<p>Hi everyone!
I was accepted to UT Austin (not honors, didn't apply :X) and Baylor University(potentially honors). They cost about the same since I received money from Baylor and I was wondering, in your opinion, which one do you think is better?</p>
<p>Which university should I attend?
I am planning to major in a natural science at UT Austin. Is the natural science program better at UT Austin or Baylor? My parents say they don't want me to attend UT Austin but I think I may be able to convince them. They said that the class sizes are too big and I'll get "lost" amongst the many other students.</p>
<p>Please help me! Thank you so much :)</p>
<p>UT Austin is far superior academically in pretty much every field (medical possibly an exception). Not to mention, Waco is probably one of the worst college towns in the US, while Austin is, well, Austin. Really cool.</p>
<p>Socially though these two are probably pretty darn different, Baylor being a private religious school and UT being a massssive public school. You should probably visit, but in the end, you need to decide which scene you’d prefer. Look up student reviews of each school to learn more about the social aspects. If you think you prefer Baylor in that regard, you’ll then have to decide if it outweighs the strength of the academics at UT.</p>
<p>It’s too bad you didn’t apply to honors- it’s like a smaller school feel within the big campus. Maybe you can still see if you can get in, or apply next year.</p>
<p>I’m personally looking at Baylor and Texas A&M (UT a little too liberal for me) and I loved Baylor. Waco is a little rough, but Baylor is off to the side and a great campus. If you decide on Baylor, don’t expect a lot of parties, or the kinds of stuff you would get at a massive public university like UT Austin. Like the post above me said, UT is superior academically in a lot of fields, but Baylor is still a great little school and has a really good student to faculty ratio. You’d get a great education at either one of those schools. Personally for me, I would choose Baylor just because it’s a closely knit, religious school that takes a lot of pride in its fundamental beliefs and has a great endowment.</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with either of them, though. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thank you so much, pancaked and sergeantcowboy. I really appreciate it! It’s really nice getting to see things from other perspectives. Thank you so much!</p>
<p>Hahah I already tried to contact UT Honors about trying to get it. It was a no-go 
I’m not a very religious person so religion doesn’t play a very large role in the decision.</p>
<p>So would you say Baylor or UT Austin has a better science/pre-med program?</p>
<p>Well Baylor being religious doesn’t mean you’d be in outcast at Baylor in any sense (though you might feel a liiitle uncomfortable in chapel). I’d say Baylor lacks the stereotypical college atmosphere, it’s much more calm and collected, but of course there are still people partying and drinking, and the sports fans there are probably just as nuts as the UT fans.</p>
<p>UT definitely has the edge in “science”. As for pre-med, I mean, I think they’re on similar levels. If you plan on going to med school, your GPA and MCAT score is more important than which school you went to. </p>
<p>Baylor tends to have a rep for being a good school for pre-med in Texas, but I don’t know how trustworthy that rep is. UT’s is a little less known I suppose, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s less qualified. You’d have to do some research on percentage accepted to Med school and average MCAT scores and such.</p>
<p>Sports wise and atmosphere wise, I actually went to a Baylor football game last November when they played OU. It was a blowout in OU’s favor but still a great game. They have a huge sports program and a great fan-base. I never said you would feel like an outcast if you went to Baylor and weren’t religious, I have non-religious friends who go there, but they do make you take chapel classes which you might not see any value in if you indeed aren’t religious.</p>
<p>Like Pancaked said, UT has the leg up in the overall science department from what I’ve heard, but Baylor has a really good pre-med program. If you went pre-med at Baylor and had good grades you’d probably be able to get right into their med-school, which is a good one located in the Texas Medical Complex in Houston. I don’t even know if UT has a medical school affiliated with them, but Baylor does, which is nice.</p>
