I am a California resident but have received a $25,000 scholarship from Case Western, bringing the cost down to less than 10k more than a UC. Similarly, I have gotten into the Honors program at UC Irvine, which gives you priority enrollment (meaning getting classes shouldn’t be as much of an issue) as well as a Regents scholarship for $2500 a year. Overall, if I graduate in four years, Case will cost $38000 more, but it is a renowned school in Biomedical Engineering, where UC Irvine is less so. Additionally, Case has only 4,500ish undergrads, where UCI has over 22000, meaning there may be less research or internship opportunities. Where do you think I should go?
I would say UC Irvine. It’s a fine school plus it’s affordable. Case Western is good, but it’s not 38K+ good.
Biomedical Engineering is too new a field, so the extra money may not be worth it, unless your heart is set on Case Western. Keep in mind, it is highly probably that you will need a graduate degree to get a substantive job or research position in this field. In most cases a B.S. won’t cut it. That being the case (no pun intended) there’s no significant advantage to enrolling at a more expensive school for the B.S. And I like Case Western very much overall, so there’s no bias on my part.
From the Case BME Webpage, FAQ:
"What are the job opportunities after completing the degree? Do students need to have a graduate degree to land a reliable job?
Response: Upon graduation 40% of our students attend medical school, 30% attend graduate school and 30% enter industry directly. Over the last 6 years we have a 96% placement rate, so students are able to find jobs and other opportunities post-graduation."
When you say that Case would be $38,000 more than UC Irvine, do you mean in college loans? Or are there family funds to cover some of that? If the latter, I might be tempted (if I were your parent) to encourage you to choose Case because of the reputation of the program and the size of the undergraduate population (and thus greater faculty attention). If we are talking $38,000 added to student debt, that is a much harder calculation. I’m generally against students going too deeply into debt when they have more affordable options. And if you are planning on going to medical school or graduate school, staying out of debt is even more important.
I agree that you should not take out additional loans to attend CWRU. UCI has a fine program. Plus, coming from California you might find it difficult to adapt to Cleveland winters (which are brutal, not just cold and snowy, but BRUTAL!). But if you really want it and your parents will spend the money, then CWRU is an excellent choice.
The number of undergraduate students is mostly irrelevant, by the way. CWRU has plenty of large classes, and many are taught by TAs, just like public universities.