Texas Universities with Best Reputation for Science Majors (Houston, Austin: school district, law)

[Prumio]

We're talking at least 4+ years down the road here. I know at least one student who got into Southwestern with a 22 MCAT...But STELLAR credentials in other areas, including major research publications. It's the "whole package" that matters. She should do her best now, do her best in college, and do her best on the MCAT.

[C24L]

I think Texas Tech in Lubbock could be a good choice for your child,OP.

[Nn2036]

Med school is a boot camp. If she got accepted to med school with beloe average grade and MCAT ( but due to stellar life experience, special circumstances or unique quality), she will be struggled in med school.
I know several UTSW students in these situations. The school makes sure they take remedial classes and can force them to repeat the year. If their grades are still bad, they can be kicked out of med school.

[mSooner]

If she should fail to be accepted to medical school, is a BS in biology essentially a worthless degree without needing to earn an MS degree is something else? She has no interest in teaching biology... In other words, if she majors in biology (undergrad) will she necessarily need to get an MS in order to find employment?

Obviously, we will discuss this with the high school counselor, but after talking to him about another topic, I don't put much faith into his advice.

I wouldn't call it worthless, but the path to a job isn't going to be nearly as direct as a Business or Engineering major would have.

I'd see how she likes General Chem and how she does. It's a pretty good harbinger of whether or not the med school path is going to work out well. If she takes it the first semester of her freshman year, there is no reason she cant switch to something else. She certainly wouldn't be the first.

I'd also encourage you to look at the admission stats for ALL Texas med schools. We are blessed with many in this state, and at a low cost to boot. While UT Southwestern and Baylor (followed closely by UT Houston) are the "cream of the crop," there are quite a few other options that allow a little more leeway in admissions stats. It's not as fun to spend 4 years in Lubbock or the border towns, but it is still med school! I don't know if this is completely true, (of course there are more applicants in the state to compete with) but it seemed like being a Texas resident was quite a boon to your chances in application process due to the amount of schools and the requirement that 90% (may have changed) of the incoming class be Texas residents.

We are fairly new to Texas, and we don't really have a grasp of the reputation of the various TX universities or those of neighboring states. Obviously, I know that UT Austin and A & M are generally in the top tier. However, with a 28th percentile ranking (from a Frisco ISD high school) and an initial ACT score of 27 (hoping it will improve with study and additional tests), I know those are long-shots.

Another thought--if she really wants to go to UT or A&M and cannot get accepted directly, there is always the feeder school path.

[UnfairPark]

When kids pick their majors they are only 18 and very immature, they change their minds all the time as they mature. This girl went as a Bio major but switched to applied maths and then ended up in a law school. None because she couldn't keep it up or couldn't get in, just because her interests changed and evolved.

http://www.pisd.edu/news/documents/2...orian_PESH.pdf

[stan4]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I like this story.

I have doctor friends and acquaintances, and they all took a different path to get there....some MD, some DO, some were science majors, some majored in "soft" subjects, some did double majors....none of them took more than 5 years to finish their undergrad.

There's more than one straight, narrow path to becoming a physician. But getting bad grades in science as an undergrad is probably a good indicator that you should shoot for something else.

I tripled majored Russian/Spanish/Microbiology and triple minored Biochem/History/Philosophy at UT, as well as published research and did 2 honors theses (in Spanish and Russian lit)...I was told multiple times that my interviews (which I got at every med school I applied to) were some of the most fun and interesting.
(Frankly, I think the astronaut applying at the same time probably had way better stories. Or the ex-cop.)

Don't worry about your kids' major, op. Let her have fun studying what she's interested in.

But she really, really needs to up her game. I mentor kids trying to get into med school. The unrelenting drive must be there, no matter what the passion is.

She doesn't have the grades in high school to go for one of those automatic admission to med school wrapped up in the intro to college thing, so she's going to have to reinvent herself and show them that she can do the work. Because right now she's just coasting. Or she can't cut it.

[mSooner]

She doesn't have the grades in high school to go for one of those automatic admission to med school wrapped up in the intro to college thing,

Are there any left? UTD ended theirs apparently

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by mSooner

Are there any left? UTD ended theirs apparently

Didn't know UTSW and UTD ended their joint program.

Baylor Univ. and Rice have auto admit programs with BCOM. But that's a total of 10 or 12 slots between the programs. I'm fairly sure A&M has one as well.

[UnfairPark]

Baylor and Rice seem best places for pre med in Texas, even if a kid changes mind, across the board options for general education and other majors are pretty good. Good ranking, smaller schools, more community feel, strong alumni, job placement and traditional college experience. I wish those weren't insanely expensive. Are these two offering any merit scholarships any more?

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Baylor and Rice seem best places for pre med in Texas, even if a kid changes mind, across the board options for general education and other majors are pretty good. Good ranking, smaller schools, more community feel, strong alumni, job placement and traditional college experience. I wish those weren't insanely expensive. Are these two offering any merit scholarships any more?

Baylor offers exceptional amounts of merit scholarship ship money.

Rice offers much less merit money than Baylor but among similar/peer schools it's a heck of a deal. The problem is it's exceptionally difficult to get into at all and it's top programs/tracks pre-med, engineering, hard sciences etc. are Ivy League in intensity of admissions.