Hi! As college decision dates are approaching, I need help deciding which university I should attend. Your input is greatly appreciated!
2 choices:
UIUC: Applied to bio but got into undeclared (I messed up my essay!), cheaper tuition (half the cost of UW-Madison after scholarships, aid, grants, etc.)
UW-Madison: Got into bio, more expensive
I am having a hard time choosing, because…
a) If I go to UIUC, I would be in their undeclared program, which I am not eager about (I know what I want to pursue). However, it is way cheaper than UW-Madison and is more diverse.
b) If I go to UW-Madison, I would have to take on a load of student loans (it might be worth it, maybe?), but I do get to be in the major that I like. I feel like UW-Madison also cares more about their students, in terms of seeking individualized opportunities for them and ensuring success (whereas I feel like UIUC cares a lot more about their engineering and business students and others who are not apart of those majors are just all mixed into a pot without much help).
Please let me know what you guys think. Your input means so much to me.
What does ‘a load of student loans’ mean? If it’s anything greater than the total undergrad student loan limit of $27K I would not recommend that. Go to UIUC, work hard and get into the bio major.
According to https://dgs.illinois.edu/declaring-your-major , biochemistry, integrative biology, and molecular & cell biology at UIUC are “majors that guarantee admission to students who meet specific criteria”. Unfortunately, the departments’ web sites do not make it easy to find out what those specific criteria are.
Thanks for the info.
Do you know if being in an undeclared program for 1 or 2 years before declaring a major will affect my med school admissions? I intend to go to med school and looking into the future, I am afraid that grad school admissions will see that I was not admitted to a major year 1.
You can be any major and apply to med school, as long as you take the med school pre-reqs. If med school is in your future, you should limit your ug debt, which leads to UIUC.
Contact admissions and/or specific department heads at UIUC to find the requirements for declaring any majors you are interested in.
Med schools could care less about your major (if anything, they like non-bio majors). Go with the cheaper option if you’re pre-med as they are both strong in STEM.