I’m deciding on where I’m going to college here in the next couple of days and I’m hung-up on my decision and I wanted to run it by you guys. I’m a Biology Pre-med and my college choices are the University of Texas at Austin, the Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, New York University, Baylor University, and the University of Florida.
The prices are over 4 years are:
UT Austin : 116k
Ohio State : 145k
Case Western : 230k
NYU : 320k
Baylor: 195k
Florida : 191k
I also got into the honors colleges at Ohio State and NYU.
I’m unsure which choice would be the best choice for my future in Pre-Med without expending too much debt unless it’s worth it.
Academically these schools are all very good. Premed classes will be very challenging at any of them, and will prepare you well for the MCAT and medical school.
Remember that if you are serious about premed then you need to budget for 8 years. UT Austin is excellent. So is Ohio State. I do not see any reason to spend more to attend a different university that is just as good.
Your premed classes will be full of very strong students who are working very hard. The classes will be tough. The majority of students who start off premed will end up not applying to any medical schools, and the majority of students who do apply to medical schools will not get in anywhere. Fortunately there are a lot of other options, and any of these schools will have a wide range of majors that will lead to a wide range of alternative careers. To me the inevitable uncertainty associated with this is yet another reason to be very cautious about taking on any debt for your bachelor’s degree.
By the way, congratulations on being accepted to such a long list of very good universities.
I am very confident in the pre-med choice because I know I am going to go to med school to become a doctor.
Im worried about limited opportunities at UT Austin because in not in any honors or designated research institutions.
So I’ve narrowed it down to Ohio State and Case Western because I don’t think UT will give me the necessary tools to be successful because theres so many students and nothing to help me stand out.
At both Case Western and Ohio State I will have smaller classes with closer connection to professors (because honors). I think I will have more research and internship opportunities at Case Western because of the plethora of hospitals in the area and easy access to research because of the professors and graduate students. Ohio State will have similar opportunities to a lesser extent because it’s so much bigger.
Ohio State would definitely be more normal college experience will big sports and stuff like that compared to Case Western, but I think Case Western has a better name and education.
So i’m kind of torn between the two. Thoughts on the pros and cons between the two choices?
Lots of people are confident going in. Most don’t make it. Even those who survive to take the MCAT and apply are more likely to fail than succeed (41% who apply get in somewhere). THE NUMBER ONE THING is GPA, not school name, not honors, not research, not MCAT, not volunteering. Those are certainly part of the picture. GPA is institution agnostic though for the most part. UT will offer PLENTY of opportunity to volunteer and do research. Heed @DadTwoGirls advice and pick something affordable. I know a guy who paid his last med school student loan at age 62. Don’t set yourself up to be that guy.
You can’t go wrong choosing an in-state school. Your best shot for medical school is to stay in-state anyways. Medical schools in Texas favor in-state residents. Plus going to medical school in-state can cut your medical school loans by 2/3 or more.
Another vote for UT. Keep your costs down. UT is a great school and I’d argue better for a Texas resident wanting to go on to med school.
If cost truly isn’t an issue for your family and you can get through all 8 years of schooling without loans, the only school I’d consider on your list as potentially being better than UT for a pre-med is Case.
I agree, save your money for med school and pick UT.
Did you apply to FRI and not get in? You can still find research with a little effort. You can also ask to be put in a stream if not full.
If you have a 5 on AP Bio you can ask to get in Honors Bio. Look into applying into honors programs after a semester or two, for pre med you’ll want to bang out a 4.0 anyway so you should have a shot.
I don’t know anything about honors at Ohio State, I’d look at which classes are really smaller. The sciences? A few humanities? How do they set you up for research? 30k difference is a lot, especially when you add travel and being away expenses.
If your primary residence doesn’t change, seems like you’d still be a TX resident for med school, but check it out.
UT unless money for both undergrad and med school is not a concern (meaning no loans). Then pick what you like.
Med schools aren’t going to care at all which of those names is on your application. They’re all good schools.
Even if you are sure you’re heading to med school, have a Plan B. Even with the highest of grades and MCAT scores, not all make it in (over 13% didn’t get accepted anywhere - see link for actual data from AAMC). Everyone needs a Plan B. If Plan A works, Plan B can be dismissed with no harm. If Plan A doesn’t, you’ll want to have something else in the wings.
Based on what you want, I’d pick tOSU. It’s a relatively small difference per year, it gives you more opportunities/more personalized learning, it’s strong enough that, if like most premeds you end up doing something else, you do have choices, and it allows you to have a different college experience or discover another region of the country (based on where you applied it seems to be a goal). In addition, there’s no justification in paying more for UF or Baylor than for tOSU.
The difference in costs for Case Western isn’t worth it, UNLESS your family can afford Case Western without loans (or the 5.5K federal loans for freshmen, at most). But I’m guessing Case Western is above budget.
I would recommend you major in something else than Biology. There’s an oversupply of them. If you want some form of biology with good outcomes, look into biostatistics or bioinformatics. Otherwise, think of what other subjects you’re good at (math, cs, physics?) and don’t forget medical humanities (ethics, history, etc.)
I did apply to FRI, but I got waitlisted, so I’m just worried that at UT im going to be treated like just a number, that I won’t be able to get the opportunities I need to be successful. Where as id get those opportunities at Ohio State and Case Western. My parents will still live in Texas so I will be an instate applicant for med school.
Money isn’t an issue for Case Western, so the question is basically, is Case Western that much better academically with more opportunities etc. compared to Ohio State? or rather are they more on par with one another for research opportunities and class size and I guess overall prestige?
