I’ve been debating between the two universities and which one I want to attend in the future. I know UT is academically superior, but UH is closer to home; which is something my parents value. After college, I want to enter medical school, so which would be the best choice? I know they say that undergraduate doesn’t matter for medical school, so which school would do better in preparing me/providing me opportunities to research/shadow/volunteer?
As of now, I have no idea what I want to major in, but I do know that I will have automatic admission to both universities.
I basically want to know pros and cons of both universities. Any help?
One reason is that UT is the whole package - UH remains largely commuter (although it’s trying to become a bit more residential) and the student body is not nearly as accomplished.
The TOP students at UH have an ACT of 27; the BOTTOM students at UT have an ACT of 26.
Whereas basically all students were top 10% at UT, less than a third weretop 10% in HS at UH, and the majority were only top half of class. Not unsurprisingly, only 18% students graduate in 4 years at UH, vs. 52% at UT. Even if you keep in mind that engineers need 5 years and that commuters (of which UH has more) are at a disadvantage for academic performance and campus involvement compared to students who live on campus, that’s a huge difference.
@MYOS1634 Thank you for a list of those honor programs! They look interesting, I’ll look into them a bit later to see if it’s something I would want to be a part of. Considering I am not accepted into an honor program, would it still be fairly easy to get clinical volunteering/research opportunities, or no?
That’s something I have noticed. The first time I took the ACT, I received a 28. (And I’ll be taking again soon, and expect to do much better.) That’s what made me realize that if I were to attend UT, I would be considered average but at UH, I would be at the top of my class. Is that really worth it, or no?
What’s your current GPA ? have you taken any AP /ib/dual enrollment class ? Are some of your parents/relatives in the medical profession and what makes medicine the choice you’re interested in ? If you don’t get into med school will you go for nursing, PA, etc ?
I guess it also depends if your score stays at 28 -in that case you’ll have a peer group in the honors program at uh.
But if you get 31-33, go to ut as uh wouldn’t be as challenging. Unless of course your goal for college is to not be too challenged :).
@MYOS1634 My GPA is 3.9, but I believe that it’s weighted (I honestly don’t know out of what, because it doesn’t say on Naviance). I’ve taken Human Geography (3), and World History (4). Currently, I’m taking 5 AP classes, which are English Lang, Statistics, Psychology, US History, and Biology. And next year, 4 APs (but that really won’t matter, will it?).
I have a cousin that is a surgeon, but I rarely see communicate with her. I’m planning on visiting her next month, so hopefully I’ll get more advice. And my plans about the future - I have no clue where I’m headed if medical school does not work out. I guess I’ll have to figure that out soon.
Yeah, it seems as UT is the best option honestly. I want to be challenged, but not too challenged if that makes sense. We’ll see what happens with my scores and I’ll go from there. Thank you.
You haven’t said anything about your finances, but you are going to need plenty of cash to attend medical school. If you want to save some money, get your ACT score up by one point, and apply for the Tier One Scholarship at U of H.
Look into the Honors Biomedical Sciences program at UH. It’s managed by one of the best professors at the school (Dr. Bott - look him up!) and it’s not easy; all of your science courses must be Honors. I know several students who came from out of state just for this major. UH also offers an Honors minor called Medicine and Society that is very popular with pre-med students here.
Since you’re still a junior, check out the Tier One Scholarship, like someone said above. I have it, and it’s a pretty sweet deal… I got a full ride, 2 years of housing, and $1000 for research from UH… and loans from UT. Easy choice, even though I was in love with UT. If you can get a solid pre-med education for free, knowing that you’re definitely paying for more school down the road, you should consider this.
Either way, any student in the top 10% automatically gets the Academic Excellence Scholarship, which is between 7 to 9K a year.
At UH, you’d stand out, and they would love to have you. At UT, you’d just be a part of the crowd, fighting for the relatively fewer medical-related internships in Austin compared to Houston.
My daughter is a student at UT. It is a wonderful school,
But I would suggest to listen to your mom.
I have seen students at UT whose medical school dreams were crashed because the college challenged them too much and competition was too tough.
They got their dream school, they never made their dream career.
They were weeded out, they got too many Cs.
That been said, my favorite family doctor got his undergraduate degree at Lamar University. He got all As and got into medical school without problem.
