I am stuck in between early decision Rice or ATM/TAMU pre med!!! Are MCAT & GPA really that important to med schools or not??
Rice pros: good edu, good advisors, next to TMC
Cons: expensive & hard to maintain high GPA
ATM pros: national merit scholarship, easier to maintain high GPA
Cons: not as helpful in preparing for med school
med school is all about your GPA and Mcat. Pick the school that you are the top 25% of the entering class where you can excel the best. But don’t write down a school because it is lower ranked, because competition is everywhere for premed.
Thanks so much for your quick response! I will definitely take your advice into consideration 
I know MANY MANY MDs who have a TAMU undergrad diploma hanging in their office. Don’t for a minute think you will find easier classes and less of a chance at med school admission. At Rice you might find a unique niche of learners who have a different mindset and motivation. If you want that, then go there. But don’t do it just because you feel it will help your medical school admissions.
Have you run the Net Price Calculator for Rice? It may be much less expensive than you think with financial aid.
https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/rice
You may think medicine is an interesting career now, but only a very small fraction of high schoolers interested in medicine ultimately apply to medical school. I wouldn’t make a big decision like where to attend college based primarily on what you think you want to do five years from now.
I recommend visiting both schools if you haven’t yet. It’s usually not a good idea to apply to ED to a school you haven’t visited.
How many National Merit scholarships are available at Texas A&M and are you sure you will win one?
The Medical research in the Houston area is phenomenal. Apply to both, and see what each school offers you.
What are you after for medical school preparation, clinical or research experiences? You can spent every summer doing research at any summer medical research program like the ones at Ohio State, UC Irvine, Rice or Baylor Medical in Houston may have these programs. They pay you a stipend, give you free housing and a free airplane ticket so look into REUs in the Medical field now. If you prefer clinical experiences, then look for those in College Station and Houston now, visit and ask where you can work part time, for clinical experiences .
Also add some safety schools, if you need them. Rice is hard for Texas students to gain admission.
Run the NPC on Rice and if it’s affordable, apply ED and apply EA to TAMU.
Both will be very hard for pre-meds. Ask yourself: which university would you rather graduate from if you are NOT going to med school?
Thank you so much for the advice! Anyone who went or had friends who went to ATM or Rice for premed, please share what you’ve experienced or heard about!!