<p>The infamous "where should i go" question...</p>
<p>So I recently got all my decision letters and need some advice and suggestions. Actually, I'm pretty sure about what I want to do, but I just wanted to get some advice from the experts on CC.</p>
<p>Here's what you need to know about my options:</p>
<p>Accepted and Benefits (not in any particular order):
1. Northwestern HPME + some fin-aid, but certainly not enough, deans scholar
2. UIC-GPPA + loans and a freshman undergrad scholarship (a few k, but again, not much)
3. Rice University + some fin-aid
4. USC + Trustee and Research Scholar (full tuition paid all four years)
5. California Institute of Technology + some finaid, again not much
6. University of Chicago + some finaid, again not much
7. Washington University in St. Louis + some huge scholarship covering most of my tuition and biology research program in the summer
8. UCSD + regents scholarship, not much scholarship/aid
9. UCBerkeley + Regent's and Chancellor's</p>
<p>Other Schools Accepted but Not Seriously Considering (unless you all can give me a reason to :) )
10. Case-Western
11. UIUC (UIllinois)</p>
<p>WAITLISTED:
12. HARVARD</p>
<p>Info about me:
I plan on majoring in Biomedical Engineering or Bioengineering, and if time allows, a minor in a non-science-y subject. I'm also pre-med and planning to live on campus (not that the two are related in any way). Also, cost is a factor for me but i'll try to figure out a way to pay if it's a more expensive school. also don't let any of this info about me bias you in any way; i want to hear what your opinions are. What would you do if you were in my position?</p>
<p>C’mon people! Pretty please?</p>
<p>You haven’t given us enough information. If I were in your shoes, I’d be deciding between Northwestern, WUSTL, CalTech, and Chicago. WUSTL is the baseline here: a top 15 (I think) school that’s practically free. There are basically four things to look at with a school: quality of life, personal attention, reputation, and expense. Most of the schools on your list are worse than WUSTL in all four respects. The exception is if you hate St. Louis, but even then, you’re eighteen years old and it’s good for you to see the country.</p>
<p>Chicago wins on “old-time” reputation and maybe even current reputation, but it’s a peer in attention, worse in quality of life, and much more expensive for you.</p>
<p>So we’re down to three. CalTech is a very difficult school, but for engineering clearly it’s the best choice on your list – if that’s what you want. If you don’t particularly want engineering but think you can stomach it, you’re probably wrong – it will rapidly wear you out. But if that is actually the case, then the difficulty of CalTech’s curriculum can be helpful for “signaling” that you are an extremely competent young person – once you’ve made it through.</p>
<p>The trick now is Northwestern – a peer school to WUSTL (I think?), with much less of a premed focus (not necessarily a bad thing). You’ll notice I’m not mentioning the guarantee, because I don’t think it’s a big deal. But Northwestern is still an excellent school. It’s in a better area, a bigger city, and (for you) is much more expensive.</p>
<p>This is why we can’t make this decision for you: do you like engineering? Can you handle the workload? How important is Evanston instead of St. Louis? What does the money mean to your family?</p>
<p>NU and WUSTL, in particular, are both fine places to be a premed. (I know WUSTL is; presumably NU is as well.) So you’re basically picking location against money. No harm done either way.</p>
<p>Ok, thank you! BTW I added a stats profile but i don’t know if that will help any. Now that i have at least one other person’s opinion, I can say which one’s keep making me doubt my choice:</p>
<p>NU has always been my dream school, regardless of HPME. I have had a preference for it even in the earlier years of HS, when I didn’t know anything about college and didn’t know that I would even have a chance at the top tier schools, and that was before I even knew what HPME was. However:
-it’s very expensive and in-state/close to home
-usc is offering a full ride! and paying me to do research???
-washU is also giving me a large scholarship and i get to start off freshmen year with biology research under my belt, plus it has an amazing affiliated med school
-i like the idea of rice and studying in texas, and it has a great engineering program, but in comparison to the other schools it’s not offering me much more
-UIC GPPA sounds enticing because it will probably be cheaper/easier than the others. but again, that’s probably more my parents talking than me talking
-caltech and uchicago are in one category for me. they are both academically intensive schools (but in different ways), and i’m sure that they will prepare me well for a future medical career. however, their advantage is also an obstacle–i’m not entirely sure if i want to study in such intensive environments. also, uchicago doesn’t have an engineering school, so i would be a biology or biochem major, which isn’t what i want, really</p>
<p>So as you can see, I am favoring NU, but the main reason why I posted originally was to see if I am making the right decision.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I almost forgot: what about the Harvard waitlist? Does that make a difference?</p>
<p>–Harvard’s not going to care what school you’re in. (Go there if you get in, by the way.)
–Forget USC, since the money and research is basically identical to WUSTL.
–If you aren’t sure about the cutthroad places now, you definitely won’t be once you’re in them. Scratch CalTech and Chicago.
–Again, UIC is about as expensive as WUSTL anyway. So forget that.
–Notice we’ve already stopped talking about the UC’s
–It depends on how much you like Texas – do you like it enough to pick it over WUSTL? WUSTL’s BME is also fine, and they’re basically free.</p>
<p>So of your original twelve options, there’s really only two left. You’re going to have to trade off the finances (WUSTL) against the fact that you seem to like Northwestern. And since none of us know your family’s financial position, none of us can really tell you what to do here.</p>
<p>BDM has given a great analysis of your situation, but I disagree with the assessment that HPME is not a significant factor. HPME will get you plenty of personal attention at Northwestern.</p>
<p>For me this is a no-brainer. Take HPME!!!</p>
<p>Yesterday, on another thread, I suggested taking all of the original poster’s acceptances including scholarship offers and auctioning them off to qualified buyers on e-bay.(That was another poster also accepted to the HPME program at Northwestern University.) My best guess is that the Northwestern University HPME acceptance would draw the highest bids by far–even over an acceptance to Harvard.</p>
<p>
's a good point. I neglected it. My point was that the guaranteed admission isn’t a big deal; you’re a bright kid at a good school and will be fine. But programs like HPME often come with fringe benefits, and sometimes those are very valuable.</p>
<p>
This would be true. But that’s because the general public (which would probably get slaughtered at Harvard and score a 24 on the MCAT) wouldn’t be able to do anything with their Harvard admission. Somebody who could actually get into HPME would be fine at Harvard, medical-school wise.</p>
<p>The auction would be open to “qualified” buyers only. This includes academic qualifications. Thus, your example of a person from the “general public” is not relevant. It would be, in BDM’s example, an average Harvard student or average “Harvard qualified” student.</p>
<p>i would say WashU or HPME. And also think about the engineering agian. It is ten times harder than a regular biology major and i heard WashU med school is the best.</p>
<p>Northwestern HPME. Seriously.</p>
<p>Well, then, here’s another question: What if I by some turn of luck or fortune am accepted off the wait-list to Harvard? Then what should I do? Drop NU for the big H? I know this is theoretical, but I want to see how much an NU undergrad (and HPME) is worth.</p>
<p>From what I hear, Harvard will be getting the highest yield in school history. It will be very hard getting off waitlists, let alone if they will be accepting any this year.</p>
<p>I would go for Northwestern HPME.</p>
<p>BTW, I might be applying to HPME this fall. Can you please post your stats?</p>
<p>friedrice, take a look at my stats profile</p>
<p>I think another thing that was briefly mentioned in here that may be factor is cost of living in these areas. I think Chicago (especially near Feinberg…Streeterville is one of THE most expensive areas of the city) is going to be hella more expensive to live in than St. Louis.</p>