<p>ajay–</p>
<p>You are all set. Your file is now complete. You’ll hear from us right around April 1. </p>
<p>brigdencole–</p>
<p>As for the Duke question, that program is not a 3/2. It is a cooperative arrangement between Duke’s Marine Labs and Richmond’s biology department. Normally students would study at Duke for a semester–with prior approval of course work to be taken so that it will all be accepted back as transfer credit. Richmond’s financial aid will NOT cover that experience but our financial aid office could help you apply for loans. Whether or not Duke would extend need-based financial aid to “visiting students” I do not know, but perhaps a professor in the biology department would and you’d certainly be welcome to talk to them about this. There are plenty of institutions that offer marine biology as an undergraduate major–if that is your career objective, perhaps one of those is a better fit. I tend to think of this program as being more appropriate for a student who loves biology but is uncertain at the time of college matriculation about any sort of specialty area. Once they get here, and something triggers an interest in marine science, this is a way to get a taste of it (you can also do summer coursework there) to see if it is what you want to do in grad school. </p>
<p>There are several other cooperative programs of this sort offered at Richmond. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and American U’s Washington Semester program would fit in the same category as the Duke program. We think that American has in some cases offered need-based aid to students in their program. But it is the student’s responsibility to inquire with the institution about their eligibility for aid when attending programs of that sort.</p>