<p>From what you’ve said it sounds like you’re leaning towards the bio/medical field. Keep in mind UT is a massive school with about 50k kids while Baylor has got about 12k. You’d get a much better student to faculty ratio at Baylor and it’s a closer knit school. I personally loved the campus as well. I’m going to be applying this spring and Baylor is #2 on my list after A&M.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind me asking, what were your stats to get into Baylor? </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>@SergeantCowboy sorry but I feel I need to clarify some of the things you said…</p>
<p>first off, Baylor University is NOT affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine (which an extremely good med school in Houston). This is a common misconception and I just want to correct you so the OP doesn’t base their decision off of this and then realize that the two schools actually aren’t affiliated later on.</p>
<p>Also, UT does have affiliated medical schools, however none of them are in Austin but there’s one in Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas.</p>
<p>I was about to post and say that I don’t think attending Baylor will give you a better shot at the Baylor med school in any way --though Baylor does have a prestigious program for freshman applicants that guarantees you admission to BMC, but only for like 10 applicants every year ([Baylor</a> University || Prehealth Programs || Dual Admissions](<a href=“2022-23 Freshman Scholarship Programs | Undergraduate Admissions | Baylor University”>http://www.baylor.edu/prehealth/index.php?id=36430)). Otherwise, I don’t believe there is any reason to think that Baylor will help you get into Baylor Med College.</p>
<p>I’m pretty much scratching my head over some of these ideas??! </p>
<p>UT offers the top academic program in natural sciences. Period. If you go there and excel, plus score well on the MCAT, you will have more choices when it comes to medical school. Their premed counseling and advising is great. Yes, class sizes will be large, more so the first year or two. However, there are a number of ways you can enhance your experience outside of the honors program. </p>
<p>Two things a freshman science major should seriously look at are:</p>
<p>1- Freshman Research Initiative–they are still taking applications! [About</a> FRI | Freshman Research Initiative](<a href=“http://fri.cns.utexas.edu/about-fri]About”>About FRI | Freshman Research Initiative)</p>
<p>2- Participate in a FIG. [First-year</a> Interest Groups | School of Undergraduate Studies](<a href=“First-Year Interest Groups | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies”>First-Year Interest Groups | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies)</p>
<p>Please, also, be sure to study the UT health sciences web pages. [Health</a> Professions Advising](<a href=“http://cns.utexas.edu/careers/health-professions]Health”>http://cns.utexas.edu/careers/health-professions)</p>
<p>Baylor is a fine school, but it’s not UT. They do offer a wide range of health science programs, and if you go to Baylor and excel, plus score well on the MCAT, you will have good choices when it comes to medical school.</p>
<p>shoobydoo, I assume you’ve visited both campuses and can see yourself at UT. If you need some ammo for convincing your parents, please dig into the links I shared and think hard about applying for FRI. The UT forum on CC is very active, so if you want to learn more about about FRI, you can search the archives for information and ask your own questions.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Wow! Thank you guys so much! Doing you think that going to UT would give me a better chance in getting into the medical school? I live in Houston so it would be great if I made it UTMB here.</p>
<p>Wherever I go, I know that I’ll force myself to focus and study. Grades are important, especially in applying to medical school, as you all have said, and I’ve learned my lesson from high school.</p>
<p>SergeantCowboy: 2280 SAT, 5.2/6.0 GPA, 52/850ish rank</p>
<p>TXArtemis: Thank you for the links! I’ve looked into the FRI and I’ve applied to it. Hopefully, if i get in, I can use it as ammo against my parents. </p>
<p>I have visited Baylor (my brother went there) and the campus is quite nice, but outside of the Baylor bubble is…a little shifty. I can’t say much about UT Austin since I haven’t visited but from what I’ve heard and looked up, it seems to be a very fitting campus for me. I plan to visit sometime very soon.</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much for your input. I really appreciate it! This is helping me make my decision between Baylor/UT. Thanks again!</p>
<p>Are finances a factor in the decision? Just making sure you’ve got all the factors covered here.</p>
<p>And Yes, I would say UT would give you a better shot at medical school.</p>
<p>I am getting money from Baylor so the difference in price between UT and Baylor is pretty small. Thanks again for helping me so much! I really really appreciate it :)</p>