Case Western [BME] vs UCLA [neuroscience] vs Scripps College [3+2, more expensive]

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My D24 got accepted into Case western (Biomedical engineering), UCLA (Neuroscience) and Scripps (3+2 engg = 3 years neuroscience at Scripps and 2 years engineering at Harvey Mudd).

Since 9th grade she has been fascinated to learn neuroscience and during high school also did part time research in a bioengineering and material science lab working on neuroengineering problems. So she is interested in neuroscience + engineering. She is also heavily involved in dance.

Case western she is free to explore any major minor across departments. Apart from Biomedical engineering, she could try neuroscience minor or EE major/minor. She loved the college when we visited there in her junior high school year. Case also gave her a generous merit aid, so its most affordable for us among the three options. UCLA is 5k more a year not far off.

UCLA she was surprised to be accepted, she loves the research focus at UCLA, great food, living and learning communities and guaranteed four year housing are all awesome for her. She also will enjoy the diversity here. However her admission is into college of letters and science and given her desire for neuroengineering research, she is unsure if she can pad on few elective courses in bioengineering / material science etc. its massive in everything. She is worried if she will even get her prerequisite courses. Can someone from UCLA comment on this?

Scripps is another college she loves
she worked hard on her essays and interview for scripps. She loves that is a womens college and connected to other Claremont colleges. Scripps she got into 3 (neuroscience)+2 (engineering) combination program, but she has to maintain B+ average for this program. Cost is an issue - FAFSA is delayed, but I dont expect much from them. Its almost twice the cost of Case and UCLA. No merit aid was offered. But grants and work study was offered. Renewable for 4 years so I am guessing 5th year is nothing.

Dance is there at all three colleges, without which she wouldn’t join. She is definitely a foodie.

Given these considerations esp her aspirations for neuroengineering research, where should she join?

We are going to visit all three colleges - admitted day events. She is completely focused on her current tests and AP/IB exams and doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to make any decision but I am having some sleepless night how she will decide. She was joking saying she wants all three .

Other colleges she got into Purdue (biomedical engg), U Maryland, college park (bioengineering), Rose Hulman (engineering), couple of other UCs (bioengineering). But the above are her top 3 choices.

Thank you so much. Your thoughts are welcome.

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I’m a parent of a Scripps grad, so I’m familiar with what the 5C’s have to offer, and I recommend Scripps often here on CC. But honestly, Case sounds like the winner here.

The whole 3:2 thing sounds belabored and super-expensive - not only a much higher cost per year, but an extra year too! Neuroscience is great at the Claremonts, but the whole business of cramming the engineering content into the last two years? When all of her peers at HMC would already have done the Mudd core curriculum as a cohort? It all just feels so forced, especially in comparison to CWRU’s open door policy, which would allow her to explore and refine/evolve her focus freely over her time there, instead of doing Neuroscience Boot Camp followed by Engineering Boot Camp. More dovetailing of content areas would be a lot better for a student with interdisciplinary interests, IMHO. (Plus the GPA threshold, which probably won’t trip her up, but it’s one more thing to stress about).

Plus, there’s so much cross-talk between the undergrad colleges and the med school and biomedical research, at Case. Not only does the Claremont Consortium have nothing like that, but the Inland Empire overall is kind of a desert in terms of medical academia. (Not even great in terms of accessing basic medical care tbh, based on my D’s experiences with peers’ medical episodes!)

Of course, there’s UCLA in the mix too. Great school, great medical center & research. But there, you’re giving up access to engineering. Why make that compromise when you have an all-you-can-eat academic banquet on offer at CWRU, and it doesn’t even cost more?

If she didn’t have the Case offer, I feel like it would be a trickier choice. But CWRU looks like the best-of-all-worlds option, to me. I’d say that even if it weren’t the cheapest, but all the better that you’d save money too!

Hopefully she’ll get clarity when you visit. Good luck and congrats to her!

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Congratulations on her acceptances. Is the Scripps/Mudd option twice the annual cost of the other two or is it more than 2X counting the fifth year? I’m just making sure you are counting the extra 5th year at Scripps/Mudd at $90K-$100K (which likely won’t result in different job opportunities than she’d have in four years from the other schools
but something for her to research). Are all these choices affordable (defined as parents not needing to take loans)?

Beyond cost, it sounds like Case offers the flexibility she wants wrt major. Hopefully all will become clear during her visits. Good luck.

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At least 8 years ago when my D2 was looking at school she visited CWRU. She was also a dancer who wanted to major in something other than Dance. Case has a Dance minor, however, the course work was geared for people who were interested in Dance rather than experienced dancers. They were requiring her to take things like Dance 101 and future offerings were well below what she had been doing for the last several years. I don’t know if this has changed or not but I think it’s a question worth asking (at all schools) if your D is an experienced dancer. CWRU is a tremendous university.

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I would imagine Scripps being the weakest choice, due to the cost, but that’s up to you.

