<p>Hi, I've been accepted to three really cool schools :) </p>
<p>I'm interested in biochemistry as a major and I'm just wondering about the academic rigor, course variety, internship opportunities, and post-undergrad opps (jobs, grad school placements, top recruiters, etc) at RPI and Tufts mainly.</p>
<p>I've done my research on MIT, but if anyone could compare its program to other schools that'd be cool.</p>
<p>concerning rez life and student body (friendliness/bitterness/snob index, diversity, liberal or conservative, w.e comparison you can make between these schools would be nice.</p>
<p>In terms purely of academics and reputation, it is hard not to say that MIT wins, although its atmosphere is undoubtedly more intense than Tufts or RPI (and they are very serious academically).</p>
<p>But if you are just comparing Tufts and RPI, I don’t get it. Tufts offers the breadth of a university that has both a great liberal arts college that is great in the sciences and an engineering school. It is also in the suburbs of Boston and Cambridge, which speaks for itself in terms of broader availability of employment/internship opportunities in addition to the obvious social/cultural advantages. I personally don’t see how anyone could pick RPI over Tufts on these counts.</p>
<p>As for friendliness, diversity, etc., Tufts deserves very high marks; I just don’t know about RPI on those factors. Politically, Tufts is pretty diverse as well, although it leans liberal.</p>
<p>Actually he’s been going around college confidential spamming “BC is overrated” everywhere he could find. Occasionally other schools that are “predominantly white and Jewish” (according to him), are mentioned too.</p>
You expect to get more elsewhere? The highest merit scholarship 10k/year at Tufts. </p>
<p>I suggest UMass Amherst honors for the $$. They gave me free tuition, an $8k/year engineering scholarship, and a $6k/year private scholarship. That means that if I decided to live off campus, I would have received a check of $14k/year just for going to school.</p>
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lol touchy? Actually I was just discrediting him by labeling him as a racist, something that works extremely well in this hyper liberal society of ours.</p>
<p>Plus someone who spams “BC is overrated” in every thread he could find does not deserve a legitimate response.</p>
<p>umm for your information BC is overrated. I’ll give tufts a little slack but it is still slightly overrated. Do you honestly think that BC can compare to NYU in academics?? or even tufts for that matter?</p>
<p>BrownBear1-- BC is overrated??? What? How could you say a school is overrated when it has one of the best Physics dept. in the country, ranks #14 among undergrad business schools, ranks #26 among law schools, has one of the lowest acceptance rates in the country and has 75% medical acceptance rate? It just doesn’t fit the school’s profile. By the way, I also know a BC alumni who thinks BC is overrated. Reason? Well, it turns out he slacked a lot in college and didn’t get into med school. Now he thinks it’s the school’s fault because they didn’t prepare him for the MCAT test!!!</p>
<p>And “Tufts is overrated?” You got to be kidding me. Tufts, if not Harvard, it’s on the same caliber as HARVARD. </p>
<p>Also, It appears that you have some sort of petty axe to grind against BC. Did they reject you or something?</p>
<p>Not to be rude but MIT should be your choice no matter how much debt your in. As an MIT grad im sure you will be able to pay it off the debt with ease.</p>
<p>This time I have to agree with you BrownBear1. Hey OP go to MIT. For a MIT student, that debt is nothing. You will be hired right out of college and work in the summer while you are in college and before you know it, your debt will be paid off. So, go to MIT.</p>
<p>And you are basing this on??? With a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry, regardless of where it’s from, the best jobs he would be able to get are $40k/year lab-assistant-type jobs. He would need to go get a doctorate to find a high paying and fulfilling job, that’s if he want’s to pursue the field.</p>
<p>IMO the only way you can view MIT as an investment is if he does Engineering, or Math/Econ for competitive investment banking. There are other exceptions of course, eg a talented MIT CS major may be hired by Google after graduation, but it’s not the norm.</p>
<p>Edit: There is a huge misconception that good undergrad = automatic high paying job. That is simply not true. At least UGrad has a need-based financial aid system. You don’t see the 200k debt you do for certain grad schools.</p>
<p>^ Basing it from my experience. My cousin got his Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry from MIT and his staring salary was $48k/year(with health benefits and paid vacation). He works somewhere in CA and he is pretty happy with that. </p>
<p>I am aware of that misconception and personally i oppose that, but I think if employers see Harvard/MIT on your diploma, they take you as one of the smartest people on earth for whatever job you are applying for(WTH). By the way, how do you quote something?? Mind to share?</p>
<p>After talking to a recent science grad, it’s more like $50k in Boston, or $60 if you’re truly cream of the crop.</p>
<p>Edit: I wrote above before I saw your post.</p>
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I’m assuming your cousin didn’t pay the full $200,000 tuition+COL, or at least didn’t take out significant loans. </p>
<p>But for the sake of argument lets say he did. Loans for education vary between 7-8%. How is he suppose to pay back a 6 figure debt while making only $48k a year? After factoring in taxes and cost of living it becomes nearly mathematically impossible, and would take depressingly long even if he was able to do it.</p>
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It does have its perks on the lower end of job spectrum, but the effect is not as big as you think. Once you move into the six-figure job range the effect is minimal to non-existent, as employers in that range actually know what they’re looking for.</p>
<p>And OP, I don’t know why you wouldn’t choose Tufts over RPI if money was the same. You’ll end up having more fun here. It’s impractical for me to write a substancial “why” list, but I’d read around these boards, facebook groups, and the websites of each school.</p>