Confused Senior needs your Advice

Chance Me / Match Me!
21

If you’re interested in possibly majoring in an engineering field (biomedical, environmental, etc) then you want to make sure that school is ABET-accredited, as a degree from an ABET-accredited school is one of the requirements of most employers. This site lets you find out which schools are accredited for which areas: https://amspub.abet.org/aps/category-search

I just went through your list to see whether they were accredited for biomedical engineering and marked yes or no. I bolded the Nos.

Harvard REA *** No
Georgia Tech EA *** Yes
Ohio State (in state) EA *** Yes
Yale No
Princeton No
Columbia Yes
Upenn Yes
Brown Yes
Cornell Yes
Dartmouth No
Johns Hopkins Yes
Northwestern Yes
Uchicago No
WashU Yes
Rice Yes
USC Yes
University of Washington Yes

You would want to do this for any schools you’re considering.

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22

All of these schools are “expensive” in terms of the “sticker price.” The question is, what will each cost for you? As others have said as well, you need to put your family’s financial info into each school’s Net Price Calculator and see what they estimate you will pay. Here is Rochester’s, for example: Cost Calculators – Financial Aid & Scholarships

UW is more competitive for CS than anything else (especially OOS), but engineering is competitive too. All of which is moot unless you can pay double your stated EFC, because UW will not give any need-based aid. Having family in WA and CA won’t make these schools affordable. If want to go out of state, you need to apply to private U’s that meet need (or the very rare publics that meet need for OOS students: UVA and UNC Chapel Hill).

23

Interesting…
Urochester is alot less expensive than I thought…about 20k which is manageable
For Gtech It calculated to be 21k, even out of state ??
For NYU it was 15K, which really surprised me since I heard they gave bad aid
UW was 30k, which is definitely one of highest out of the schools I looked at
Duke came out to 28k
JHU came out to 25k
Tufts came out to 35k (very surprising)

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24

It’s great that you’re running the Net Price Calculators. The question is, are these prices affordable? What is your family willing and able to pay?

25

Are you sure you have the right info from your parents? Are you sure you are looking at total cost, not just tuition.

You want to ensure your parents are providing the info. Are your parents married? If not, some /most schools will still require info from both.

26

That’s in interesting spread.

Make sure you look at what each is expecting you to take in loans. You may find, for example, that Rochester and NYU expect you to take the max in guaranteed loans, whereas JHU and Duke are giving you a no-loan price. The 30K at UW sounds like the balance after guaranteed loans and Pell Grant. So, maybe that’s manageable for you, but do consider relative amounts of debt when comparing costs. I’m not sure how GT is so affordable, but others here are much more familiar with that school than I am.

I agree with AustenNut that CWRU and Harvey Mudd both deserve a look.

If non-engineering but very strong in research will work, College of Wooster could be worth a look also. Also, Beloit has an environmental Chemistry major, and their aid can be quite generous.

27

Emory and Georgia Tech are not similar.

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28

Make sure you indicate Biomedical Engineering on your application to tOSU.

" Starting Autumn 2023

In order to implement a transparent and equitable admission process and recognizing the challenges in meeting the demand and space availability in popular majors, effective Autumn 2023 the college will limit enrollment options for all Columbus and Regional campus students pursuing the following majors:

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Computer Science and Engineering (ENG) / Computer and Information Science (ASC)
  • Mechanical Engineering

Only students in these pre-majors may apply to their respective major. For example, only biomedical pre-major are permitted to apply to the biomedical engineering major.

Prospective Ohio State students (freshmen and transfers) interested in one of these majors will need to apply to the major during the undergraduate admissions process. Current Ohio State students may continue to switch into these four pre-major programs through Summer 2023."

from Admission to Major | Engineering Advising

You’d be able to transfer into Chem or Env Eng programs later if you change your mind, but not into Biomedical Engineering.

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29

It’s very likely you will be full pay at these schools. Berkeley is over $60,000 a year. @Gumbymom

My opinion, you already have a ton of schools that are highly competitive for admissions. I think you have a chance to be accepted to one…but I’m not sure the reason for adding even one more to this already long list.

