<p>I got into Boston University, Tufts and City University of New York Hunter College Honors Program.
- BU: half tuition scholarship (~17k), all the rest loans, Arts and Science Honors Program acceptance
- Tufts: 1k in grant, 2k in work study, 3k in loans
- CUNY Hunter Honors: honors program in city college, growing prestige, free labtop, full-tuition granted, free room and board, free $7500 expense account for my use/yr. </p>
<p>I want to major in biology, planning to go to medicine. My parents are middle class (almost 97k a yr), but I still have two younger sisters. WHAT COLLEGE WOULD YOU GUYS PICK? :[</p>
<p>I agree with Lukestar...Go get a great free education since you have been given the opportunity . .save your $ for medical school.
One of my neighbors was offered a free ride to a state school..turned it down. The parents have paid $42,000 (about) for him to go to a private school. (each year) Now that he is ready for medical school there is no money.</p>
<p>The way you describe your options seems to favor CUNY. If these are truly your words, not your parents', I'd say it looks like you've made your decision. Do remember, though, that if your sisters are in college at the same time as you, the financial aid picture will become somewhat more favorable.</p>
<p>It is such a tough thing to say. I know the private school ( more prestige) is calling. I know kids love name recognition, but what I have heard this past year from many who have had such a choice in the past say they regret not taking the full ride. That in the long run it would not have made a difference and would have saved them a lot of debt! The honors program will add to experience at CUNY as well as free room and board and a laptop! I think when your experience of college is long over you will wonder why you didn't take the great gift you were offered. Hindsight is always 20/20.</p>
<p>At the risk of alienating some folks, my two cents is the two other schools you mentioned, although fine institutions, don't have enough of a "prestige factor" to warrant any discussion. Take the free ride and use the money for med school</p>
<p>1) Free ride <em>and</em> an expense account? C'mon. You're hard pressed to find that treatment anywhere.</p>
<p>2) Honors college. Excellent opportunity to show your stuff.</p>
<p>3) Big fish, small pond. If you could manage a half-tuition at BU and full tuition + perks at CUNY, you are one of their top students. Imagine how med schools would look at it if you were top of your class in the honors college, got top grades and great MCATs, did some great research (which, by the way, I think you'd have more of a chance at if you attend CUNY)? You could have the money you'd be saving and put it toward other things: travel, MCAT prep (:D), all those perks the uni doesn't pay for...</p>
<p>4) Your financial situation may change when your sisters go to college, but it may not. That your parents are middle class is iffy; it shows in your Tufts and BU non-scholarship packages: aid is not going to be flowing. For your sake (med school is expensive, and you will have loans), and your parents', and your sisters', go to CUNY.</p>
<p>Even considering prestige -- what carries more prestige than being a top student at an excellent school?</p>
<p>Yes I agree with other poster no offense, I think the other schools mentioned are very fine..but they are not what I would consider prestigious like Harvard or Yale. Please do not take offense.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the comments you guys, it really helps!</p>
<p>Yea i guess that CUNY honors shows more positive aspects, but what I'm struggling about in entering Hunter, is that I'll be sacrificing the whole 'college experience' in my undergraduate years. I've lived in NYC all my life, and I would extremely love to finally get away, yes I have dorming in manhattan but they're not all that great..plus CUNY Hunter literally have no campus life/grass/grounds. "The city is your campus" - I'm living it everyday, and I always thought for college I'll be somewhere new. I know it's selfish how I want to attain a dream for a new environment in college, but I still yearn it a bit..but I still also want to do the right thing. That's why I'm having a hard time deciding between the colleges, heh. ..New environment/college life=MONEYYYY...damn colleges.</p>
<p>I see..in that case I think you have to add up the money you would spend..and ask yourself if that amount is worth the new experiences OR if perhaps you should take the full ride and take mini trips..(not quite the same but..) Only you can answer the question.</p>
