Hello everyone, I’ve spent a while thinking and I’m still no closer to finding an answer to where I should go for next year. I’ve been using CC on the sly for a while now, and I figured I may as well make an account and ask. I live in Queens, NY, would like to major in biology or biochemistry along a pre-med track, and have 4 main options for college:
Columbia University (Status: Likely Letter) (Cost: TBD)
PROS: Close to home, very prestigious w/ high name recognition, excellent research opportunities and academics, nearby hospitals and medical centers for internships and the like
CONS: Might struggle to maintain a high gpa with difficult classes, potentially very high-stress, not much of a cohesive campus, not sure how much I’d enjoy the core curriculum
Washington University in STL (Status: Accepted) (Cost: $~0 (ty financial aid!))
PROS: Known to be very good for premeds and bio, nice campus and student life, plenty of research and internship opportunities, in St. Louis which is a nice city
CONS: Very high number of premeds, worried about classes taught by TAs or a lack of individualized attention, very far from home
Emory University (Status: Accepted) (Cost: $5k/yr (easily affordable))
PROS: Also good for premed and bio, another great campus wit lovely student life, CDC makes for outstanding nearby research and opportunities
CONS: Still far away, might not be as prestigious as the others (idk), more expensive than WUSTL without having many clear advantages over it, reputation as a “party school” (just what I’ve heard)
Carnegie Mellon University (MCS) (Status: Accepted) (Cost: $3k/yr (easily affordable))
PROS: Great internships and opportunities in Pittsburgh, known for good research, relatively close to home, have friends at the MCS, good reputation in the sciences
CONS: Unsure how much it focuses on bio, heard that classes are very difficult and I might struggle, heard that social life is quite bleak
NOTE: Already visited Columbia, will visit WUSTL/Emory/CMU in April.
Is any of my analysis wrong or lacking? Does anyone have more advice or direction to give me? Please, all comments and suggestions are welcome, ty!
The vast majority of pre-meds never make it to med school. You might also consider ranking the schools if you decide to drop the pre-med track, and see if there is a significant difference between the two.
Given the fabulous financial aid packages you have received, I’d say it’s about the culture and support you will get at each university. College is very different from secondary school so access to tutors is very important. Is there one on one tutoring available, maybe in the library or through EVERY department?
If you want options other than medicine after a year or two, are there other ares like biomedical engineering that you could opt into after one year without losing time? Or Chemical engineering major so if you go to medical school, fine as well but you could do lots of research with a medical focus? Or Mechanical engineering to build robotic limbs? Too often student limit themselves to a hard science as a major and then if don’t get into medical school or change their mind about the profession, they have fewer options.
If you go out of state, then you’ll need to buy 4 round-trip plane tickets if you come home at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring break and summer. Likely not more than $3K plus books. Paying a total of $5K a year for an undergrad degree is not too much, just something to consider.
You are in a very enviable position. Best of luck and I don’t think you can make a bad decision here! Kudos!
Great choices – our student is very pleased with Wash U. Chemistry major thinking about a potential PhD / MD. Great Books (Text and Traditions)/Latin minor.
Doing research at the Med School as a Sophomore. Has a paid internship for another non University organization in St. Louis this summer. Loves the city and the environment. All classes are taught by professors – with TAs supporting labs and recitations. Very accessible professors and advisors. Freshman year has well organized group reviews and tutorials. Fellow students are very collaborative and friendly. Room mates are all looking at Med School but are all studying different things.
Agree with all of the comments – wonderful choices. You just need to think about where you would be happiest!
I’ve since received my Columbia acceptance; they gave me an offer a bit more expensive than Emory’s (which makes sense since I had a lot of merit at Emory) for about $4.5k/yr.
ATM I think WashU is my frontrunner, considering their excellent pre-med reputation, 0 debt, and the fact that I think I can do well there. I’m going to visit with a few friends that also got in this sunday+monday – any specific things I should look out for?
“worried about classes taught by TAs or a lack of individualized attention”
Don’t know why you only listed this con for WashU, when all these schools are about the same size.
Anyways, it’s not a con, because it doesn’t exist. Classes are taught by professors, with TAs leading discussion groups outside of class. WashU is also like the epitome of individualized attention because it literally spends 1.5 billion+ $$$ on teaching/students. There are so many help sessions lead by upperclassmen, TAs, professors, that I struggle to decide which ones to go to.