Making the College Decision

Colleges and Universities A-Z Case Western Reserve University
1

<p>The time to decide where to go to college is coming up and I have some questions if you could help me answer them.</p>

<p>Thus far, I have been accepted to Georgia Tech, Wash U, Rice, UMich, Case, Pittsburgh, and University of Pennsylvania. Right now, I feel like it would come down to either Penn CAS (Ivy League, offer to do Vagelos scholar program to dual degree or graduate with a masters in 4 years), Case (27.5k trustees scholarship), or Pittsburgh (full tuition).</p>

<p>What are your thoughts?
Will I fit into this school if I'm not too much into partying? if I don't drink?
How is the gym? is there just one big gym for the whole campus or are there individual ones in residential halls. Crowded? will I be banned if I want to do deadlifts?
I am considering biomedical engineering at case, how is it?
Where would you choose if you were me?</p>

<p>Thanks for your time.</p>

2

<p>If graduate school is in your future, choose a school where you know you’ll succeed. I’m from Ohio and I know that Case is known for their superb engineering program, but it’s all up to you. Choose a school where you know you’ll fit and succeed.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the advice.</p>

<p>Can anyone answer some of my other questions?</p>

4

<p>You will fit in if not a partier. Many, many non-party students. There is a gym. Don’t know about “deadlifts” query. </p>

<p>Reality is, this is your decision. How did you feel after you visited campus? Have you visited campus? Have you talked to/emailed biomed profs? Only you can decide where to attend college.</p>

<p>Check out tiff90’s response to similar query on “Case vs Georgia Tech” thread.</p>

5

<p>I’ve visited once, but that was in the summer. I guess I wasn’t looking too hard then but nothing really stuck out to me when I went there. Then again the session/tour weren’t that informative. I’m visiting again next week.</p>

<p>The thing is, I really am not sure of where I’ll “fit.” Basically it’s coming down to whether or not I want to go Ivy and have a Masters when I’m 21 or if I want to take 27.5k a year to go to Case. I’m sure I’ll be well educated and have opportunities either way, but will the networking of an Ivy be worth the extra money?</p>

6

<p>I can’t answer for your decision, but I can offer this. That $27.5K/year scholarship amounts to $110K over 4 years. If you have that saved up in a trust fund or something, wonderful. But if thats being paid by your parents, they’ll have to earn quite a bit more than that before taxes to end up with 27.5K dollars to pay Penn. That may well be equivalent to $37K in earnings before taxes. Also, Case Biomedical is a Top 5 program. A BS/MS in 4 years sounds good too.</p>

7

<p>Will I fit into this school if I’m not too much into partying? if I don’t drink?
–Yes. To put it into perspective, we have a bunch of students running around with nerf guns playing humans vs zombies, and a role playing game where people play with styrofoam swords. There are parties, especially for athletes, CIA/CIM students, frats etc;, but not everybody drinks at parties. There are a lot of people who don’t drink, but many kids who never drank in HS start in college.</p>

<p>How is the gym? is there just one big gym for the whole campus or are there individual ones in residential halls. Crowded? will I be banned if I want to do deadlifts?
–The gym in Veale has 3 weight rooms, 1 with machines, 1 with free weights and benches, and 1 with benches and workout balls/matts. There is a cardio room up stairs which is small, about 5-6 treadmails, 5ish elipticals, a lot of rowing machines and 5 bikes. There is an offcampus gym which is actually on campus, 1-2-1 Fitness, which is like any typical membership gym. They offer work study jobs that include free membership. Also, varsity sports teams can’t reserve any space in the weightroom.</p>

<p>I am considering biomedical engineering at case, how is it?
Hard. Many of my friends are in BME/Civic, and the workload is intense, and it is hard to get A’s. The difficulty is even with any top school, but the rep isn’t. 20% of the students are in engineering, many drop it, but it is a well known program, great internships.</p>

<p>Where would you choose if you were me?
If you aren’t a partier, cross off Pitt and Penn. Penn is a pretty big party school, and I hated the location, it seemed dirty, poor air quality. I love Pitt, great engineering for a public school, you could buffer your GPA and not have to pay a cent. The honors program is great. People at Penn are a bit stuck up, Philly is rougher then PGH or Cleveland. If you can afford to go to case w/o debt, do it. If not, Pitt’s a great deal. A little big, but Oakland is a really fun place. Cleveland is Cleveland, there’s things to do but it is run down in certain places. Case is a nerdy school but with a lot of cool people. The facilities are great, upperclass housing is amazing, the food is good, nice size (always run into people). It really depends on your personality, what your interests are, what you do for fun, how involved you want to be, how social you are etc;. Based solely on Academics, Pitt is the best deal. Based on prestige, Case may edge out Penn in BME, but Penn has a better rep. It also depends if you plan on attending grad school.</p>