<p>If you got a full ride scholarship to Ohio, why on earth would you graduate early? If you want to ‘explore’ other options, you are doing it for free so why not? Obviously you have to keep your grades up to keep that scholarship but there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to explore other career options as well as taking the pre-reqs for dental school.</p>
<p>Also, I agree with others, the likelihood of making $150-200K for most professions is small and only something you are going to see 20 years down the road. It’s just not worth focusing on a set dollar figure now and get a career that you love. If you truly love what you are doing, you will be able to find a way to make the kind of money you want down the road.</p>
<p>Without question, take the scholarship to OSU. If your parents could easily afford UPenn, it’d be different, but draining anyone’s life savings when a good alternative is free doesn’t seem quite right. </p>
<p>And don’t give up on your dream career. I am a big believer in blooming where you are planted. I came from a tiny public high school in an underpopulated state, went to a second-tier private college in the midwest on scholarship, and ended up graduating from the UCSD School of Medicine and am doing quite well. Why? Because I exhausted every opportunity that came my way. </p>
<p>We’re all college-crazy on these forums. The schools want you to think THEY will make YOU successful, when really it’s the other way around. I read a study last year that looked at kids who were admitted to Ivies but didn’t go because of cost. And those kids did very, very well. </p>
<p>This fall I toured several SLAC’s with my daughter and they all touted their med school admission rates. However, I noticed that those rates directly correlated with the admission stats of the students at the school. For example, Pomona (with their stratospheric admission SAT’s and GPAs) had an admit rate of 90% to med school. Well, which came first, the brilliant student or the terrific school? Experience tells me it is the former.</p>
<p>Go to OSU, apply for their honors program, do research in some prof’s lab, get great grades and exhaust every opportunity that comes to you. If you choose environmental science (my daughter’s interest as well) make sure it is heavy in mathematics- it seems to be the trendy major of the moment so be sure you are the best you can be. You can make OSU into UPenn. It’s all up to you.</p>