Hi everyone! I would really appreciate any guidance you could offer here. I was accepted to UF, UM, Smith, and Northeastern. Rejected by everywhere else, but waitlisted at Harvard.
I want to eventually go to med school, and I’d probably major in Biology, Astronomy, or Art History.
I’m trying to decide between Northeastern, UF, and Smith, but I’m having a really hard time. I’m in state for Uf, so the tuition would be a lot cheaper, and I got a merit scholarship of 5,000 a year. I got a 10k/year scholarship to both Northeastern and Smith.
Ideally, I want to live in a city, but I also want to go to a well-respected college that isn’t too big and has lots of opportunities. I like NEU the most, but I’m not sure if I can justify the cost. I can afford it without loans, but I don’t know if it’s worth it compared to the low price of UF. As for Smith, I love the idea of going to a small women’s college, but I also don’t know if it is worth the cost, and I’m afraid it will be too isolated.
So I guess what I’m asking is, is it worth the extra cost to attend NEU over UF? And if not, why?
I appreciate all the help.
If you are planning on med school then you need to complete your undergrad with little or no debt. Graduating with a large debt burden severely restricts your options.
UF has all of the opportunities you are looking for and at a bargain basement in-state rate.
UF is a great med school feeder U. And I agree with @tseliot (great handle!) - if you want to go to med school minimize your undergrad cost. Nobody will care if you graduated from Princeton before med school or UF so long as you fulfill all the prerequisites, have good ECs, research projects and a great MCAT score. All empirical evidence seems to suggest that the exact college you graduated from is possibly the least important factor.
Smith is a Fulbright scholar feeder - different profile. I’m not sure it will have the research opportunities available that a large U will to prepare you for med school. UF has it’s own med school on the campus. Don’t know much about NEU. But purely on UFs rep as a med school feeder, having it’s own med school and hospital, plus instate fees I’d have to say it has to be your number 1 choice.
I got into UM, NU, and UF as well. I am choosing to go to UF due to the fact that it saves a lot of money, so for graduate school I will not be in debt. In addition, these schools all have similar rankings, so UF is the best option here. I am also planning to go into pre-med as well.
Med school is brutally expensive. We have a friend whose child graduated from UF and UF med school. The debt level is breath-taking (med school is where it gets hairy). He got a great education at UF though.
I would not even think of NEU with UF in the pipeline. Way too expensive, even with the scholarship. I don’t know anything about Smith, sorry.
As a Northeastern student who loves it more than anything- UF no contest. If you’re saving for med school it’s a no-brainer. Still a good school, nationally known, but should be feasible for someone of your caliber to knock it out of the park grades wise for your med school application (gotta keep that GPA high!). The money you’ll save will be invaluable, people pay way too much for undergrad. Trust me, if NU didn’t give me enough in financial aid/scholarships to be lower than my state school, I’d be there too. Also, you’ll almost definitely have a fun experience with all the school spirit
