so I️ won’t know until April if I️ got in… Anyways I️ would get opinions from others based on experience or anything really.
Also, I️ am a Texas resident so without considering any aid and scholarships, UT will be the most affordable but that’s not really a deciding factor for me.
I’m really outgoing so yea I️ want to work hard but I️ really want to have a lot of fun too.
Medical school is expensive, although Texas public and Baylor medical schools are significantly less expensive for Texas residents. So it makes sense to conserve money so that you can finish medical school with less debt – heavy debt may limit your career options by forcing you to chase the money even if you prefer to do something less well paid (by physician standards).
However, you want to know the net prices after financial aid and scholarships. Have you run the net price calculators on the colleges that you have not yet gotten financial aid offers from? Of course, you should wait until you have actual financial aid and scholarship offers before deciding.
In addition, UT Austin will be more convenient to others in terms of access to medical school interviews at Texas public and Baylor medical schools.
If money is truly not an issue for you (or your parents - definitely double check with them - you don’t want to saddle them with loans “just because”), then any of those schools will work just fine. Kids work hard and have a lot of fun at all of them. It’s up to the student to get involved in things that interest them, of course. One could choose to be a hermit at any of those schools as well.
But still, if money is not an issue then go wherever you feel the most “at home” and major in whatever your interest is.
You have a huge difference in weather at your schools… just noting. All else the same, it could be a deciding factor. Do you want to see/experience a northern winter or not so much?
@Sirens56
In my opinion, Duke would be the best then Emory. Emory is redesigned their premed track/ the chem department. I would always recommend smaller schools for pre-med so unless cost was an issue I would narrow down to ND, EMory, and Duke.
Be wary of raw admission rates, since they can be greatly affected by which students at each school apply, which is sometimes regulated by whether the school’s pre-med committee will endorse the student.
It also excludes students who’ve been weeded out along the way. I don’t know the stats for the others, but about half of those coming in pre-med at Duke apply to medical school.
Biology courses at Duke are full of ambitious, competitive pre-meds. (About 25% of seniors apply to medical school, and many more freshmen and sophomores are on the pre-med track.) Duke is a great place to study biology, but that is something that can taint your experience. I personally found it rather off-putting and switched to Earth & Ocean Sciences instead, where I was still able to study environmental science but in a much more relaxed and cooperative department.
@Sirens56 Regardless of where you attend, rethink biology unless it’s your (only) academic passion. Lower-level courses are often large, and curves can be brutal. Majoring in biology is not advantageous for med school.
So you better be clear. It is not called Baylor Medical Schools. I went to BCM for graduate school decades ago and know the history of it. It was separated from Baylor U long time ago and moved to Houston.
I did not call it “Baylor Medical Schools”. I wrote “Texas public and Baylor medical schools”, which was intended to be parsed as “(Texas public and Baylor) medical schools”.
I see. There is also a medical school at the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas affiliated with A&M. So it is better to spell it out BCM instead of just call it Baylor anyway. It sounds like you were grouping the different Baylor together.
The GPA thing is a big deal for me too but I’m not sure if any of these schools will ensure I️ get a good GPA because from what I️ know, people who did really well in high school struggle to get even Bs at all 5
Sorry if I worded it wrong but I didn’t mean to come across as if money wasn’t an issue at all. Money is a factor that I️ willl consider but it won’t be the number one reason why I️ go somewhere if that makes sense
What will your parents contribute for your college education? If you go under budget, will they allow you to use the remainder for medical school?
The difference between in-state UT + Texas public medical school versus private college at list price + private medical school can be $300,000 or so. Starting a medical career with $300,000 more debt will be a huge drag on your career and life choices.
Have you checked the individual school’s pages on CC for threads related to pre-med? I know Notre Dame has a thread with someone asking about their pre-med program, with quite a few responses about the program. Perhaps Duke, Michigan, etc. pages do also. Those are all good schools where I’m sure you can find success if you work hard. In your decision you definitely want to factor not only cost (burden on parents, your future loans) but also fit (how you feel on campus, in the student culture). In this case, fit would definitely include weather, since winters at Notre Dame/Michigan will be very different from Duke, Emory, UT. Good luck!
I️ agree with you about the cost but I️ don’t want that to be my only reason to go somewhere over other schools… do you know anything about research opportunities at UT and how hard it is to maintain a decent gpa there??