<p>The title pretty much says it all. I got accepted to UCLA as an OOS student (cost: $22,500) and Claremont McKenna College (full-ride). I prefer UCLA for multiple reasons: size, location, and name. On the other hand, CMC has its advantages too like class sizes and easier to find and talk to professors. If you were given the choice, which school would you go to?</p>
<p>If it makes any difference, I plan on majoring pre-med and plan to apply to medical school.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna, all the way: they’re both great schools. Especially if you want to go to medical school you need to limit undergrad debt.</p>
<p>If you’re sure you want to go to med school, CKC is the much better choice academically. However, it is hard to beat the holistic UCLA experience.</p>
<p>CMC no question, its one of the best schools in the country</p>
<p>^ So is UCLA.</p>
<p>CmC for a full ride. Not taking on a huge amount of debt is your no. 1 priority.
You are reasonably close to UCLA, so you could still benefit from activities, games, shows etc that take place on campus.</p>
<p>Go with the cheaper school: CMC</p>
<p>I’ll probably be slammed for saying this, but first and foremost college is for education and preparation for a career. The “college experience” that gets talked about all the time lately is great to have, but will that help you in your goal of getting into and paying for medical school?</p>
<p>What are your parents saying? Are they happily willing to pay the UCLA costs? IF not, then the question is moot.</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re a low EFC student, otherwise your cost to UCLA would be higher. If so, then where would you get the money to pay. (OOS students usually have to pay EFC + OOS tuition difference. Since you’re only being charged the OOS part, your EFC may be very low. Plus, your aid from CMC suggests the same.)</p>
<p>BTW…what will your major be? “Premed” isn’t a major at most schools, including UCLA and CMC. I think only about 2 schools have “premed” as a major.</p>
<p>Edited to add… I see that you are low income. You got fee waivers for your apps and you had problems paying for your extra apps. So, the question is likely moot. Since it seems that you don’t have the means to pay for UCLA, then CMC (or another school) has to be it.</p>
<p>I recommend CMC. You’ll still be able to get some of the college experience with the other students at CMC, as well as the ones at Pomona, Harvey-Mudd, etc.</p>
<p>How do you get the cost of UCLA to be only $22,500? Did they offer you significant scholarship money? The estimated on-campus Cost of Attendance for next year is just over $55,000. [Fees</a>, Tuition, and Estimated Student Budget - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/budget.htm]Fees”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/budget.htm)</p>
<p>If Med School is your goal, you want to spend as little as possible (or at least take on as little debt as possible) for your undergrad degree. Med School is hideously expensive, and there are almost no scholarships available. Most people pay for Med School entirely with student loans, and graduate with debt in the range of $250,000 - or more than many homes cost.</p>
<p>Here is a handy tool from our friends at FinAid.org that will help you compare your aid packages: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid) Run the numbers through it. If that package from CMC isn’t a true full ride (tuition, fees, housing, and meals) and you have to come up with more than just books and personal expenses, it might not be affordable either.</p>
<p>UCLA is a great school in many regards, but Claremont would probably prepare you better to compete for medical school admission. With the money difference it is an absolute obvious choice.</p>
<p>I love CMC. It’s one of my all time top LACs. Great environment, engaged professors, real learning taking place and critical thinking going on. I can’t imagine a more engaged learning environment.</p>
<p>Congratulations.</p>
<p>How do you get the cost of UCLA to be only $22,500? Did</p>
<p>UCLA and a few other deeper pocket UCs will offer aid to OOS students. The aid is a mix of grants, loans and WS…usually. However, the formula usually is EFC plus about $22k. The $22k is the OOS tuition portion, which the UCs will not give aid for. So, this student likely has a very low EFC, which means he “only” has to pay the $22k</p>
<p>However, it doesn’t sound like he has the means to pay for UCLA, so not sure why this is a question…unless he has a rich granny willing to pay the $90k+ to go there (since tuition goes up every year).</p>
<p>WhiteHouses…what is the breakdown of your UCLA aid pkg? How much is grants? How much is loans? etc.</p>
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<p>Personally, I would go to CMC and not look back, but I liked going to a smaller college for undergrad. I understand the reasons why some would prefer the environment of UCLA, but it’s just going to get more and more expensive for you as you did not get a full ride there. Also, if you are planning on medical school, debt avoidance is more important for you than it otherwise might be. UCLA is not more prestigious than CMC, although it is better known among the masses. Both schools are well-regarded by educated people and by graduate admissions committees.</p>
<p>My family has college money saved up. I have about $100,000 in the fund. I’m try to decide whether its worth it to spend it now for the college experience or save it for grad school.</p>
<p>Claremont is the better college and its free. Go for it…</p>
<p>They are academic peers, so I don’t see any reason to turn down a full ride for UCLA unless finances are not a concern. Even then, CMC will offer easier access to professors, smaller class sizes, better advising, and other benefits of a small LAC which would probably help for med school admissions.</p>
<p>Go to CMC.</p>
<p>It’s entirely possible to graduate UCLA in three years, and hence use all of the money in your college fund without taking out student loans, or very minimally if you need to (and probably none if you do work study.) </p>
<p>It’s pretty common for UCLA students to do this and UCLA is more than willing to work with students to accomplish this. The mimimum amount of units per quarter is 12, but i overheard a student talk about taking 30 in a quarter, and actor James Franco famously took 60 in one quarter. So again, it’s not uncommon. Given that you have the money saved up, you have to think long and hard about what decision you want to make.</p>
<p>I will say once again that Claremont McKenna is an excellent college, and is among the most elite LACs. But a small liberal arts college isn’t for everyone, so try to figure out if UCLA is a better fit for you, and more importantly, if its worth the 100k or more (although you could finish in three years, it’s very possible that you’ll finish in four years, and if that happens you’d have to take on loans for the final year.)</p>
<p>I have a feeling that if i were in your position, i’d still go with CMC, but i can’t be certain.</p>