u of Rochester or Northeastern u?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Rochester
1

<p>please..
i got into both of them, which are my top choices~
im goin to do premed and i know that u of r is very strong on it~
northeastern isnt too bad even tho its not particularly good on it.
but the thing is that U of R only offers me 6k scholarship while Northeastern offers 15k..and their tuitions are abt the same..
i kind of thought location wouldnt matter, but now i realized that location matters a lot~and i kind of like boston~
but U of R is a very gooood school.</p>

<p>wat do u think? which one should i take??
thank u!!~</p>

2

<p>If cost is the same, take U of R hands down for pre-med. Yes, it's tough to beat Boston's location, but Rochester is still a sizeable city with its fair share of things to do, not to mention that U of R, as a smaller university, can give its students more individual attention, without sacrificing research opportunities.</p>

3

<p>Selecting a college is an extremely difficult process and while I can say that no member on CC can make your decision for you I am sure that many members on this forum in particular would side with Rochester (and for good reason too). First Rochester is a small university with dedicated professors and essentially an open curriculum. Furthermore, there is are bountiful research opportunities which is a must for any student applying to any medical school. And while cost might seem like a problem now, think of Rochester as an investment which will pay itself off within months of graduation. Finally the city of Rochester is in my opinion a perfect size with just enough things to keep your entertained for four years. Boston on the other hand is sometimes overwhelming. Oh yeah, Northeastern has a Co-op program which I understand most students take, I don't see how this may play out in your aspirations for medical school. Overall, research both choices and come to Rochester. (I'm not biased at all.)</p>

4

<p>thx both of u!!~
ur opinions really help~
i like U of R and it's been my first choice~and i understand that the research opportunity there is almost PERFECT~
it's just the cost..subtracted from the scholarship, northeastern is way cheaper than U of R. and its the main factor my family is considering. so i have to find more advantages of U of R over that of Northeastern.</p>

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<p>try to get independent scholarships to make up for the extra cost of choosing U of R pver Northeastern-- that way you don't feel as bad when you pass up on the extra moeny :)</p>

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<p>the other thing im thinking of is..what if i dont get good GPA or MCAT score in 4 years in i decide to go to U of R? its just so expensive and risky~</p>

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<p>If cost is a big consideration for you I strongly advise you to call the financial aid office at Rochester and explain to them your situation. Tell them that Rochester is your first choice school and you will definitely attend if given more aid. My friends last years tried this with many schools around the country notably MIT and Stanford and it worked. Also you could say that Rochester is your top pick but Northeastern gave you an x amount of money which may or may not persuade Rochester to match the package. You could also try as others have suggested independent scholarships from your community or school. Students with stats that would earn an acceptance to Rochester can usually win several of these scholarships from my experience (actually no experience at all, just my own really). If in the end the gap is too big than I must sadly say that Northeastern would have your better interests in the financial aspect. Keep in mind though that Rochester students are better prepared for the MCATs and usually have a good chance at medical schools. (Actually I'm biased and made up that statistic but I'm sure if there is research involved you could find something.) Good luck kyky and I hope that Rochester can see you interest in the school and give you a lot more money.</p>

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<p>I too got accepted to both schools (right now I'm decided between Rochester and McGill, though). Here are my $.02.</p>

<p>Northeastern's big deal is their emphasis on the CO-OP. Rochester's big deal is research and a curriculum that lets you explore what you want. Though I'd like to say you can't put a price on freedom, U of R is pushing it, but it's not too bad. </p>

<p>What I'd advise you to do is allow foresight to become a factor. Which University will allow you the most flexibility in terms of prestige in academics (ie, if you find out pre-med isn't really your thing any more and you really like philosophy, which University will still be able to accommodate you with a decent program in such). </p>

<p>As a student who comes from a middle income family who just recently become low income, I'll be paying for my education, and as such I've decided that I won't let money get in the way of 4 years in a place that would allow me to prosper and grow intellectually. A couple thousand difference in debt is nothing in the long run (or maybe I say this because I have dreams of becoming an engineer, and their pay isn't too bad out of college). </p>

