<p>My daughter is accepted to Case Western, Miami (Fla), and Tulane with pretty good merit $$ at all three (full ride at Tulane), and into Emory at full cost. She wants to study bio-med science, and will probably pursue a PhD down the road. What is the best bet for her to eventually get into a good grad school? Is difference in academic ranking worth the $$ for undergraduate?</p>
<p>Full ride at Tulane definitely</p>
<p>A full ride to Tulane should not be taken lightly. While Emory sends a number of students to top phD programs every year, so too does Tulane. NOLA is a very fun college town, and the school offers plentiful research opportunities for students interested in the biological sciences. </p>
<p>Unless money is truly no issue, and you can afford to finance whatever your daughter wants to do both during and after college, I’d go with the free ride. It’s simply more financially prudent, especially because Tulane is a very good school. I don’t believe your daughter would be sacrificing any educational opportunities if she chooses Tulane over any of the other schools.</p>
<p>Thanks, and of course money is always an issue. I’m curious also whether winning a full-ride merit scholarship (the Paul Tulane award) would put her in better standing when trying to get onto one of those research projects as an undergrad?</p>
<p>You should have her email professors researching things she’s interested in, and ask how easily she can get involved in research. I suspect that if she reaches out to the professors, she can start as a lab monkey her freshman year. Depending on her level of commitment, she’d likely move up the ranks by the time she’s an upperclassman.</p>
<p>Hopefully she will choose the full ride to Tulane. Congratulations on some great college acceptances.</p>