<p>I got accepted to St. Olaf regular decision and Notre Dame early action. However, I was a finalist for the Buntrock Scholarship from Saint Olaf and am expected to get that (which is $18,000 a year). I will not get anything from Notre Dame. Since both schools are around $50,000, should I go to St. Olaf or Notre Dame?</p>
<p>Oh ya I am planning to do pre-med and I am undecided as far as a major goes. I am considering possibly business, mathematics, computer science, or (a little less likely) engineering of some sort.</p>
<p>If you are pre-med you want the cheapest decent undergrad degree so you aren’t already up past your eyeballs in debt before you even start med school. Will this scholarship make it possible for you to graduate from St Olaf with no more debt than the total permitted with the Stafford Loans? </p>
<p>There are nifty calculators for this kind of stuff at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) Run both offers through the one for award letters, and talk the results over with your parents.</p>
<p>I am not entirely sure, but I know that St Olaf will obviously be cheaper. The thing I am not sure about is if I don’t end up doing pre-med after all and go to either engineering, business, or computer science.</p>
<p>Have you talked about the money with your parents? Do you know how much is available for each year? If not, you need to do that now. It might be that St. Olaf isn’t affordable at all even with the scholarship.</p>
<p>What other options do you have?</p>
<p>St. Olaf has a wonderful, very well regarded program in math with strong CS. Pre-med is solid and will work as well there for you as at Notre Dame. </p>
<p>But if you have interest in possibly majoring in business or engineering, these are obviously not options you’d be able to exercise as you would at ND. You can pursue an engineering masters from a hard science BS but this may prove ultimately a more expensive path. You can certainly go into business from an economics, math or CS degree but ND connections to industry will be much stronger than Olaf’s.</p>
<p>The difference between small town LAC and D1 sports uni goes without saying. Don’t know where you’d fit in better. Both have very happy student bodies and dedicated alums but remember self-selection.</p>
<p>$72,000 is big-time $. If you were more certain about med school and/or math/CS I’d tell you to take the money and become a proud Ole. But make sure, given your particular interests, you won’t regret limiting your options.</p>
<p>A friend is a noted Cardiologist whom also is a St. Olaf alumnus. So the pre-med program must be pretty good.</p>
<p>Thank you for some of the responses. Those two colleges are my two top options, but I am also slightly looking at Creighton and the University of Minnesota. I am also waiting on admissions decisions from Princeton and Stanford. Overall, I am pretty sure I would like to do pre med, but I though it would be nice to couple that with an engineering or business degree. So I am wondering how much difference it would make if I decided not to go to St. Olaf, an LAC, that does not have the same programs a university offers.</p>
<p>Take a closer look at Creighton, if you are seriously considering premed. Creighton has an affiliated medical school unlike the other schools you are considering. Creighton will likely also be cheap if you are getting scholarships at St. Olaf.</p>
<p>*Creighton will likely also be cheap if you are getting scholarships at St. Olaf.
*</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>If the student hasn’t applied to Creighton at this point, how would it be cheaper than Olaf? Wouldn’t that require the student to take a gap year and reapplying?</p>
<p>U of M Twin Cities is potentially cheaper (even w/ the St. Oly scholorship) and at least of the same level of St. Olaf academically. It also has the most options for concentration/major as any you are considering. Also, it will be more fun if you are looking for more of an urban setting, college sports, etc.</p>
<p>Oh, and UM has a fantastic medical school and undergrad research opportunities.</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Do we know if the student applied to UMinn??</p>
<p>My child is in same situation – Math or premed major, top merit scholarships at U of MN, Creighton and St. Olaf. Almost nothing from NDU. We have one week to decide. Is Notre Dame worth the cost?</p>
<p>I have no opinion about the sciences at U of Notre Dame, but St. Olaf and Creighton’s life sciences departments produce successful pre-med students. And UMinnesota-Twin Cities’ overall reputation is strong.</p>
<p>Just my opinion, but I think Minnesota is much stronger than Notre Dame in math, and in bio sciences, and in computer science, and certainly in engineering. Business I’d give to ND, but Minnesota’s business school is also quite strong. But it’s a very different kind of campus experience, and you need to decide for yourself how much that is worth to you.</p>
<p>St. Olaf is a very good school and worth saving the 72K for.</p>
<p>Thank you for responding everyone. I have determined I probably will not do engineering. Coupled with pre-med, it might be too much. Also, I most would not go into a specific business field (accounting, finance, etc.) as I am not actually planning on going into the business field. Thus, my options for majors are math, computer science, and economics with a pre-med track. </p>
<p>I recently visited Notre Dame, and I loved it. The experience was great, and I really liked the Catholic environment present there (with relatively religious students and frequent religious and service opportunities). Is this something that is not as present at St. Olaf? Will it be harder to find those opportunities? Are the students less ethically sound there? I don’t think this is the case necessarily, since many students do not exactly follow ethical standards at Notre Dame either, but it is just a concern.</p>
<p>Anyway, I loved Notre Dame, but I also loved St. Olaf. I am finding it hard, especially with ever-increasing college costs, to turn down $72,000 to a school where I am comortable and I enjoy. On the other hand, the prestige of Notre Dame and its name are also hard to turn down. Is there any input you guys can give me at this point? Just a little help while a try to make my decision. I know this is all me, but I would just like to receive some advice.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Are you serious? The name of the school is SAINT Olaf. While it is not Catholic, it is a school that respects religious faith including non-Lutheran faiths. There is a daily chapel service. A selling point of St. Olaf is that the students are of high integrity and look for opportunities to serve the greater good. I don’t know about Notre Dame, but it is hard for me believe that it would have an advantage in the overall ethical behavior of its students.</p>
<p>Rushthetrees, As someone who has gone through the entire medical school admissions process and been accepted to multiple med schools this year, I can tell you with full confidence that undergrad prestige has essentially no impact on medical school admissions. I had an opportunity to go to ND myself and chose a different less prestigious(Jesuit school) that was half the price of ND and I believe it was one of the better decisions I have made in life. ND is a very special place and was incredibly difficult to turn down. I loved the school when I visited it and it was my top choice, actually. I would have had to pay close to full sticker price to attend though as they offered me no scholarships. However, I will now leave college debt free (thanks in part to generous parents) which is important for one who plans to go to med school where you can expect to take out more than $150,000 in loans. </p>
<p>So, if your parents are incredibly generous and able to pay for the ND education, then go for it knowing there is no inherent advantage. Otherwise, I would recommend going to a school in which you will be happy (which is most important) and relatively cheap. It sounds like some other schools on your short list such as Creighton and St. Olaf will offer a similar type of atmosphere that is found at ND.</p>