<p>I calculated that it would be (including books and expenses) 27k for BU, 41k for Tufts (-_-;)..and CUNY Honors is valued about 15k(4k tuition, labtop, dorming value, expense account). Did I tell you guys that not all my classes are taken with only honors student? So a good part of my classes are with the regular folks. I think Tufts is gonna be out of the picture...</p>
<p>yup, actually the expense account can be used for anything from studying abroad, to paying for prep classes..so i guess I can do studying abroad. For some reason, I hear that studying abroad is unadvisable for pre-meds, because you're supposedly wasting valuable time..kinda funky.</p>
<p>CUNY is an excellent school but I know how you feel about wanting to stetch to another part of the world than NY. Our S chose BU CAS Honors over Tufts and NYU last year. I was originally rooting for Tufts but BU has turned out to be a wonderful experience with plenty of medical research opportunies for someone with your interests. Does CUNY have a Med.School too?</p>
<p>The Daughter of one of my friends just completed the CUNY hohors college at Queens and had a wonderful experience. She currently working at a job she got through one of the internships she got as an undergrad while going through the law school process.</p>
<p>I understand what you mean about wanting to have a school experience that takes you out of NYC (as my daughter was going through the same thing). </p>
<p>In the end, what do yor parents think? I am a liittle confused about your Tufts package: 1k in grant, 2k in work study, 3k in loans on a $40,000+ COA (unless the balance is on your parents). How do you feel about being 22 years old with almost $68k worth of debt before you get to med school? That same 68,000 can almost pay for 2 years of med school. Sometimes things come down to sheer economics.</p>
<p>Would your study abroad be limited to junior year. With some planning (which means that you may be science heavey freshman/sophmore years) you may be able to pull off a study abroad or even look into doing a summer study abroad.</p>
<p>to dogs,</p>
<p>Cuny does not have a med school. the med schools are part of the State (SUNY ) system.</p>
<p>My cousin who is in CAS but regular, also goes to BU. Although it's lacking of a traditional campus and has a bigg student body, I think it's pretty good. The thing is, is BU worth 27k?? I wrote a letter to petition for a better financial aid package....i think its slim but i hope it works, so I can see to BU more. =/</p>
<p>CUNY does have a medical school, it's not bad and the price is also good since its public. A plus ofCUNY Hunter Honors is that there's a linkage program for juniors for guaranteed spaces inCornell's med school. there's only ~5 spots, considering that the honors program in Hunter has only ~70 students for per class. But..at this rate, i'll be staying in NYC for school all my life :[</p>
<p>Hunter, is going to pay you to go there. If you can't do study abroad, you can use the money you save to live in Europe one summer, Asia one summer, Austrailia one summer, and Africa one summer.</p>
<p>Not too many college kids can afford to do these things.</p>
<p>My one caveat, I don't know how good Hunter is as a school.</p>
<p>sorry, so i guess the downstate med school i was talking about is public SUNY, my apologies.</p>
<p>For Tufts, the 1k Tuft Grant, 2k work study, and 3k loans is what they're offering me for this year, and the Tufts tuition this year is about 44k..loans for me don't count, so i'm approx. that 43k would be what I will have to pay.</p>
<p>My parents are giving me the choice to decide where I want to go. But, they're highly encouraging me to attend CUNY honors, but will allow me to transfer if I don't like it (paying for 2-3 yrs is better than paying for all 4 yrs). Transferring sounds like a probable possibility for me if I attend CUNY Honors, but I abhor the whole app process, and I don't like the idea of starting over again. Plus, I hear stories of people transferring and being rejected of half of their earned credits =/</p>
<p>I think studying abroad is entirely up to the student's choice. I think for pre-meds, heavy sciences courses will unfortunately be stuck for them all 4 yrs :[ But, I'm def. considering studying abroad in the summer either way. Studying abroad in the summer still gives you credit? i thought it was only for going abroad during the school year.</p>
<p>If you have the lattitude to go where you want, NYU does a few summer study abroads that you may be able to get credit for. I know they do a summer in Florence.</p>