<p>I've gotten basically all my acceptance letters at this point and I have an estimate of my financial offers, so I'd like some input on which of these schools I should choose...</p>
<p>I'm a Pre-Medicine track, looking to major in Neuroscience or Cognitive Science or something in that area (doesn't really matter if the school offers it...but just to give you an idea of what I'm interested in). I've lived in 6 different states, and that makes this decision particularly difficult cause I can adjust anywhere.</p>
<p>I want to be near a city, which all of these schools give me. I'd like a large student body, a decent party scene that can get crazy when it needs to, but that has students that will buckle down at the end of the day. I need a school where there is a relatively competitive student body (because otherwise I slack off like crazy :-P). I need DIVERSITY. I'm Asian Indian and I am so sick of white people (I'm live in Maine at the moment). It's really important to me to go to a school where I have really abundant research opportunities, and they send their students to very prestigious medical schools (which is a requirement I think all these schools fill - which makes this decision even harder!!!)</p>
<p>Tulane is about 30K for me, I'm looking into their 7 year med program and I've been accepted into their honors college. UPitt is also about 30K, I didn't get honors or anything. Ohio State is going to be about 20-25K, I should be getting into their honors college. Uminnesota is about 20-25K, I'm waiting on their honors college.</p>
<p>My parents really have no issue paying for any of these (maybe not too happy about UPitt, so let me know if the extra money is worth it at Pitt + Tulane). Any input is welcome!!</p>
<p>Ohio State! As the largest school in the country, you (obviously) won’t find anything bigger. There’s diversity because it’s so large. Columbus is a GREAT city, I love it! Plus, it has many very good hospitals for volunteering and shadowing (I’ve shadowed at Nationwide Children’s!). The honors program is very good. And Buckeyes know how to party but can also buckle down (especially in honors). Plus, the Buckeyes are some of the nicest people ever, they actually greet you as you walk by on the street. The school spirit is unbeatable and will be ingrained in you - you can be anywhere in the world and find fellow Buckeyes to do a nice O-H-I-O with.<br>
My aunt went to Ohio State for both undergrad and medical school. She’s currently a neonatologist and assistent medical director at a hospital. She also serves on the OSU medical school admissions board.</p>
<p>I’m obviously biased towards OSU, seeing as I’m an admitted honors student who will be attending next year, but I really do feel all of this is true. Both of my parents and a lot of my aunts and uncles attended and loved it, I was born in Columbus (though I live in NY now), and I just can’t imagine a better place to be.</p>
<p>Pitt is has best undergrad neuro program out of all of them, followed by Tulane. Pitt has the best overall med/health science/bioscience reputation and the largest medical center and bioscience research infrastructure of all of them. Pittsburgh, the city, also has a large Indian population, if that matter to you. I’d say Pitt, Tulane, Minnesota and OSU in that order. However, you won’t go wrong at any of them. Since price doesn’t seem to be an issue, really, just relax and pick the one where you think you’ll be happiest for the next four years.</p>
<p>Wait until you have the ACTUAL aid figures, not just the estimates to make the decision. When you have the read offers in hand, take a long hard look at them, and then visit the campuses that still interest you. You don’t have to say yes or no until May 1.</p>
<p>Good school whose reputation is rising, good nightlife and sports scene, ton of clubs and activities, nice campus (never been to Pitt, but OSU has a nicer campus than Minn. Tulane might have a slightly nicer campus, but it is a lot smaller. Of course, all of this IMO), passionate alumni, and a pretty nice city.</p>
<p>@Happymomof1, I basically have all my offers because my EFC is high and I won’t get any aid - therefore, I just deduct my merit scholarship amount from my tuition. So I kind of know know what my tuitions are going to be, and my dad is moving so they want a decision made soon for financial reasons. Also, my college counselor told me the sooner I appeal and aid decision, the more chance I have of getting more money - and this would only be possible for me at Tulane, so if I’m going to choose there I need to figure it out soon. :p</p>
<p>I have no idea how to choose between these, because I know the programs are strong, they all basically have the same feel (hence why I applied). I was kind of leaning towards Minn cause it was cheaper and better rated than OSU (I might be COMPLETELY wrong) Any other responses?</p>