You have mentioned premed a couple of times. If this is your intention, please understand that you can take the required courses for medical school applicants at just about any four year college in the country (arts conservatories excluded).

And please…use the net price calculators on EACH separate college website. They are far more accurate in terms of giving a net price for each college. Yes, it will take you time to run ALL of them separately, but do it.

Now, my opinion…I’m not sure why Case Western and University Of Rochester aren’t on your list as less reachy schools.

And as an OHIO resident, I would suggest you add Ohio University which has strong allied health professions and a DO school on its campus, and Miami in Oxford as it’s the closest thing OHIO has to a public LAC. Miami is an excellent school…and you have good likelihood of affordability and acceptance, I believe. Same with OHIO University.

And the big question is…what will and can your parents actually pay annually for you to attend undergrad school? Forget the EFC and net costs for a moment. If your parents say they can and will only pay $15,000 a year…that is your budget.

Good luck with tOSU application and potential scholarships there. That is a win if you get it!

ETA…why do you want to major in biomedical engineering? If you think this is better for medical school applicants…it’s not. Medical schools don’t really care about your major. You can major in anything you would like as long as you take the required courses for medical school applicants.

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30

The California UC’s run about $67K/year and offer little to no need based aid (only Federal if eligible) along with highly competitive merit aid which is a drop in the bucket in comparison to costs.

Having family in CA will not allow you to get in-state tuition rates and unless your parents move to CA, you will be considered OOS all 4 years.

Best of luck but as noted by several posters, the UC’s are not affordable based on your budget.

Below are the new Overall 2021 Freshman Rates for all campuses.
Table format and GPA groupings. This is based on the Capped weighted UC GPA and competitive/selective majors will have much lower admit rates.

Campus 4.20+ 3.80-4.19 3.40-3.79 3.00-3.39
Berkeley 30% 11% 2% 1%
Davis 85% 55% 23% 10%
Irvine 60% 31% 14% 1%
Los Angeles 29% 6% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 98% 96% 89%
Riverside 97% 92% 62% 23%
San Diego 75% 35% 5% 1%
Santa Barbara 73% 28% 4% 1%
Santa Cruz 91% 81% 46% 9%
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31

Miami Ohio is in state, has a guaranteed scholarship for your GPA, guarantees cost (what you pay freshman year will stay the same until you graduate) and has other scholarships you may qualify for. Application does not require extra essays and is free if completed before Nov. 1. It is a good solid safety for you with a free application. No reason not to apply.

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32

I agree about Miami. I was surprised, however, when I was on the fed’s College Navigator site that the tuition at Miami is higher than that at Ohio State or most of the other in-state publics.

  • Miami: $16,704
  • Ohio State: $11,936
  • U. of Akron: $11,880
  • U. of Cincinnati: $12,598
  • U. of Toledo: $11,490
  • Wright State: $10,390

We don’t know what OP’s budget is yet. Miami (along with several other of the Ohio publics) provides a range, like $3-7k off. If looking for a safety, I would see if the NPCs ask for stats as, if so, it would provide the minimum amount of merit aid that OP would receive. I suspect that OP would be on the high end of automatic merit aid packages, but he will need to figure out what those costs would be for each school, plus where his interests lie. I do think he’d be a strong candidate for the full rides at any of these schools and those, I believe, require essays or interviews, but perhaps that is further along in the process after he’s already been admitted, I don’t know.

I will say, @David_D, that if medical school is something you’re seriously thinking about, that you may want to have a conversation with your family about whether they would be willing to use any “savings” from undergrad (i.e. whatever they would have been willing to spend on undergrad that you don’t use) on med school. Med school is extremely expensive and may well cost about $100k/year by the time you’d start. As debt is one of the biggest issues that med students and doctors face, you may want to minimize your debt as much as possible. Med schools care most about GPA and MCAT scores, and care significantly less about which undergrad institution you attend or what you major in (so long as you take the required prereqs).

