Trinity U (TX), Lawrence U (WI), Rhodes, W&L, Davidson or Tulane Honors for pre-med / neuroscience?

College Search & Selection
1

With all application decisions back for over a week now D19 really needs to make decision but she is so busy with school and other activities that I’m afraid she isn’t giving this important decision the due diligence it deserves. I would really appreciate opinions / insights from anyone having actual knowledge of how these schools compare and how they would fit her abilities (stats listed below) and goals. Her plan is to major in neuroscience but more with a focus on the neurobiology vs. the cognitive / psychology aspects. She may also consider cell/molecular bio. Currently her goal is to pursue a career in academic medicine researching neurodegenerative diseases and she has been interning in a lab at the med school in our hometown already doing work in that field.

Her leading / assumed choice right now is Trinity University thanks to, quite unexpectedly, winning a full tuition scholarship at their Tower Scholars competition in March. Besides the scholarship we were pretty impressed with almost everything and everyone we encountered there especially with regard to research labs and the pre-med advising and outcome data.

But prior to winning the Trinity scholarship, the two leading options appeared to be Rhodes and Lawrence University both of which were also EA admits offering her 30k of merit meaning they would cost about 50k-60k more than Trinity over four years, which I feel could certainly be worth it if there is something that makes one of them stand out as a better fit for her than Trinity. I’m just not sure what that would be… they are both a bit smaller and probably have less resources although we are super impressed with the internship and research opportunities that Rhodes provides through its close relationships with St. Jude’s and other hospitals in Memphis.

I’d really like to know how the academic rigor / grade deflation and support systems compare at either of these vs. Trinity. Several years ago Lawrence was ranked 18th on list of most rigorous schools by Newsweek, which I take with a grain of salt but I suppose there could be something to that.

D would play soccer at Lawrence and could probably also play at Rhodes but as much as I love the idea of her being able to play, I’m now having misgivings about whether that is a good idea the more I hear about the rigors of pre-med. Lawrence would be closest to home. Rhodes is renown for its beautiful campus. We have yet to visit either and I’d certainly like her to give them due consideration. Any insights (good or bad) on either of these two would be much appreciated.

If money was no object, she’d almost certainly pick W&L or Davidson as she loved both when we visited last year but unfortunately she got no merit and only ~15k in need-based grants from either, so unless she hits on one of the long-shot outside scholarship apps she is still waiting on she’ll probably pass on these two. If we had a really good reason we could make it work, but fortunately she is pretty pragmatic and recognizes it would be better to put the money towards med school. But if anyone can make a compelling argument why either of these two would actually be worth the extra $160k compared to Trinity, I’d be open to hearing it.

I also think she’s pretty much ruled out Tulane after we recently visited for Honors weekend. Great R1 school with some excellent resources (Brain Institute, med school) but still seems hard to justify the much higher cost (~100k over four years compared to Trinity) even with the $30k merit she got. Also Tulane’s pre-med advising presentation was frankly very weak compared to what we got at Trinity. She was also interested in the TAP-TP 6+1 BS/MD opportunity but then found out she would not qualify due to only getting a 4 in AP Bio. And the R1 + med school aren’t a huge factor as she now believes she will be able to continue research during the summers at the med school here (which would probably be better and definitely less costly place to ultimately go for MD vs. Tulane) Also if she goes to Trinity she could also possibly get into a lab at UT Health in San Antonio during the school year.

Again I’d really appreciate input from anyone knowledgeable on these schools and how they fit D’s abilities and goals. Thanks.

D’s stats: 33 ACT (32 Sci, 32 Math, 36 Eng, 31 Reading, 10 Writing); SAT-II: Math L2 760, Bio-M 730; 3.99 UGPA, 9 APs (all 4s), class rank 3/200+ @ highly-ranked public HS.

2

It seems like you have been very thorough and there are no bad choices! I can only speak to Davidson but this year over 50% of the freshmen class came in as pre med. they dont declare until sophomore year but thats a lot of premed! My D says her premed friends put a lot of pressure on themselves. The grading at Davidson is definitely harder than other schools. My D is not premed. Its a good school but i think you may have better options for your D.

3

My oldest back in 2013 was accepted to both Rhodes and Trinity.

With the merit difference, without a doubt I’d be strongly encouraging Trinity.

If it wasn’t for merit, I’d choose Rhodes simply due to the St Jude connection.

Lawrence would not come into the mix for me for her choice of major.

On top of the merit, Trinity has lovely dorms, the nicest Administration I have ever met and a great loan program if she opts for a summer abroad or take an unpaid internship.

My oldest didn’t attend his top choice, but followed the full tuition scholarship. In retrospect, it was the Universe choosing the best option for him. He was able to travel extensively and enhance his experience without financial burden.

4

Have you asked Rhodes or Lawrence to reassess their awards in light of Trinity University’s award ?

Among the three. Rhodes would be a great choice for pre-med while also allowing her to play soccer.