Case is in a neat “bubble” of sorts. University Circle has an intellectualism aura about it with the various museums, etc. We go there once or twice a year, since we don’t live far. However, we only go once or twice a year, if that tells you anything. And although Cleveland and surrounding area have things to do, it can be easy to run out of stuff unless you know what you’re looking for. Also, the area can get snow (cold) for 5-6 months of the year. No big deal if you come from a similar area, but if weather holds any sway, the extra $20k for UCLA may be worth it. Summer and fall (esp fall) are great in Cleveland, it’s just that there’s really no spring, it’s just a “lighter” version of winter.

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Interesting - the student applied to different majors but over time has had varying interests and CWRU allows you to cover them all.

So assuming the weather, size, and all that works - that does seem a fantastic fit academically - and with dance as well.

Congrats.

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Thank you so much appreciate your response

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Yes case is super good in terms of flexibility in taking courses


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Thank you
very helpful

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Pinging @ColdWombat to weigh in on the value of a neuroscience degree from UCLA.

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To me among your choices it is Case all the way. We visited it with DD and she loved it.
UCLA is soo big, and she is not in her preferred major. 5 year program at Scripps makes no sense to me due to cost and questionable advantage over 2 others.

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On paper I would say the decision is Case easily, especially given that it will be cheaper for you than UCLA. I don’t think 3-2 programs are worth it. Just get the engineering degree and take the science classes that are of interest. If you are going to pay for a 5th year of school a masters would likely be more valuable for your daughter.

At UCLA for her first 2 years at least she will be a face in the crowd, vying to get seats (that are competitive to get) in cavernous lecture halls where the professor will stand in front of 200+ kids, give a lecture and leave never to be heard from again until 2 or three days later. Most of her direct educational contact will be with her GSA (typically a twenty something that is really on campus to work on their Ph.D.) her experience with these GSA’s will be mixed. They are generally inexperienced and given no training at being educators. Likewise competition, for spaces in neuroscience research labs will be fairly intense given the overwhelming number of undergrads there, all of whom are top students.

I think the competitive vibe at Case will be far less intense because there are far more resources per student. Case is a top school for biomedical engineering research. The added benefit there is that kids appear not to be forced into silos and have the flexibility to explore more, yet still graduate in 4 years. I would be positively shocked if there was not an outlet there for her interest in dance. I would also be surprised if in the context of a biomedical engineering degree there would not be room for one or two neuroscience relevant courses there

While no place in the US (or probably the world) can beat the ethnic diversity of LA, and the food choices available there, the undergraduate student body at Case is ethnically diverse, and has much more diverse geographic origins than those at UCLA, the vast majority of whom will be from CA, probably a plurality is from SoCal.

A final consideration is distance from home, your daughter will likely be making more than a dozen trips back and forth the easier this is the better. If Case is driving distance that is another benefit to attending Case, not having to be reliant on the airlines always. Good Luck, Case is on my kid’s list as well.

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Thank you for the detailed reply.

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The lack of spring is the truth, you go from winter to summer in about a week in that part of the country.

LA will win handily here when she visits in Late March/April. February-April is peak season for coastal CA imo. No dust, it is the growing season so everything is green and not brown and dry like it is the rest of the year. The air is about as clean as it will get then.

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Another vote for Case, since it seems it has more flexibility and a better price point than the others. It appears that your daughter has varied interests, and a program that lets her explore her options seems optimal, especially since many students find new areas of academic interest (or focal points within their already-established interests) as they get to college and can really explore the field(s).

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We got a few teasers lately, a few days near 70 in February. Yesterday and last got an inch or two of snow. Sigh. Can I go to UCLA? But to be fair: summer and fall are great!

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Also definitely check the details of the UCLA dance program if UCLA becomes a real contender. Based on what I recall from a friend who was there a few years ago, o think it may be somewhat atypical and she (a very dedicated and experienced dancer) went off-campus for her dance classes. But I may not be remembering completely correctly, so this is just a heads up😊.

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Not only that but if you ask around you’ll find that few students actually complete a 3:2 program. As their junior year comes to an end the kid is with the friends they’ve made over the 3 years. If they just spend 1 more year they’ll get a degree, a prospect everyone else seems pretty happy with. Or they can pack up and go to a new school where they start from scratch – don’t know the area, profs, have a circle of friends, etc. Most people pack it in and stay.

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I would normally make that point too, but the OP is saying that they’re guaranteed Harvey Mudd as the “2” school (contingent on GPA), so there’s really no “packing up” in that case - the two schools are directly adjacent within the consortium, share extracurriculars, etc. So that aspect is better than the usual 3:2 program. But still
 it doesn’t seem like a win to me.

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This is a 3:2 at Scripps/Mudd, No need to pack up and move :slight_smile:

I am a big fan of Claremont schools, I have one at Pomona - but also of affordable education. If the offer from Scripps is actually double the cost - I would definitely think twice!

Visits should add some clarity too! If your kiddo likes Case and the finacials are what you expect, it seems clear

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