Grants and Scholarships

College advice, please?

I'm a senior in high school in Houston, TX and I am graduating in June. I'm having a very difficult time deciding where to attend college the next year. My two choices are the Univeristy of Houston - Main Campus and the University of Texas at Austin. Here is my dilemma: UT is a lot more expensive than UH, but it is recognized as a Tier 1 school, meaning that it's academic standing is a lot better than UH. If I go to UH, they would offer me a lot more money in financial aid compared to UT because it's a smaller school and has less students to accommodate. So, if I go to UT, I would have to take out a lot more loans, whereas UH would give me much more grants/scholarships. The thing is that I'm planning on going to medical school after college. Medical school is very expensive and I will need to take out loans for that. What I want to know is, will medical schools honestly care where I gradute from as long as I have a high GPA/Rank and good MCAT scores? Why should I go to UT (even if it has a better reputation) when I can go to UH and I won't need to spend as much? Isn't it the end result that matters for medical schools? Can you please help me? Thank you so much!

Public Comments

1. Sure going to a more prestigious school may help when applying to medical school, but it will only help VERY LITTLE if at all. You're basically right about it being about the end result that counts, and as long as you keep the GPA up and other scores high, you are fine. And going to medical school can be very expensive, so the lesser expensive choice would be the one I advise you to go with. UT is a great school, but UH is also a great school, and judging by your goals, you won't miss out much not going to UT.
2. U of H is actually a great school. It's just that it's up the street from you in relativity to UT. I don't know about your living situation, but if you go to U of H, you can stay at home for a while and commute. That saves money! You'll just be paying tuition, books, and fees. Med schools are competitive. You can go to the best school in the nation, and still not get into the med school you applied for. It's always a leap of faith. Go cheap now. Do really well (high GPA). Then apply to the school of your choice. By then, you'll have a better idea of how to come about the money needed for med school. Good Luck!
3. I'm having the same exact dilemma that you are. I've got it narrowed down to UT-Austin and another local university. I think that I'm going to stick with UT even though it will definitely cost me more because I've heard too many instances where people are denied admission into med school because of where they did their undergraduate work. People that graduate from UT seem to have less trouble getting into med school even though everyone says that GPA and MCAT scores should be all you need.
4. Being a cougar myself, I would say go to UH. But that's not the only reason. As you should know, Houston has THE largest medical center (Texas Medical Center). Where else to get better letters of recommendation and a wide variety of exposure if you decide to volunteer there? And UH is only about a 10 min drive from there, so you could volunteer/work there after classes. But, a word of caution. Being a pharmaceutical sciences major myself, I've seen many pre-med students change their majors. The medical field is very challenging, and the thing about UH is that you also have a choice with the College of Pharmacy and the College of Optometry (only one in TX) if you want to stay in the sciences and it also offers biomedical engineering, health and nutrition (it's always best to have backup plans if your original doesn't work out). Also, UT's own medical school is located in Houston, and I know that UH has a co-op program with UT Health Science Center for it's pre-med students. So.... it's a win-win situation staying here.
5. You dont wanna go to UH even if it is cheaper. You think they give you a lot of scholarships and grants but the truth is they are ripping students by giving them less grants and scholarships and then increasing the tuition every year. A friend of mine who is in UH has only got 2K from financial aid and she is independent and her income is less than $35K. That sucks!!!! Go to UT get a better degree and a very good shot at Med schools. My brother is in Medical school right now not in UT med school but he is regretting on the fact that he did not attend UT and attended UH instead. Overall if you wanna get into med school dont go to UH!!!!! Go visit both UT and UH once and you will see the difference!!! UH is like a shitty school compared to UT campus..