Starting as pre-dental on fall but don’t know which school attend!

Hello!

I will be starting college in the fall and got accepted into my 2 top choices! However I’m not sure where to attend and that makes me a bit anxious.

For context, both schools are in Texas. I am Hispanic immigrant and first gen, low income… and want to major in Bio or Biochem.

My first choice (TWU) is a small school, very affordable, 98% of students are women and it’s a well known school for having a great Nursing program and having a better STEM department than the other school. I got a 4k merit scholarship (was thinking of submitting scores to see if it goes up) and I had an interview for the scholars programs, which are honors and leadership programs in the school that give great scholarships, networking, volunteer experience, research opportunities, etc… I also met some professors and directors of certain departments, and the director of the Bio department told me about networking me with a professor that was a dentist and does dental research, which I think will be amazing to put on my curriculum for when I have to apply to dental school! However, the last few days I’ve heard people saying that this is a bad school for a variety of reasons (smaller, no parties, mostly female, some programs “supposedly” non-accredited, small graduation ceremony… I’ve heard someone say it is in the volleyball gym, but idk how true is that). This school also doesn’t have a pre-dental department. It has dental hygiene and pre-med… I also saw a pre-dental club on the school clubs page… but nothing else… which makes me worry about if I go there I won’t get into dental school… or will have a hard time getting in there…

On the other side, my other choice (UNT) does have a pre-dental department and resources, it’s a mixed school, a lot more bigger and has school spirit and a lot of parties. Tbh I don’t really care about college experience or parties, or getting a bf… I have my priorities really settled down lol I am also not a really big fan of big schools or huge class sizes… and this school is known for being most on the side of the liberal arts rather than STEM (I haven’t heard that the STEM department is bad tho). I got a 6k merit scholarship but the school is a bit more expensive than TWU and it makes no difference at the time of seeing which tuition will be less, I also haven’t heard anything about their honors program like I did with the other school, nor do I know if it’s still open (I will apply if it’s open to all students tho, bc TWU was only by invitation).

I want to save money during my undergrad (I am also applying to private scholarships) but at the same time I know I have to get excellent grades and dental experience to get into dental school bc in my case it will be a lot harder bc as a non-US resident, my options for dental schools are limited and will be a lot more expensive and harder to get into than American citizens or residents. My brain and heart are not coordinating and I don’t know who else to ask bc there is no one in my circle or school that can help me, so maybe hearing the opinion of people who is following the dental path will be a great help!

Thanks a lot! :)