<p>I’m going back towards Northeastern now. Their study abraod seems way more extenstive than UCLA’s, and I won’t be doing much studying abroad with wuch a high tuition. Northeastern’s study abroad page is impressive, while I couldn’t find any programs on UCLA’s, which might indicate how much emphasis each school puts on studying abroad. </p>
<p>Haha my uncle said he would sell his blood to pay for tuition if his daughter ever got into UCLA… One of my mom’s friends says he’d be willing to become a hobo for it. Goes to show you how the importance of college rankings with Asians. It makes me feel like I’m passing up a huge opportunity if I decide against UCLA now. Personally, I see myself just a smidgen more comfortable at UCLA. I attended a summer program (any fellow CTY-ers out there?) for three years. I spent the first year in pennsylvania. The latter two years I spend in California, and they were significantly more enjoyable. But that could be offset by the idea of so many loans my mom has to make. </p>
<p>I don’t know… Does anyone else have any other thoughts?</p>
<p>UCLA has a really good study abroad program, and they have connections with many prestigious universities around the globe. You can find out about it here:</p>
<p>I doubt northeastern has a better study abroad program than UCLA. But this isn’t something i’d really take into account in trying to figure out a university to attend.</p>
<p>Your uncle spoke like a true Taiwanese!! Indeed, and by all means, you ‘should’ go to UCLA!! NEU is not well regarded AT ALL in Taiwan!!! Unfortunately, Taiwanese do not think like American in general, prestige / ranking means EVERYTHING in Taiwan. Academically, I would say that roughly 6 of Ivy League, 5 of Pac-12 & 10 of Big Ten + Texas are highly regarded in Taiwan. If anything, over 200,000 Taiwanese / Taiwanese American in the vicinity of LA support you!!</p>
<p>Bachelor’s Degree or Higher Educational Attainment
Ethnicity Percent of Population</p>
<p>Taiwanese 73.6%
Chinese 51.8%
Japanese 47.4%
Vietnamese 25.2%
Non-Hispanic White 29.5%
General US Population 28.2%</p>
<p>Nebraska & Iowa (due to their remote location) are omitted by me. Not many Taiwanese attend both schools. Indiana’s Business & Music programs are highly regarded in Taiwan.</p>
<p>Michigan State is well known amongst Taiwanese for its Business, Journalism, Telecom / Comm programs…, etc. Whereas Ohio State is an old brand, the previous central bank reserve official and top Diplomates were / are buckeye alumni. Plus, after President Gee’s visit to Taiwan last year, most Taiwanese now realized that academically TOSU is on the move and most innovative amongst all the top public universities in America. ;-)</p>
<p>P.S. The current Vice President of Taiwan as well as the Minister of Education received their PhD from tOSU. </p>
<p>Yup! And even Iowa is far more respected academically than NEU in Taiwan, the fact that the school is renowned in Medical-related fields, and as the flagship in the state of Iowa. NEU, on the other hand, at least from my experience, a solid 3rd-tier in the state of Massachusetts despite the recent thrives. Besides the Co-op program, I really can’t think of anything that are outstanding, but I do recall that the campus being tiny - worse than BU. Sorry… :(</p>
<p>Which will result in more awe among your parents’ friends:</p>
<p>Undergraduate Degree: Northeastern, Med School: UCLA</p>
<p>Undergraduate Degree: UCLA, Med School: University of Phoenix because you can’t afford UCLA Med</p>
<p>A great driver of prestige rankings are the graduate programs of the individual colleges and universities. If prestige is a tipping point concentrate on where you get in for med school. Med school admissions are about GPA and MCATs. Your parents friends likely won’t care if your undergrad degree is from a prison-based correspondence school if you show them a diploma from Harvard Med.</p>
<p>IMO, if you’re planning on med school go to the cheapest option for undergrad and save, save, save.</p>
<p>I’m not catching onto your humor, vinceh. I’m not putting together the idea that under your scenario, the UCLA grad has to opt for the less prestigious med school. And I understand that you know that U of Phoenix doesn’t have a med school, but if it did, it wouldn’t be cheap because it’s a for-profit, isn’t it? </p>
<p>I’d agree, though, that those aspiring to attend med school should try to “save, save, save” for it, and the OP should therefore opt for Northeastern. A lot of this, of course, depends on his uncle coming up with the funds. Hopefully he’d come up with the funds for M-school also.</p>
<p>Thanks, I’ll keep UCLA’s good study abroad in mind!</p>
<p>It’s definitely true how extreme Asians are about college rankings. </p>
<p>I’m not completely set on med school, that’s just one of the possible routes I’ve considered. Some others I’ve thought about are marine biologist, architect, product designer, and environmental engineer. I’m not sure if that changes your(vinceh) opinion on my situation. If need be, I can graduate from undergrad and get a job to pay off a significant amount, then go to grad school. Not entirely sure how well that works though. Do people do that?</p>
<p>(On a side note, I did get into Ohio State. I liked it, but I liked UCLA more.)</p>
<p>Just as an example, my mom’s friends daughter went to MIT and is now going to Harvard medical school. For her, personally, she is willing to take out those loans as an investment in herself for the education and preference for such impressive names when she graduates. I think it’s quite admirable what she is doing.</p>
<p>Well… You’ll see how admirable it is when she’s graduated Harvard med with 400k in debt.That’s 1,700 + interest for the next 20 years. So more like 2k. Do you realize how much money that is? Even on a doctor’s salary. I don’t find it admirable at all. </p>
<p>Go to NEU, ESPECIALLY of you want to be premed. You should focus on saving money for med school, which is much more expensive and has very few scholarships. Boston has tons of opportunities, and I’m sure you can coop in the science/research/medicine field. Also, Boston itself has a booming biotech industry. </p>
<p>Even if you don’t want to be premed, the coop program will help you get research experience and a job. After all, the point of college is a job, right? </p>
<p>Try to separate yourself from what people think of the reputation, and realize which one has more opportunities to offer you (hint… It’s NEU).</p>
<p>After receiving the official financial aid document, the estimated total coast of attendance for Northeastern is ~56k. So I’d be paying ~10k a year. Is that good? I think I will go to Norhteastern… </p>
<p>Also, I have another question. How often do OOS students to UC schools apply for residency? (Or is it possible?)</p>
<p>drax I didn’t denigrate UCLA. It is a fine school. My point is that medical school is expensive - VERY expensive. Anything that you can do toward husbanding your resources for those costs needs to be encouraged. My second point is that chasing prestige is a fool’s errand. If prestige is truly a factor in the decision process then the OP should concentrate on his/her final academic stop since our what-have-you-done-lately society will ‘value’ that more than his undergraduate nameplate.</p>
<p>To the OP, people have been trying to work California residency into the tuition equation for decades. The state has done a very good job of putting hurdles in a would-be resident’s way. With the ongoing budget pressures in the state I suspect they’ll only be looking for more ways to have OOS-ers pay the full price. Here are two pdfs that detail undergraduate and graduate residency requirements:</p>
Indeed, and by all means, you ‘should’ go to UCLA!! NEU is not well regarded AT ALL in Taiwan!!! Unfortunately, Taiwanese do not think like American in general, prestige / ranking means EVERYTHING in Taiwan. Academically, I would say that roughly 6 of Ivy League, 5 of Pac-12 & 10 of Big Ten + Texas are highly regarded in Taiwan. If anything, over 200,000 Taiwanese / Taiwanese American in the vicinity of LA support you!!</p>
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