Out of the colleges I’ve been accepted into, the ones I’m seriously considering are: University of Oregon, Western Washington University, and University of Hawaii at Manoa. I want to major in Biology and possibly minor in Physics. In your opinion, which college is better for that and why? I’m kind of stuck trying to decide, and any advice would help a lot!
“Biology” is rather broad. Have you thought about what area(s) of it most interests you?
Biochemistry / ecosystems / marine biology / microbiology?
If so, have you compared offerings and resources for that area(s)? You might want to check out online faculty bios, program requirements, course listings (and actual offerings in the online semester schedules). USNWR and the NRC post program rankings; they focus on graduate programs, but may help identify areas of relative strength/weakness.
What about net costs? Are there significant differences (enough to matter for you and your family)?
All colleges have Biology so that is not very helpful in narrowing things down.
Things I would consider:
- Net cost of school (including getting home for breaks)
- Is there a type of biology you are interested in as @tk21769 ?
- What do you want to do with Biology? PhD, Med School, ? Is there research available for undergraduates?
- Where do you want to work when you are graduated?
@tk21769 @bopper That’s the difficult part, I’m not entirely sure ?. But as of now I think I’m more interested in the Microbiology & Biomedical side. I eventually plan to get a PhD, so grad school competitiveness is an important factor for me. After I graduate, I plan to work at some kind of research facility. As far as cost goes, they’re all attainable but the cheapest to most expensive would be in this order: WWU, UO, UH Manoa
Take Manoa off your list then. If WWU and UO are relatively close in costs, then compare the degree requirements for both your potential majors and minor. Does the program at one of the schools look more appealing? Look into undergraduate research opportunities at both.