Current undergrad taking questions!

<p>I was looking at my financial aid plan and never really understood what a unsubsidized loan was. i know it has an interest rate of 6.8%, but is that monthly? And when do the interest rates begin? Also if i keep my financial aid plan the way it is, with all the grants, loans, and work study it exceeds my current balance or cost for college, so what happens to the excess money?</p>

<p>It seems awfully late to be analyzing FA like that. Unsubsidized means exactly what it sounds like. Subsidized loans have the interest paid for by the government while you are in school. So if you get a sub loan for $1000 as a freshman, when you graduate you will have a balance of $1000. However, if you get a $1000 unsub loan as a freshman, when you graduate you will have to pay the $1000 PLUS all the interest that piled up the whole time you were in school.</p>

<p>I have no idea about interest rates or how they work.</p>

<p>If your FA exceeds the fees directed charged by the school the rest will be disbursed to you. It shouldn’t exceed the total Cost Of Attendance minus your EFC though.</p>

<p>Does anyone know when FA is disbursed exactly and if you get the health insurance, is it charged once a semester or once a year?</p>

<p>Thanks for the info PinotNoir. :)</p>

<p>The interest rate is annual. </p>

<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using CC App</p>

<p>Thank you so much for answering these questions…you’ve been a huge help. Since you are an upperclassman, I wanted to know if Tiernan Hall consists of freshman at all because I’ve been placed in a triple. Will my roommates most likely be upperclassmen or would the housing department make sure I’ll be with upcoming freshmen? I’d really appreciate it if you could give any input on the pros and cons of a triple dorm room as well.</p>

<p>So a subsidized loan is just a loan with no interest, but once i graduate and havent paid it off yet, theres interest. I can pay the loan off anytime while in college. The unsubsidized loan has interest and the interest increases annually, not monthly. So lets say i have a subsidized loan for 1000 dollars and i dont pay it until my fourth year. The total for the loan should be 8000, 1000 for one semester, and thats 8 semesters, where as the unsubsidzed loan would be greater because of the interest rate. Am i correct in what i said?</p>

<p>

Pretty much. If you took out a subsidized loan, your loan balance at graduation would be the amount you borrowed. If you took out an unsubsidized loan, your loan balance at graduation would be the amount you borrowed, plus all the interest that has compounded during your school years (assuming you haven’t paid the interest in the meantime). Let’s use a concrete example, ignoring the real amount of interest.</p>

<p>Let’s say that you took out a $1000 unsubsidized loan, and the interest was 6 percent. At the end of the year, you would owe $1060. Now that $60 is added to your principle. At the end of your second year, you will owe $1123.60, not $1120. Interest is charged against the full $1060, not the original $1000. At the end of your third year, you will owe $1123.60 + (1123.60 * .06), or $1191.02.</p>

<p>If the $1000 were a subsidized loan, at the end your first year you would owe $1000. Same for the end of your second, etc.</p>

<p>Does that help?</p>

<p>Thanks chedva that really did help. Can i oay back my loan anytime? Also if i pay it back before the year ends, there will be no interest right? </p>

<p>On a unrelated note, if i plan to major in some kind of specific biology like biochemistry, should i take math 141 or math 161?</p>

<p>Garrry - you can go get advising at the math department during orientation week - they will help you decide which Calculus track to take!</p>

<p>Can i pay back my loan anytime and if i do it beforr the year ends, will there be interest?</p>

<p>

Yes, you can pay back your loan any time. If it’s subsidized, there will be no interest. If it’s not subsidized, there might be interest. I believe that the interest is compounded quarterly - at least, that’s how often we would get the bills indicating the interest for my daughter’s unsubsidized loans.</p>

<p>But if you are able to pay back the loan within the year, then why would you take it out anyway? I know some people think of it as “free money” but many people don’t actually pay it off and end up paying more than they thought they would.</p>

<p>Orientation is said to take place from the 24-30, what will we be doing for that entire week?</p>

<p>Individual academic advising. Informational seminars about career paths. Small group lectures with your hall about about drinking, sex, health care,campus safety, dorm rules, how to get along with roommates, etc. Organized small group activities with your hallmates (RA and D’Lions organize activities). Interdorm competitions. Full day community service project. Plus plenty of time to unpack your room, find the dining halls, tour the library, buy textbooks and find out where all your classroom are.</p>

