I plan on going to/getting into med school and currently am deciding between what colleges I should go to in order to increase my chances. Right now, I’m deciding between UTSA, UTD, and UT Austin. For me, money is a concern but isn’t a HUGE concern. So my problem boils down to this. I know that if I go to UTSA or UTD then I can get a pretty good GPA but might have less opportunities and a quality of education. However, if I go to UT Austin I might have a worse GPA since it is a very hard school. But everyone is telling me that I’ll have a MUCH better time at UT Austin as well as more opportunities and connections. Also I feel like if I do go to UT Austin and do as well as I would do at UTSA or UTD that I’ll get overshadowed by all the tons of smart people at UT Austin which hurts my chances to get into med school. Overall, are the connections and overall quality of education worth the risk of getting a bad gpa for UT Austin?
Ask your question on one of the med school forums. The general guidance for pre-med is to go to the lowest priced school and get the highest GPA. Med school admissions are heavily influenced by GPA.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-medical-school/
If you are sure you want med school, UTSA. Have you applied to the three year program, what’s it called, FAME?
UTSA is not as glamorous as UT nor is San Antonio Austin, however, with 30k students, UTSA can offer a lot of social life. It has a football team! Can you visit?
I looked into FAME but the deadline had already passed. Also, I visited the campus and honestly, it seemed pretty small and boring. However, I did go during a weekend where no one was really there. So what about UTD compared to UTSA? Which one is better for medicine?
I think I’ll disagree slightly with the above recommendations–pick the college that will provide you with the greatest opportunities and the best fit, not necessarily the one that is likely to get you the highest GPA.
Why? Because, frankly, the vast majority of freshmen pre-meds will never, ever apply to med school. (And mostly not because of academic/GPA issues.) Any college you attend should provide you with opportunities that include the option to explore other fields and other career paths–just in case you’re among the 70% or so of freshmen pre-meds who change their minds about med school. Or among the 60% of med school applicants who do not get accepted every year.
Also college is 4 years of your life. It helps if you’re at place where you can be happy and enjoy your life. If you do go to med school, college will the last time you have some control of where you live for the next 7-12 years. (Medicine jerks you around. You go to whichever med school accepts you and the vast majority of med applicants get only 1 acceptance, if they get any at all. Med grads do not get to choose where they train for residency. A computer program chooses for you. Ditto if you decide to pursue a sub-specialty. Fellowship matching is also done by a computer. You really give up a good deal of control over your life if you decide to become a doctor.)
As for worries about being overshadowed—it happens. That’s life. No matter how rich/beautiful/smart/any adjective of your choice you are, there will always be someone who is richer/more beautiful/smarter/some superlative than you are. You don’t have to be outstanding golden boy/girl of the university to be a creditable applicant for med school. You just have to be “good enough”.
P.S. No single college is “better” than some other college for pre-med. Your success as a pre-med all depends on you. College coursework does not prepare you to the MCAT. You prepare yourself. The college doesn’t find shadowing or community service or clinical volunteering opportunities for you. You do. The college doesn’t simply hand over a research positions to you. You have to find where they are and ask for them. The college won’t be writing your LORs for med school. It’s up to you to make the personal contacts with the professors who will write them during your time at the college.
Being a successful pre-med is entirely up to you. People can be a successful pre-med just about anywhere–even at a community college or directional state U.
Education wise UT>UTD>UTSA
Overall UT>UTSA>UTD
If I had to pick, I would pick UT for a better combination of rank, rigor, opportunities and enriching college life.
If I was only looking for being a big fish in a smaller pre-Med pond, I would pick UTSA. It has a medical school near campus so another advantage.
It’s true that UT would have overall brighter kids so more competition but as UTD is filled with Asian pre-Meds who come for parental pressure, proximity to home or free education, you’ll not have much advantage for pre-Med as UTSA. In everything else, UT name, rigor and connections can help.
Your undergrad institution becomes more important if you realize you don’t want to go to a medical school or can’t qualify for one so pick one which is best for either path.
I’ve seen way too many pre-meds enduring community colleges or local state school campuses only to regret it later when path changed. If you are going for a BS-MD then it’s a different thing to suck it up and attend whichever accelerated hellhole is most economical but otherwise it’s a tricky decision.
Your three schools are quite similar but UT Austin is obviously best school, campus and town out of those three if affordability isn’t the only deciding factor.
In Texas which school you go to for premed does not matter. What does matter is having a very high GPA. Whereever you go, focus on that.
UTSA is tied very closely with the UT medical school in San Antonio, and has been for years. If you decide medicine, that would be a very good choice. San Antonio has a very large medical center with a lot of opportunities for residencies and internships.
If you change your mind about medicine, UTSA is still a great choice because it’s not hyper-competitive like UT, if you want to change your major to Business, computers, etc. At UT, it’s very difficult to change your major because of how selective their programs are.
Here is data distribution for GPA and MCAT for accepted US Medical schools from AAMC
https://www.aamc.org/system/files/2019-11/2019_FACTS_Table_A-23.pdf
If you have a GPA > 3.79 and MCAT > 517(95%), your chances of getting into a medical school (Not T20 medical school) is quite high 87.8%.
So GPA does matter for pre-meds aspiring to get into a Medical School.
Texas has two nationally regarded medical schools there, Baylor College of Medicine and UTSW. UTSW doesn’t have any joint program but if you are a top student, Baylor Medicine has joint BS-MD programs with Rice University and Baylor University. Their undergrad pre-Med programs are strong as well. You can do year round research, internships, EMT, shadowing, fellowship if studying at Rice as their campus is in medical district surrounded by medical schools and globally recognized medical centers.
If you aren’t qualified for these then there are some other accelerated programs. If you are going for traditional route, focus on GPA, MCAT and resume building. Texas has many medical, dental, nursing, physiotherapy schools and competition isn’t as tough as in most states so not difficult to get into one if even an average student is really interested in getting in. It’s even easier if you are a URM, low income or from a rural area, there are many opportunities. There are many DO (osteopathy) programs worth looking into. Texas medical schools are most affordable ones out there, even private ones.
If you want to go out of state for college, you’ll still be eligible for in-state tuition at public medical schools in Texas as a Texas resident so you don’t have to limit yourself with undergrad schools in Texas. With financial aid, National Merit Scholarship or IB scholarships, many public or private out of state schools become free or very affordable.