Hi
I’m currently trying to decide between going to UT Austin through the CAP program at UT Arlington , or go straight to U Florida in Gainesville. I’m a resident in Texas so I would get in state tuition at UT (around 28k cost of attendance) as opposed to UF’s oos tuition (around 44k cost of attendance).
I’m planning to major in psychology on a pre-med track.
- Which school overall do you think is better / how are they different.
- Would it be worth waiting a year at arlington to go to ut?
- How is student life / greek life at UT Arlington? Or how would you describe ut arlington in general?
Thank you
I definitely think the CAP program sounds like a good idea! One of my friends did it and she loved it, and another turned it down but says she wished she’d waited. A year isn’t long to wait and I know greek life is really popular at UT Austin (I’m pretty sure it’s similar at UTA? but I don’t know for sure.) I think the chance to save money and go to a higher-ranked school is worth it.
I go to UT Austin so I’m biased, but overall, going to UT is basically what you make of it. If you want to party and join a sorority/frat, there are plenty of options. If you want to work hard and be a really serious student, you can do that too! (Speaking from experience, I’m not a sorority type at all and I don’t feel any peer pressure to go out. But tons of my friends love partying, and they go out whenever they wish.)
A Texas resident pre-med may want to stay in Texas to have better access to interviews at Texas medical schools (which are less expensive than others for Texas residents). Saving money in undergraduate can also reduce the debt you will end up with after medical school.
Hi! I was actually at CAP student at UT Arlington back in 2018 and am now a third year at UT Austin.
During my experience at UT Arlington, I was able to meet a lot of CAP peers. The majority of us all successfully made it through the program. A lot of my CAP friends chose psych with a pre-med track so it is fairly common. Personally for me, I thought waiting a year was worth going to UT because it was my dream school. It also depends on how you make the most out of your experience in Arlington since campus life there is fairly different than Austin. UT Arlington is more of a commuter school and the students there are less competitive academic wise so it was not that hard for me to maintain a 4.0 throughout the program. As for Greek life, I felt like Greek life there wasn’t as huge as it was in UT Austin. Also keep in mind these were my experiences from 2018 so things may be different now.
If you have any questions about CAP feel free to message me!