[gordonzhu]

If medical school is something you're interested in (I think this is a safe assumption), I would choose Rice-Baylor's BSMD program.

The reason is that many pre-med students (whether they will admit it or not) took a watered-down course load and chose easy majors so that they could maintain a high GPA, study for the MCAT, and do a bunch of bullshit to impress medical schools. In a lot of ways, that ruined their college experience. Always wondering how things you do will affect med school admissions is a terrible way to go through college. It narrows your options and is the opposite of freedom.

Now let's say that you choose Rice-Baylor instead. You don't have to optimize for med school admissions because you're already in. Now you can take hard classes and do any major without fear of having a competitive GPA for med school. You can do internships that have nothing to do with medicine. Basically, you can do all the things a pre-med student (or you at Columbia) would not do.

This is the freedom option. It's the option I would choose if I were in your position. Also Rice and Baylor are great schools. You can't lose here.

With your freedom, spend your summers in Silicon Valley. If you got into BSMD I assume you're pretty smart. It will not be hard to convince people to hire you.

I know this is a big decision, if you want to chat more, email me at gordonmzhu[at]gmail[dot]com.

[spontaneousfire]

This was an amazing response! Thanks! My interest in healthcare is clear to me. I've read more books than any normal teenager probably should about healthcare industrial organization, policy, and new companies in biotechnology. But I'm unsure whether the way to best engage with healthcare and biotech is through being a physician. My interest is more in industry, being on the forefront of synthetic biology and digital health, as opposed to clinically practicing. I want to spend my time in the valley when possible, I just don't know whether I will be able to get positions at growing companies from Rice (Is it well-known/respected in the valley?). Related, computer science is something I've become very interested in, in the context of how software is aiding both biotechnology and healthcare organization (digital health, telemedecine, surgical robotics, etc.). Rice's CS is nowhere near as respected as Columbia's--does that matter through the lens of industry internships/work experience?