thanks @momofsenior1
Thanks @tk21769
Great idea about the net price calculator.
I will ask my parents to run this interested college.
Blessed, why are Duke, Michigan-Ann Arbor, Northwestern and UPenn not on your list of reaches? They make more sense than most of your existing reaches. Columbia, CMU and USC are not known for their BME programs. Northwestern’s absence is especially intriguing given its proximity to your home (you said you are a resident of Illinois), and its awesome HPME program.
I agree with Warblersrule, Brown’s PLME program is awesome.
And why is UIUC not among your targets. Again, as your state’s flagship public institution, UIUC would seem like an ideal target.
thanks @Alexandre
I didn’t choose Duke, Northwestern and UPenn - because they are requiring subject tests.
and I heard they are very stingy in GPAs & don’t give any scholarships / grants.
Michigan-Ann Arbor - don’t give any scholarships / grants & stingy GPA.
since those are really good in BME, they have rigor curriculum and hard path for med school.
But I am considering Michigan-Ann Arbor & UIUC.
I want to go to decent BME with not stingy / less rigor school.
blessed, Penn, Northwestern and Duke do not require subject tests…although the HPME program at Northwestern does. And their Financial Aid packages, assuming they are need-based, are usually quite good.
Michigan has improved when it comes to financial aid, and also has merit-based scholarships for students of your caliber.
As for stingy GPAs, I think it is overstated. Some schools are slightly stingier than others, but generally speaking, all top universities will be challenging.
But they recommend them, which gets back to my earlier post (37) above.
Wisconsin will cost you $53k/year. You are very unlikely to get any type of aid.
thanks @Alexandre
Definitely I will look into Duke & UPenn. will try my luck with Mich-Ann Arbor
thanks @Eeyore123
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Wisconsin will cost you $53k/year. You are very unlikely to get any type of aid.
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totally agree with this. My similar stats seniors got only less than 2K in grants.in UW.
Yes “recommend” is only for exceptional cases.
most of the cases they expect.
Seems like you have the tail wagging the dog here. I say that because it seems like the tests you’ve taken are shaping your school selection and you express willingness to change your career goals if you end up at MIT (where you might not have the GPA needed for med school) in which case you’ll switch your goals entirely. That seems backwards to me. You’ll probably be happier by first considering what type of school is the best fit for you. Not in terms of credentials but in terms of day to day aspects of the school-it’s size, located in a city, suburbs or country, big or small, etc. Then consider various topics you can see yourself studying and goals you want to work towards (like med school, for instance). Then choose schools that offer the full breadth of topics you might end up focusing on. In short, you want a school where you’ll thrive while there and that will get you where you want to go. Once you are clear on those factors, choose the schools that fit and then evaluate the extent to which you have the credentials that would suggest it is a realistic choice and consider how realistic each school is from a financial standpoint. This approach, which seems the opposite of the way you’ve approached things so far, will ensure that every school on your list is a good fit.
I see a lot of referencing of affordability in the thread. That is a dicy issue but as I’m sure you know, many of the top schools are both need blind and promise to meet full need. Now there is a difference between need and want-and this may differ between a school and parents-as some parents may not want to spend as much as the school thinks they can afford. But if the issue is affordability, those schools that say they will really do meet student needs. Thus I would consider that variable and if affordability is an issue, look at the schools that promise to meet need.
One last point, I disagree with someone who suggested that the schools will be comparable in terms of rigor. That isn’t really true-and which are more rigorous may also depend upon the match between what is required and your skill set. Rigor is also influenced by the typical student credentials of each school. Even engineering courses will be a bit less rigorous at schools with students with more varied backgrounds than at those with less homogenity in terms of backgrounds in science and math. On average, engineering and math/science courses at schools like CMU, CalTech, MIT, are likely to be more rigorous than they would be at, say, Brown or Dartmouth where student backgrounds will not be as uniformly strong in math and science.
Don’t let test scores or GPA determine your life path.
thanks @lostaccount
Great points.
When I visited schools in last spring I kinda liked schools in suburbs than urban settings. I liked semi urban too.
I am not a fan of very big schools like UW, UIUC, Mich-Ann Arbor.
I like private schools small/medium sized (5-10K students) in suburban or semi urban or country.
for e.g. UW Madison, Minnesota, UIUC, Mich-Ann Arbor will be my last options.
I know its completely switching gears from med-school to engg school.
I am seeing the reality. If I go to MIT/Caltech kinda schools, I will probably spend all the money in undergraduate and may not have enough to spend for medschool. This is going to be a very interesting challenging year for me.
I am still positive on going to medschool (which I like the most). I will probably add some schools for BSMD programs.
Thanks again