Hello everyone,
I would like your input regarding Boston University.
I got accepted to RIT, Syracuse University and Boston University to major in Pre-Med.
However, I don’t need to pay any tuition (my aid and scholarship covers all tuition) going to RIT and Syracuse provides scholarships for 80% of my tuition. As for Boston University, NO scholarships and I need to pay FULL tuition.
I like Boston the most since I prefer city and students are very diverse and smart. Also, Boston University has more choices in bio majors. As for RIT and Syracuse, those universities are located in small city and I don’t think they have diverse environment as Boston University. Also Syracuse is known for a party school. I am very serious about academic to get into medical school.
Here is my question. Is it worth paying full tuition and room + board (~$78K) to go to Boston University as a pre-med or I should consider RIT and Syracuse where they cover all or most of my tuitions? Thanks for your advice in advance. I would like to hear from you.
Thanks!
I 100% do not feel BU is worth full tuition compared to RIT or Syracuse. I know several grads of both, as well as current students. They are successful, happy people.
If your goal is med school, you need to consider a few things. One, you need very high grades. Two, med school is expensive. If med school is definitely in your future, I see no point in paying nearly $28k to attend BU over the other schools.
RIT students have a very good acceptance rate to med school. I’m not sure what the rates are for the other two, but you should consider that as well. Good advising can make a difference if that is your path.
In your shoes, I would choose RIT and not look back.
Thanks Lindagaf! I glad that you provide your comments and your comments make sense. yes, I just need to pay only room and board to go to RIT. I would like to hear from others as well.
I think many of us will agree with Lindagaf, you want as little debt as you can get for any college but esp if grad school or med school is in the cards, you have good choices, RIT is in a small city but it is not in the sticks and you get to get food from Wegmen’s so that is a plus 
, at Cuse you will pay 20% of tuition plus a pretty high R&B of 16K, assuming RIT R&B is less, Cuse is on the high side in that regard. There is no way to justify BU for $320,000 dollars for 4 years when you have other great choices and would save/bank for med school about 275,000.
One thing I’d consider is that perhaps look at different research opportunities each university offers and whether there are any outstanding ones? Obviously tuition is a huge handicap though… However, I know so many adults in my life who have gone to medical school and chose the cheaper undergraduate program and regretted it. So make sure that the choice in university is something other than price, otherwise you may end up regretting your choice? I hope this was somewhat helpful.
If your goal is to become a Physician, then the school absolutely does not matter, i would advise you to take the full ride at RIT and use your money to pay for med school. Med School admission is based on 3 things -your MCAT, your GPA and research that you have done - as for research opportunities none of these schools are so much better than the others, so its a wash. I get your point about BU being more diverse but in my opinion its not worth spending 250-300K for that.
Thanks FunnyDad, woxinm12 and NJdad07090!!! Your inputs are valuable. We are looking into everything now. Yes, the cost is a huge factor. It’s difficult for me to justify paying $58K (compared to RIT) or $46K (compared to Syracuse) more to attend Boston University. My gosh, BU tuition is so expensive. I don’t know how others are paying for it. I wonder what % paying FULL tuition at BU. Does anyone know?
I feel like they want me to pay full tuition to make up the loss from the giving aids and scholarships to other students.
If you are paying full tuition at BU then you are either from an affluent family hence no demonstrated financial need and your stats are not in the top 25% or so of admitted students hence no merit aid. Either that or you are an international student.
I have a master’s from BU, and my undergrad girlfriend went there. It’s a good school, but has its drawbacks like any place and is not imho worth a huge mound of tuition money/potential debt relative to the other two. RIT is a really good school. I don’t know it’s pre-med situation specifically, but if the info upthread is accurate it’s good for that.
Pre-med isn’t a major. What are you thinking of majoring in while you do your pre-med requirements? That might help break the tie.
I am considering biological science but there are so many bio related major. I heard that BU is one the hardest place to make good grade and most students are from top 7% from their class. Should I be concerned ?
If you can’t handle the rigor of BU you would have problems in med school should you be admitted.