<p>Hi, I'm asking on behalf of my friend.
She got into Carleton, RPI, and CMU.
She got a scholarship from RPI, probably 12K per year.</p>
<p>She wants to go to med school or graduate school, but may not be able to go because of the financial reasons.
She would major in biology or bme, but is also interested in other social science fields.</p>
<p>Any suggestions?</p>
<p>For med school i would opt with CMU.</p>
<p>Since financial aid is an issue, have her make a chart showing Cost of Attendance, grants, loans, work study, more hidden costs such as airfares (including those of a parent if they will be taking her), health insurance and anything else you think of. Then analyze the heck out of it. She will get a good education at all of them so it needs to come down to $ and the elusive “fit”.</p>
<p>I agree with twomules - medical school will be very expensive, so she should take the least expensive option of the three.</p>
<p>If finances might be a reason why she can’t go to med school in the future, then she should pick the school now that both fits her well, and where she’ll have to take out the least $$$ in loans in order to attend. The costs of attendance need to be factored into her decision. </p>
<p>In other words, RPI gave her $12k in scholarships and that’s very nice, but if she’d still have to take out $25k per year in loans to go there, and if going to Carleton or CM would cost her only, say, $15k per year to attend (I am making these figures up, just to show my point) - they’d still be cheaper to attend than RPI would be for her, even with that scholarship. </p>
<p>She needs do look at the financial aid packages very carefully, and figure out which place would cost her the least in loans. She should also look at the schools in terms of fit. Those two things need to be major factors in her decision.</p>