College Decision Help [and thank you to CC]

College Search & Lists
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Hi everyone!
I’m a frequent CC stalker though I’ve posted once or twice before.
I can’t link the original chance me - but this was the header: [Chance me for Duke ED and Cal!

I’m having a lot of trouble deciding which college I want to go to, so any help or $0.02 would be incredibly helpful. I’m first going to include my decisions for context and then go into my thoughts, interests + top schools. [Note I was rejected from almost all of my original top schools lmao]!

Acceptances + Rejections

Cornell CALS Public and Global Health Sciences [Accept]
UNC-CH OOS EA [accept + honors + accelerated research]
PSU EA [Accept, did not apply Schreyer]
UPitt [Accept]
Drexel Engineering [Accept + Hrs + STARS]
University of Delaware Engineering OOS [Accept + Honors]
Temple Engineering [Accept + honors]
Purdue Engineering RD [Accept]
University of Washington Engineering OOS [Accept]
UC Irvine Engineering [Accept]
UC SD Neuroscience [Accept]
UCB CoC [Accept]
CMU Neuroscience + CS Dual Degree [Accept]
Rochester Neuroscience [Accept]
NYU LS [Accept]

Waitlists
UCLA Engineering [Waitlist]

Rejections
Columbia College ED (R)
Duke Trinity RD [Reject]
Penn CAS RD [Reject]
Georgia Tech Engineering OOS EA [R]
Northeastern Engineering RD [R]
WUSTL RD [Reject]
BU Engineering RD [Reject]

UMich → Still waiting, but won’t change much.

Financials [We have 160k in our college fund and I have an associates degree which transfers to most public schools]
UNC [60k/yr]
PSU [22k/yr]
Pitt [40k/yr]
Delaware [45k/yr]
Temple [ Free]
Purdue [41k/yr]
UC Irvine [40k/yr]
UWash [64k/yr]
CMU - Aid has not been released but probably [70-80k/yr]
Rochester [50k + 5k grant for research]
UCSD [63k/yr]
Drexel [50k/yr]
NYU [70k/yr]
Berkeley [80k/yr]
Cornell [93k/yr]

Okay sorry that may have been a bit of a mess but those are all of my decisions and their financials. I’m very upset about the Cornell financial aid as many colleges such as Rochester had brought me down to approximately ~60k COA aid [both merit and need-based]. I understand that Cornell doesn’t do merit but this is a genuinely insane amount [68k tuition??]…

My top colleges and thoughts about them:

Cornell CALS - I was drawn into this school during the regular decision cycle, and I’d really grown to love it with time. I’m a student interested in the pre-med track and interested in agriculture, community health, and food sustainability, so CALS seemed like a perfect fit. Unfortunately, I am not able to attend with this cost as I am intending on going to med/graduate school.

UNC-CH Honors - I grew up in North Carolina so this school was always on my list since I started hs. I had not expected to get in, forget honors, so I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity. I love the campus and the pre-med opportunities at CH are amazing! But I’m worried about feeling like I settled and attending someone else’s ‘safety-school.’ [Note: I’m a prestige chaser]

Berkeley - I was admitted to the CoC for ChemE which is incredible! I’m still not 100% sure if I’m interested in attending school for scientific medical research or attending medical school. My only worry is that I will lose the opportunity to apply to medical school if I go to Berkeley, in the case that engineering is not for me.

CMU - My primary field of focus is computational neuroscience, and I’m excited to be admitted to a school which is: 1. 4th in the country for CS, and 2. In conjunction with Pitt’s excellent neuroscience center. My only worry is the price and the stress.

Temple/UPitt - Ideal safety and ‘low-cost’ schools.

Questions I have for CC (Thank you all again for being such helpful resources)

Which of these schools are more flexible if I decide to do pre-med or engineering (specifically chemE and BME), ie good at both subjects? UNC-CH does have a BME program which is what I applied for.

How difficult is it to get in state tuition at UNC-CH if anyone knows? Does the marriage trick actually work at Cal?

What are your personal thoughts on these schools - finances included?

Thank you guys again!

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Are you also @its_obviouzz?

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Yes! Lost the account lol

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do you plan to negotiate aid?? I would at least try pulling the offers you have from UNC, CMU, and Purdue so it goes down to 40-50k at least

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like emailing cornell FA with those offers and explain your situations/dire circumstances.

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We don’t have any dire situations / circumstances. It’s just a completely unreasonable price. My mom is gonna call them up but it looks dire ngl.

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you can still try to negotiate, like bc these schools are honestly also rlly good cornell will take that into consideration. I also dk if cornell is a merit aid applicable school bc yale def isnt but id start applying to scholarships NOW.

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@its_obviouzzzz if this is your real name, I would urge you to change it asap. Here is how:

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Haha okay

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If you are thinking of med school, it’s important to keep undergraduate costs down. However, PhD programs in the sciences are almost always funded — your tuition will be covered and you will also get a small stipend — usually enough to live very modestly. So if you think a PhD is more likely than an MD, that’s something to keep in mind.

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MMy first reaction is that you have done very well in admissions. Congratulations!

My second reaction is that you have very good affordable options. Cornell and UC Berkeley are not affordable. Unless Cornell comes through with a lot of aid, I would just forget about them. You can do very well with a degree from one of the relatively more affordable very good universities where you have gotten admitted.

I am somewhat surprised that UC Irvine ended up being affordable.

Choosing from among the affordable options does seem to be a tough task.

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I agree. What aid did you receive from Irvine that dropped your net cost to this amount.

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Hard to get instate tuition at UNC CH unless your family moves there.

Marriage trick? Not if the only reason is to get lower tuition. Schools are very on to that. @kelsmom can explain what will happen if you marry, and then don’t stay married!

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That was just what my parents told me. I believe it was some merit scholarship or something. We kept getting random scholarships from other colleges like NYU (not complaining :slight_smile: ) that were only visible in the financial portal

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I was considering an MD-pHD but mostly time-concerns on that front. A benefit of UNC-CH is that I can graduate early with my associates and maybe tackle a masters which could help me get into better phd programs. Not 100% on that front

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You mention that you have an associates degree - does this mean you are hoping to graduate from any of these options in 2-3 years? Do you have a strong understanding of what will transfer? What about core requirements? I think you can narrow a lot down, if you are looking for a shorter path vs 4 years and that will also clarify the finances.

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I’m targeting either a dual BS or a BS-MS (mostly at UNC-CH). Graduating early would be nice but med schools don’t particularly love 20 yr old applicants so I’ve heard

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Looks like the following are within a budget determined by the college fund only: PSU, Pitt, Temple, UCI.

The following would also be within a budget determined by the college fund plus federal direct loans: Delaware, Purdue.

However, if your parents will contribute more (from current income) beyond the existing college fund, that could add more of the schools to affordability.

But I would suggest focusing on the affordable ones to make your decision between.

Also, do not assume that an associates degree will accelerate graduation without verifying that the specific courses you took will be accepted for specific required courses at each college.

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Do not try getting married to get more aid. If you get divorced, you’re automatically dependent again. And I’m betting some of the schools you listed will still take parent information into consideration (CSS schools) if you get married.

My advice is to take the unaffordable schools off the table (after you try to increase aid at the ones you like best). Make your decision from the list of affordable schools. Your parents need to be part of the conversation. If you would have to borrow beyond the federal loans, it’s not affordable. Your parents need to let you know what they are willing to pay each year, and you need to go from there.