<p>okay, so my parents can give me 30-35k a year, so here goes. and the tuition isn’t the actual tuition, but the cost of attendance minus the scholarships i received.</p>
<p>-URI 6-yr Pharm.D. Program (tuition- $30,000/yr, so no debt)
-American University (tuition- $25,000/yr, so no debt)
-Worcester Polytechnic Institute 5-yr masters program (tuition- $32,000/yr, 0-8k of debt potentially)
-Tulane University (tuition- $39,000/yr, so 16-36k of debt)
-Fordham University @ Lincoln Center (tuition- $39,000/yr, so 16-36k of debt)
-Oberlin College (tuition- $50,000/yr, so 60-80k of debt)
-Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ($44,000/yr, so 36-56k of debt)
-Brandeis University (tuition- $52,000/yr, so 68-88k of debt)
*note- i wrote an appeal letter to them, so here’s hoping for some aid!
-George Washington University (tuition- $36,000/yr, so 4-24k of debt)
-McGill University (tuition- $37,000/yr, so 8-28k of debt)</p>
<p>and the debt is for the four years, not per year.</p>
<p>@coolbreeze, i actuallly liked mcgill a lot, minus the fact that it’s huge. its kind of expensive though, which is a little disheartening. but yea, my parents made me apply to URI pharmacy because it’s a really good program, but i’m not too interested to be honest, in pharmacy or in staying in RI.</p>
<p>It does make sense to keep debt to a minimum, since any of those schools will provide a good education. Let’s rule out URI, since if you really don’t want to stay in RI (which I totally understand, a big part of the college experience is being more independent without all the responsibilities of the “real world”). Let’s also rule out Oberlin, RPI, and Brandeis (little hope they will give you more) because of the debt loads. That leaves American, WPI, and GW in group A, and McGill, Tulane, and Fordham in group B. For the last two, I would qualify my statement by saying it is important to keep the 4 years debt down around the $20K range. If it really crept up to $36,000 that is too much.</p>
<p>Let’s stipulate that any of these schools will provide you with a great education, assuming you do your part. GW and McGill are very urban campuses as you know. If you want a more classic campus environment, they drop out. On the other hand, both DC and Montreal represent a wealth of opportunities. My D looked at McGill and she didn’t like the concrete campus and the large class sizes, but she LOVED Montreal. She does speak French, but you are right that you could learn French, always a nice thing. If you want the more traditional campus, Tulane has a great one, and New Orleans is a unique and fantastic experience. Generally nicer weather too. I think American’s is nice too, from what I hear. Fordham’s is OK, if you like being in Brooklyn. Don’t know about WPI.</p>
<p>The point is given the (hopefully) relatively similar money, and the fact that all will provide a good undergraduate education, it really comes down to where do you see yourself fitting in best for 4 years? Where will you be most likely to be really happy? This is where factors like the campus, sports, weather, urban vs. rural, that kind of thing come into play. If I were you I would focus on those 6 (or 4 if you are not confident you can keep the debt under control going to Tulane or Fordham) and just think of them in that context. Then all you can do is go with your instincts.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, fallenchemist!! You’re absolutely on target about me wanting to get out of RI, nothing at all against URI itself. I wrote the appeal to Brandeis, but I HIGHLY doubt it. The thing about debt being > 36K is basically how I feel. I wanna go to medschool after, so debt’s a huge factor. The thing about my decision is that there were good things and bad things about everywhere I went. The only place I got a great feel for was Brandeis, which I can’t attend because of the money. </p>
<p>McGill’s great, but I don’t like the size, and it’s a little far from home, though I think I could deal with it…WPI is too small and I don’t really really wanna go to a tech school in case I change my mind, so the same goes for RPI. Tulane and Oberlin are too far from home. American’s too rural and I got a “pretentious rich kid” vibe. Fordham (lincoln center), I felt like everyone fit into two categories…business and artsy…I don’t subscribe to either.</p>
<p>fallenchemist, could you tell me how hard it would be for me not being a francophone? I’ve heard that most of the city speaks french and english, but Quebec is technically a french-speaking province. </p>
<p>raezin, I KNOW, I’m currently freaking out and doing an AP CalcBC practice exam at the same time haha, hooray for multitasking.</p>
<p>Yes, May 1 will be fine. As far as the French, as long as you register for an intro French course and start learning, you will be fine. There is nothing like immersion to learn a language. I don’t think you will have a problem being in Montreal. Perhaps if you were in more rural locations things would be different, although I suspect these days virtually everyone is bilingual, because of television if nothing else. But in Montreal no problem at all.</p>
<p>How about GW? You didn’t comment on them in your last post.</p>
<p>@fallenchemist, i’m definitely going to take french over the summer and absolutely enroll in an intro French course. i’ve heard that picking up a language in an immersion situation is much easier than in a classroom setting. </p>
<p>GW, i liked too. i’m not even like knowledgable about their science/premed faculty. i was under the impression that the school was primarily a polisci/internationalrelations/diplomacy/communications school, rather than a science focused school. GW’s nice, the cost of living’s really high:( and the campus doesn’t have a campus feeling, but other than that, it’s great.</p>
<p>I think they’re uber leftists. That’s the impression I got from a very rough glance through wiki. Sprevite, if you got off Emory’s waitlist, would you attend? If you want to seriously come, I would write a letter of interest to the office or to your regional admissions counselor. Some years, Emory admits as many as 20 % of its waitlisted students. That’s actually pretty high. I imagine if you show interest, that percentage can actually be higher!</p>
<p>@alam1, yes, i would probably attend, assuming some financial assistance. i plan on sending them a letter; my calc teacher is sending a supplemental letter and i got really good 3rd quarter grades… i’ve heard they accept a lot of waitlist students. thanks for the advice!!!</p>
<p>Be wary of those who spread uber ignorance and wiki is not a very reliable source… Angela Davis happens to be a professor and a woman’s rights activist. She is also a defender of free speech and an African American icon.</p>
<p>That is not uber ignorance. In the 60’s and 70’s, Angela Davis and Abbie Hoffman were practically the face of the far left anti-government movements. Many of the groups they were associated with advocated overthrowing the govenrnment, communism, and violence. If one didn’t really live through the cold war and the anti-war 60’s and 70’s, coupled with these occuring in the crucible of the civil rights movement, it is impossible to appreciate. Very different times, and seen through the lens of today’s world things have softened. But at the time they were way to the left.</p>
<p>This is all a matter of interpretation, if you were a right wing Nixon supporter than yes you would say they were “far left” although I am not sure if I would be talking about the perpetuation of violence (Vietnam War) or advocating over-throwing the sanctity of government (Watergate) would quality as merely being on the “far left” since the POTUS was engaged is such activity.</p>