I am a senior who is trying to figure out where I want to go to college next year. I have not heard back from all my schools but I am looking at my options right now. I plan on majoring in biology or public health with premed. I have the option of going to a lower ranked state school that accepts anyone but will be in their honors college. Their honors program is good and many end up going to top grad schools or get Fulbright awards. The problem is this school is known as a party school and I do not party at all. I have heard that many in the honors college don’t party. I will also be able to transfer about 20 credits to this school. This school is not well regarded academically except for the honors college. If I go here I will be able to graduate debt free.
My other option is a well known liberal arts school. This school is known for being very hard. I would only be able to transfer 6 credits here. The school is also very expensive. When I graduate I would be about 40000 dollars in debt. I feel that I would fit in more at this school and it feels more like home. This school also has a more prestigious name and is well known.
What should I do? Is it better to be in debt and go to a school that I like more or graduate debt free?
Yay public health!
$40K in total debt is not that much, but it’s still more than the federal limit ($5500 first year + $6500 second year + $7500 last two years = $27K). So how are you going to get that additional $13K? You’d have to borrow private loans with a co-signer, or you’d have to get institutional loans from the college (which some schools do).
I’m curious about what you mean by “not well-regarded academically.” Do you simply mean that the school is not a top school or considered competitive, or do you really mean that the college is considered bad academically? You don’t want to go to a bad school academically, but if it’s simply that the school is not prestigious/well-known…that doesn’t matter.
Might be helpful if you said what colleges they are!
It is entirely likely (especially if one’s family annual income is <$100K, and particularly <$70K) for private universities to be less expensive than public schools. Don’t fall into the common trap that YOUR NET COSTS for public institutions will axiomatically be more affordable than for private colleges. That’s simply not universally true. Use the schools’ NPCs to determine approximate costs, which should lead to reasonable decisions.
If you are planning on med school, that will add additional debt at that point. For your state school, is there a good track record for honors college grads getting into med school or phd programs? Is there a dorm option for non-partiers?
What is the name of that school?
The public school is Indiana University of Pennsylvania or IUP. I would be in the Cook honors college. All honors students are required to live in the honors dorms. My parents would allow me to consign. The Acceptance rate from the honors college to mrd school is almost 100%.
But there is this
I know nothing personally about this school, but it does seem you aren’t giving it a fair shake.
I also would be a little dubious about the stories you hear in HS about all the parties. Maybe its true, but I know that on the West Coast UCSB has a ‘party-school’ reputation and a lot of kids that think they are signing up for 4 years of fun and frolic are quite surprised when they show up. If you have friends with older siblings who attend, see if you can talk to them and get the impression of actual students. Or visit and just chat with some students.
I wouldn’t say the school is a no-brainer, either. It seems like every 5th kid you meet frosh year is “pre-med” but few actually end up applying. So consider which school you’d rather be at should your goals change. Have you been doing volunteer work in a medical setting? Its an unofficial requirement to get into med school, and starting now will help you decide if its really right for you. The more sure you are before you start the higher your committment and chances of seeing it all the way thru.
I suggest learning more about the med-school requirements and then visiting to talk to the advisors in the Bio program and honors college to see how things match up. Read thru the very informative FAQ at http://www.rhodes.edu/hpa/15890.asp They also have a nice writeup in the PreMed Essentials link on the left side of that page. There is also an excellent online handbook at Amherst I recommend to get an understanding of the process and what really matters
IUP is not all that great a school, but it has been improving in many areas. Whether or not it’s the right school for you I cannot say. I do know however that people who are going to succeed in becoming doctors are going to find ways to accomplish their goals, and if that means putting up with classmates who party five days a week instead of two then that is what you’ll do. You don’t have to love IUP, but you will love being debt-free whether or not you go to med school. If you go to med school, you’ll REALLY love being debt-free. Just get the really good grades, letters of rec, and intern experiences you’ll need for your med school app. IUP can help you do those things.
You can get what you want out of IUP. I graduated from there and went to medical school, several of my classmates did as well. My cousin also graduated from there and is also a physician. The resources to help get into medical school are far better now then when we went there(1970’s). At any college where there are as many undergraduates as IUP, you will find all types of students, serious students who spend most of their time at the library, and one year wonders, who party and flunk out within a year. My cousin and I both have sons who are also physicians, so have some recent experience with the whole process as well, and being debt-free cannot be over-stated.
What’s the other school?
An issue is that if you’re going for premed, IUP makes sense as being debt-free is very important for med school, but for any other goal, it’s likely the other school would be better as the networking and the opportunities would be better - even for med school, their advising may be better than IUP’s, but regardless of major, you’d have to work for a few years before you apply to med school. Not a dealbreaker but something to keep in mind - would you rather spend 4 years at IUP and try to go straight to med school, or go to a ‘better fit’ school but have to work for 4-5 years before you can go to med school?
What are your stats, so we can compare to IUP’s?
(Yes your evaluation of IUP is pretty accurate.)
Can you contact IUP and see how many students apply to med school? How many actually get one offer? What’s the average MCAT score?
(100% is meaningless - if 100 students hope to be premed, at any university only about 40 are left. Of those, only 20 will get an offer. Schools that have 100% typically limit who can apply in order to keep high percentage of acceptances. It’s just not possible that ANY school would have close to 100% acceptance to med school when the norm is about 50%. Do they refuse to give committee letters to applicants they fear wouldn’t get in?)
I would say no. Remember that you don’t pay just 40k. You pay 40k with interest. That interest will keep accruing and could increase if you miss a payment.
Lots of things could happen in the time you’re paying back your loans. You could get unemployed, suffer an injury which prevents you from working, etc. Why increase your liabilities further than you need to? The money you save on student loans can be spent on other things, like grad. school, car payments, or a down payment on a house.
FWIW, I haven’t met a single person who’s happy about paying their student loans back after college. They don’t look at it in terms of the fun they had as undergrad. In the present, they realize that they just have less disposable income every month.
I would go to IUP if you can stand it. It seems like a great opportunity. If you can’t, look for some of the more affordable public options within your state.