5

Culturally, Rhodes is much closer to W&L than Lawrence is. My kid felt that Lawrence could be a good personality fit for her; neither Rhodes nor W&L were even in contention.

We visited Lawrence, and here’s all I know that might be relevant to you:

  • the Physics prof my kid ate lunch with was working on an imaging project that sounded a lot closer to bio than to what most people think of as physics. So I think there are medical / bio opportunities outside of the usual suspects
  • the Chinese prof we ate lunch with said she could only teach simplified characters, which to me speaks against any large amount of rigor
  • the campus was lovely to me, but my preference is for less manicured and more natural / lived in
  • there are two hospitals within a mile of campus

From what you describe, Trinity would be the winner for me. I would not pay $60k more for Lawrence.

6

Thanks everyone for the input!

@Publisher Regarding asking Rhodes or Lawrence to reassess their merit awards in light of Trinity’s, is that common? And when you wrote: “Among the three. Rhodes would be a great choice for pre-med…” do you mean that you feel it would in some way be better than Trinity for pre-med?

Thanks.

7

Whether or not it is common, it is a step that you should take if you prefer Rhodes College or Lawrence University over Trinity University.

All three are fine for pre-med.

8

My D is committed to Trinity U for pre-med in Neuroscience. She met with the head of the pre-med committee and was very impressed with their program and results. One of the biggest factors in her decision to commit to Trinity is the number of Med Schools in Texas. I think there are 11 public ones and several private. The public med schools have an in-state tuition of 18K-23K per year - a bargain for med school. If she chose trinity, she could establish residency and save quite a bit on med school. While Trinity may not be “known” outside of Texas to those outside academia, it is highly respected in Texas. Usually ranking right behind Rice and UT as the best college in Texas. I think a full ride would be hard to pass up.

9

If your daughter has a full ride at Trinity, she should take it and save her $ for medical school. Trinity is a great school, and San Antonio is a terrific city.

10

The families I know with students at Trinity are very happy with the school. A plus is the proximity to a major airport so flights home will be simple. San Antonio is an interesting city. I’d take a very hard look at Trinity before spending more money for the other options.

11

Lots of kids from our area go to Trinity, though outside the southwest it’s not well-known. It’s known for close faculty advisement, very good academics, beautiful dorms, and good sports. I wouldn’t pay more for Rhodes or Lawrence. She’ll be well-served by Trinity for premed and have the $ to attend. Congrats to her on winning the Tower scholarship; quite an accomplishment! Also FWIW, we know several kids who chose Trinity (with merit) for premed, all of whom got into Med school.

12

Thanks for all the input, which mostly affirms our thinking.

If the academics are comparable, then I guess it would mostly come down to soccer or location/proximity to home as far as reasons to consider paying more for Lawrence or Rhodes. As I said, personally I’m now conflicted about soccer insofar as it might detract from D’s time for studying, research, shadowing, etc. as a pre-med. As far as proximity, my wife and I would love to have D closer but I think she’d prefer to have the experience of going off somewhere more different from the Midwest. And San Antonio seemed really nice.

We’re planning to visit Lawrence because it is drive-able and I think D owes it to herself and the coach who recruited her to give the opportunity full consideration. Then after checking it out if it turns out that she prefers it over Trinity, we can ask about the merit but I thought Lawrence’s offer was already quite generous and no point in asking about that if she prefers Trinity.

I just don’t want her to look back and regret not considering all her options / opportunities. That’s why we went to Tulane Honors weekend (which was actually our 2nd visit to Tulane) mostly just to confirm her thinking that it was probably not her best option. But that airfare was already booked and the trip was aligned to our spring break vacation.

Getting to Rhodes in next three weeks just may not be realistic or sensible given the time and cost, but that’ll be sad because it seems like such a great school!

13

@noserfdom I hesitate to post, because you likely already know this, but Trinity University has a fairly well respected women’s soccer program. Their most recent press release that I could find indicated that they ended the 2018 season with a #18 D3 national ranking. https://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/athl-misc/181220_dc

Just in case you were not aware and this weighs into the decision.

14

@Trinity2016 Right, Trinity has a very strong women’s soccer program. D hasn’t contacted the coach but just assuming she lacks pedigree to play there. And I don’t know if they have a club team given their size.

15

I believe Trinity does have women’s soccer at the club level. Our S19 has been accepted at Trinity, and I checked the women’s soccer point when we visited recently for an admitted students event, as our D21 is a soccer player. I originally stumbled upon Trinity last year when I was going through the Fiske Guide trying to make sure I wasn’t overlooking any schools we should be considering. I have family in San Antonio, and the description of the school was very intriguing. We have visited twice now and done a lot of reading, and any real concerns we had about the school not being well-known outside of Texas have pretty much gone away, particularly as it seems likely S19 will go on to grad school and Trinity is well-known there. It’s a lovely school, with a huge endowment and an impressive faculty, quite diverse on its own terms and one of the few LACs in a true urban environment.