<p>I live in-state, extremely close to the University of Washington. I go to a competitive high school in the area and getting in is not a problem. Most of the students here refer to UW as their "safety school".</p>
<p>My main question is if I should go to UW and then attend to a better, high-ranking graduate school for chemistry or biochemistry or if I should set my eyes on a competitive school for my undergraduate studies. I plan on majoring in chemistry, potentially doing a double major in biochemistry if everything works out fine. My main motivations for attending UW would be cost, distance, and practicality; in addition, UW waives some classes based on AP test performance, which would help me significantly--I have no particular desire to take more English or French classes, for example, preferring to concentrate on my areas of study.</p>
<p>However, I'm afraid that the quality of teachers at UW will be inferior to those at high-ranking colleges. In addition, I'm worried that UW is not prestigious enough for me to successfully attend a prestigious graduate school after I finish my undergraduate studies.</p>
<p>Any advice on this matter would be appreciated.</p>
<p>If cost is a major issue, what is the difference in cost? Are you planning on med/law school or are you planning on graduate school that is cost-less?</p>
<p>@gapyearstudent, in-state tuition for UW is about 7 or 8 thousand, can’t remember exact numbers. and if Kironide is planning on applying to mainly the ivies or the most prestigious schools, the difference in costs would range from 23 to 33 thousand dollars. about.</p>
<p>and just a bit of information about UW: it’s currently ranked 43rd in the nation, and 11th on the public schools. acceptance rate is 61%</p>
<p>also, my brother, who is currently in San Diego doing his 2nd year of residency, went to UW because of financial issues, (we live in washington) and he pursued medicine and attended NYU for 4 years of grad school. He often talks to me about how his current residency involves working with graduates from Havard and Yale, etc. A grad from UW and a grad from Harvard, both ending up at the same place. Just an example of how saving that 23 thousand dollars would be worth it. NOT saying that it’s guaranteed to turn out this way, but something to consider.</p>
<p>I don’t plan on going into medical or law school, so the cost of graduate school won’t be too high. The difference in cost between UW and Berkeley per year, for example, would be $10,000 at most versus over $30,000.</p>
<p>Edit: Looks like cheekboy34 beat me to it. It seems like the University of Washington would be a good choice for me.</p>
<p>Kironide, i just checked berkeley’s out-of-state tuition, and it’s $30,000 so the difference would be about $22,300.</p>
<p>But, i would research berkeley a little more. I’m also interested in applying there, it’s in my top 3, the only reason for choosing it over UW would be the location, and im pretty sure 22,300 dollars for the cost of living in california wouldn’t cut it for my parents. So i would look into Berkeley’s programs more, possibly scholarships, activites, etc etc.</p>
<p>Wish you all the best.</p>
<p>I would like to correct myself about something. A key reason for going to berkley over UW would be your future job. For me, i’m trying to go into business, and I think it’d be worth it to go to Berkeley over UW especially because all of the prestigious schools have lots of connections with top business firms all over the world. </p>
<p>Another real life example, my dad, a PhD oceanographer and senior scientist that graduated from VIMS, when he looks at the resumes of interns, he pays attention to the schools with the good oceanography programs (UW, for example)</p>