Suggestions for selecting undergrad school for premed

I am happy I got accepted into few good schools. Looking for help to select one primarily keeping my interest for premed in mind. I got some scholarships so overall price will be same for all. Looking for the better choice which can get me good grades and have research and clinical opportunity while in undergrad.

Choices are
UT Austin ( Public Health)
Baylor ( Bio Informatics)
University of Florida (Phsychology - Behaviorial neuroscience)
Rutgers ( Honors program for Biological sciences)
University of Maryland ( College Park ) (Biological Sciences: Physiology & Neurobiology)
UC Santa Cruz ( Human Biology )
ASU Barrett ( Bio Medical)
Purdue ( Biomedical engineering )
UIUC ( Chemical engineering)

What state are you a resident of?

I am in California

I’d go with Baylor (best career if med school doesn’t happen - as long as you’re fine with the heavy core curriculum and the mandatory religion/religious requirements, while not hitting you GPA as much as engineering would), Rutgers (because of the Honors College) or ASU Barrett (because of the Honors COllege).
That being said, I am surprised that UT Austin, UIUC, or Purdue would cost the same as UCSC instate?
Can you check your financial aid award and check the line that reads “NET COST”?

Thank you. MYOS1634. I have received merit scholarships which is bringing the price to almost same with little difference in all but purdue and UIUC.

Then if all three I listed have a similar cost, you’re very lucky and can’t make a bad choice.

(UIUC Chemical Engineering would likely mean renouncing your dream of medicine due to extreme grade deflation and costs. How much over budget is it? How much do you want to be a doctor v. an engineer?)

@MYOS1634
What is wrong with UMCP? UF? are they too big? his major at UF seems a good candidate to get higher gpa, but I have no knowledge about UF other than it used to be a party school. UMCP is a well pointed school, nevertheless.

Agree UCSC is not a better fit if the cost is the same, UC become a private like school, even for residents.

@artloversplus Nothing wrong with UMCP or UF, both generate a large number of medical school applicants, especially UF.

The AAMC puts out a listing of “Undergraduate Institutions Supplying Applicants to U.S. Medical Schools by Applicant Race and Ethnicity”.
https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/86042/factstablea2.html

For 2018-2019:

1: UCLA with 1,014

2: UF with 852

3: Michigan with 815

4 UT-Austin with 747

5: UC-Berkeley with 662

UMCP has 364
UIUC: 381
Baylor 293
ASU 339

All of these schools “create” a large number of applicants, with the possible exception of Purdue (Engineering to Med school is uncommon, in-state pre-med students tend to select Indiana University). Of course, you can still attend Purdue, be pre-med, and get into medical school.

If cost is about the same, Baylor’s main advantage is Private (expensive) vs Public, it will have smaller class sizes, and a better faculty to student ratio, perhaps better advising, etc.

UCSC Human Biology does have an excellent track record getting into UC campus medical schools. Plus studying Medical Spanish is mandatory to help serve diverse populations.

There’s nothing wrong with any of these universities, but the extra support that Honors College students get is precious to get into med school.
Baylor Bioinformatics has the added bonus that, if med school doesn’t pan out (like for 3/4 would be premeds) it’s a highly sought-after major.
Rutgers has really invested into its honors college recently.
UCSC would be a good instate option.

A word of caution about engineering as a major if you are truly set on pre-med. Engineering is notoriously difficult to get a high GPA and most medical schools will not take that into account or at most give it very little weight. So the 3.2 Chem engineering student may very well loose out to the 3.8 bio or philosophy major so long as they are strong in the basic required sciences. If you are not certain of medicine and think you might actually prefer a career in engineering, that is a different matter.

Thank you All. I have narrowed down to UTA and Purdue after visiting the schools. Bio Engineering program at Purdue is very good and has good acceptance rate to Med Schools. I also got into the FRI program at UTA so that would give me research options from freshman year.

UTA without a blink