Hello there!
I am a senior in high school who has recently been prowling on these forums seeking any insight or answers to a question I had regarding Texas Tech, but decided to ask y’all directly in the case that others are in a similar situation. A few weeks ago I had received my acceptance email from Tech. My motivations for applying included Tech’s relatively low tuition and its decent ranking for biology. (I was unsure if links would prevent my thread from being posted so withheld from adding them here. If anybody would like a source to the claim regarding tuition, simply google “Texas university tuition” and look for the infographic with gray and orange circles representing each university. As for Tech’s biology ranking, I simply googled “best universities in texas for biology” and clicked on the first search result).
However, just recently my parents have been pushing for me to attend UTD instead (or University of Texas at Austin, but regular admissions were due Dec 1). I am unsure on how to go about this and wanted to hear advice or feedback from y’all about the quality of Tech’s biology program. I’d like to specialize in a dental profession in the future, but am also aware that I can fall back on the flexibility a Biology major would grant me if I wished to branch off into nursing instead.
All feedback and thoughts are appreciated! Thank you for reading!
You should take a look at the Dental School forum to get some ideas about the requirements for dental school admission. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/pre-dentistry-dental-school/
Generally speaking, admission to grad programs is based more heavily on your GPA, letters of recommendation, admissions exams required by that program, research/volunteer experience expected for that program, etc. The name of the college or university you attend isn’t particularly important. You can get the pre-med/pre-dent/pre-vet/pre-health major biology and chemistry requirements just about anywhere. If you like Texas Tech, you will be fine.
Why do your parents like UTD and UTA better than Texas Tech? Are those universities closer to where you live? Do they have professional experiences and contacts that lead them to believe that there is something less good about TT than the other two? Have that conversation with them.
@fondofrainydays Another consideration is (not sure about UTA or UTD) but Tech has their own medical school. I am biased towards Tech, but as a parent of a student. ( and maybe 2 if daughter decides to go there, she was going to be a biology major but changed to environmental engineering) Tech has been awesome.
Thank y’all so much for the replies! The dental school forum has been very helpful.
Pick one which you want to attend and can afford. There isn’t much difference in academic quality between these three schools to worry about.