Texas Colleges on top 20 list (Austin, Rice: lawyers, law school, law)

[tcualum]

TCU isn’t as big as a state school. I wonder how the opening of the UNT/TCU medical school will affect the size of their premed programs.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

As liberal arts and other undergrad colleges send as many of students to medical schools, obviously it’s not a prerequisite to have one adjacent to your campus. Amherst, Pomona, Williams etc send good numbers, there is a reason English and humanities majors are now quite popular for medical schools.

I know you love to throw things out there. The notion that English+Humanities majors are highly desired by medical schools was never really correct and it's less correct now than in the past. There are a couple of medical schools that do have special MD programs for nontraditional students but they are very few.

UTSW publishes this info. last year available:
Humanities 6% of the class.
Bio./chem./biomed/neuroscience etc. ~86%
The rest engineering/math etc.

[turf3]

What people who compare Rice to institutions like UT or A&M fail to realize is that Rice has made certain choices through the years that give it a distinctive character. Among those choices is the choice not to develop a medical school. Of course, Rice significantly predates the existence of the Med Center. But for whatever reason, they decided not to have a med. school; to keep enrollment quite small (you would be hard pressed to find a university that selective with that small a student body) and to emphasize undergraduate education as well as graduate programs.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by turf3

What people who compare Rice to institutions like UT or A&M fail to realize is that Rice has made certain choices through the years that give it a distinctive character. Among those choices is the choice not to develop a medical school. Of course, Rice significantly predates the existence of the Med Center. But for whatever reason, they decided not to have a med. school; to keep enrollment quite small (you would be hard pressed to find a university that selective with that small a student body) and to emphasize undergraduate education as well as graduate programs.

Rice has been trying very hard to put the "Rice" banner over a medical school for a long time.

Apparently around 1940, Rice made a big push to win what became UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

When I was at Rice in the '80s the school was negotiating with Baylor Medicine to merge into a firm partnership. That went on until at least until 2014 or so. Apparently all that is dead now and both are happy with a very strong but arm's length partnestip.


I agree with everything else you said. Probably the best selling point of a Rice UG education is being taught so often by legit tenured/tenure track profs. in tiny classes.


BTW pretty sure I heard today that a Doc. from MD Anderson just won a Nobel Prize.

ETA - MD Anderson's Jim Allison Ph.D Immunology did win a Nobel Prize today. Congrats.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

By the way, parents who are looking for tips, smaller and rural campuses of both UT & A&M systems are easier pathways to medical schools than Austin or College Station, getting into BS/MD is easier as well. It’s no where as selective as few coveted Baylor/Baylor or Rice/Baylor spots.

How do you figure UT and A&M branch schools offer easier paths to medical school?

[UnfairPark]

Common sense. Top pre-med students from Dallas, Houston and Austin metroplexs aren’t interested in undergrad from low ranking small town schools where half of the peers never finish college. It’s for locals or desperate candidates who aren’t academically competitive enough.. This is just one example.

https://medicine.tamhsc.edu/admissio...rance/ppc.html

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Common sense. Top pre-med students from Dallas, Houston and Austin metroplexs aren’t interested in undergrad from low ranking small town schools where half of the peers never finish college. It’s for locals or desperate candidates who aren’t academically competitive enough.. This is just one example.

https://medicine.tamhsc.edu/admissio...rance/ppc.html

Programs like that do not make your point.

[UnfairPark]

It sure does but it is supportive evidence not a conclusive one.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

It sure does but it is supportive evidence not a conclusive one.

If you claim was correct in a broad sense no one would go through the pre-med grind at UT, A&M, Rice, Baylor etc. Students run the gauntlet at these schools because they know among other things that doing very well will prepare them for the MCAT.

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by EDS_

To me all well known elite small private schools are overrated by many.

So far as not being near the Ivies, Rice has inbound SAT scores 10 pts. behind Princeton, tied with Penn. and ahead of Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell inbound GPA is in line as well. Rice stacks up very well with the Ivies.

It actually doesn't, because while the student profile looks sort of similar on paper, the degree doesn't have anywhere near the buying power. A big reason an ivy league degree is so valuable is because it's so powerful when you are advancing through your career, and the networking is a juggernaut when you use it. A Rice degree, generally, isn't in the same room it comes to using it.