It helps to name names, Mom2. If you are comparing lab and research opportunities at Stonybrook or Rutgers to University of New Haven, then yes- public is the way to go (two research U’s compared to a small private U with limited grad programs outside of some strong pre-professional departments). It’s just too hard to give helpful advice without knowing what schools we’re talking about!
And agree that HS kids don’t have a clue about how a university actually functions; how a research grant operates; etc.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, research scholarship is part of her package at the dream school and I did read a lot of good things about it. I went to the full-ride school myself and from personal experience, research positions are hard to come by even for grad school students there, let alone for a freshman. Not impossible, but definitely not guaranteed, like at the first school. I do agree though that there are opportunities at any school and free ride would still be my first choice for her
@blossom if it helps to be more specific, the dream school is Smith. The other one is UTD
I looked at the Smith scholarship. That does seem like an excellent opportunity. I would have her contact the biochem dept at UTD via email and ask questions about UG research opportunities like what opportunities are available, what are current students doing, and where have their UG gone after graduation. Those are all reasonable questions and ones that they should be open to discussing with her.
I don’t think shell lose the scholarships and grants at Smith. If you can afford the $10k or so you are expected to pay, I think it is a very solid choice. However, if she hasn’t visited, she needs to before committing. It is a very different experience than at a public flagship or larger private school. My daughter didn’t like it after visiting. She’d been there on a ‘drive by’ look and liked it (they were driving around looking at UMass and the other schools too), but when she stayed for the weekend she didn’t like it. I liked Amherst much better and even UMass. Smith just wasn’t for us.
UT Dallas is also a good school and I’m sure she’d find a lot of peers there, with research opportunities.
I had the same thought for this reason: in a different thread, OP was asking about college choices and had created a “wish list” with the following criterion –
More conservative than liberal
Smith is a very liberal campus. I was there a number of years ago, and at the time there was even a hint of militant feminism. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
@twoinanddone @BelknapPoint We are going to for a visit next week. The wish for more conservative was actually more mine than hers just because of the way she was raised, but she feels like she has been around enough liberal people at school to be able to handle it. I just hope she keeps her mind open and I’ll try to do the same.