<p>I'm currently enrolled in Collegiate High School in Niceville, Florida. The high school is actually located on the Northwest Florida State College campus and by the time I graduate from high school, I will have earned an Associate's Degree from the college as well as a high school diploma.</p>
<p>Florida has a statewide scholarship program called Bright Futures that is guaranteed to every Florida student if they have a certain GPA, number of community service volunteer hours, etc. University of Florida and most other state schools cost about $7,000 a year for in-state and the Bright Futures scholarship alone will pay for about $4,000 of that. With other scholarships, I can finish my Bachelor's at a Florida college essentially for free.</p>
<p>My ultimate goal is to earn a PhD and become a college professor in pharmacology, chemical engineering, or chemistry. I don't want to be one of those people who wait around for years to get a doctorate, so I want to go straight to graduate school after my undergrad.</p>
<p>University of Florida is a really good school, but it isn't my first choice. It's in a college town in a somewhat rural area. I want to go to a school in an urban area where the college isn't the only thing the residents there care about. The only major school like that in Florida is University of Miami, but Miami isn't my kind of town. Basically I want to live somewhere I can LIVE, not just go to school. I'll be there for years, so I want to actually enjoy the town and possibly stay there for employment after graduation.</p>
<p>I really want to move to California... I'd like to hear from people who went to University of California in San Diego, UCLA, Stanford, or any other major Cali school. What I'd like to know is is it worth it to pay for out-of-state tuition at one of these California universities when I can go to almost any Florida school almost for free? Note that Bright Futures and the scholarships that allow me to go for free are only for undergrad. When I get a Masters and PhD I'll pay full Florida tuition. But by then wouldn't I be a California resident to pay for in-state California tuition for graduate?</p>
<p>You seem to be assuming you will have to pay graduate school tuition. In those majors it is likely that you will not have to pay tuition when working toward a PhD.</p>
<p>I also think you are mixing your undergrad and graduate school years together. Most students do not attend graduate school at the same college where they do their undergraduate work. Based on your posts, I assume you are talking 2 or at most 3 years at a Florida public university, then straight off to grad school. Which likely will be in a completely different location (possibly California). </p>
<p>Unless your family is flush with money, I say go for the best public school in Florida in your preferred major. Then you will have paid a minimal amount for your undergrad degree, hopefully have no debt, and can head off to grad school. Just be sure you do really well academically as an undergrad to position yourself well for grad school admissions.</p>
<p>Are you saying I won’t need to pay for a Master’s Degree or a PhD? That would be great, I had no idea!</p>
<p>My family is not affluent and we don’t even have college savings. My parents are both paying back college loans still and I will have to take out loans and apply for scholarships and grants to pay for my school. I’ll graduate when I’m 18 with an Associate’s Degree with zero debt (normally about 2 years of general education coursework) and then need just 2 more years to finish my Bachelor’s. So essentially I’ll have to pay to complete 2 more years of undergrad.</p>
<p>Going to University of Florida makes the most sense financially, but college is such a big part of everyone’s life I don’t want to make a mistake I’ll regret forever. Things like picking a major can be fixed and changed, but going to school when you’re 18-22 really only happens once in your life. I realize I’ll have to take out loans for out-of-state schools, but I don’t want to regret just going somewhere because it’s cheap. There’s a lot more to life than just basing things off financials. HOWEVER, I also don’t want to regret going to UCLA and ending up having $60k in debt for two years of school.</p>
<p>In the long run, going to Florida then applying to grad schools in Cali seems like the best option, though. Debt-free is good.</p>
<p>If you go right from undergrad to a PhD in one of those areas, you will be fully funded…tuition plus stipend for housing/food. </p>
<p>If your family isn’t affluent then attending a UC won’t be doable. You can’t just “take out loans” to go to OOS schools. YOUR PARENTS would have to cosign those loans…and they probably won’t do that.</p>
<p>PhD programs in sciences usually come with tuition waivers, health insurance and a stipend to live on. You usually get a TA, RA or Fellowship for that. It is possible to get admitted directly into a PhD program out of college so that way you will usually get your Master’s in the process at no cost. If you don’t get in that way, you will have to get your Master’s first and funding for that degree is limited to very top candidates. It is more likely that you will have to pay for that plus your living expenses.</p>
<p>To be admitted directly into a PhD track, it is not enough to do well in class. You absolutely must have solid and hopefully significant research experience. So you will need to go to colleges that have undergraduate participation with professors doing research. You will need these professors for your letters of recommendation. Having a department strong in the field is desirable. Another way to get research is summer REU’s and some universities will fund their own students for summer research, so look for that in a college.</p>
<p>Generally students can get a Masters from the same college as the undergraduate, but you would get your PhD at another school. So if you are looking for direct admission to PhD you will be moving to another university.</p>
