<p>Our daughter has acceptances from UO and UA, both as bio major. Wondering if there any opinions out there that might help us decide. </p>
<p>We are in SF bay area.</p>
<ul>
<li>Have not visited either place but plan to in the next month or two</li>
<li>Climate-wise, UA is probably a better match to home (not sure how important this is in the end)</li>
<li>Ranking-wise, UA seems to have an appreciable difference. Listed as a "public Ivy" and better national (US News) or global (Times, ARWU) rankings</li>
<li>Bigger grant from UA. If we pick UO we'll be paying ~40% more.</li>
<li>UA has a bigger population, but UO is pretty big as well (~30K vs ~20K)</li>
<li>Per US News class size distribution is about the same</li>
<li>4-yr graduation rates at both places are surprisingly low (43%, 37%). Don't know what's going on here</li>
</ul>
<p>Anyway, appreciate any guidance you all can give. </p>
<p>U of Arizona is one of the best places to go for biology. They have a real nice facility called the bio5 that holds many many labs that professors are doing research in. Also I think they have a lot of the classes you take there. One problem is the bio5s location, it’s kinda far from central campus, so if you have a class there be ready to take the bus, bike, or have a 15-20 min walk.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you are in the Bay Area, but I never thought of Tucson as having a similar climate. I am a U of A grad (class of '81 - admittedly a long time ago but I don’t think the climate has changed that much) who now lives in the Bay Area. The winters in Tucson are great. The summers s*ck. The fall term starts in August and it’ll be 110 in the shade. I did not like the desert that much and have not been back to Tucson since graduation. I think of Oregon as having a closer climate to the Bay Area than Tucson, but then I’ve never been to Oregon.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I must have missed this one. U of A is a public ivy? Things must have really improved since I graduated. Back in the late 70’s, it was a party school where upper-middle class kids like me from the northeast who couldn’t get into a better college went to have fun. I cruised to a 3.9 GPA. I thought it was easier than my high school.</p>
<p>Bigger grant from UA. If we pick UO we’ll be paying ~40% more</p>
<p>You must mean scholarship. </p>
<p>Why pay 40% more for UO?</p>
<p>What is her career goal with bio?</p>
<p>What are her stats?</p>
<p>These are big state publics. Both are probably TOTALLY fine for bio. Bio is at every univ…it’s not hard to have a good bio program. …literally 100s of schools do.</p>
<p>Ranking-wise, UA seems to have an appreciable difference. Listed as a "public Ivy</p>
<p>??? Rankings for what? Are UO and UAz ranked that much differently? Aren’t they both mid-tier publics???</p>
<p>I’ve never ever heard UA called a public ivy, but according to this, under the western region, it apparently is, to the people who wrote The Public Ivies: America’s Flagship Public Universities. [Public</a> Ivy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy]Public”>Public Ivy - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Personal experience on this one right now, my DS is a Junior at UofA and loving life in Tucson, we sometimes have problems getting him home, since he is always doing something, going somewhere and can hardly find time to visit parents!. That said he is social and is in a fraternity.</p>
<p>Now specifically I rate UofA and not just because my son is their, its tough to compare to Oregan, since in some ways they do have many similarities, both are large state schools and both have good reps. </p>
<p>I would ignore the party school idea, lots of students have a really great time at both school, UofA is very fun, but also most depts are strong, some very strong, Pre-Med is very popular and many strong scoring students do Honors college and Pre-Med, a number of my sons Greek life pals are Pre-med, it amazes me they find the time to do class and yet last year one went to grad school at Harvard Med and that’s no even uncommon, seems they do have a good success rate at Grad schools, but I think that’s recently been inflated by ‘More’ students going to Grad school for want to the entry level jobs!</p>
<p>I think one key for us was ‘keeping’ that Wildcat scholarship, I think you needed a 3.5 GPA and they have to work to get that, if Fin Aid is a factor ensure they know how to keep the aid for 4 years. They can quite easily graduate in 4 years at UofA I am not sure about UofO, classes are available and the profs in general are good, my son has only one in 20+ classes that was ‘too tough’ or not nice!</p>
<p>As to weather as others note August/Sept is HOT, but they get used to it quickly and they make the most of it, A/c in dorms is good and by October its unbeatable through April, by the time they come home in late May its getting to over 100 again, but since they are in the Library/dorms studying, my son hardly noticed the heat!</p>
<p>Neither is highly selective. Do not be surprised if a lot of students take extra time to graduate due to not being able to handle college work or needing remedial courses.</p>
<p>Be careful of scholarships that require pre-med-level GPAs (>= 3.5) to keep.</p>
