<p>Hello everyone. I like to think of myself as an average student, I have a 3.7 GPA (Out of 4.0), received a 600 CR 680 Math 630 Writing on the SAT, and am in all honors/ap courses. I am planning on majoring in physics, and then pursuing graduate studies in Elementary particle physics or astrophysics. The thing is I am having trouble choosing an college/university that will have a sufficient amount of research available to undergraduates, but that is also Cheap. My parents have told me that they are not letting me go to a college that costs more then $25,000-30,000. They also told me that it must be within the Tri-State Area. So I did some research and I came across a few schools that are cheap but also good for the sciences. I came up with:
1) The SAS school of Rutgers (NB)
2) NJIT
3)SUNY Stony Brook</p>
<p>I am wondering what you guys think would be best for me to go to. I really appreciate it, thanks.</p>
<p>Strength in science is only one aspect–which school offers you the atmosphere you are looking for, as Rutgers is vastly different from the others. Do you live in NJ–otherwise Rutgers will be above your price range.</p>
<p>Have you looked into whether a private school would give enough aid to make the net cost affordable? </p>
<p>IN NJ, I think TCNJ, Ramapo and Rowan are also worth a look and perhaps others</p>
<p>I have not looked into the financial aid aspect yet, and yes i do live in NJ. Ramapo only has an Engineering Physics major, so I ruled that school out as an Applied Physics major is better geared toward graduate study. I will look into TCNJ and Rowan right now, Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>Good luck. If your parents have not already done so, there are tools on CC and other websites which they can use to get a decent idea how much a private school will expect them to contribute and how much of the gap between that and cost individual colleges will cover in various forms. Merit aid is separate.</p>
<p>I have heard, for example, of some students having a lower net cost at Fairleigh Dickinson than at Rutgers, because of generous aid from FD. Strong credentials or minority status can boost the amount of aid received.
In addition to SUNY Stony Brook, have you looked at Binghamton?</p>