I plan on going to either a professional school or grad school so I know my gpa is going to be very important.
I was accepted to a school that people around me consider a good school (I think top 50?) and another school that is considered to be a safety school.
Although I really like my major, I also know that I’m not excellent in it. I like spending hours on it but perhaps because of my lack of background knowledge, I am not a the point where I can solve “easy” questions with just my intuition. This is where the problem comes up.
The school with better reputation is known for being somewhat competitive and I’ve seen many people drop out or come back with incredibly low grades and have trouble graduating on time, going to grad school or get a job. However I met a few people who are actually rather shocked that I got into this school (no expectations you see) and it’s making me actually want to go here a bit more.
My safety school is not too bad and has a lovely campus. I have a relative whom I can stay with so I don’t have to pay for dorms. I have absolutely no plans to slack off but the school is undoubtedly less competitive. It’s also a LOT smaller so I think it’ll be easier to have a better relationship with the professor. However it’s about 10K more expensive (my parents are rather okay with this though)
Do you think that going to a school with the better reputation worth it in my case?
Ya, go to the better school. It’s never as hard as the dropouts make it sound.
Which school is the more expensive one?
Whether a school’s overall reputation or reputation in major matters for post-graduation plans depends on what your post-graduation plans are, and (if they are major-related) what your intended major is. Admission criteria for different kinds of professional school (MD, JD, MBA, etc.) and PhD programs do vary in terms of importance of GPA, courses, school reputation, school reputation in major, etc…
@ucbalumnus
The more expensive one is SCU. It’s not that well known but I don’t think it’ll be a school that a grad program would immediately think down on because of the name
So your safety school is more expensive?
@scholarme
It is. However it is also more convenient for my parents and I think I’ll get better grades
This may be easier to give opinions on if you name the schools and your major.
My major is biology and it’s either SCU or UCSD
Are you planning on med school?
I’m not quite sure yet. I’m planning to shadow and do internships to make sure I really want to do it.
Normally I’d say higher ranked school plus cheaper is a no-brainer.
But the fact that you are eyeing Med School complicates it. If you feel that SCU is a much better fit for you and gives you a better chance of succeeding, have a heart to heart with the parents on whether this is really affordable. Ask about how the extra $40k will impact money for Med School if you decide to go there.
Graduating near the top of SCU will be better than graduating near the bottom of UCSD in terms of any kind of med or grad school, just imo.
Possible post-graduation outcomes:
- Job with bachelor's degree: biology graduates tend not to find very good pay levels at the bachelor's degree level.
- PhD study in biology: should be funded, but the job market for biology PhDs is not great.
- Medical school: very expensive.
Of course, if you are an exceptional student, you can have a good outcome in any of these paths. But you may want to be aware of the more typical outcomes for financial planning purposes (i.e. plan for the average and worst cases, not the best case).