These are my top schools right now, I’m leaning UT Austin because its in-state and the cheapest for me (~30k vs ~55k vs ~70k) but the other schools do have a bigger reputation i guess? specifically UNC, their honors department hasn’t left me alone since december but the program sounds appealing. at the same time, I really like Plan II honors, although I’m not sure how big its reputation is outside of texas. if anyone has an opinon on Plan II, i’d love to hear it, and if anyone has an opinion that isn’t go UT Austin in this case, I’d love to hear why. While I feel like UT is the best choice, I haven’t looked into UNC or Berkeley enough and I want to learn more about them before deciding for sure
Texas pre-med favors in state public at lower cost and greater convenience to interviews at in state medical schools which are relatively inexpensive compared to other medical schools.
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Unless you don’t like uber urban, UT is a no brainer.
Do Honors because you like what it offers. UT Honors is very well thought of but the reason to do it is you see advantage for yourself personally, not just a name.
For premed, Berkeley will not offer anything that you can’t find in Austin.
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Plan II has an incredible reputation. Congrats on getting accepted! I think it’s a non brainer.
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You guess wrong!
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Though Bevo sucks, the choice is clearly Texas here. Med school isn’t cheap. Save the money for it. My wife and I are, respectively a doctor and lawyer. All of our student loan debt was professional school debt. It took us 20 years to pay it back. After interest , and we had a great rate of 2.25%, we repaid over $200K. We lost out on a lot of opportunities because of it. There was a lot of stress. Save the money.
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I wish this post could be pinned and auto-replied to every student seriously considering med/law school. The reality of what it costs to get that MD/JD v how much the vast majority of MDs/JDs earn, and how interest works (what you borrow is not what you pay back!) is so hard for an 18yo to grasp.
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I’m going against the grain a bit here, and against my typical CC advice, with a big caveat…
I did not see a mention of budget so my caveat is affordability… if, and only if, all of these schools are affordable without loans, I would strongly consider UNC Honors. Texas has great med schools at relatively affordable prices for residents and gives preference to residents for admission. Assuming you stay the premed track and get accepted to a med school, there is a good chance it will be in Texas. Experiencing life in another state for undergrad may be appealing.
I also like that UNC is really showing you the love. If loans are part of any of the financial packages, Go Longhorns. Congratulations on your acceptances!
I can theoretically afford both UNC and UT without loans, but UNC does end up being +120k across 4 years, and I do plan on loaning for medical school, so not sure if its worth spending. UNC Honors does sound appealing, but from what I’ve researched it seems like a college-wide honors with more general benefits such as class registration and study abroad compared to Plan II which from what I’ve seen is a much more tight knit community + another major? I had a call with a UNC Honors alumni and they didn’t really mention much other than the study abroad possibilites so not sure
Do you know any specific things about plan II that are really appealing? I went to an admitted event, and it was great, but it was mostly filled with mock classes and such and I’m still not entirely sure on how reputable the program is as a whole.
The program has been around forever, since before I was at UT in the early '80s. It is very selective. I don’t know a lot about it, but even in the dark ages, the students I knew who were in it enjoyed it and were very bright. Anyone in Texas who knows about Plan II has a high opinion of it. It is very reputable, you can be assured.
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Plan II is nationally known as either a top 10 or a top 5 Honors program. It’s considered as a yardstick against which to measure Honors programs at other universities.
Any med school will be impressed (in Texas but also elsewhere).
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Having $120k less loans at the end of medical school means fewer debt constraints on your career and life choices.
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Wow, I didn’t think Plan II was recognized this well, especially because within UT I feel like most of the attention gets drawn towards computer science and the universities strong suits, but that sounds great. I’m heavily leaning UT, Berkeley isn’t offering anything and UNC while the opportunities seem nice +120k is a lot of money. looks like austin is the best option
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I knew about Plan II back in 1994 when I was applying.
It’s on many lists, not just one but here’s an example.
But it is a liberal arts program and that is not for everyone.
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