<p>If weather's a deciding factor, I can't help you, I don't know enough about either town to declare a winner. If things to do outside of class is a deciding factor, I'd assume Boston would have "it", but you never know what some ingenuity can get you in the town of Rochester. </p>

<p>I plan to visit in a bit, but it's always been my impression that since Rochester is in a more traditional setting, the relationship between the professors and the students have been somewhat more close, in comparison to schools built into cities where once the students are done they get the hell out of class. School should be about intellectual as well as social growth, and it's up to you to decide how you want to go about fostering such. If you're worried that you won't grow fast enough intellectually and get "bad grades", I'd have to say you shouldn't worry to much about a dented recorded at U of R, their generally pretty good at getting kids to Med School (hell, their med's schools got a few notches under its belt of prestige).</p>

<p>I don't know where this is going, I thought I'd just shotgun-spray a response (as you can tell I'm definitely not going to college to be a writer or any sort).</p>

<p>Bottom of the line, I'm a big fan of U of R, and as someone who has the same options open to me as you do, I've completely disregarded NEU even as a possibility. I'm going to college for job training, employers know about U of R, it's academic credability, and the students they churn out; I'd be crazy to pick NEU over U of R (not to mention NEU gave me dick in terms of financial aid, heh). I'm not much of partier, and a city area would be nice, but I'm willing to give and take for the potential of an amazing experience. </p>

<p>With that, I'll most likely goto McGill, but that's a different story. If anyone would like me to continue my rambling, please say so. Until then, however, I am done. </p>

<p>Thanks for listening/reading/seeing.</p>

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<p>thx Yoshi and drmambo~
i didn't know ppl would really give their insightful thought to others who they don't know at all. but i can see, on CC, ppl are great~
drmambo, if u dont mind, can u continue with your story? i'd like to hear and know what's happening and how you will solve problems~
^^</p>

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<p>I think you need to visit each, if possible. I live near NU, and its ambiance is completely different form that of UR. NU has the feel of a big city school and melts into Boston, whereas UR is more contained. My guess is that most students who would be happy at one of those schools would feel uncomfortable at the other.</p>

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<p>Don't worry about the weather - it's just a bit colder in Rochester, but it's not significantly different than Boston. And Rochester has the tunnels that run between buildings, so you don't even have to go outside if you don't want to. Don't know if NEU has that.</p>

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<p>KyKy, to be honest, I don't have much left to respond with. You said you're going pre-med, right? We're both kids, I assume your 17/18 (I'm 17/18), isn't this an odd age to have planned a career path? Coincedentally I too am interested in working with medicine, however my take on the career is a wee bit different. I want to do drug (pharmaceutical) design/research, but I also want an engineering degree (partially because I think the degree will make me more marketable, partially because I really love sciences and what happens when the theoretical starts to become applicable). For me, NEU would offer me an awesome opportunity as an engineer (seeing as the CO-OP is an automatic helper to your resume), but I haven't researched their other stuff to fully guestimate whether they could help me get where I need to go professionally (to drug companies/labs). </p>

<p>My goals/dreams are all subject to change, with or without notice, and I'd be hard pressed to believe that yours aren't as well. I won't copy and paste the foresight bit, but I will add on to it. You'll be spending the next 4-5 years in an institution, you better be damn sure you have fun there because if you can't you'll be doing THIS all over again (instead of the college game, they call it the transfer game). It's ok to play the transfer game, but you should at least plan so that you don't have to (unless your like, say, my brother who plans on using his first two years at college X as stepping stones to college Y)</p>

<p>Here's some more break-down comparative work between NEU and U of R. If you goto NEU, you will most likely graduate in 5 years (thanks to the CO-OP). If you goto U of R, you should easily graduate in 4 years (my interviewer told me that if one was a work aholic, a U of R degree could be had in 2 years, however that was also followed up with the statement that there's a contractual agreement between you and Rochester that you can't graduate until you've spent 4 years there). Another thing that might interest you about Rochester is it's take-five program (essentially a fifth year of study for free). Whats great about the take-five, I've heard, is that almost everyone can apply and get it, and that the only requirement about it is that it has to be a year of study over something you haven't really studied before. So say you do do pre-med, but you've always had a hankering for African Studies, you could propose a take-five plan, get funding, and study African culture from Africa itself (if that sounds stupid, at least you get the idea). The options are limitless for the take-five program. </p>

