I was accepted to the following schools and i’m not sure which one i should go to. I applied as a Biochem major for all of them. I’m currently thinking about going into med school, and so i guess my biggest concern is which one of these schools will make it easiest to help me get into an elite med program for grad school.
U of I- James Scholar, Biochem major, instate tuition, but still alot. U of I is not giving me any money, so it’s all loans. If i went here i would try to transfer to biological engineering as a sophomore.
UW Madison would cost around 10k more than U of I, and i would do Bio there.
Northeastern- Biochem, and in the honors program. It would cost me 15k less than U of I and UW Madison, but i’m not sure if it has the same level of name recognition as the other schools.
I’m just really confused because these are all good schools but i’m not sure if the money saved at northeastern is worth the less name recognition compared to the other two, but maybe i’m just biased because of my midwestern perspective.
I live in the northeast (and attend Northeastern), and I have no clue what U of I is referring to. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana? Total guesses. And Northeastern is very well recognized in my area in NY. So it’s definitely a regional thing. If you want to live in the midwest, I’d say attend one of the schools recognized there. If you plan on moving, NU is a great choice. Though I don’t have any stats about med school placement, most students I’ve heard have said that the co-op program and having 12-18 months of full-time work in hospitals or what have you on their med school application was extremely helpful.
I guess i’m just kinda confused because Urbana has one of the best undergraduate engineering programs in the country, whereas from my research i can’t say that Northeastern is particularly well known for biology or biological engineering, though maybe as a student you could shed some light on that? Any insight you have would help alot
I feel like you’re not listening to me… I have no familiarity with U of I whatsoever. I am sure there are SOME people in my region who have but NU is definitely more recognizable where I live. Our engineers do really well because they are able to graduate with extensive work experience on their resume, and engineering is one of our biggest programs. They’re currently building a new interdisciplinary science and engineering complex to open fall 2016, and I think we will officially have the biological engineering major available within the next year or two. And like I already said, from what I’ve heard our students enjoy the co-op model because it gives them an advantage for med school applications. Quite frankly though, it sounds like you don’t care for NU, nor do you believe it’s a school of high quality, so I would say fork over the extra money to go to one of the other schools because nobody does well in an environment where they think they’re too good for the school.
If you’re going to medical school, I say save the money because med school is really expensive. The name of your undergraduate university will mean little in the long run, and it’s definitely possible to get into top med schools from northeastern - I know someone who is currently doing his md/PhD at Harvard. Biology is also the biggest major in the College of Science here.
For what it’s worth, I’m from Wisconsin and also looked at UW Madison. Most people at home think northwestern not northeastern when I say where I’m going, but I think you’re putting too much stake in name recognition.
Name recognition doesn’t really matter in the general population, it only matters what medical school admissions officers think. And as it’s been previously stated, having 12-18 mos work experience in the medical field can only help you in your application, and differentiate you. If you are a top student at any of those schools (all of which are very good BTW, so congrats), and you do well on your MCATs, you will have plenty of medical school options. I would echo a previous poster by saying take the lowest price, with the fewest loans, b/c you’ll be racking up debt for the next 10 years.