Hello! I am a high school senior and I have to make a decision for college very soon. I am stuck between four different schools right now and I’m here for some advice. The schools are Texas A&M, Texas Tech University, UT Austin, and St. Louis University. To give you some background, I plan on majoring in psychology and being a pre-med.
At St. Louis University, I got into the medical scholars program which means that at the end of my sophomore year, if I maintain a GPA of a 3.65, I am guaranteed an interview and can possibly be accepted to medical school early on. One thing to note is that the GPA scale at St. Louis University is a little different in that a 92 is considered an A-, so basically I would need to maintain an A- average. Also, once accepted to the program, I would need to earn atleast a 50% percentile MCAT score to keep my spot. The one thing about SLU is that I am not sure just how much the guarantee is (if I maintain the requirements) and this scares me because I am a number oriented person. I am hearing conflicted percentages or chances here.
UT Austin is great in that I see that pre-med students that do well there have pretty good chances later on. However, I am worried about getting opportunities there. Austin is a pretty big city and I’m worried about standing out/forming a good representation of who I am. I know it will also be difficult academically since I’ve heard that about UT in general. I’m also slightly worried about the class-sizes. But for the pros, I loved the campus when I visited. Also, I think that I would be challenged here the most because of its reputation and think this will be good for me. I’m also worried that I may struggle too much and can’t decide if will be good for me.
At Texas tech university, I would be a part of the Honors College. This means the class sizes will be smaller. The great thing here is that although it’s a big school, I will have smaller classes which is something I really wanted. Also, Lubbock seems to have a good amount of opportunities for pre-med students and I know it is a challenge to obtain them at any campus, but for some reason I don’t feel as threatened when I think about them at Tech vs UT. I think I feel that way because Lubbock is smaller but I’m not sure. I’ve also been able to get good advice from pre-med students at Tech and haven’t been able to do that much from students at UT.
Lastly, A&M also has the small college town feel which I really like. I won’t be a part of honors here. I spent a week here for a summer camp 2years ago and loved it. There’s nothing really pushing me away from A&M other than the thought that I may shine more somewhere else.
That’s basically my whole thought process. Distance isn’t really a factor because I am willing to go to any of them based on that. Also, I know many people say that picking the financially convenient school is best. Texas Tech is where I got a scholarship and in-state tuition so it is the best financial decision. UT and A&M come around the same and SLU is about 10 grand more than UT and A&M. Also, I visited all the campuses and really loved all of them. I’m honestly looking for a place that will set me up for where I want to be (medical school) but also not limit me in alternate options. Sorry about the super long paragraph, just looking for some good advice!