<p>That being said, aside from the t.f., the other cool thing Rochester does that really sweetend the pot for me was their 3-2 program, which would allow me to get a Bachelors and Masters in Chem. Eng. in 5 years (and for someone that loves academia but needs to finally get out and enjoy the world, two degrees in 5 years is a great opportunity). </p>

<p>I'm not sure how any of this is helping you, but this is just some more of my experience.</p>

<p>Side note - I'm also big into photography (here's some of my work <a href="http://comadivine.deviantart.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://comadivine.deviantart.com&lt;/a> ) so that could also be influencing my decisions (I do nature work, U of R is a bit closer to nature than NEU...but not by much). </p>

<p>Yeah I dont know, this thing has become more tangential (is that even a word?). You and I honestly need to visit both schools because no matter how much I e-rant about college, only your own first-hand experience can help you make the decision. </p>

<p>Also, another big thing you should do: look at the course catalogue for each college...</p>

<p>Good luck, I need to sit down.</p>

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<p>drmambo....if you want to do pharm research/design in the future then you shouldnt leave NEU out of the picture....it has one of THE best parm programs out there (it has a program somewhat like the REMS at UR only for pharm) and although what you want to do is engineering you shouldnt leave that out of the equation......(btw, im not ranting for NEU, i myself was accepted to both schools and decided to go with U of R just because it fit better with what i want to do, but its just that my sister is an alum and i spent the summer there at the Latino center so i kno a 'lil bit more about the school)</p>

<p>further, if you ultimately wanna work at a pharm company you shouldnt discard the co-op program so quickly....consider that Boston is a mecca for the pharmaceutical industry and getting a co-op at one of the pharm companies there while goin to NEU would be a done deal...........im just sayin you should prolly research all your options a bit more before discardin them so quickly (i dunno maybe you did research them all sufficiently, but im just sayin...hehe)</p>

<p>oh and kyky if you wanna do pre-med i would most definitely go with U of R especially since its so easy to do research there (that was one of the major draws in my decision since i wanna do biochem and lab work)......but again its all with how well the school fits with you and you fit in the school......ultimately we're just giving you our opinions and those can't replace a visit to the actual schools.....i would recommend you go see both of them and see which school and city you like best.....</p>

<p>good luck with your decisions!! =D</p>

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<p>I'm actually more leaning towards mcgill than u of R or NEU (but now that I got my aid from IIT, there might be a new contender...).</p>

<p>I'm from Chicago, particularly the northern suburbs which have no shortage of drug company head quarters (Baxter, Abbott, Takeda...), so idk about NEU, but I know IIT still has plenty of pharmaceutical firms around it. </p>

<p>I'm leaning towards McGill because they have a pharmacology minor that I can supplement a chem. eng. major with, and that to me would be great, because at the moment, I'm not sure if I really want to do either, but having those options open are always reassuring. </p>

<p>To be honest, Rochester's claim to fame in engineering has nothing to do with what I want, I just applied because it was pretty strong all around (it's great for optical engineering, but that doesn't really tickle my fancy). I'm always open to change, which is why I didn't mind throwing NEU out of the picture. Say I decided to enroll in NEU's killer pharm program, then decide woops, maybe pharmacology isn't really what I'm all about. Well f*** me, I could've very well placed myself in a situation where my transfer options are somewhat truncated. </p>

<p>Don't get me wrong, NEU's a great school, and Boston's a killer city, however Rochester, to me, seemed like a safer marketing tool. McGill still trumps all three in my mind right now, though, seeing as they too are placed in a pharmaceutical fertile crescent, and academically they're strong all around. </p>

