<p>I am also considering U of Delaware, but my application, because it was missing something, will take another week to process. And I have acceptances to both UCLA and UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>This is a tough one. Since you asked about Tulane, USC and Roch. in the title, I will assume you find those the most interesting.</p>
<p>If it were me, I would be narrowing it down to Tulane and USC. Rochester didn’t offer you much money, and obviously the weather is hugely better in New Orleans or LA.</p>
<p>Between those two schools, there are quite a few differences, mostly non-academic. They are academically similar in terms of the quality of the student body. USC is about twice the size of Tulane undergrad, and has more large intro classes. Obviously the sports scene at USC is one of the best in the country, scandals notwithstanding. The neighborhoods around USC are much more run down than the ones around Tulane, I would say the campus environment at Tulane wins on this one.</p>
<p>The only real answer is for you to decide what is important to you as a living environment, because you will get all the educational opportunities that an undergrad can typically handle at either school. Once you figure that out, pick the school that fits that best and go there.</p>
<p>Actually, it makes more sense to write about YOUR net cost than the amount you’re being awarded by any particular school, since costs of attendance may vary. Be careful that the budget the school is using accurately reflects travel & other expenses, as some school do low-ball those amounts so comparisons are a bit tougher. Room & board can be very different in different parts of the country (e.g. CO is much cheaper than LA).</p>
<p>by LA you mean Los Angeles, not Louisiana, lol.</p>
<p>xxabii - I do understand the component of human nature that leads to the statement about ranking. I can only tell you that would be a big mistake to give into that, which I think you know already or you would have decided already for Berkeley. I can point out that the USNWR rankings contain some very suspect parameters in their methodology. For example, 25% of the score, the largest part by far, is peer assessment. Now who do you think has more general awareness out there, a big time sports school like USC or Tulane? People will say it is based on the assessment of the academics at a school by others in univerisities and so that plays no part. BS. Besides which, some university administrators have already admitted they screw other schools in their assessments. It is just so much hooey to sell magazines. If you go by the one thing they cannot manipulate, test scores of incoming students, Tulane would rank about #30, very close to both USC and Berkeley. Anyway, those are endless arguments. Your plan of going to Honors Weekend and seeing what you think at that point is by far the best way to decide. Have a great trip. While you are there, try to randomly engage students and professors. That will help give you an idea of what to expect if you decide to attend.</p>
<p>How wonderful for there to be such great options on the table. It sounds like you have used very sound reasoning to have Temple & Penn State as your top two choices. Good luck–you will make a great choice that you will be happy with! Congrats & you will have extra funds in case school takes longer than anticipated and/or grad school. Please remember that many students DO take longer than 4 years to graduate.</p>
<p>xxabii - A lot of people argue just the opposite. But who knows, I think if you do very well with GPA and MCAT pretty much anywhere, you will be fine. I know Tulane posts stats for people that get in having such and such a GPA with such and such an MCAT. Maybe they all do that. Take a look if you want. Might help, might not.</p>