because i followed a girl, ok??!!! geez!!!! yeah, i had a room lined up with a close friend at university tower at UT. but the "love of my life" at age 18 was going to baylor...so that's where i went. of course...it didn't work out with the girl. but i did end up meeting the real love of my life and am glad i did. and yes, i still catch hell from my whole family that bleeds burnt orange.
ok...so this is the reason i don't want to go to UT... too large...scared i won't get time with professors, scared ill be distracted... what does UT have going for me...do i have any positives going there??
youll find that most lower level classes are big no matter where you go. if you want to have face time w/ profs, you need to take the initiative. even in small classes, you still have to take the initiative to go to office hours, get involved during lecture, etc... distraction is a legit concern. there is a lot more to do in austin. the plus side of this is youll have more stuff to do during your down time. but distractions all come down to how good you are with time management. most freshmen/sophmores are horrible at time management. if youre pretty good at it then you shouldnt worry. you can get a great education at either school. but UT will give you a more diverse student body that is open to a whole spectrum of religions, politics, arts, culture, etc. if you dont really care about this then baylor might be a better fit for you.
do the positives at UT outweigh the positives at baylor i'm totally against baylor's conservative approach, but does UT offer neuroscience as an undergraduate degree??
im sure you can google whether or not UT offers a BS in neurosciences. they probably do but you might want to check. this is getting a little off the topic but id pick a different undergrad major. nothing against neurosciences but the job prospects dont look good if you dont get into medschool. im sure youre a very smart and determined individual but there are tons of kids just like you applying to med school. its nice to be optimistic but you also have to think realistically.
but how am i thinking idealistically?? i'm just trying to weigh my options...im confused b/c my school, my family and friends, do a poor job of telling me my options.. i look on the internet, both are very convincing schools...i need to hear from actual ppl how their experiences were... i know i'm being neurotic over this...but i just dont want to regret a decision i knew nothing about...
the thing about picking another undergrad major is independent of picking baylor or UT. refer to the other thread about most useful degree. baylor/ut... it all has to do with personal preference. why dont you drive up to waco and austin during the week and check out both campuses. go to the libraries, lecture halls, dorms, etc. get a feel for which campus you like better. personally, i attended UT. if i went to baylor, i think i would have been miserable. but thats just my personal preference. you may actually enjoy baylor more than UT. who knows...
i enjoyed UT bc... it was very very diverse. lots of different clubs for every interest. huge IM sports. easy to root for UT athletics bc theyre normally doing well in their respective sports. cheap tuition. far enough from home (houston) but not too far. students are pretty laid back. austin is an awesome city with lots of stuff to do. those are some of the reasons off the top of my head. the main reason was probably bc of the quality of education i got vs the tuition i paid.
I'm probably just cynical, but you really don't need time with your professors. First of all, Baylor or UT, your professor won't remember you the semester after you take him. I've done well at UT, and while I have had professors learn my name, it didn't affect how well I did or how much I learned. Even with the ones that knew my name, I don't think I really forged any personal relationship with them. Distractions are more real in Austin than they are in Waco, but if you're prone to distraction, it will happen in either town. No offense to any Baylor alumni, but this would not even be a decision for me. UT is a better school in a better town with a more diverse, interesting student body. The only way I would even think about this is if I had gotten into the Baylor-Baylor med program(Which accepts <5 people a year, I believe), and it's way too late to apply to that. E-mail me(not through the board) if you have more specific questions.
well i'm really confused about which major i should choose, b/c bio is not really in that diverse scope that med schools are now looking for...
Dude, your major will have zero effect on your getting into medical school. Half of my friends that got into med/dent school were business majors. It's pretty simple(NOT easy) to get into medical school: Have a GPA >=3.8, a MCAT >31, and a few extracurriculars. Nothing else matters. After those 3, the biggest objective is to have fun and grow as a person.
i studied electrical engineering so no i didnt enjoy my education. however, i know that the quality was top notch. ut has a very solid engineering school. probably ranked near the top in the country.
like vj23k said, you can major in whatever you want (minus basket weaving, under water bastet weaving, under water blindfolded bastek weaving, etc...) and still get into med school. the reason im telling you to pick another major is bc if you dont get accepted into med school, youre limited in your career options w/ a bio degree. case in point, my cousin graduated from UH w/ a BS in bio and minor in chem. he'll be applying for med school next cycle. in the mean time, he wanted to do some research but he couldnt land a research job. now hes working as a sales person. i told him to major in something more useful but he wanted to take the shortest route. now hes kinda screwed unless he gets into med school... im not too sure what the difference in neuroscience and neurobiology are. sounds the same to me. in any case, a med school wont really differentiate which major you picked. just get good grades (3.5+), crack a 30+ on the mcat, and have some solid EC's. now im sure your question is "which school will allow me to get a higher gpa and prepare me for the mcat?" the honest answer to that is how much work you put in. it doesnt matter which school you go to. i did my pre-reqs at community college and i still got interviews at a couple top med schools. if i were in your shoes, id pick UT hands down. thats partly bc im a minority but its also bc college life is better in austin. now if there is a lot of scholarship money involved, then that would skew my view. it would depend on how much money we're talking about...
Baylor Alum here. I loved it in Waco. I never had any trouble finding things to do in and around the city. School was great for me since the class size was small. I found a group of guys/gals that had similar interests and it was a great time. We even had a decent football team when I was there. Personally, I would never go to UT. Too damn big for me. I was only an hour away so I could visit Austin anytime. Both are good schools. Visit both before making your choice.
