I have just been accepted to Cornell University and have been awarded a partial Banneker Key Scholarship from UMD, which almost makes going there free along with some other financial aid. However, I want to study molecular biology, and a lot of people seem to regard UMD’s biology program as mediocre, while Cornell’s seems highly regarded. However, Cornell’s high price tag turns me off, and I’m unlikely to get much aid at all. Since graduating relatively debt free is important, I’m hesitant to pick one over the other.
Perhaps I can work a campus job at Cornell, but hearing how intense the Cornell workload is, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. What do you guys think?
If Cornell would be a financial stretch, then it may not be that great an idea to go there.
Pre-med: Medical school is expensive, so save your money for medical school.
Non-pre-med: Biology graduates typically do not have that high pay levels at BA/BS graduation; PhD job markets are not that great either. So avoiding debt and saving money can be helpful in this case as well.
Yes, PhD programs worth attending are funded, typically with a tuition waiver and a living expense stipend. However, stipend amounts relative to local living expenses may vary, so bringing undergraduate debt along while in graduate school may not be the best idea (and any unspent undergraduate money saved may make living on a PhD student stipend more comfortable and/or be helpful when looking for jobs after graduation).
Cornell is a powerhouse in the bio-sciences, no doubt about that (back in the last century I met Happydad there when he was a biochem PhD candidate in HumEc and I was an agronomy MS candidate in CALS). But so is UMD. Look beyond the offerings in Comp. Math, & Natural Sciences, and check out the courses and research projects in Agriculture & Natural Resources and in the Vet. Med. Sciences program. You absolutely can get what you want out of your education at UMD. You also can catch the Metro and commute (a long-ish commute I know) to an internship at the NIH or the FDA during the academic year. From Cornell, that would be something you’d have to work much harder to arrange, and then only be able to do it in the summers. There also is a booming bio-tech industry in MD that it will be much easier to enter being on the spot.
Internships and lab experience is definitely something that I’m interested in getting. Would interning with professor be better than with a company? From what I hear, undergrad internships at companies usually entail just basic work since they don’t trust you with complex tasks - you’re better off learning with a professor.
hey, I’m a banneker/key student that just finished up my freshman year. I came in as neurophys, but I switched to business. Regardless, I have many friends on the premed route who are also B/K.
One B/K friend in particular just secured an internship with an absolutely stellar professor here. I don’t know the details, but she is practically a celebrity in the medicine world.
Additionally, I used my pre-college connections at the UMMC to link up a few of my friends with lab internships and shadows with surgeons in the OR.
I’d say definitely come to umd- who knows if your mind will change to something else. you definitely want that financial safety net. It’s absolutely amazing to not have to pay anything (I was deciding between UMD and Berkeley or UCLA, pretty familiar with that big ol’ scary price tag).