Hello everyone, I am currently a high school student in Texas. As some of you may know, there is a program in Texas called TAMS, or Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. TAMS is a residential program for high schoolers going into 11th grade and lasts until they graduate high school. It is located on the University of North Texas campus and students take classes from the University.
I’ve got a dilemma. I can’t decide whether it would be better for me to attend TAMS or remain in my current high school. TAMS provides a lot of volunteering opportunities, computer science related opportunities (we can attend hackathons around the country), many research opportunities, as we’re able to work with professors in professional research labs and compete in competitions like Siemens, and also the ability to take rigorous college classes and finish over 60 credit hours before we graduate high school. TAMS credits are accepted by pretty much all schools in Texas, which is where I’m planning on staying for University.
TAMS Website: https://tams.unt.edu/
On the other hand, if I stay at my current school, my aunt, who is a doctor with connections in my city’s medical community can hook me up with a job at one of the hospitals in our medical district. She may even be able to allow me the opportunity to shadow a doctor. As my goal is to become a doctor, this seems pretty appealing to me.
I’m still not sure as to what I should do and, as I’m a rising sophomore currently, I only have around 4 months to decide. I’m pretty socially awkward and I’m not sure if I’d adjust to the TAMS environment in terms of keeping up with school work and making friends, but I’m very interested in the things they offer.
At my school right now (4A high school in a decent area), I’m going to be taking sophomore year:
AP Biology
Pre-AP Chemistry
Pre-AP Algebra 2
English 2 Pre-AP
AP World History
Pre-AP Spanish 2
Medical Terminology and Principles of Health Science
If anyone (especially people who’ve gone to TAMS/are currently attending) could help me out, it’d be much appreciated!
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but I wasn’t sure where to submit it.