<p>Basically I've given Rochester the spirit award in my three way race between McGill, Rochester, and IIT. IIT's basically offered me a full ride, while the cost of me attending McGill would only be marginally more expensive than Rochester (that's with no aid from McGill). To do drug design, a background in pharmacy work is preferable but not necessarily required. A b.s. in biochem or chem will do, but regardless of the degree, you won't touch anything until you get your Ph. D. </p>

<p>With a engineering degree at least I'll be able to start off somewhere with a somewhat nice starting salary. </p>

<p>man that was a rant and a half...</p>

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<p>lol yep yep....and i just wated to point out some of NEU's finer aspects....but not like it matters im goin to Rochester WOOO hehe......
oh and congratulations on IIT...i wish i could get a free ride =P</p>

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<p>Heh, the free ride is partly thanks to IIT, partly thanks to the state of IL. I didn't mean my other stuff to dog on NEU, but it was obvious that I had a bias somewhere. </p>

<p>Maybe I'll see you at Rochester next year, who knows...Until then, good luck.</p>

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<p>thx drmambo..you wrote so much! and it helped~thxxxxxxxxx!
btw i got into IIT too..but not sure how much money im getting coz i didnt get the packet yet.
anyways..
so i got your points. and they are so persuasive and if i could decide now regardless of the money, i would definitely be going to Rochester. but the tuition and other cost are KILLING me--more than $39k a year. and i dont know if i can take the payoff. also there're ppl telling me that in Rochester, the majority are white--did i mention that im chinese? :) i guess this wouldnt be a big problem. but in boston there're way more asians and groups i can easily fit in. im a quiet person..so im just afraid that it wont be easy for me in Rochester. BUT rochester is sooo good at premed...
i know im being so "in between" and kind of lost. i wish i could just make the decision w/o thinking abt the $$. so i need to talk to my family more seriously ,again.
but ppl, thank you veryyyyyy much!!
i'll let you know what i come up with.
best of luck for all of you~^^</p>

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<ul>
<li><1% American Indian/Alaskan Native

<ul>
<li>10% Asian/Pacific Islander</li>
<li>4% Black/Non-Hispanic</li>
<li>4% Hispanic</li>
<li>55% White/Non-Hispanic</li>
<li>5% Non-Resident Alien</li>
<li>21% Race/ethnicity unreported</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>those stats are from college board-- most schools, at least the ones I was looking into had way more white students, so this rate seems kinda high. </p>

<p>to give you an idea, northeastern's are:
* <1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
* 8% Asian/Pacific Islander
* 6% Black/Non-Hispanic
* 5% Hispanic
* 60% White/Non-Hispanic
* 4% Non-Resident Alien
* 17% Race/ethnicity unreported</p>

<p>so it seems like the university of rochester itself has a larger asian population, though boston I'm sure has a large amount of asians.</p>

<p>Something also to keep in mind is that you'll be spending most of your time on campus at rochester which usually isn't the case with northeastern...</p>

<p>not sure how all that factors in...</p>

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<p>these statistics were from college board's site which is basically the most recent data available on the web, at least that i've ever been able to find...</p>

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<p>Well if you want to be in a diverse area, why have you ruled out IIT? </p>

<p>For as much as IIT spits on their students, they provide a great education at a pretty good price, and in my opinion, there's no other city like Chicago. </p>

<p>Collegeboard.com stats on IIT:
* <1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
* 17% Asian/Pacific Islander
* 3% Black/Non-Hispanic
* 4% Hispanic
* 63% White/Non-Hispanic
* 6% Non-Resident Alien
* 7% Race/ethnicity unreported</p>

<p>Not to mention you have the entire city of Chicago next to it. If you care about the student body, you should definitely keep IIT on you list. Because it's more of a state-school, you get less of the ego-b.s. People are more real, willing to work with you and what not, not to mention you know these are kids who are attending either because this was a reach, or because they're smart but money is tight. </p>

<p>I live around the Chicago area so I've been a bit lazy when it comes to visiting, but I've heard nothing but good things about the caliber of education they can provide (not to mention you'll have great intern/pre-professional opportunities around you...it IS Chicago). .</p>