What are the benefits to changing my major from biology to potentially something else?
At a large public you ARE just a number. That doesn’t mean its bad, just that it’s different.
The key descriptor for these schools is opportunity. Your classes, especially lower division, are likely to be large. But each will have a discussion section once a week of 30 kids or less. Profs have office hours every week, but most of the time they sit there alone except after midterms when kids come to argue about grading. There are clubs for anything you’re interested in, both career-related and recreational. There is a career center with experienced counselors. I see online they list a Health Professions Office (HPO) with workshops and advisors. And so on.
The key point, though, is that at a large public the burden is on your shoulders to take advantage of the resources. Nobody at the career center or HPO is going to call and ask to talk about your plans, see if they can help. Clubs aren’t going to send someone to stop by your dorm room to see if you’d like to join. Profs aren’t going to be asking you why they haven’t met with you.
If you are willing to make the effort then a large public can be very rewarding. If that isn’t your personality, if you just sign up for classes and show up, then it will be a much less enjoyable experience.
UT Austin. Excellent school, best cost, and as long as you have any motivation whatsoever, you’ll be able to find whatever EC/research opportunity you want/need for med school.
Consider yourself lucky to be in-state for TX if you want med school! You’ve got something like 5 good med schools in-state, and you got into the flagship state U. Take it. It is not worth spending more for any other school, in your situation.
And yes, if you can major in anything other than Bio, it would be a good idea. Only if you have something else that you really love, too - acting, music, art history, English Lit, ANYTHING. Med schools like applicants who bring other-than-science background. Of course, if your one true love is Bio, then definitely DO major in that. But don’t major in it because you think it would ive you a boost in getting into med school - it won’t.
I already cant do research as a freshman at UT, so I’m already a step behind compared to going to case western or Ohio State. At UT it’s pretty difficult to transfer colleges in the university to become a different major outside of ur set college.
You’re over thinking this. Tons of people got into medical school after doing their undergrad at UT.
You don’t have anything to offer a research group as a freshman. The “research” you do as a freshman anywhere will amount to unpaid lab tech work. No medical school cares about that.
I don’t think there’s a problem with wanting to take advantage of the excellent offer made by tOSU considering the parents can easily afford it and IP is interested.
(Based on comments it seems OPs budget is 240k, OP can you confirm?)
Op will be classified as a TX resident for med school applications regardless of university attended, so s/he is secure in choosing OOS options. (We may even consider that it’ll help him/her have standout answers at the interview stage).
It’s not so much the research opportunities-though those are great for intellectually curious students- but the smaller classes, personal adviser, and generally the personal attention offered by the Honors program that makes tOSU worthwhile.
In addition, OP is right: it’s difficult to switch majors at UT.
@bcdebergh
Case is much more expensive but definitely a great choice too. I’d look into class sizes and email admissions to be put in touch with students there. Another advantage is that you can easily switch majors or double major.
You want to ascertain whether it’s worth the cost differential.
When comparing costs at Case v. at tOSU what do your parents say?
I would say tOSU, mainly for the reason that you have honors and want to do pre-med. Ohio State’s honors college works so that those students get major priority. They schedule their classes at the same time as the athletes and have access to several hundred honors courses that only honors students take. These smaller classroom environments and the super early scheduling are great for students on the pre-med track especially. It is also fairly easy to change majors at tOSU since there aren’t any impacted majors like there are at other schools like UT. There are also tons of opportunities for research in the medical field here in Columbus due to all of OSU’s medical facilities as well as many other regional hospitals nearby.
If there are no loans involved and nothing the OP or their parents would rather spend the money on, choose whatever school is preferred - very much like shopping for anything else costly. There’s nothing wrong with selecting more expensive if it provides anything preferred.
Any of the schools on OP’s list will be considered worthy by med schools.
The problem comes when large loans are involved. I’ve heard back from many, many students post college and those who have large loans have always regretted their choice if they had other options. Those who go to a lower ranked one (according to their ranking) usually don’t unless it’s way too low for their ability. That isn’t the case for the OP with these schools.
I agree, there isn’t that much cost difference between tOSU and UT in the big scheme of things. I think Case would be silly though, loans or no loans.
If the family can cash pay without borrowing, there’s still a substantial opportunity cost to that money. You have to consider the other things it can do versus the differential (if any) in the preparation that money will buy. There’s a high likelihood that it would be worth well over $1M, inflation adjusted, without doing any silly speculative investing.
The preparation each school will offer really differs only at the margins. The very bottom line is that no matter where the OP goes, it’s on them to do well enough to move to the next level. Regardless of where the OP goes, they still need to take Calculus, Organic Chemistry, etc.
Also in my experience, and it has been mentioned before, there is a battle tested advantage at the next level for having survived the rigors and personal organization required at the undergraduate level in state schools. The top 5 students in my class (my wife and myself included) all went to Midwest land grant universities. We were not coddled. The students who struggled were. This is where it really pays off because it impacts choices of residency.
Now if the OP and/or their family need to take loans, that’s a different story. People get tunnel vision and don’t really think about how leverage will impact them after the join “the real world.” I know far too many who can’t practice where they want to because they can’t afford to buy in, or they’re stuck where they are because they can’t afford to leave, or they’re making massive sacrifices to backfill their retirement.
In the final analysis, the OP’s family might be able to light that money on fire and be absolutely fine. Most can’t though. There’s no way I’d spend over $200k with the expense of any professional school on the horizon, unless, as I previously said, I had money to burn.