<p>She does not want to attend a UC or CSU at in-state price?</p>
<p>Wildcat Scholarship at UA currently requires a 3.0 to keep, not a 3.5. Definitely know the terms of any scholarship offers–a high GPA required to keep the scholarship could be a problem, especially in a difficult major.</p>
<p>Hi all. Thank you for your thoughts. Definitely good to be able to talk this through.</p>
<p>Some responses to the queries posed:</p>
<ul>
<li>Tucson weather is not like the bay area</li>
</ul>
<p>True. However we are inland from the Bay. In the summer we get a couple of months of temps in high 90s; evenings are warm. Not exactly summer in Tucson, but may be close to school-year months. On the other hand, it rains a lot more frequently in Eugene.</p>
<ul>
<li>Why not go to a better/real/in-state school?</li>
</ul>
<p>Apps are in. Reasonable chance but not a slam-dunk. Daughter does not want to go to NE or mid-West. So if things don’t work out, we may be picking UA or UO. </p>
<p>That said, my impression was that UA/UO are pretty ok schools. Your opinions on this point are obviously what this is all about.</p>
<ul>
<li>UA is a party school</li>
</ul>
<p>Wikipedia says in 2009 Playboy ranked UA 5th best party school in the nation so there are four better party schools. Seriously though, I don’t really know what this means. Maybe be ok if the academics are acceptable. Or perhaps it means academics will be challenged because of the party scene.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>UA rankings are not that great.
Wikipedia ranks it as a public Ivy, by the way of 2001 “Greene’s guide”. US News rankings for UA are actually <em>lower</em> than UO (I was wrong about this). But Global rankings are higher… Don’t know how much faith to put in all of this other than a basic guide.</p></li>
<li><p>Why pay more to go to UO as both are mid-Tier schools</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Good question. I don’t know. I was thinking I might get some opinions saying UO is worth paying extra 50K over four years.</p>
<p>If the student is motivated, UA and UO should offer sufficient academic opportunities, despite the low baseline selectivity, since they do get some of the top students in their respective states (mixed with a lot of just ok students). The top students at ASU (roughly equivalent to UA in selectivity and student distribution) do go to top PhD programs and the like.</p>
<p>Hi mom2collegekids. It’s basically the subject she likes and the subject she has done well in. And I suppose the two reinforce each other. She’s probably end up in a bio derivative major. We are awaiting Epiphany. </p>
<p>Can you point to some good on-line resources where I can read up on things like bio-grad-glut etc?</p>
<p>I’m familiar with both, lived in both states and they are both fine big schools with lots of spirit and cool towns. I personally love Eugene Oregon but not to the tune of $40k more. With Oregon you have a slight chance of bad winter weather effecting travel “home” (but Portland is hardly Billings or Pittsburgh).</p>
<p>Hopefully UCB will see your request. He/she has more details on the poor employment prospects for those with bio BS degrees. </p>
<p>One reason there is a glut is that many Bio majors start out as premed and then they don’t end up with the GPAs or MCAT scores that are med school-worthy…or they lose interest in going to med school. </p>
<p>Does she plan on going to grad school?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if high school bio offers that good of an insight into being a bio major. Others can comment.</p>
<p>I would suggest getting a minor in bio and picking a major with good job prospects. How much does she like Bio that she will be happy as a $15 /hr lab assistant? Getting a teaching or healthcare administration masters might be OK options. Nursing/public health could be good bio-intensive majors with better career outlook straight from undergrad. </p>
<p>There’s also more than just pre-med. Pre-optometry, dental, physical therapy, veterinary science, psychology, podiatry, occupational therapy, pharmacy…</p>
<p>I grew up in Palo Alto and attended UO back in ‘83 so I can speak to the campus and weather. My son has applied to UA and although we have not visited yet, I’m thinkin’ it’s more progressive and diverse than UO (although things may have changed). AZ people seem to be much more like Californians. The UO campus is small, so most buildings are within walking distance from the dorms on the edge. Although the freshman dorm is a bit of a hike, but doable. The weather is drizzly and overcast a lot. I have hay fever allergies and Eugene is not the place to go if your kid has the same issue. I felt like I had a cold for an entire month at one point. There wasn’t much to do in Eugene - I think Tucson would offer more. As for the quality of students, UO seemed like the caliber of UC students, rather than CA state school students (I transferred to SJSU because they offered my precise degree, but I was on a similar wavelength to the UO people, although UO academics were more difficult). Frankly, I don’t know why a Californian would want to attend UO, besides the football team.</p>
<p>As for people mentioning UA being a “public Ivy”, I think it refers to the students who are in the Honors program.</p>