If you ruled out UT due to it being liberal, go ahead and rule out Stanford. UT will look like the conservative Bible belt compared to Stanford. Go to Duke.
If it were me, which it is not, my preference would be: 1. University of Chicago (sorry, I gotta represent) 2. Stanford (Won't have to explain to anyone that it is actually one of the best in the nation, a perk you don't get from U of C) 3. Vanderbilt (Not given enough respect given its quality) 4. Duke (I can't help that their being good in college basketball prejudices me against them) 5. A&M (At some point, the wallet has to win against education. A&M is great for the money) 6. Tulane (Maybe if I knew squat about them, I'd rank them elsewhere) 7. University of Miami (I hate that school) You may well find your decision is made for you by acceptances and/or finances. It doesn't sound like early decision is for you; it is for people who know where they want to go. If you are so desparately confused about what you want to do that you'd actually seek advice here, then it definitely ain't for you. I'd suggest you not worry about it until you get acceptance letters, see the options, see the financial aid packages (if applicable), and choose what's best once you have all the available data.
I love it when people think UT is liberal. Liberal compared to what? If you want the Hitler Youth Group, go to aggy.
Edit: Just saw that UT was too liberal for you. You're going to be in some trouble. Most colleges are pretty liberal (especially the best ones), and I didn't see Brigham Young on your list. If you want something more conservative, you're probably best off hiding down in the southeast. But, I don't think it is much use, really. I think you'd be better off learning to deal with a college full of tree-huggers and other left-wingers because you can't avoid them. Edit Edit: I tried to edit the message and somehow did a reply with quote. Oh well.
That was funny..that is tru about Stanford bein liberal..good point..AHHHHHH i thought my senior yr was supose to be easy And ,Guys and Girls, Yall dont kno how much of an influence yall have already made thanks for bein there..Ok now its gettin to mushy..so anyways i will keep yall updated and if yall think of anymore suggestions id appreciate the post..Thanks Again
thats part of college experience...meeting people that come from a different place than you do..people that have different prespectives..you dont have to agree or participate but being well educated includes learning to have discussions and relationships with people of different backgrounds and viewpoints.. if you want to be surrounded by people that only think exactly like you do..then you need to pick a deeply religious school or something..
Don't be to stressed out, you really cant go wrong with any of those schools.You may also want to look into Baylor another fine Texas School. But I'd go to Standford for the reasons already pointed out.
I go to A&M and I feel that way. They say you either love it or you don't, so I must be the only one that feels iffy about it. I don't know, some of the traditions and what not I like, but a lot of them are just plain annoying.
I am currently a Vanderbilt student so if you have any questions let me know as well..... jeff from vandy.. good to see another vandy person on the board. I'm glad you are being received well, I get a lot of people that have no idea about the school when I tell them that's where I attend. I even have had people saying.. "why? did you not get into UT or A&M?" I have nothing bad to say about it thus far. If you want grade inflation and an easy time I might avoid it. I was premed this past year before deciding thats not what I want to do, and you will definitely have to work hard baqui. the quality has actually improved quite a bit the last few years from I've been told. The new chancellor that came here from Brown is great, and the acceptance rates are quickly dropping, as the test scores etc rise... I dont think I'd group vandy and tulane together as "decent".. vandy is a top 25 school in every ranking, whereas tulane is not (nothing against tulane).. so I wouldnt call a top 25 school "decent".. the price is comparable to the schools around it in ranking and there are plenty of financial aid options etc like at any of those schools. It's no where near as hard to get into as Stanford and Duke though obviously. i'd say stanford and duke are thought of as the top 2 academic schools on your list with vanderbilt 3rd.. but its all about the comfort level at the school.. Also some of the early acceptance things arent binding and some are so you wil have to check on that for sure. I'd avoid it just so that I can see the kind of money offers etc before agreeing to go somewhere.
I thought Vanderbilt had a really nice campus. I applied to the MBA program there back in 1992, and I visited the campus as part of that. Seemed like a really nice place, and it seemed like a good educational environment. I ended up going to Baylor since I was an accounting guy at the time, and Vanderbilt's MBA program was not really accounting oriented, but had I been more of a management type at the time, Vanderbilt would've been my first choice. And, as it turns out, I didn't even finish at Baylor anyway.
one other note about vanderbilt.. the campus is great despire the stigma about it being in nashville... a lot of people would avoid it just because they think tennessee would be the worst place in the world to live, but it really isnt all THAT bad.. baylor is another texas school I looked closely at when I was thinking I was premed.. but in the end I felt more comfortable at vanderbilt and thought it was a better fit personally mrpaige.. i'll probably end up going the mba route, and although I will strongly consider doing it at vandy, i may have the urge to go back to texas so I have to ask what you thought about Baylor as far as MBA?
I was actually in the Masters of Taxation program there rather than the straight MBA. The facilities for the business school were top notch (in 1992), but it really just wasn't my type of place. Which is why I never finished.... that and I finally realized that accounting was boring.
mrpaige.. oh ok.. i'd probably be straight MBA.. the accounting thing seems like it would be boring to me as well... I guess you just have to be a certain type person to really enjoy that, because some people certainly do enjoy it.. as for not your type of place.. thats how I felt when I visited baylor when looking for an undergrad school.. just didnt feel like my type of place, but I know a lot of people who love it
Heck, both my parents went to Baylor and they loved it. But if I were picking a school in Texas for my MBA, Baylor would be a few rungs down on my list. I'd honestly rather go to TCU or SMU (of course, I've had my own troubles with TCU, but I find it to be a nicer school based on the time I spent there visting friends and living in the neighborhood) over Baylor.
mrpaige .. yeah, I still have a few years to worry about it so I haven't looked into it much yet, but I'm guessing Rice and UT have the best ranked ones in the state.. i've never been on the TCU or SMU campus but I've heard good things about them as well. Which reminds me I need to check into seeing how to get TCU football tickets because I'm considering making the trip back to texas when Vanderbilt plays them this year. (just noticed my post count, it seems as if I had 1500 years ago and just now almost to 2000)
Yes, anyone graduating in the top 10% of their high school class are guarenteed acceptance to the state universities in Texas. UT tried to reject me, even though I was in the top 1%. Stupid longhorns!
I would suggest not writing like you do here when you write your entrance essays. Vandy is really good for the sciences, which is a good foundation for med school. Duke is also wonderful but, again, if UT is too liberal, then Duke would be hard for you. I actually agree with B-Bob that Stanford is overrated. Still good to go to for networking reasons, though (unfortunately). U of C is great, JV, but would not be good in this instance.
