Not sure how much this matters, but private schools generally are stingy with DE credits, most will count zero towards your degree. I don’t specific know the schools on your list, but if that is important to you, you will want to look into this.
UCs on the other hand, almost everything transfers: Assist.org provides exact info on how course credits correlate.
Besides that all these campuses are near major medical centers so at least your kid isn’t in the middle of nowhere should issues arise.
I thought UCSC was a “short” scenic drive from Palo Alto?
Have you visited? It’s close to an hour at best from Palo Alto (why Palo Alto?) and CA 17 is a twisty little road that can get very backed up when there’s traffic.
Yeah it’s very isolated. Two
Issues, medical care, another is she needs shadowing hours, patient care hours, kinda difficult with isolated campus. We do plan to visit next week as they are closed for spring break right now.
Thank you for bringing to attention. This will matter. Kid has 5 DE (history, nutrition , public health) etc and 11 AP with over 3. Lot with 4.
Look into this with each school under consideration. A private school won’t give as many course credits as a public school, but depending on major, course credits may not help a whole lot (they would if there are a lot of general studies requirements, but the major requirements are unlikely to be filled by AP courses, especially if she’s premed - med schools want to see college credits earned in real college classes). A private school might give credit for a couple of classes, max, but they will often exempt students from intro-level classes, though, which could help your daughter jump in with more advanced courses.
I have. Over 30 years ago. One hour drive is considered “short” by Bay Area standards, right?
Palo Alto is where Stanford Medical Center is. That is about as major as medical facilities go in CA.
Not sure if you are trying to be serious here or not. We’re talking about an approximately one hour drive WITHOUT traffic. Most of the time there will be traffic.
And we’re also talking about a college student who is unlikely to have a car. UCSC doesn’t allow first and second year residential students to purchase parking permits.
That means this will block the student from taking any shadowing or clinical set up volunteer work for her medical school reqs. UCSC is almost out of list due to the secluded campus.
I agree, UCSC’s location would be problematic in a number of ways.
Looking at UCSC’s web site it looks like Dominican Hospital is the local hospital where students volunteer.
Not trying to be funny, but making sure OP doesn’t rule out the UCSC because it’s one hour drive away from a world class medical facility. No car may not be that big of a deal, since now a days Uber is pretty convenient. Unless you know first hand there is no Uber in SC which then I wouldn’t know.
I would take Occidental. Small school in a big city, I did their fly-in and the location was amazing. I have a bias for Claremont schools, but a $60,000 scholarship matters if your immediate post-collegiate goal is to amass debt via medical school, and liberal arts colleges such as Occidental are well oriented for pre-med students.
For $70+ each way (a quick estimate) and with the long travel time and uncertainty of traffic, I am guessing that Uber would probably not be seen by a UCSC college student as a convenient way to get to Palo Alto to see their medical team, or for shadowing, or volunteering. They would more likely be looking for opportunities and medical care in the area closer to their university.
You’ve been given some great advice already, so I don’t have much to add. That said, I wanted to ask more about this:
Is that $60k/year or $15k/year? I know you’ve indicated that costs are not a deciding factor in this case, but if it’s a $60k/year scholarship, then there’s a good chance that it comes with other benefits like an elite cohort (elite even beyond just honors), special opportunities on campus, additional funding for research, etc. So, if your daughter has been invited into a super-elite cohort, I would certainly weigh the advantages that membership has into the comparison between schools.
It is $15k per year. She got rewarded Honors scholar scholarship
Thank you for being so detailed.
It’s a 30 min drive from where we live. She has admitted student Tiger day on April 5 where she will spend the whole day there. Hoping to learn more.
UCR - 1 hr
Pitzer - 1 hr
Oxy -30-40 min
This is distance from your home and medical care providers?
Yes. Correct. home and existing providers