<p>So you plan to enter as a Junior transfer, then?</p>
<p>When a student is in high school and also gets their AA degree, they still come into college as an incoming frosh, but with junior standing. that way they can get the best scholarships and aid…better than what transfers get.</p>
<p>Yeah it makes no sense at all to go to California and pay $100,000 for two years of education whilst you get the same thing at UF for essentially nothing. I guarantee you that you’ll like UF/FSU just as much as UCLA or UCSD. You can always move to Cali and get a job when you’re done with school. </p>
<p>Yes, we apply as freshmen so the admissions officers compare us to all of the other freshmen that apply to the University. I have a really good advantage because most other freshmen applicants have maybe 5-8 AP classes at best. I’ll have a full set of 60 college credits and an AA degree. Plus my unweighted GPA is about 3.8 and weighted is super high because each of my college classes I’m taking (I’ll be a junior in high school starting next week with a full college schedule) are weighted on a 5.0 scale. Plus we have access to scholarships and other benefits freshmen have… But as soon as we step foot on campus, we become juniors.</p>
<p>I see what you guys are all saying. I didn’t know you HAD to go to graduate school somewhere else. So even if I got into Stanford as an undergrad, I wouldn’t be able to get my PhD there which would suck because Stanford is my dream school… So I should probably go for Stanford, UCLA, UCSD as a graduate student.</p>
<p>I think University of South Florida in Tampa would be a good choice. That’s a state school so it’s affordable (unlike Miami) and it’s a little more lively than UF in Gainesville. University of Central Florida in Orlando is also a choice. However it seems stupid to go to one of those because University of Florida is the most academically-prestigious school in the state that I know of.</p>
<p>You do not have to go to graduate school at a different school from your undergraduate school, but most who do go to graduate school go to a different school. However, PhD programs in some majors do prefer students who go to different schools for bachelor’s degree and PhD.</p>
<p>As noted above, PhD study in science or engineering is typically fully funded (tuition waiver + living expense stipend), so you are much less constrained by cost for PhD study than for undergraduate study.</p>
<p>One advantage of USF/UCF to UF is merit aid. UF gives little to no Merit aid, while your stats (if good enough to get you into UF) are likely good enough to earn Merit aid (and possibly entry to the honor’s program at either school) at either USF or UCF.</p>
<p>UF does give needs based aid. You may want to apply to all three schools (and possibly FSU/FAU) and then compare aid packages.</p>
<p>Thanks, I probably will do that! One thing I noticed about UF in particular is their application fee isn’t super expensive. I think I saw on their website that it’s only $30. I’d like to apply to 4-5 schools so I have some options, but if they all cost $100 or more to apply, that gets really expensive.</p>
<p>Another thing I read online when going to a PhD program is that smaller schools are better for undergrad if I’m trying to get research in while I’m a student. UF has so many students that some people say finding research is difficult. USF, UWF, UCF, and UM however have smaller numbers of students so it may be easier to get in research time.</p>
<p>Yeah USF, UCF, UF, FIU, and FSU all have over 30,000 undergrads. UM is probably our of the question since the scholarship only applies to state schools it seems. </p>
<p>UNF, UWF, FGCU, and New College of Florida are the smaller public schools. New College is very small if that’s what you want.</p>
<p>Though if you get into an honor’s college at the big schools it probably can help you get research.</p>
<p>For the California publics, absolutely not. But, depending on your financial situation, Stanford and USC might provide some nice need-based aid to make it worth an app.</p>
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<p>It’s extremely easy for grad students to receive California residency for the second year of their grad studies, even if they have never set foot in the state prior to starting grad school. Regardless, PhD programs are funded anyway.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would jump at the chance to attend UF for free (or close to it). If you really want to be in a larger city, apply to FSU, UCF, USF as well and then see what happens.</p>
<p>Your interests may change with time, but if you do decide on grad school in these disciplines it should be funded. Make sure you get involved with research during undergrad.</p>
<p>Don’t take anything you read at face value (including this post).</p>
<p>Of the top 10 US Universities by Enrollment, UCF is number 2 (right behind ASU), FIU is 7, while UF is 8(49-50K). USF has about 47K in enrollment. UF has the most (overall) $ for research, but it’s also the most competitive. </p>
<p>You should look into each of these schools, to determine which ones do research in your chosen area : pharmacology, chemical engineering, or chemistry.</p>
<p>Although the Bright Futures scholarship is mainly for state schools, the University of Miami accepts it. If I could get enough need-based money, UM is still an option.</p>
<p>How does need-based work? My family isn’t rich, but we aren’t low income either. My step dad is a civil engineer and my mom is a middle school teacher with a combined salary of ~$120,000. However, I have 3 siblings (ages 18, 16, and 13) who will all be attending college basically at the same time as me which is why we can’t afford to just pay for UM, Stanford, USC outright - or at all, really, without need-based funding.</p>