Hi!
We need help! My daughter has been accepted to all of the above schools; however because of coroavirus, we only were able to visit Clemson and Alabama. My daughter will be majoring in bio for premed. We are full pay with no financial aid at any school. With her athletic and academic merit scholarships, UMass, Rutgers & Alabama are all around the same price. She only was accepted into the honors college at Alabama. Clemson and W&M cost about 15k more. She will graduate in 3 years because of her community college credits from high school. Anyone else visit the other schools or have some insight that we may be missing?
I’d take W&M and Clemson off the table given the cost of med school, even if she plans to finish her undergraduate work in 3 years.
What did your D think when she visited Alabama? Honors there is a solid option and makes a big school feel smaller.
Would UMass or Rutgers give her a better shot at med school admission in Massachusetts or NJ?
I wouldn’t take W&M off the table if she is looking for a smaller, more LAC-like experience. $45k is not a crazy debt. But since all of her other choices are big flagship schools, it doesn’t seem that important to her. Clemson doesn’t seem worth the $ over the others, but it def stands out for school spirit and sports.
Rutgers is a good school with lots of smart kids, amazing diversity, and really fun sporting events even with not-so-winning teams. BUT- it’s really big and spread out and requires a shuttle bus system to get around to class. you have to grow up fast there. Most NJ kids who visit are turned off by this and those who choose it usually do it for financial reasons.
UMass has ugly buildings but is in a nice college town with nice outdoor possibilities nearby. It doesn’t have the sports scene of the others although it has D1 teams. It’s known for good food.
Personally I think being in the honors college at Bama is the difference maker here and I would choose that.
Thanks for the replies. Yes. The honors college at Bama was impressive and the dorms!. She definitely loved the school spirit but I worry in terms of rankings and such about how a degree from there would compare to one from the other schools. As for Rutgers, she has read about how large and spread out the campus is and does not like this aspect at all. Her high school did not have a lot of school spirit, which is what pushed her towards alabama and clemson in the first place. Since she knows she is going on to grad school, one of our concerns is how grad schools will view the undergrad degree. In my mind, and from the research I have done, I cant find anything saying one is better know than the other from a premed standpoint.
I believe @mom2collegekids is knowledgeable about Alabama and pre-med, hoping she’ll ring in (meanwhile, you can search for her posts)