this February i’m going on a road trip to visit a lot of colleges and universities throughout New England. I’m looking at going into premed/ bio any must see colleges? (especially colleges that are moderately competitive)
Lots of great advice/discussion in a recent thread here:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1946866-need-advice-on-spring-break-college-tour-p1.html
The thread is more about the logistics of a trip and less about which colleges to see.
Most schools are pretty good in this respect, do you have any preferences? size? location? things you are looking for in a college? student body? sports? your stats? all these things will help people give you better suggestions, which right now is really broad.
@shawnspencer sorry it is wicked broad. I’m not so sure about size i think once i tour a variety of campuses i will figure that out, location: new England area (probably no further away than 10 hr drive from MA)(with exceptions for a really good fit school for me), good science programs, near a city or small urban area, im not looking into continuing my sports into college so the schools division isn’t a huge factor for me, stats: 1200 on PSAT (without studying very unprepared) (taking SAT in march) and i have a medium-high gpa (not quite sure, but i usually range form A’s and a few B’s in honors and AP classes. Thanks!
For that region, consider appropriate NESCAC colleges, among others.
There’s schools like the University of Rochester, Northeastern, and RPI/WPI if interested in more technical schools
Figure out what your budget is and then run the NPCs of colleges of potential interest to see if they will be affordable. No sense in doing in-depth college visits at places that you can’t afford.
@shawnspencer thanks! do you happen to know anything about Northeastern’s science departments?
@mamaedefamilia yes agreed! i’m trying to tour colleges that are moderately competitive (great science+premed) and as long as their tuition is not one of the largest in the country i’m sure my family and I will be fine and in budget. any suggestions?
Do your parents know how much tuition + room/board are at various colleges and universities? A lot of parents have no idea how much costs have risen since they were in school. Every year in April on CC we see posts from kids whose parents are shocked, shocked at the costs and realize they have no affordable options.
Never assume it “will be fine” until you ask them to sit down with you and look at the costs of the schools under consideration.
1 Like
@GnocchiB yes my family and i are aware of the costs of college, as my sister just completed her first year at school with a very expensive tuition. I have talked with them about it and college has been something we have been saving for since before I was born and we believe that if you put in the work throughout high school and get into the college of your dreams (or any great college) your work has paid off and my parents will provide tuition under those circumstances.
You might research Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Holy Cross in Worcester. WPI offers an innovative program–three classes at a time, project-oriented, very hands on. It has tight relationships with regional tech companies. Campus is nice, school mid-size. It’s in a very nice area of a rapidly evolving city with a huge new downtown project underway. Holy Cross is on the other side of town. It’s a top-rated LAC with a strong record of getting students into med school. Both certainly have competitive admissions but not hyper-competitive.