<p>I am trying to decide where to go to college next year, and Ive narrowed it down to 3 options. I was wondering if anyone could give me more information or their opinions on the three schools Ive narrowed it down to. All input is welcome.</p>
<p>Background:
I want to be a doctor, so I am looking for a school that will help me get accepted to a great medical school. I would be a biochemistry major at Notre Dame and Delaware and a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major at Penn State. I also am interested in undergraduate research. Although this sounds like a really dumb reason for picking a college, I absolutely HAVE to go to a school with amazing school pride and good sports teams. My parents have an entire closet full of fan gear from their college. Anyone who knows me knows that more than half of my wardrobe is school apparel from my high school. Im the kind of person who would be a fan for life, and its really important to me to go to a school where everyone else shares that kind of school spirit.</p>
<p>University of Delaware:
Its a good school, but I dont like it and I dont want to go there. Also, as an in-state resident, a LOT of people that I know will be going there, and it feels like 13th grade for me. However, I have been accepted into their honors program and I received a giant full ride, including books and other living stipends. Free is nice.</p>
<p>Penn State:
I've loved Penn State ever since the first time I visited. I like the big-school environment, and Ive been accepted into their very prestigious honors college. Im worried about Pennsylvanias budget cuts; tuition will be raised and programs will be cut if there is $181 million missing from the school. Also, Im worried that Id only be getting the same education that I could at UD but paying extra money. I have small scholarships, but not enough to put a large dent in the OOS tuition rate.</p>
<p>Notre Dame:
I absolutely LOVE Notre Dame. It is such a great school and a great fit for me. I would be totally happy and do very well there. The problem lies in the fact that Notre Dame is very expensive, and medical school is expensive, so Id have giant student loans, and I want to know if the 4 years I get there would be worth the huge price tag.</p>
<p>Notre dame is an amazing school and if you didn’t have to take giant loans I would say go there especially for the spirit and sport teams. But I would choose udel for free over Penn state especially since that will save you money that you can spend for med school.</p>
<p>I concur. Notre Dame does offer an excellent education, but no school is worth $200,000 in debt. You don’t provide a figure for Penn State, but from what you say, it seems like Delaware is the best option.</p>
<p>If you can find a way to make ND work- do it. Loads better than your other two options, and you can’t beat the sports teams. I doubt there is a school in the country that is beloved by students, alums, non alums and subway alums as much as the University of Notre Dame is. The Fighting Irish is the biggest college brand in the country, and youll find fans and alums all over the world that are passionate about out school and teams.</p>
<p>Hell, I just got denied from ND, and as much as I want to go there and it broke my heart to get denied, I’m still posting to get people to go because I love it so much! Your not gonna get that anywhere else that I know of.</p>
<p>If you can make Notre Dame somehow (apply for scholarships!) by all means go for it. If not, consider it strongly because it’ll make you super happy, but I would also say Delaware over Penn State. My friend is also from Delaware, didn’t want to go to UDel at all, haha.</p>
<p>Pre-MED is pretty much the same everywhere, I heard. So, you should just go to the cheapest Undergraduate, maintain your GPA and go to a great med school.</p>
<p>I say, U of D. </p>
<p>I might be going to U of D as well actually. Honors…
But I want to go to UT Austin…but UD gave me a lot of money… I’ll see where I’ll be going. (Sigh*)</p>
<p>So after lots of research, pro/con lists, and the occasional (more like frequent) meltdowns, I decided on Notre Dame because:
-I absolutely LOVE Notre Dame
-The name carries a ton of prestige
-Great football and basketball teams and legendary school spirit
-I would have been one of the top students at the other two schools, and I figured that I would have become lazy and have no motivation to work hard since I was already a top student
-I’m a typical Irish Catholic, and Notre Dame is the Holy Grail of Catholic schools and a perfect match for me
-All three schools have good alumnae networks, but Notre Dame’s is geared towards the powerful, high-up professions (and it’s across the country, not just in “DelaWhere?”)
-I realized that I liked Notre Dame when I visited as much as I liked Penn State, but I went to Penn State on a beautiful, perfect, sunny day in April whereas I visited Notre Dame right after a blizzard, when it was 3 degrees, when all the students were miserable since they just got back to school, and when I was missing spirit week at my school. In spite of it being the worst possible day, I STILL loved Notre Dame</p>
<p>So overall, I decided that the value of a Notre Dame education completely outpriced the cost of attending. I’m a proud member of the class of 2015 :)</p>