<p>Hello, everyone! I've been accepted to UT Plan II/Biology (no scholarship $), Rice (with 15,800/year), and Tulane (full tuition, 39,000/year). Just for some background info, I was also accepted to WUSTL, Dartmouth, Columbia, Northwestern, Texas A&M, & Vanderbilt also, but have already turned those down due to no financial or merit aid. Money is for sure an issue for my family and we won't be getting any $ according to the FAFSA (our EFC was like 100k/year, which is ridiculous). I'm really leaning towards Rice as I am pre-med and feel like it offers a lot of opportunities given its location around multiple medical facilities. If I attend Rice, however, I will probably be forced to take out about 5k/year in loans and work maybe 10-15 hrs a week during the school year. Is it worth it, or should I stick with Texas or Tulane? Any help would be appreciated!!!</p>
<p>i would not recommend working 10-15 hours while trying to do orgo! </p>
<p>go with tulane! you cant pass up the finaid! </p>
<p>what matters to med schools are GPA + MCAT. the less stress in your life the better!</p>
<p>I got into Rice also and Plan II and if that was my decision with that money issue into play, I would do UT for sure. The resources with Plan II and Bio are amazing and you shouldn’t have too hard of a problem going onto med school. How much would you pay a year if you go to UT? </p>
<p>Plus, UT’s atmosphere, from a personal standpoint, is too hard to give up.</p>
<p>UT would be about 20k/year
Tulane about 10k/year
Rice about 30k/year</p>
<p>I just have no idea which to choose. I’ve talked to a few family friends who are physicians and most have said to go with Rice. </p>
<p>I also live in Austin (about 20 minutes from UT) so I’m kind of scared of being stalked by my parents at UT. What do you guys think about research opportunities @ UT? I’m aware of the FRI, but I want to know that I will have other opportunities if I am not accepted into FRI.</p>
<p>It’s a tough choice, and it should be between UT and Rice. </p>
<p>If you want to go to med school, which focuses on GPA + MCAT, UT will probably give you a better chance. There are no requirements to be in pre-med at UT, so the quality of students in the pre-med classes runs a wide spectrum. If you are a top student, which appears you are, you can pull off 3.8-4.0 easy. At Rice, the average quality of students are higher, thus the competition is higher. Also Rice grading system is different, it grades on the A, A- system, so if you get an A-, you don’t get a 4.0.</p>
<p>With that said, UT also offers a very good education, especially if you are in honors. The quality of the honors students are on par with, if not better than Rice, students. Plan II also has small class size, and seminar classes similar to small LAC.</p>
<p>Finance-wise, it’s nice not to be burdened with any loans, especially if you plan to go to debt-heavy med school.</p>
<p>As far as prestige goes. UT brand carries further than Rice (believe it or not). I’ve worked out of state since graduation, and UT is definitely more recognized. This is due to the fact that UT’s graduate schools are very strong, and the alumni network is larger. The prestige extend internationally as well.</p>
<p>liu02bhs- isn’t UT moving to the A/A- system? And I’m not really worried about difficulty, I will work as hard as I need to maintain a decent GPA. What makes you say the UT brand is better (i’m not disagreeing with you, i’m just curious)? </p>
<p>Can anyone comment on research opportunities @ UT? How good is the advising in the Natl. Sciences Dept?</p>
<p>well since your going to Med School, Tulane is the way to go, because you will be in debt after med school, so no point in getting in debt now.</p>
<p>overall it really doesnt matter what school you go to 2 because a good GPA 3.4 and up and a good MCAT score will get you into Med School</p>
<p>Be careful who you believe here. There are some posters who talk about things they know very little to nothing about.</p>
<p>@VailsMom so your taking jabs lol</p>
<p>i guess you dont agree with the whole being in debt after med school thing lol? everyone knows thats pretty much a fact</p>
<p>and your saying that a good GPA and MCAT score dont get you in Med School ?</p>
<p>lol the school you go to will probably be 30% of the weight on your application while your MCAT score will be the rest</p>
<p>if it was all about where you did your undergrad work then i doubt the MCAT would be required</p>
<p>I’m not worried about “getting a good GPA,” I am worried about preparing for the MCAT and getting good research positions, internships, & experience. I believe Rice would best prepare me for my goals. What I’m asking is if it is worth the cost? If not, would UT or Tulane be a better option? Thanks!</p>
<p>i dont think is rice is worth it, you will probably have better research positions at UT or Tulane, as long as you study you will do good on the MCAT no matter where you go</p>
<p>^^pierrechn: My point here is that there are people posting opinions which are based on virtually nothing. </p>
<p>My husband is a physician. He had debt after Medical School from both Medical School and Undergrad because he had to pay for it himself with no help from his parents.</p>
<p>GPA and MCAT certainly figure into the equation, but there are other factors at play in the med school admission process.</p>
<p>Since you accuse me of taking jabs, let me make my position clear: You are a 24-year-old applying to colleges (for some very good reason, I’m sure) but you were CAPd at UT. My question is what makes you believe you are qualified to intelligently discuss pre-med undergrad choices and then presume to give muffinlover advice?</p>
<p>And what made you think I was talking about you in the first place? Just because I posted immediately after your post?</p>
<p>stalking my profile lol im not 24, lol your calling me stupid (i doubt a 24yr old even qualifies for CAP) Im the same age as 75% of the students who post on this site, while you represent the percentage of parents, and Being CAPd has nothing to do with pre med</p>
<p>everyone has the opinions including you </p>
<p>it doesnt take a rocket scientists to know that the MCAT has the most weight on whether or not you get into Med School.</p>
<p>i think everyone will agree that if you are going to go to Med School, then a full ride is the best route</p>
<p>p.s. what makes you qualified to give advice to discuss pre-med undergrad choices? (ha because you husband is a DOCTOR/ ha no) and you of all people should know that hardly anyone inputs their real age when registering for online sites</p>
<p>Why would you change your age for a college discussion site when the participants are all going to be students, parents, college reps, etc?</p>
<p>I wasn’t stalking your profile – I went in so that I could put you on my ignore list, then I saw your age listed as 24, which I thought interesting for a 2010 freshman. I’m not calling you stupid, either. I just get tired of reading your posts all over the UT forum talking about things you don’t seem qualified to comment on and which sometimes just don’t make very much sense.</p>
<p>If you will notice, the only advice I gave muffinlover what to examine the advice given by others. </p>
<p>So, once again, I am going to “ignore” you. And hope you go back to the A&M forum, as was suggested by someone else on another thread.</p>
<p>PS. I thought the only reason people lied about their ages online was when they are too young to participate legally or too old to be considered attractive/interesting. But I’m sure you’re right about this, too.</p>
<p>Pierre sure sounds like a ■■■■■. I think “ignore” is a good option. I can’t even make sense of his posts, they’re so poorly worded. I don’t think the apostrophe key on his typewriter works, either.</p>
<p>@Maine lol you saw my first post, i wasnt doing anything but helping the OP then VP comes in clownings</p>
<p>VailsMom i really you get off forums for students, maybe you should let Vail post lol</p>
<p>some people think they are so much better than others lmao</p>
<p>if you wanted to ignore me, you would have never made the comment you made in the first place</p>
<p>good day</p>
<p>hahaha e-thugs</p>
<p>im done with this nonsense</p>
<p>its funny i keep leaving words out of the my posts and im no E thug if thats were your assumiing</p>