College Decision Help REPOST + Updates

[its_obviouzz]

Hi everyone!
I’m a frequent CC stalker though I’ve posted once or twice before. I’ve reposted since my old account got taken down lol.
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]
UMICH LSA 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].

Financials [We have 160k in our college fund and I have an associates degree which transfers to most public schools] UPDATE: after planning with parents the range will look like ~240k. Note that this is contingent on me working a job and making ~10-20k / year through internship and work study as well as my parents saving some extra $$ (we are not smart with money lol)
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]
UMich - [80k/yr] - note aid has not been released and will likely reach ~60 as that is my calculated efc

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?

Is it worth it to apply to be off of the waitlist at UCLA and apply for scholarships at schools that aren’t really on the top of my list like UM?

Thank you guys again!

[lkg4answers]

I think this is the link you are looking for. Chance me for Duke ED and Cal!

[its_obviouzz]

Haha thank you!

[tsbna44]

That’s a long thread.

Let’s cut to the chase:

1. Is it worth it to stay on the WL at UCLA? It’s worth it if you have interest in UCLA or want longer to think about it. But if you know one of your other options is a higher priority, then no reason to. But it’s a WL - if you want to get on it, then do so. No harm.

2. Apply to scholarships at schools not high on your list? Why waste your time and effort unless if you do get one, it’d move it to the top?

[bronzerfish]

@its_obviouzz

How difficult is it to get in state tuition at UNC-CH if anyone knows?

My D24 (we are NC residents) has a friend who grew up in NC but moved a few years ago. Their top choice is a UNC (not Chapel Hill but I’d guess the UNCs have the same requirements for residency).

After talks with the school, they are going to be taking a gap year, moving to North Carolina, doing all the usual residency stuff (DL, job, etc.) and then will be eligible for in-state tuition for school year '25-'26.

They still have other relatives in the state so that probably counts for “ties to the area”.

[ColdWombat]

You have several good acceptances that are affordable. You don’t need to twist yourself into knots trying to make the finances work at other schools (“marriage trick”?!). Prestige of undergrad school isn’t very important for premed or engineering.

I don’t think you should stretch the budget much beyond the $160K savings. If you work really hard, you can probably do the $10K/year job earnings, but I’d not plan on anything more than that. Premed and/or engineering curricula are demanding and you need the option to step back from working while in classes. You might also need to spend time volunteering rather than doing paid work as a premed. Med school is staggeringly expensive so it’s wise to minimize undergrad costs.

That leaves you with the schools that came in below $50K:

PSU [22k/yr] – admitted major not listed?
Pitt [40k/yr] – admitted major not listed?
Delaware [45k/yr] – engineering + honors
[Temple][ Free] – engineering + honors
[Purdue] [41k/yr] – engineering
[UC Irvine] [40k/yr] – engineering
[Drexel] [50k/yr] – engineering + honors
Rochester [50k + 5k grant for research] – neuroscience

How did you get Irvine cost so low as OOS?

The next question, which is paramount for your school choice, is do you want to major in bio/neuro or engineering? You say your area is computational neuroscience. For that field I prefer the track of engineering/computational major with neuro minor/electives.

Getting the grades and prereqs you need for med school is hard with an engineering major, but an engineering degree is an excellent “plan B” if you don’t go to med school for whatever reason. A neuroscience degree is not really employable, and I only recommend for people who are certain they they’ll do a PhD or med school.

At most schools, it’s easier to change major from engineering → life sciences than the other way around. You’ll have to check with the individual schools. What majors were you admitted for at Pitt and PSU?

Is there any particular reason Temple isn’t the winner here? You’ve already worked there and seem to have loved it, yes? Unless one of your waitlists comes through with incredible aid, I’d find it hard to turn down the Temple offer. Save that $160K for med school or for a zillion other things.