I am a OOS (NY) student who is starting to look at schools. I visited Clemson a couple months ago and fell absolutely in love. The campus is beautiful and the people are so friendly and can’t complain about the weather. I like the big school style and love the school spirit and atmosphere. The only problem is that even with merit I’m afraid it is still a little too expensive. Lots of EC’s ACT: 30 SAT: 1380 (retaking) GPA: 4.0 and top 10%. I’m looking for a school similar to Clemson also time wise that isnt that much farther away (13 hours). People say to look into U. Alabama but I either want to do health science with PA graduate or biomedical engineering and they dont have either of those. There aren’t many big schools like Clemson in NY and I am looking to go away anyway preferably south. Thanks for your help everyone!
Health Science/PA and Biomedical Engineering are very different disciplines usually not housed within the same school/college within a University. I think you ought to explore a little more and keep your options open.
Maybe check out Miami of Ohio. I think it’s similar in many ways (sports not as big). Similar size (I believe), very nice campus, not southern, but farther south than NY. See where you stand on their merit aid table (last year’s). Note that you can see what you are qualified for, it’s not guaranteed. Note the early deadline for financial aid applicants and also that the school super-scores for Admission AND Aid.
Auburn is similar. Not sure about Health Sciences though. They have a Biomedical Engineering specialization under the chemical engineering major.
NC State and VA Tech would be matches. GA Tech a reach. All are in the ACC (school spirit and atmosphere). VA Tech would be most similar to Clemson as far as college town (Blacksburg) and atmosphere.
University of Tennessee (Knoxville) - SEC
Lesser sports but might be cheap with automatic merit scholarships - UAB (Univ. of Alabama - Birmingham).
No one goes there for the weather but maybe SUNY Buffalo? Rutgers? Pitt?
Advice I’ve seen multiple times on CC is that an undergrad degree in biomedical engineering may be trendy right now, but isn’t the best idea. It’s better to get the undergrad degree in chemical or eve. mechanical engineering and then get a grad degree in biomedical medical engineering if you choose.
You can get biomedical engineering jobs with the chemical engineering degree, but with an undergrad in biomedical, your options are more limited and lower paying. You will need the grad level degree anyway. With chemical engineering (or other) if you are burned out and need a break from school, you can do fine without that grad degree.
Academically UGA is pretty similar!
Look into Wake Forest?
Yes, Wake Forest has a brand new engineering program you should check out – smaller school but still D1 sports.
Bucknell in PA is another smaller school with good engineering. Lots of school spirit and greek life but less focus on sports.
Good luck!!
Alabama is similar to Clemson.
Sounds like you want to become a PA. Not sure why you are expecting a PA program to be at the same school as an undergrad school. Totally not necessary. And not sure why you want biomedical engineering if you want to become a PA. Can you clarify? Silly to rule out of school simply because it doesn’t have biomedical engineering which is a totally unnecessary degree for any career path. And no one needs the professional school to be at the same campus as the undergrad
If you don’t want to be an engineer, as it appears, don’t worry about the engineering guidance in this thread. Though it’s good info for you in general.
You most likely should look to the bio part of the bio engineering. A lot of great pa programs are opening up. All competitive. So get ready by working hard senior year.
As a bio major, it opens up the world for you. Schools that meet your definition and maybe more affordable for you - these are s but bigger but have great campuses, sports and academics - Alabama South Carolina Tennessee ole miss. VAtech. Kentucky. Florida State Colder but really nice environments and Clemson peers like Wisconsin penn state
One school you might want to check out is uri They have a nice campus and great school spirit. And there are two new pa programs in RI just opening.
And if you can get the sat up a bit and use that instead of ACT you may find some merit available at some private schools that meet your wish list too.
Clemson has a very high out of state rate and their merit often isn’t very good. What is your budget
Furman in SC does a lot of merit aid and their science programs are well regarded. My D is finishing up a program at our state’s school of science and math and there are several profs who speak really highly of Furman’s CS and science programs. And a friend of my D just chose it over Wake Forest to be part of a pre-med/health science program of some type, with money.
Very pretty campus in Greenville, SC which is a very cool small city. Culture wise it’d be pretty similar to Clemson but smaller.
about 30K/year @mom2collegekids
Ole Miss and Mississippi State could be good options. They are southern with great school spirit and even better aid packages. You’d have to look into their PA programs, though.
mom2collegekids,
What southern schools (with good science programs) offer the best OOS academic aid for 30-32 ACT and close to 4.0 unweighted grade pint averages. Love your posts and have looked at Alabama and Georgia because of them.
My first thought was Auburn, as mentioned above. The University of Missouri might work with higher test scores, though you’d need to do any PA grad work at the Kansas City campus instead of the main Columbia campus. I’m not sure if you’d want to go as far west as Mizzou, but thought I’d throw it out there. It’s all south to me:)
U of Alabama in Tuscaloosa might not have the specific program(s) you want, but Alabama-Birmingham or Alabama-Huntsville probably do, especially if you’re willing to bend on campus atmosphere.