<p>University of Alabama honors : pros- theyre offering me a free ride, beautiful dorms, million dollar band is great (I would obviously join it), administration that seems to care more about students than money. Cons - not the best academics, not sure about how prestigious it is, lacks a lot of the programs I’m interested in (biomedical engineering, neuroscience)</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re pre-med. If so, then an undergrad degree in biomed E or neuroscience is not necessary at all for a med-school bound student (or even a PhD bound student). You’re right, Bama doesn’t offer biomedE as a major, but does offer some classes and those with that interest often major in Bio & Chemical Engineering and take those biomedE classes as well. </p>
<p>I’m sure that you realize that BiomedE isn’t a degree that gets you a job without a grad degree. That’s why many will major in a different E discipline as undergrads and pursue biomedE as a grad student. (What is this country going to do with this glut of biomedE and neuroscience majors??? )</p>
<p>BTW…as a STEM major, your classmates at Bama will be a lot like you. You can’t look at the middle quartiles to determine your classmates. The kids in STEM are typically from the top quartile…and many of them are NMFs like you. The academics in STEM are strong…you don’t have to worry about that. And, Bama has a brand new science and engineering complex.</p>
<p>What is your goal? If it is med school, then spending a bunch of your parents’ precious savings on undergrad doesn’t sound like a great idea.</p>
<p>The webster post was for my friend…I am sorry that it seems this post has caused a lot of negativity. My parents agreed to send me to Wash U but they are human and are now feeling stressed about it. I am an engineering major and was told
Alabama was not the school for engineering. And I don’t like Greek life or parties or football. My parents and I have been very open with each other during this process and I only turned to this board for advice because how would my parents know if I should call and ask for money? I read that for some people it had worked, yes even this late in the game, but judging by the response on here I will certainly not be doing so. Thank you for your input.</p>
<p>*The webster post was for my friend…I am sorry that it seems this post has caused a lot of negativity. My parents agreed to send me to Wash U but they are human and are now feeling stressed about it. I am an engineering major and was told
Alabama was not the school for engineering. And I don’t like Greek life or parties or football. *</p>
<p>Odd…why would someone even consider the Million Dollar Band if they don’t like football? You do realize that many MDB performances are at football games, right?</p>
<p>Bama may not have been a good choice for eng’g awhile back, so whoever told you that was operating on old info. Bama has made amazing strides with its engineering program under Dr. Karr. Any engineering program that is ABET accredited and ranked within the top 100 is fine.</p>
<p>As for Greeks and parties…not many eng’g students are Greek…they don’t have the time. The honors dorms are on the north side of campus for a reason.</p>
<p>And…you do realize that kids party at WashU, right?</p>
<p>Only you and your parents can decide whether spending up to $300k won’t jeopardize their future. What are they saying about that?</p>
<p>I understand this might be a little late for you, but I just saw your question from last week. My advice is for you to go to your state schools, especially if they are within the top 100 schools nationally. Engineering is not one of those disciplines that the undergraduate education you get from a top school is that different from many public state universities. IMO, no undergraduate engineering degrees are worth 300K if your family has to struggle financially. Trust me. I got both my undergrad and grad engineering degrees from WUSTL. If you plan on to go to grad school later, save the money now. Best of luck to you!</p>