Please do not misunderstand me, however. I think you have a legitimate shot at the various schools on your original list. Those schools, however, receive far more highly qualified students than they can take. So although you may get into one or more of them, you may not get into any. The question is, will any of the NPCs be affordable for your family.

I think it’s best to have a number of options to choose from. Come spring, it’d be great if you have one or more options from your original list. But it would also be very interesting to have a full ride (or close to it) to have as an option. Full rides generally mean you get the best experiences, research opportunities, extra funding options, etc, just handed to you rather than needing to always hustle and compete for them. Just my $0.02.

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33

Worse than getting rejected is getting a stack of acceptances to colleges you can’t afford. You’ll want to run the net price calculator on each of those. If they’re outside your budget, then scratch them off the list.

Also, Ohio State isn’t a safety. Your grades and ACT scores give you a good chance, but it’s not a guarantee. I recommend a couple more, like Cincinnati or Ohio U to be safe. Based on the list, I’m predicting you’ll get into one or two of the private schools. There’s less than a 50/50 chance you’ll be able to afford it after the financial aid package comes in. It’s just how it works. I would center the strategy around Ohio State, and treat the rest as a pleasant surprise if all the stars line up.

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34

OP, congratulations on your achievements and on your initiative for researching schools this carefully!

Regarding major, it is possible you might be overly restricting things by only looking at schools that explicitly offer “environmental engineering.” Many more schools offer “environmental science” which can also be good preparation if in fact you decide to pursue a grad degree in environmental engineering. Majors such as chemistry, physics, and even geology could also provide the requisite background, while giving you a broader base if deciding you want to go down a different path. It’s very common to not know for sure the best fit major until a year or two of college are completed.

As graduate study is becoming the norm, I would encourage you to consider looking at PhD outcome data (undergraduate origins of those who earn PhDs.) I would also encourage you to consider a bit about your learning style. Do you prefer large classes? Smaller ones? How well do you see yourself wanting to get to know your professors? Would you rather interact primarily with graduate students?

You have many fantastic universities on your list that I’m sure you would enjoy. You might also enjoy some of the liberal arts colleges (I’m not sure if Williams is still on or off your list). You don’t need to get an undergraduate degree specifically in environmental engineering to pursue it in grad school. In fact, I would suspect that many LACs place better in those grad programs than some of the universities you list despite not offering a major called “environmental engineering.”

Good luck!

35

I should add that although not everyone plans to pursue a PhD, that data can help get a sense of awarded MS degrees as well. Centrally collected PhD data is just more easily available (by the NSF, but published on various websites).

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36

However, someone who wants to work as an engineer would best be served by studying the desired engineering major at a college that offers it for a bachelor’s degree, since that will give the option of going to work immediately upon completion, or going to graduate school for greater specialization or emphasis on research. Doing it the roundabout way by studying something else for a bachelor’s degree would enforce a delay to entering the field, and may result in greater cost, at least in time (including any time catching up in a graduate program for otherwise-expected engineering undergraduate preparation).

For some areas of environmental engineering where one would be signing off on designs of things used by the general public, having an ABET-accredited degree is important for PE licensing, and ABET accreditation in engineering is much more common at the bachelor’s level than at other levels.

There are LACs with engineering majors, as well as small engineering-focused schools.

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37

After talking with my parents, they are willing to pay 20-25k, and possibly a bit more if it was a higher-ranked school.

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38

How does that $20-25k compare with the net price calculator results for each college of interest?

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39

My budget (20 to 25k) is in range for most of schools I am interested, schools like tufts are a bit too expensive and the price can’t be justified.

Depending if the school or program is well known, my parents are willing to spend a bit more, but otherwise 20-25k is hard and fast budget

I was surprised by NYU estimated net price, but how does their sciences department look?

40

For the publics, it seems like maybe you entered something in wrong?

I’m not an NYU expert, but given their strong medical / nursing and engineering programs, I’m sure their sciences are just fine.

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