Hello all!
Yes, this is my first post. I’ve been leeching off of college confidential for years, but I finally decide to make an account right before I have to decide where to go to college, haha.
I’m pretty much stuck between Emory, UCLA, and CMU right now as they all have their own pros and cons. I was hoping for some further insight from those of you who have had any experience with these institutions, as I’ve only visited the CMU campus. I’ll be going to the UCLA admitted meet up on 4/3 in the DC area.
For CMU, I got into MCS. For Emory, I got into the College of Arts and Sciences.
I’m probably going to major in biology as a pre-med student, but I’m open to changing majors after getting a feel for what I like when I actually go to college.
I’m from Maryland, so UCLA will be out-of-state tuition, but money isn’t a huge deal.
I also got into WFU and UMD Honors College if anyone wishes to comment on those.
I was waitlisted by UChicago, WUSTL, Vandy, Notre Dame, and Georgetown.
Thanks for your help!
You say money isn’t a “huge deal” - what does that mean? Is it actually a factor in your decisions? And what does your total cost of attendance look like at each institution? I mean I can tell you what I think agnostically but I wouldn’t for example tell you to pay $60K a year to go to UCLA if you could go to Emory or Carnegie Mellon for $20K a year, you know what I mean? I think the caliber is too similar.
Giving us a rundown of what you view as the pros and cons might also help people weight it out for you.
I will say that you should take any admitted meet-ups with a grain of salt, especially if they are not sponsored by the university itself or won’t be attended by any current students. Admitted doesn’t mean that they’ve made the decision to go, and you won’t necessarily get a feel for what the actual UCLA student body is like at an admitted students only event.
Pre-med classes at UCLA will be huge - which may appeal to you or may repulse you. Pre-med is quite a popular thing at both UCLA and Emory. Emory does have a large hospital system and the CDC nearby for biomedical research opportunities.
If you are in-state for Maryland, and are into Maryland Honors, that’s likely to be significantly cheaper for you. Personally I don’t really see a point in attending UCLA for full OOS tuition when you have an excellent choice like UMD Honors. I think you should seriously consider UMD Honors College. (That’s why having a full idea of costs would be a great idea - because I also wouldn’t recommend spending full-pay money at Emory or CMU when you have an excellent in-state option on the table).