<p>Hello, so I recognize it is getting late and it's time to commit soon but my heart keeps wavering and I figured I would ask you all on CC for advice. So I was accepted to Pennstate's Schreyer Honors College and Swarthmore College. I want to go premed and at Schreyer i would be doing bioengineering and at Swarthmore I would be doing biochemistry. There are a number of reasons why my parents are pushing me to schreyer and the engineering degree is one of them. It's a good fall back option. If med school doesn't work out, biochem would be a wash. Secondly, not many people know of Swat despite it's prestige and PSU's alumni network is so large. When it comes to money, I'm in a complicated situation that will change my finaid next year. PSU will consistently be around 10-12k (taking into account that I must repay federal loans later) while swat is very inexpensive now, but will jump up later but I'm not sure by how much. Money is my biggest concern as I want as little debt as possible, and I am afraid that Swat's price might jump next year and my family will not be able to afford it. The truth is, I am trying to be practical and pick the school that will be the correct choice for my future and I am just not sure which one that it is...Any advice? My parent's want me to choose schreyer but I feel like I might be giving up a lot if I don't pick Swarthmore. I'm getting more confused as the commitment date approaches...</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>Maybe you haven’t received replies yet since this is a pretty unusual choice. I don’t recall seeing a previous thread about Swarthmore v. Penn State, even if it is Schreyer Honors. Swarthmore offers an ABET accredited B.S. In Engineering, and you can design your own major at Swat, so such for the argument about a lack of programs at an LAC. If you wanted to design a bioengineering major, I’m sure you could do it. It’s even possible that a previous Swat student might have put that together, so that there would already be a curriculum in place. You can get plenty of research experience at Swat, without fighting for open positions in research labs with grad students. </p>
<p>Swarthmore is well-known for it’s academic rigor in medical school circles. In general, the students at Swat will be of a higher academic caliber than those at Penn State. You must know that. But, if money is an issue and you think you might want to attend med school, that’s an expensive proposition. Since you don’t seem to know what will happen to your financial aid award next year at Swat because of changing circumstances and since your parents appear to be footing the bill, you may have to go with what they want you to do. My final suggestion is to have your parents discuss the future financial aid situation with the FA office at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>In my Engineering class at Swarthmore 30 years ago there were 2 (out of 24) graduates who went on to medical school. Like momof3sons said, you can design your own major in Engineering. </p>
<p>Thank you both for the replies! I personally find Swarthmore to be more appealing as a school but is it’s engineering up to par with other research-based universities? I’m not too knowledge on the subject. Also, do you find people coming out of Swat for undergraduate getting jobs immediately after at good companies or do a majority go directly to grad school? I am asking because I concerned that med school might be an option for me in the future. </p>