<p>Another vote for Pitt. For your interests/objectives, it is the strongest option academically. It would seem to fit your other criteria as well. These are all good choices though, so you really can’t go wrong. Good luck.</p>
<p>I disagree that Pitt is stronger academically than Tulane, but frankly there isn’t enough of a difference to argue about there.</p>
<p>It really is impossible for any of us to advise you at this point, lea. We can’t know how you will feel about a big school vs. a smaller one, warm weather vs. cold, big-time sports vs. so-so sports, stronger frat/sorority scene vs. weaker one, and so on and so forth. At Minn and OSU, you most likely will be in more huge lectures and have all the issues (and some benefits) that being at a big state university entails. Tulane would provide the smallest classes on the whole, and the nicest campus. Also a very interesting city in New Orleans. The students at Tulane are, however, majority white and about 25-30% Jewish, a lot from the Northeast and California, although also a lot of students from Texas and the overall South. Pitt is indeed in a more urban area, and is one of the leading medical research hubs in the country. Oakland (where Pitt is located adjacent to downtown Pittsburgh) is more urban feeling that Tulane which, while within the New Orleans city limits, feels more like a suburb because of the residential neighborhood. I lived in Pitt for 10 years, so I know the area well. I guess I am saying that they have a very different vibe to them and the only way you can know for sure is to visit both if at all possible. If you plan ahead, you should be able to visit both Pitt and Tulane for not too much money, and for something this important I think you should.</p>
<p>The other thing we cannot know is your overall financial situation. To me, the difference between 25K and 30K a year is not that great if you feel that a smaller private school like Tulane or a somewhat private feeling school like Pitt are more for you than a big state school. But that is easy for me to say. You need to sit with your parents again and weigh the pros and cons and see how they honestly feel about that extra $5,000 plus, no doubt, some extra travel expenses compared to Minn.</p>
<p>You seem to have made some very good choices in you schools, and, as several of the others above have noted, you can’t go wrong at any of them. I feel that it does come down to how you feel yourself fitting in at each of these schools. As fallenchemist notes the cost differentials are not that great. I hope you have had the chance to actually visit each of your schools.</p>
<p>I’ll admit to being prejudiced towards Pitt (my money and D1 go there!); I think it does offer you the best opportunities in the medical environment. Andecdotal evidence is essentially meaningless, but my daughter and her roommate (a pre-med) both got paid research internships for the summer after their freshman year. The roommate then got another internship (at Stanford Medical) the next summer. My daughter has held a part-time job as a research assistant at a UPMC hospital-based research institute all three years at Pitt. Research and volunteer opportunities abound in the hospital-rich environs of Oakland.</p>
<p>I can’t speak for scholarship money at Pitt without knowing more of your stats, but if being in the Honors College is a concern, I would send an e-mail to the school noting your interest and that you have been admitted to several such programs elsewhere.</p>
<p>Let me add some extra information that might help a little bit:</p>
<p>I really want to do a lot of research during my undergrad years. As much as possible, in fact. I would really like to start as early as possible, and I’m the kind of person who does like to party, but in a limit. Distractions are very very bad for me…I get distracted easily, but I like having them around at times, which is why I get scared of OSU because it’s a nonstop party scene.</p>
<p>I’ve never experienced a school with crazy school pride (although my dad went to Penn State so I know what it does to people, but I don’t know what it feels like to be part of it) so I don’t know how I would like it…which makes this decision even harder. I’ve never been exposed to going to a crazy football school or w/e, and I’m always up for new experiences, which makes this EVEN worse because I chose all my schools based on having new experiences. All of them would provide me with a new one. I love the city aspect and academics of Pitt, I love the opportunities and city aspect at Minn, I love the school spirit at OSU, and I love the academics at Tulane. The more I read on here the more confused I get, and I feel like visiting will confuse me even more, lol.</p>
<p>Have you had the opportunity, or will you have the opportunity, to visit any of these schools? I can understand your confusion in picking one of these schools, they are all very good in different ways. If you are able to visit the campuses, and sit in on a class, I think you will likely find your “fit”.</p>
