To preface: UT is about 25k/year cheaper. I am aiming to attend a T5 medical school with potentially an MD/MPH path! Thank you :))
UT Austin
UT Pros: - Dean’s Scholars Honors Program (`~50 in incoming class, honors classes, research focused program)
Jefferson Scholars Program (liberal arts scholar program where we learn about ancient, medieval, modern worlds)-- i just think it’s a cool area of study
Close to home
Built-in access to upperclassmen
Friday lunches with professors through DS Program-- easy to get close to faculty
Austin is a beautiful, bustling city
school spirit
UT Cons:
Honors classes = harder = lower gpa?
Close to home, lots of hs people here
less flexibility in classes and switch majors/minors
very very large school
cutthroat pre-med culture
WashU
WashU Pros: - Pre-med focused, unique PNP major
Broad Research Opportunities
Smallish college town-like
Small student body
Academically driven students (i tend to perform better when surrounded by such students)
Strong pre-med advising
Easy to switch between schools/majors and minor in academic areas
Relatively small PNP program, opportunities to get close with faculty
Gorgeous campus!
snow
collaborative environment/people
direct access to medical facilities for jobs, internships
WashU Cons:
more expensive
unsafe city?
large intro classes
USC
USC Pros:
beautiful weather, campus, amenities
presidential scholarship (half tuition off)
honors housing
freshman science honors FSH (offered smaller classes for intro to bio and chem)
can get close with freshman professors and my FSH class
I will admit that I found your mentioning snow at WUSTL as humorous. I am originally from Montreal and live in the Northeast of the US so we get quite a bit of snow up here. I would be happy to send you some, but am concerned that it might melt before it gets to you.
Would you need to take on any debt at all to attend any of these universities? Would the extra cost of USC and WUSTL be a strain on your family? Would you have “college money in the bank” for medical school if you attend UT Austin? Being $100,000 less expensive over four years seems like quite a difference, particularly since UT Austin is such a good university and since medical school is so expensive.
I would expect premed classes to be very competitive at any of these very good universities. I also would expect you to find premed classes filled with academically driven students at any of these universities. From an academic point of view I think that all three of these are very good. Neither of my daughters were premed, but both had majors that overlapped quite a bit with premed classes and therefore were in many of the same classes. You definitely will want to show up at university ready to work hard from day 1.
In terms of getting accepted to a “top 5” medical school I sort of have two thoughts. One is that there are a lot of very good medical schools in the US, and admissions will be tough at any of them. You do not need to get into at top 5 MD program to do very well with a medical career. My other thought is that you do not need to attend a “top 50” university to get into a top 5 medical school. You do however need strong grades, strong references, and very good experience in a medical environment. As I said neither daughter was premed, but one is currently studying in a top 5 DVM program, and she attended an undergraduate university that was somewhat lower ranked than any of the universities that you are considering.
These are all very good universities. My inclination would be to save the $100,000 and go with UT Austin.
Congratulations on having earned admissions to all three of them. Do not forget that a top high school student can become suddenly average the day that they show up to study at a very strong university (including any of the ones you have mentioned in this thread) and you need to be ready to study at a high level.
With cost as a factor, I would also recommend the Honors program at UT over your other two excellent options. I didn’t see a strong desire in your pro-con factors for small class size, which in my opinion, is the biggest challenge at UT.
If you hate LA, definitely don’t go to USC!
Also, you note that UT is “Close to home, lots of hs people here,” but the sheer size of the undergraduate population means that it’s possible to never see HS folks if you want to avoid them.
But med school is expensive, so why not start saving now while still getting a prestigious, quality education at UT?
Seems like saving $100k to use for medical school costs and staying in Texas for relatively easy accessibility to interviews at Texas medical schools (which are less expensive than most for Texas residents) can enable you eventually to start practicing medicine with a lower debt load than is typical for new physicians.
Top 5 med school is super tough no matter where. From observation, Wash U is a fantastic school but is far from a guarantee to med school in Texas, much less a top five. Go to UT, enjoy yourself, meet lots of people that aren’t from your HS or area and study a lot.
