Rutgers SAS Honors (full ride) vs. Emory vs. Case Western

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rutgers University
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I was recently admitted to the Rutgers - New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences (with a full ride, in state), as well as to the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Emory's Oxford College, and Case Western Reserve University (with $28,000/year). The question is: which school should I pick? Here's an overview of my current situation:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>I'm not at all sure on majors/fields of study to pursue in college/graduate school/a career, but feel inclined towards: molecular biology/premedical classes, statistics, economics/misc. business-related fields, physics/engineering of some sort, law-related classes, or some combination of basically any of those (although law-related classes would likely take a backseat to the others).
Basically, I'm planning to enter either medicine, law, or business, and would like to earn an engineering undergraduate degree if possible (although I'd more likely end up with an easier degree in one of the above alternatives), followed (immediately out of undergrad) by either medical school, law school, or business school. In this regard, money is obviously a concern.</p></li>
<li><p>Location doesn't really matter to me, although CWRU's Ohio location does seem a little out of the way, and doesn't appeal to me nearly as much as the other two. I'm not familiar at all with Emory's campus, and Rutgers'es is average in my opinion. </p></li>
<li><p>Opportunities to get into (and still be able to afford) the nation's top (ie. Harvard, Stanford, Duke) graduate programs, especially those in the busiest Northeastern cities is paramount in regards to my future goals - whether it be medicine or law (my preferred options) or business (would still appeal), I sincerely want to go to a school that has at least consistent history with feeding into those graduate programs/being recruited by big-name employers, but without accruing a crippling amount of undergraduate debt (this is where the balancing act involving Rutgers'es full ride, CRWU's half-ride, and Emory's lack of any financial aid at this point comes in)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>I feel that things like academic curricula, social life, etc. are either nearly equivalent (in the former case) or accommodatable (in the latter) enough to not really factor into my decisions nearly as much as the above listed ones. I hope to make the most academically/socially of wherever I go anyways, and am amenable to big, medium, or small schools.</p>

<p>And as I said before, Emory has not given me any aid (I haven't filled out the FAFSA yet but plan to, and was stupid enough to not apply for any earlier scholarships - are there any left?), CWRU has offered me basically a half ride, and Rutgers Honors SAS has offered me a full ride. Money is a big factor here (since I want to enter grad school with little to no debt/financial burden), and my family's ~120k/year income bracket is unlikely to generate much grant aid. Prestige might also matter, though - is the difference between Emory and, say, Rutgers and CWRU big enough to warrant coming out with debt?</p>

<p>Also, I'd like to study abroad (preferably in the U.K. and/or China) for an extended period of time (ie. around 6 months), if that makes any big difference.</p>

<p>Please share your thoughts on this matter no matter what they may be - I am open to all suggestions/ideas! Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Want to get into an elite grad school?
Literally anywhere will do</p>

<p>Want to study abroad?
Ditto</p>

<p>Money is a factor?
In your situation, Rutgers</p>

3

<p>Go to Rutgers, get excellent grades, do research, work hard. </p>

<p>My son’s friend is at Rutgers now, did this, and just got accepted into 2 ivy grad schools. So I agree with altosax. Go to Rutgers, do well, save some money.</p>

4

<p>Realize your full ride in SAS will not transfer to other Rutgers colleges, including Engineering or Business. </p>

<p>Rutgers has a good reputation outside of NJ and with grad schools, so don’t be fooled that it’s a lower tier school than the others.</p>

5

<p>Agree with nj2011mom - be very careful of accepting the free ride - it is to a specific school and not transferable. Therefore you have to know what you want to major in ahead of time. You cannot accept a free ride to SAS and major in Business or Engineering.</p>

<p>I went through this with my son 3 years ago. He was given free rides to SAS, Engineering and Business so I checked it out and was told that once he chose one he was bound to that program. If he tried to change majors the scholarship wouldn’t transfer. He ended up choosing Business and in retrospect definitely made the right choice.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the input, everyone! I’m definitely leaning heavily towards the Honors Program at Rutgers right now. (just for clarification, I received the Presidential scholarships - and presumably Honors admission? - at the SAS, Business, and SEBS schools but was foolish enough not to apply to Engineering). Anyways, if you don’t mind, I have a few more questions:</p>

<p>rualum: out of curiosity, which Rutgers school did your son’s friend attend, and what did he major in? also, if you can disclose it, what category of graduate school was he recently accepted to?</p>

<p>mamajay: I need to know what school I want to enter, but do I have to decide on a major before starting my studies at Rutgers? (forgive me, I’m not too familiar with when one needs to choose a major by, etc. at Rutgers)</p>

<p>and I suppose to everyone: has anyone ever had their Honors acceptance(s)/Presidential scholarship(s) rescinded? I’m not in a perilous situation haha - just curious. Also, what happens if I file the FAFSA sometime this week (didn’t submit it earlier)? </p>

<p>I know a lot of these questions can probably be answered by Rutgers offices, but am somewhat inundated by extracurriculars/final exams right now, so again: I sincerely appreciate any input in addition to the above!</p>

7

<p>You don’t need to submit a FAFSA for a merit scholarship. (D1 has a Scarlet scholarship in SEBS and we never filed FAFSA, as we don’t quality for financial aid). </p>

<p>You need to keep a minimum GPA to keep your scholarship - check the paperwork they sent you to see if it’s every semester and/or cumulative. </p>

<p>Most schools do not require you to declare a major right away, but it is helpful if you are entering with lots of AP credit, so you can start on some electives as a freshman.</p>

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<p>SAS/one of the biological sciences</p>

9

<p>You just have to choose the school now - the business school will ask you to choose a major by second semester sophomore year but even then you’re not bound to it. It’s not difficult to change majors within the schools.</p>

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<p>can I ask what your stats where that you received a full ride at Rutgers. My S just toured Rutgers Engineering and really liked it, his other choice is Stevens but finances are going to be a factor.</p>

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<p>collegenj SAS is going to award scholarships independently of the SOE; they have different criteria.</p>

<p>For SOE (for Presidential), >1450 SAT (they go by CR and M), top 5% of class. Not sure what the cutoff is for GPA or how much they weight ECs, but they do use the SAT score as a cutoff.</p>

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<p>Just to say, those stats are not given to generate a big merit offer. D1 had those stats and received the bare minimum Scarlett Scholarship from SEBS. In retrospect, I wish she/we had done things a bit differently (1) didn’t accept admission 3 days after receiving it in October [you need to look hungry, so they will throw you more] and (2) called SEBS in December to inquire why the offered scholarship was so low.</p>

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<p>njmom not sure if you are referring to my post as I am the only one who listed stats?</p>

<p>I’m just reporting what SOE/honors used for stats the year before. Those figures are only cutoffs ie you had to have >SAT to be in the accepted pool (M & CR may have been >1400, don’t remember). There may have been people with those stats who did not get the same offer. Maybe they applied at a different time, etc. It changes from year to year depending on applicant pool, and it is not the sole determining factor. For scholarships they may include essay, ECs, etc. This is our experience applying to Rutgers for DS2.</p>

<p>It will also not apply to different schools, which is the point I was trying to make. SOE for one year will have different cutoffs than SEBS, than SAS, etc. For example SOE will put a value on the math score they want to see, which may not correspond with SAS. That is why people with similar stats may get different scholarships, depending on which schools they apply to. </p>

<p>The stats I posted is just a ballpark figure for people to gauge their own chances at SOE.</p>