<p>Don’t be too scared about OSU’s size. I was too (disclaimer I was accepted into OSU and I applied EA to Tulane). But I toured OSU a few months ago and they said the student faculty was 12:1 and for a huge, Big Ten school that is pretty good. </p>
<p>I just looked up Tulane, it is better at 8:1
Pitt stands at 16:1
Minn is 21:1</p>
<p>So OSU is huge, but the 400+ lecture classes seem overblown. My tour guide was a junior and he did not start in the OSU honors program as a freshman. He said that he has only had only two classes that had more than 100 people. He said most of his classes are less than 40 and a lot are less than 20. </p>
<p>To me that is perfect, I don’t mind small classes, but I do not really want super small with like 6 kids in a class.</p>
<p>Edit: Nothing to do with the content of this thread, but I was just accepted into Tulane!</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’m going to be visiting…my family is going through a move, so we’ll see.</p>
<p>I actually love big schools, haha. I feel like I would never be able to know everyone there, which is something I love after living in a small town! Does anyone have any thoughts on Minnesota.</p>
<p>Also: do you think Pitt & Tulane are worth the extra 10K a year?</p>
<p>I don’t know how to add links in here. but google the words “Pitt top research” and your first result will be a page that describes how Pitt is one of only seven top research universities in the US. None of the other schools that you mention is on that list.</p>
<p>Pitt is well known by people in the medical and research field. I recently was talking to a friend of mine who is in the PhD program at Columbia doing neuroscience. When I told her my daughter was considering Pitt, she said she heard they were doing great research in the sciences at Pitt.</p>
<p>Not sure why your parents would be concerned about the extra money for Pitt vs. Tulane, I think Pitt is the better school for what you want.</p>
<p>Lea - As far as whether the extra money is worth it, you are asking for a value judgment that is impossible for anyone here to make. It is well worth it for people that hate big schools, or in Tulane’s case for a person that is looking for a milder climate, or any number of other considerations. Conversely, it isn’t worth it at all if the person doesn’t care about those kinds of things. Also, I should point out that while being in a major research center is a good thing, you can only do research with one prof in one lab at a time. My point being that once you have that opportunity, it really doesn’t matter if there are dozens of other things going on or just a few. Clearly though, the more research that is going on the more there is to choose from.</p>
<p>Maybe given your goals, you should look at each professor at each school doing research in areas you think are interesting. Then you could write the ones that stand out to you and ask them what the opportunities are for undergraduates getting involved in their labs. Tell them in a short paragraph your ambitions and your background so far. Based on their responses you should be able to narrow down your selection. If for example, a researcher at OSU or UMinn comes back with a very enthusiastic and welcoming response, then great. You can save the money, be in a perfectly good school, and do the research you desire. If that only comes from Pitt and Tulane, then you can choose based on what they are doing and what they say. If they all come back with positive responses, hopefully one will stand out to you and make your decision easier. But since so much of your decision seems to revolve around having this opportunity, you need to know more about what is available to you, not just guess and hope.</p>
<p>The problem with that suggestion is that you might not know what you really want yet. If that is the case I still think that Pitt or Tulane, with their smaller size and more personal atmospheres, will allow you to get to know the profs better and explore while you figure it out. It really depends on how much you already know about what you want.</p>
<p>I should have also added regarding the extra money, we cannot know how much that amount means to your family. For some families it is a fortune, for others pocket change, and for most somewhere in-between. It is just too complex and personal a question for outside people to answer for you.</p>
<p>Fallenchemist - thank you so much for the suggestion about emailing the professors, I just did that. I think that will be very helpful. And thanks for all your inputs overall =]</p>
<p>I was wondering if I could get an input from current UPitt students about the city scene? Like I know it’s in Pittsburgh and I love cities…but is Pittsburgh too small? Are there like a lot of parties (I’m a pretty big partier) or do people usually hole up in the rooms?</p>