8k per yr is not that much debt. Duke is a great school, but so is Wake Forest. They’ll both be full of very smart kids and will be academically challenging. I just don’t know that Duke gives you an advantage for med school. If you were looking to go into strategy consulting or something like that, I’d say Duke.
My son is accepted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, NYU honors and full scholarship honor program SUNY SB. He intends to do Math major. Which one has a better math program and which will you recommend to go . He is struggling in committing. Thank you
Hey! I’ve been accepted to UW, UCLA, Berkeley, and WashU, and I’m trying to decide where to go for pre med.
UW would leave me with no debt, while WashU would leave me with more debt, but not nearly as much as the UCs. I’m trying to decide where to go, as I’ve heard WashU is a great pre med school.
Let me know what you think when you can!
Hi and thanks for your time:) We just walked around Penn last week and even on a gray rainy day, such a great campus. We live just outside Philadelphia and it’s a wonderful place to go to college. Could I ask you whether you know what your housing choice might be? And whether you think Penn is worth 10K more than Fordham Honors? I’m asking for a CAS student (PPE/Political Science).
Congrats to all those wonderful schools. UPenn is fantastic for your interests. I was curious, did you have professional help with your essays, and other parts of your preparation for college applications and selection. I have one more kid to go in 3 years, and this is a big question.
@NYCScienceChick: What if you do not continue as a pre-med student ?
In that case, Duke for $8,000 per year in student loans may be a wise investment.
Hi @Benkoy !! I actually spent a whole summer at SUNY SB and I loved it (loved it!). The campus isn’t the best (nor is the food) but I have very nostalgic memories about the place. I know they have a fantastic applied math and pure math program, and if there is a full scholarship there, I believe it is relatively hard to pass up. If he is interested in grad school/PhD in math, take the money-efficient option.
Having said that, if money is not the biggest concern/undergrad is it for your son, I would recommend that he go to UCLA. UCLA is fantastic for math as far as I know (one of the best in the country) and there isn’t a better location than LA in my opinion (weather, big city, Hollywood, etc). UCLA is awesome. So my recommendation: if money is as issue, SUNY SB, if not UCLA
Hi @BobbyMaye !! For pre-med I don’t think you can beat UW at no debt. As a Seattle-ite I love it here, and even though I do want a change of place, Seattle is wonderful (I’m guessing if UW is no debt for you, you are also a Seattle-ite?). As for others, for all pre-med choices I always recommend the cost-efficient option. Also, Seattle is also like a hub for medicine, so this is a near-unbeatable option.
If price is not a worry, go to WashU. I have also heard a lot of great things about WashU pre-med, and there is probably a bit of an increase in pure rep/prestige from UW to WashU and you can get a change of place.
Hi @vorpal !!! I’ve requested Hill as my first choice and KCECH as my second choice. I didn’t want to live in the Quad (personally not much of a partier → much more quite/reserved.) Hill is supposed to be very new/clean and has the best food, and KCECH is also clean and has very large rooms.
I think Penn is worth the 10k more. PPE at Penn is great and the atmosphere and quality of student body is worth it, in my opinion. I’m also slightly biased 
but I do honestly believe the name Penn will open many doors down the line
Hi @clubtennisletsgo !! I Thank you!! I did not have any professional help for any part of the app process. My dad helped me figure out the process in the beginning, and then it was up to me. I tend to recommend not hiring professional help, motly because I think it can be figured out and mastered to some degree (also, college itself is plenty of money, so I think its good to save as much as you can beforehand!) The best resource I found was older students who had done this before, friends I trusted, and Reddit/College Confidential, and that will remain my recommendation for all others!
I am indeed a Seattle-ite! In fact, I believe I met you a couple times at Science Bowl Tournaments here 
Seattle is amazing for sure(I will admit however, I need to explore a lot more of the PNW). While I am always inclined to going out of state, no doubt UW is a great school; that being said, I am fortunate to not have cost be a huge factor for undergrad, so I am leaning towards going to WashU(unless I get off any waitlists I’m pursuing), as I really liked their research and pre med opportunities as well as med school placements.
Thank you for your response! Good luck at Penn!!
I do agree with you
Hello
Are you aware of any ways of getting a chance at studying at one of the good universities as a South African student?
@Publisher Thanks for replying. Are you suggesting that if I enroll as a pre-med it would be easier? Can you expand more on why I should not enter as pre-med?
We are putting together all of our resources to see how much we can actually afford. It does seem around 8-10k with my loan and my mother combined.
Because many pre-med students switch majors and/or career focus, you want to be at the best school possible if such a switch occurs in your education. (I am not suggesting that you not enroll as a pre-med, just giving cautionary advice that many pre-meds change majors as they grow & experience other areas of study.)
P.S. There are very lucrative careers in IB (investment banking), MC (management consulting), high tech, & law for those with science degrees if med school later becomes less interesting to one. If such a career switch focus occurs, a degree from super prestigious Duke would be helpful.
How did you go about finding a career path that matches your interests? I am really considering a career in engineering, but I don’t know how I can determine what is a good fit. Unfortunately, my school does not have any engineering courses or computer science courses. I took a nanotechnology class at our local university this year and I can say that it was by far the coolest thing that I did all year.
I don’t want to arbitrarily pick a career with my limited experience and knowledge of what that career is really like. It seems like a lot of high school students are very informed about what they want to do in the future, and I would like to get to that point.
Hey! I saw that you said you went to Garcia. What was your experience there like? I was hoping to apply to RSI, Garcia, and Simons next year. Do you think being accepted into Garcia and doing research there helped with your college applications?
Wow!! What a small world!! Do PM me if you want to talk through your choice a bit more!!
Hi @anon3221 !! It’s great that you’re thinking of applying! It’s not hyperbole when I say that Garcia was the single best experience I’ve had. The way the program is structured leads to really close friendships and a genuinely memorable experience - three pepole I met that summer are still my best friends, even though we do not live close to each other. Academically, yes I do believe that Garcia helped a lot. The professor who runs it (Dr. Miriam Rafailovich) writes fantastic recommendations and you do really cool research that very often gets accepted at conferences. I could not recommend the program enough. The dorms suck, the food sucks, Long Island summers are incredibly hot and muggy, but the overall experience is incredible.
Hi @tennis34 !! I actually think that most college-bound students have no idea what they actually want to do. The collegea application process just forces you to pick a few things because you have to indicate preferred majors; I think for many, this is the first time they have to come to some sort of conclusive decision.
Having said that, I think the best way to explore and decide what you want to do is to do unstructured learning on your own. My interest in the nanotech field began with an interest in chemistry, which I picked up simply by reading random articles online and by talking to my family a lot about what I learned. If you are leaning towards engineering, spend a lot of time during this quarantine reading about recent news in each engineering field; go on Wikipedia deep-dives and Youtube video sprees, and in some time you’ll realize which fields you tend ot gravitate towards. Every time I read something that is biology orientated, I tend to lose focus and drift off. Every time I read something about chemistry or nanotech, it’s exciting. Find what excites you, and perhaps more importantly, what bores you.