<p>Ok so I am a senior in high school who is pretty confused! So I didn't get into any extraordinary schools and I have narrowed the universities i did get into down to 4. University of Rochester, Boston college, SUNY Binghamton, and SUNY stony brook. I am looking to do premed and want to focus a lot of my undergrad on research. Financly, stony brook is essentially free for me with scholarships and Binghamton, Boston college and university of Rochester are each about 20,000 (+/- a few thousand) I'm confused as to which university will give me the best opportunities and give me the best chance to get into med school. And also, which will be the best value. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!</p>
<p>Wait! I also got waitlisted at WUSTL, is it worth waiting on that???</p>
<p>Well, I’m prejudiced towards UR since I have a kiddo there and she’s had really wonderful opportunities. But I do have one caveat about UR: fully 40-45% of each year’s incoming freshman class declares themselves as “pre-meds” so the competition in the freshman science classes will be brutal simply because there’s so many kids all chasing so few A’s. </p>
<p>But the truth is you need to choose the school that gives you the best financial package. </p>
<p>You need to look at the final price tag and how much debt you/your family will need to take on for each of your colleges. With very few exceptions, there is no grant aid for med school. (Believe me, I know, I have one in med school.)</p>
<p>Can your family afford $20,000/year without taking out large loans to pay that amount? (By large, I mean in excess of Stafford loan limits of about $6000-7000/year.)</p>
<p>If the answer to that question is no, then you should go to StonyBrook and be thrilled that you’re getting to attend a good college at wonderful price and will graduate with no debt.</p>
<p>If your family can afford the $20,000/year, then your choices come down more to fit and personal preferences. Truthfully any one of the colleges you listed will give you a fine education. And at every school, there are opportunities. Just at some you’ll have to work a bit harder to find them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unfortunately WUSTL is one of the schools that doesn’t make their Common Data Set public. However, they are well known for WLing many applicants; and not just the past year or so like other schools, they’ve been doing it for as long as I’ve been around CC.</p>