<p>I'd love to attend and feel that it would be a great school for me, but money will be a problem (EFC of 15k). I am almost certain that I will be a NMF so I know that covers 30k of the price but that still leaves about half. I do not feel like I have much of a chance at the full tuition scholarship (34 ACT, 3.98 UW GPA, hard classes but not many great ECs), so I was wondering:
How much would you say the average biology co-op pays?
Are co-ops a reliable way to pay off the high price?</p>
<p>Biology co-ops will be very low compared to business and engineering. I would not count on them as any source of money. They will hopefully pay for your room and board while on co-op. I have heard they are around $10-15 an hour, probably on the lower end of that scale.</p>
<p>That said, you do have a chance at a solid amount of merit aid. Between that and NMF, assuming they can be stacked, you may be able to cover the cost. It would certainly be worth the application.</p>
<p>Also, I think you have more of a shot than you think at University Scholars. Top test scores, GPA, and rigor gets you some very good consideration. Even without top EC’s, a good essay could seal the deal.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I did not realize that bio co-ops would pay that much less but oh well</p>
<p>Since you do have to pay room and board on co-op, even the higher/highest end ones ($20-25 an hour) won’t cover too much tuition. Your best bet is merit scholarships / university scholars which you have a very reasonable shot for. Best of luck!</p>
<p>What is a typical co-op wage (hourly & total earnings for each co-op) for a D’Amore McKim International Business student (Chinese). My son & I are running numbers & trying to assess loans we will need, but not sure how much to predict for co-op earnings.</p>
<p>It is impossible to predict co-op earnings and also the cost of room and board if you end up not living on campus during co-op. I would say leave co-op out of your calculations - assume you break even during that time - that your wages will cover your costs during those periods you are on co-op. </p>
<p>Don’t forget to include summer sessions - most 5 year plans include attending classes for two summer sessions (both tuition and dorm costs for a summer session are 50% of a fall/spring session).</p>
<p>Thanks kiddie. That’s helpful & in line with what we were planning, which is enough to cover R&B during co-op. The summer sessions you mention, are they a full semester? Why are they 1/2 price. I don’t recall them mentioning anything about summer sessions being cheaper at the welcome event. Can you clarify?</p>
<p>The summer is actually broken up into summer 1 and summer 2 - summer 1 runs May-June and summer 2 runs July-August. During one summer semester you take only 2 classes (8 credits) instead of 4 classes (16 or more credits) in 2 months (instead of 4 months) so each summer session (1 or 2) is half the price (no discounting - 1/2 the price for half the time). Typically you do one summer semester as classes and one summer semester as co-op (since the co-ops are a full six months they encompass both a full term and a summer semester). </p>
<p>When you are doing a co-op, you pay for your dorm room (if you live on campus), you will pay for a full term of dorming and then a summer semester of dorming (again charged at half the full term rate since it is 2 months instead of 4 months). </p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Most of the programs are 8 semesters, spread through 5 years with 3 6-month coops. So while you do have the summer sessions, they add up to the 8 semesters of classes. You only pay tuition when taking classes, not when on co-op. </p>
<p>Some students manage to get a coop near home so they can bank more coop $$ if not spending on room and board. However, if your student is in an off campus apartment, they would still have to pay the rent, unless they can line up a subletter. </p>
<p>@kayvin my son earned enough from his first coop that he was able to pay his living expenses for the entire school year this year-but he made quite a bit more than $10 and he lived at home in May and June and commuted since the coop was within commuting distance-long but people do it every day and it was another learning experience.</p>
<p>Boston is a very expensive city to live in the rents are insane-if you could cover living expenses while on coop I think that would be great I wouldn’t count on it paying any tuition for those times you are taking classes.</p>
<p>He is a Math major I do believe he has told me the business coops generally pay more than the sciences.</p>
<p>That pay difference definitely exists. And even my friends who are on the business side of things say it’s ridiculous that they will sometimes get paid twice as much and do WAY less work than us science people. But hey, that’s also how the real world works!</p>
<p>Hey now my son did actually work hard! :)</p>
<p>I worked for a bulge bracket investment bank for my second co-op, made $35,000.00+ (70k annual pro rata). </p>
<p>Some co-ops evidently are unpaid. Business co-op are always paid. No idea about bio co-ops, but others hired alongside me in finance varied from engineering to mathematics majors. Depending on your professional interests, it would be feasible for you to interview for co-ops outside of your major if you’re persistent enough.</p>
<p>Just to let you know, scholarships can’t be stacked with NMF, unless you’re a Scholar in which case that would replace the NMF scholarship. Also, be careful about assuming that NMF gives 30k because just last year, it was full tuition.</p>
<p>How much do you think a coop at Genzyme, Cubist or any of the major pharma companies pay for co-op?</p>
<p>My guess is in the teens, probably $13-18/hr.</p>