<p>Parents will be on campus for the first 2 days only. </p>

<p>Upperclassmen will usually start arriving on Friday. </p>

<p>Classes start on Wednesday.</p>

<p>WayOutWestMom, firstly, thanks so much for all your input!
I’m a freshman and cannot wait for UofR to begin! I’m planning to major in Economics and possibly double major with International Relations. I want to eventually go to grad school and i was wondering about the difficulty level of classes. How hard is it to maintain a good gpa? What exactly is a “good” gpa for a UofR student who wants to go to respectable grad school? And what tips do you have to maintain good study habits and do well? Thank you so much!!</p>

<p>I have a science/math kid so my answers are probably not entirely applicable to econ.</p>

<p>However, here’s what Stanford tells its students:</p>

<p>[Advice</a> for Applying to Grad School in Economics](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/~athey/gradadv.html]Advice”>http://www.stanford.edu/~athey/gradadv.html)</p>

<p>D2 has found it not terribly difficult to maintain an excellent GPA as a double science major, but YMMV, depending on your motivation, self-discipline, academic aptitude and educational preparation.</p>

<p>I want to enter the medical field and want to major in biology. Would it be more advantageous for me to earn a BA in biology or a BS in a specific biological science if i want to enter the medical field. Ideally i do want a BS, but im unsure of which specific biological science i want to major in, whether its biochemistry or molecular genetics. I do know i want to combine my passion of math and science together. Mathematics has always been my favorite subject and i simply excel in it, but i also enjoy the biological field. What specific biological science major should i go for that has a heavy focus on math?</p>

<p>It doesnt have to be biochemistry or molecular genetics, those were just two majors that i could recall.</p>

<p>All of the BS biology tracks require minimal math (2 semesters of calculus or less).</p>

<p>However, you might want to look at the math dept which offers a BA in mathematics–mathematical biology track</p>

<p>[BA</a> in Math, Tracks](<a href=“http://www.math.rochester.edu/undergraduate/degrees/BA-tracks.html]BA”>http://www.math.rochester.edu/undergraduate/degrees/BA-tracks.html)</p>

<p>This is an applied math degree with an emphasis on biological systems. (statistics, probability, genetics, population modeling, DNA modeling, epidemiology, demographics, predator-prey systems, tumor growth models, stochastic systems, evolution, ecosystem modeling, bioinformatics and many other topics)</p>

<p>And I’d also recommend that you take MatLab–a 1 credit computer programming course offered by the biomedical engineering dept. MatLab is a data analysis software program used by all science and engineering fields.</p>

<p>~~~~~~</p>

<p>“Medical field” is pretty broad. Biomedical engineer? Physician’s assistant? Nurse? Genetic counselor? Speech-language pathologist? Cytopathologist? Clinical psychologist? Medical social worker? Radiation health physicist? Public health?</p>

<p>Each career will have different specific requirements so your major will depend upon your ultimate goal.</p>

<p>Medical and dental schools don’t really have a preference for any one major so long as you fulfill the pre-reqs. You could major in English or music or religious studies or physics or electrical engineering. (I actually know doctors/med students with all of those majors.)</p>

<p>If your goal is graduate school and a PhD–then you need to choose your undergrad track carefully because it’s what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life. (BTW, the first year of every bio track is pretty much the same so you don’t have to choose right away.)</p>

<p>The best preparation for grad school is heavy-duty research lab experience starting as soon as possible, along with taking the most challenging upper level courses in your area of specialty you can find–including enrolling in grad classes your senior year. </p>

<p>BTW, D2 and many other bio students I’ve talked to have all said—choose your research lab carefully because once you get involved in one type of lab (imaging lab, strep lab, genetics lab, cancer lab, etc) you’re kind of stuck doing that forever because your skills are so specialized it’s hard to move into another area.</p>

<p>Anyone have any info on language placement? I took the Spanish placement test and got a score of 4+. I’m not clear on what that means and what level Spanish class I should be looking at.</p>

<p>What is the average costs of books for the semester or year? I need to find out so I know how much of a Parent plus Loan I should apply for.</p>