<p>I'm a 1st semester Community college student. I plan to transfer for fall 2011. I'm interested in pre-med/pre-law. What do you guys think of these schools?</p>
<p>I got into U Pitt but couldn't afford going.
I'm also thinking about applying to some private schools in the state of PA.
How are albright, washing and jefferson, dickinson, and muhlenberg?</p>
<p>West Chester has a nice campus, but the cost of housing may be high if you are not living on-campus.</p>
<p>E. Stroudsburg attracts many out of state students because it is so close to NJ. They are in the middle of a construction boom, including new student residences.</p>
<p>If there is anyway to make Pitt affordable, I would try. I think there would be a better chance of getting into med school from Pitt than from the other public colleges. Also, if you decide to study another health care field other than becoming an MD, Pittsburgh is a great place for it because it is such a health care education center.</p>
<p>Albright is not very selective. Muhlenberg has many pre-med students.</p>
<p>As charlie stated, Albright is the least selective of the privates you listed, but stat wise it is on par with East Stroudsburg and slightly under Slippery Rocks avg SAT. I think Albright could bode well in the hunt for merit money.</p>
<p>Dickinson has limited merit for transfer students (max $15k).</p>
<p>edit: Don’t forget to check the 4 and 5 year graduation rates at each school. A complaint heard often is that many publics have low 4 yr grad rates and in the end the cost of 4 yr private vs 5 yr public is cheaper. I don’t think a blanket statement of private vs public fits all, so I urge you to ask inidivual admission officers for the actual percentage of the schools before applying.</p>
<p>Yea my grades were average.
High school top 33% 89 GPA, 1860 SAT, no extra currics.</p>
<p>Yes, the graduation rates for regular public universities is often low. </p>
<p>I wonder how much of that is because: </p>
<p>a) the students need to work more hours or take a semester off to earn more money because they often come from lower income families, </p>
<p>b) the students are more likely to change majors than someone going to a prestigious college who always knew they were going to law school, or </p>
<p>c) the colleges have poor advising and don’t make the courses available in the sequences and frequencies that are needed to graduate on time.</p>
<p>In the last year, I’ve heard more complaints about “c)” because of budget cutbacks.</p>
<p>If Pitt, a fine publicschool, is too expensive, why would privates be affordable?
In any event, some good privates to consider are Susquehanna, Elizabethtown and Lycoming</p>
<p>Because I’m applying to private universities that offer 90-100% of need based aid.
I’m looking at American University, Syracuse, Boston, Lafayette, Dickinson, and I’ve already applied at Albright (only because they had a free app).</p>
<p>With my stats:
HS GPA - 89
HS RANK - 129/420
SAT - 1860 (M/CR/W) 640/600/620
Do you think I could get into any of those privates?</p>
<p>Also, I’m about to complete my first semester at my CC, so I don’t know my GPA yet.</p>
<p>I think the schools on your list other than Albright are likely to be reaches and would urge you to check about whether they either offer that high a percentage of need based aid or define it in a way which would yield a final cost below Pitt or Temple’s need based aid.</p>