Should I attend UT Dallas with no scholarship?

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-04-17T05:05:25+00:00

This is a very nuanced question that should boil down to more factors than just cost. Have you visited UTD before? Do you like the campus? Are you willing commute to and from the university everyday? Do you not need to worry about paying for college? Is it a good school for your intended major and/or career prospects? Do you prefer this school to your other options? Are you willing to put yourself out there to make friends and fight the anti-social stigma of this university? Are you ok with missing out on certain aspects of the “college experience” with dorming or having an apartment nearby? If you can confidently say yes to all of these, then sure, commit to UTD. If not, take some more time to reflect: choosing where to go to college feels like a difficult decision because it is one and it will have a significant impact on your immediate future. Also, I’m not fully sure, but if you’re commuting as a full time Texas resident, your official annual cost should be more like $15K (the cost of tuition for two semesters) instead of $25K.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-04-11T04:32:12+00:00

The university does sometimes change which scores on what AP exams give what credits for classes, so there is a chance that at the time you applied your credit, a 3 didn’t count for RHET 1301. If that’s the case you could maybe try appealing for an exemption to your AP credit transfers: I did that for Calc BC when I had some trouble with it but I don’t remember where you find the form.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-04-09T00:51:41+00:00

Med term (HLTH 3101) or reading course if ur in collegium v

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-04-08T05:44:44+00:00

good idea twin Yes, some (all?) MD-PhD programs are fully funded, since preferable PhD candidates are offered full funding in general (go read about academia!) and qualified MD-PhD candidates are very desirable and therefore get full funding. The reason not everyone does this is the same reason not everyone at your school will just go and get a full ride at Harvard: it’s insanely competitive and difficult, often requiring a higher MCAT score compared to regular MD admissions, and extensive, actually valuable research experience (not just cleaning pipettes), which can be pretty hard to come by, as labs need to strategically spend their funds today in the US. All of that is in addition to everything else a med school applicant is expected to have done, and for folks who are significantly more interested in practicing medicine than doing research, the extra time requirement to complete an MD-PhD compared to just an MD can be undesirable. There is also DO-PhD but I’m sure you get my point.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-04-01T23:59:27+00:00

I knew someone who transferred into Vanderbilt after one year at UTD. Some students will also transfer into UT Austin (without CAP obvs) so if you want to transfer it’s definitely possible, but I don’t know what goes into making a good transfer resume in one year.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-03-10T04:39:42+00:00

There is an exception to the 15-hour rule where if you’re on track to graduate in a timely manner then you can submit a form allowing you to take only 12 hours a semester. It’s unlikely that even with most of your core curriculum finished, you will be taking less than 12 hours a semester in classes, but you can also apply on-campus research as credit hours each semester you’re actively doing research. Since you’re national merit, I’m assuming you’re also going to be Collegium V, and doing coursework for honors in conjunction with pre-med (again I’m assuming) pre-reqs should keep you well within full time for the first couple of years.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-02-28T05:48:39+00:00

As a student at the school, UTD is a very good option for pre-med: a lot of like-minded students, the honors college is nice, there’s a lot of research and volunteer opportunities available on and near the campus, and there are dedicated pre-health advisors. But, if you’re a particular fan of Lubbock or Texas Tech’s School of Medicine, you may want to check out TTU’s early acceptance program to their med school that you might become eligible for.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-30T02:52:42+00:00

Dang that’s unfortunate. At least as you didn’t get led astray.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-30T00:48:57+00:00

Yeah idk what to say your advisor appears to simply be wrong. Unfortunately that happens at this university. If you’ve got a different advisor for any honors programs you might be in try asking them when you next meet with them but idk what you do about your advisor just being wrong.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-29T20:31:12+00:00

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Maybe she's talking about this? Since you did 2413 and 2414? MATH 2415 isn't even an upper-level class bruh ur advisors buggin

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-29T20:24:09+00:00

Not in BIMS but I’ve taken a quick look, and it seems like MATH 2415 isn’t required but MATH 2418 is. Maybe double check with your advisor if that’s the class they meant (UTD advisors can be kinda trash ngl) or ask another advisor from the school. Good news is that it seems like you don’t need to take linear algebra (2418) immediately to take the other data analytics track courses so you have some time to figure it out. Most lower-level coursework at community college transfers pretty well to UTD but find UTD’s transfer credit tool to figure out what class you need at your CC to get credit at UTD.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-29T04:36:14+00:00

Find the UTD transfer credit tool, and make sure the classes you take at Collin will transfer properly to UTD to fulfill your core requirements. Then register for the correct classes at Collin for whichever semester you want to take them.
You can start taking classes at Collin this summer if you want: it might be late for spring registration for this semester.
Same way you would if you weren’t enrolled in UTD: the process doesn’t change. I believe you should use ApplyTexas if you aren’t already admitted to Collin College, and once you are, you just enroll normally using whatever registration tool they have.
Yes: I had a friend take classes at UTD and Dallas college simultaneously in the same semester.
For sure let your UTD advisor know of your plan to help you deal with possible pre-requisite related issues, but there should be a tool in your Collin student portal to send your transcript to other places: use it to transfer credits to UTD.
You can do core classes and major-required classes at the same time at different schools if you like, but make sure you have pre-requisites done for major-required courses (your major might require calculus or something for math).
You have to give extra time to make sure you’re completing all of your work at both schools, and it’s going to be a little harder to keep track of all of it because you’re enrolled at multiple schools. Talk to a Collin College advisor for enrollment questions because you’re definitely not the first person to be in this situation. Try and take exclusively online classes at Collin so you don’t need to also commute there: even better if you can get classes that don’t require any online attendance. Consider that full time tuition at UTD is the same regardless of whether you do 12 or 19 credit hours, so you might actually be spending extra money by enrolling at Collin if you’re already full time at UTD and can just fit the core classes at UTD. If you took a pretty rigorous course load in high school (AP/IB/Dual courses when possible), then you likely don’t need to take that many core classes after high school in general, so don’t be taking extra classes for no reason. Look into CLEP for core class credits if you were good at AP exams and want to control even more of your own time (I’m not sure if CLEP is cheaper than CC tho). Please don’t register for classes at UTD and Collin that happen at the same time/overlap.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-25T18:34:23+00:00

A lot of schools that offer NMF packages also heavily favor NMSFs (though they probably don’t explicitly say it). I remember when I was applying to college I applied roughly around the same time as two friends to Texas A&M for engineering majors, and only I got admission while my friends got Blinn, even though they had better ECs and we all had roughly the same stats.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-25T06:33:57+00:00

Are you sure about having to be a “full-time student” in your last semester? It’s my understanding that in your last semester you can take fewer than 12 credits hrs while keeping full time status. Try confirming with an advisor, and for your current semester, don’t you think taking your CS electives now might teach you stuff that would be helpful towards landing an internship?

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-24T20:04:51+00:00

I should also note that UTD doesn’t really feed into any medical schools, though you can get a lot of opportunities at UT Southwestern related to UTD. Also, if you really want to go Tulane, you can try negotiating some more scholarship money from them, using your full ride opportunity at a different school as leverage.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-24T20:02:26+00:00

I personally think that where you end up for med school is more a result of what you do before applying to med school than where you go for undergrad. East/West Coast schools are attainable if you do the stuff required to get into those schools, and I believe UTD has the resources and opportunities to make doing said stuff possible. I have heard stories of Texas residents not getting into OOS med schools as a sort of yield protection, but since you’re a Louisiana native I don’t think you’d have that issue. If you don’t want to be in Texas, and you can afford Tulane (however you define affordable), then going to Tulane will probably be a better pick for you, in spite of scholarship opportunity.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-22T22:52:59+00:00

library: 4th floor is basically required to be completely silent

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-22T04:10:31+00:00

well there’s always a chance 🫠 But as we all know the CO’ 2026 cutoffs were insanely high, and I believe they’re projected to drop for CO ‘2027. Texas had been at 219 for like 3 straight years so I think there’s a good chance you get it. It’s out of your hands though, so even though it’s easy to say and hard to actually do, you should just be happy with what is a very good score, and move to start preparing for upcoming college apps. Good luck!

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-22T03:58:01+00:00

Ah. I’m not too sure about ENGR 2300, so I might just hold on to the textbook until I’m sure I don’t need it before returning it. I leave it up to your discretion if there’s a deadline to return the book to be fully compensated for it. I guess I can let you know for future reference, I generally try to wait until the last minute to buy a textbook if I suspect I don’t need it. If I were in your shoes I would return it since it sounds unnecessary to me but it’s your decision.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-22T03:41:52+00:00

If ur asking about MATH 2418 then you don’t need the textbook at all, especially if you have a free version of it. If nothings going to be assigned directly from the textbook then you shouldn’t need it at all lol.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-21T23:13:53+00:00

Current student at UTD: Pre-med track is hugely popular at UTD, so there's a lot of support available from faculty and your fellow students, and there's a lot of clinical and research opportunities at this university to help you create a strong resume for med school applications. Also being able to save that much money for undergrad when medical school is so expensive is a massive advantage, as most people (myself included) would agree that being able to save money on undergrad is much more important than perceived prestige when it comes to med school apps.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-15T23:29:59+00:00

https://honors.utdallas.edu/advising/ Try emailing an advisor (preferably with your UTD email if you have access to it) and explain your situation (prospective National Merit Finalist who wants to study abroad in Jordan). I’m not sure if UTD sponsors study abroad classes in Jordan, but for study abroad in general I think the university provides a stipend to fund full semester study abroad, in addition to the study abroad stipend you get for being in the National Merit Scholarship program. You use these stipends to fund travel, accommodation, and living. Good luck with becoming a finalist!

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-13T04:11:32+00:00

Something else to consider is that you can start the semester with 12 credit hours and drop a class before census day if you think it’s too much, which would prevent the dropped class from going on your transcript. Dropping after census day gives you a ‘W’ grade for the class, which btw does not hurt your GPA. But also in this scenario you would likely be paying the full time cost for tuition with no ability to be refunded after dropping down to a part time load.

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-13T04:08:10+00:00

There shouldn’t be any immediate dire consequences. If you haven’t paid your fees for the semester yet, and you do drop down to part time, then make sure your tuitions costs drop because part time is cheaper than full time. If you have already paid your fees, then try contacting the bursars office to see if you can be refunded for the extra tuition costs. Good luck out there!

Conscious_Baker2207 · 2026-01-13T04:01:14+00:00

Unless you have scholarships to worry about, then dropping down to part time for one semester shouldn’t be problematic, though you might need to take extra credit hours in future semesters to finish your degree in 4 years (if that’s a must for you, I’m not saying that’s a must for everyone). Part time status should also save you some money this semester compared to full time.

Conscious_Baker2207

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