Help me choose between 7 colleges (pre-med, all majoring in data science)

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Hi! I am extremely grateful to have gotten into these colleges but I’ve been having some trouble deciding on which one is the best to go to. Here are the schools I got into and their tuition w/ scholarships if any:

  • Boston University, (no scholarship) ~$65K
  • NYU, (no scholarship) ~$65K
  • UVA, (no scholarship + oos) ~ $56K
  • UW Seattle, ($5.5K + oos) ~ $38K
  • UF, ($20K/yr + oos) ~ $8K
  • GWU ($28K/yr + oos) ~ $42K (and acceptance into their women’s leadership program)
  • CWRU, ($35.5K/yr) ~$31K

As for paying for the tuition, at the end of the day a lower tuition (like for florida) is preferred but my parents are also able to pay more (like nyu) if the pay off is worth it. For example if I went to nyu but i can get as good education/opportunities in uf then they wouldn’t want to pay that much for nyu.

For all of these schools I applied to their data science major with a goal of being premed student. I was specificially interested in biostats/comp bio but it’s not really an undergrad major so data science was the closest I could get to that.

As for what I am looking for, I feel like I am very flexible with a lot of my preferences. Academically, I prefer to go to a school that is prestigious/well known but it honestly isn’t that much a of priority. Also because i want to go to a med school in the future, i want to go to a school that can set me up to be a successful applicant. So good premed counseling, graduating with a good gpa (so no grade deflation), very opportune hospitals/medical centers are some things im looking for. Additionally, I have always wanted to do some study abroad programs (about 2 in my undergrad). Finally, I took about a year and a half of college courses (with A’s in most of them) from my state university and about 7 APs. This is because I really want to graduate early (at least a year early) so I also would like a university is flexible with transfer courses.

Outside of academics I don’t want to go to a school with just an academic focus (although this shouldn’t be a problem since a lot of these schools are work hard play hard). So a school that is pretty diverse, liberal, has school spirit would be really nice. As for the weather, I’m from Wisconsin and am more used to the colder weather but I don’t mind going to places like UF since it is northern florida and is not as humid as miami/South florida. I also like both the city-integrated campus and college towns but im definitely not a fan of in general just small campuses. I’ve visited all of these schools (except of CWRU and UW seattle but I trust that seattle’s campus is good and Im not too sure about CWRU) and really liked most of them. For universities that are college towns I LOVE downtown areas so, if their not already integrated into a city (like GWU and NYU, i would really prefer that they have an active downtown scene.

Overall, I’m extremely lost on what school I should choose😭. My end goal is to go to a prestigious med school so I just want to go to an undergrad that can help me get there without sacrificing my social life tooooo much. Thank you guys so much for reading all this!!

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So congrats on great acceptances.

To me, affordability is first and foremost. And that includes med school in the small chance you do attend. So that’s another $400k and the less in loans the better.

So pull off anyone who doesn’t work and choose from the rest.

Reading your profile, forgetting money, you want schools to be the downtown areas.

So I’d eliminate in order on your list UVA, UW ( has an area but downtown Seattle is a couple miles), and UF. Even CWRU is miles from downtown but it’s got little Italy and medical facilities nearby.

CWRU is a beloved school but one parent yesterday didn’t like the large class sections that are prevalent. And the common data set section I3 would validate this.

So that’s my comments - BU, NYu, GW and then maybe Case and UW based on your likes but you’d save a ton at UF and have more school spirit than GW, NYU, or BU given sports and Greek life. Same at UW. But Cleveland and Seattle, while the downtowns aren’t adjacent, they’re close and there’s a ton to do. Both have nature although Washington’s is more diverse. Both have lots of attractions and professional sports.

As for prestige mattering - you tell me - here’s the undergrad schools of some of the residents (the ones that came up on small searches) - so in the end to do well, you need to do well which means you need to be happy more than all the other things you mentioned - advising, easy grades - which are easy for some and difficult for others - that’s on you. Every school you named will send kids to med school. Or prepare you well otherwise.

Good luck

  1. I was a patient at Vandy in Radiology - and here’s where the residents went to school (first two year residents):

Auburn
CWRU
Florida A&M
Florida State
Fordham
Lipscomb
Luther
Murray State
Northern Illinois
Pitt
Princeton
Tulane
Tuskegee
U North Carolina
U Puerto Rico
U Tennessee

Taking it further to Johns Hopkins - resident undergrads:

JHU
UMD
UMBC
U Miami
Morgan State
South Carolina
TCNJ
U of Puerto Rico
UT Dallas
Towson
Vandy
and more

Duke Medical - this was just the early letters of the last names of the alphabet

Arkansas
Michigan
UNC
Princeton
Rochester
South Florida
Southeastern Louisiana
Texas

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Congratulations on your acceptances! BU is almost 95k per year—just curious where the 65k came from. Is this from need-based financial aid?

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Sorry, I wrote that wrong! I’m just talking about the tuition (not housing or anything like that) and the tuition for BU is supposed to be 70K (i accidentally wrote 65k)

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It seems GWU is the best mix of what you want, although it’s not perfect in any: it’s in a big city, it’s got spirit, it’s prestigious, it offers opportunities UF doesn’t offer, AFAIK ni grade deflation, excellent study abroad.

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do you know about their women’s leadership program? I applied for fun and didn’t really know what that was thinking i wouldn’t get into to it lol

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It looks like there is extra enrichment. Do they interest you? Seems to be a one year living learning. You’ll be housed on the Mt Vernon campus. You should really understand what you’re signing up for b4 you even apply.

The WLP includes a weekly seminar series on leadership, the WLP Symposium. Students in the Women’s Leadership Program participate in a weekly Thursday evening seminar class. The seminars include lectures by prominent leaders, workshops, and outings to DC area programs and talks, an opportunity for students to take advantage of the many resources available in Washington, D.C., while furthering their understanding of leadership.

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Thank you this was really helpful! I think the one question i have is if its safe to say that the more expensive schools like nyu and bu have a less expensive equivalent. In other words i could spend less money for the same opportunities offered at nyu or bu? Also idk if you know but what is cwru’s campus and students like? Is there another school you could compare it to so i can get some type of an idea of what it’s like?

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Each school has their own policy on AP credits and colleges course taken in high school. So you have a bit of homework to do for each of your options. Each schools website should have this information.

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Congratulations on some great acceptances.

Your college won’t set you up to be a successful medical school applicant. That will be on you.

Why do you want to graduate early?

I think you have some terrific choices. It’s too bad you haven’t visited CWRU which is one of my favorites on your list.

We know a number of very happy U of Washington Seattle students, and also students who went to medical school there, and who have done medical fellowships and are employed as doctors. They say their time at UW was outstanding. They are all very successful. It might not be right downtown, but it’s got its own campus community.

Our son is a Boston University grad, and we are proud parents. But the school will cost you almost $100,000 all in next year. Is that affordable? Same with NYU. You need to include room and board and personal expenses…not just tuition…in your calculation. NYC is a very costly place to live. So is Boston.

If you are looking for major sports, UF is the choice here. The rest of the colleges have sports, but not like UF!

Where do you think you want to be for the next four years? Where will you be happy and thrive. You can do the required courses for medical school admissions at any of these options.

Are we voting? If so, my first choice vote would be University of Washington followed by University of Florida. Then CWRU.

I think you need to look at your total net costs more carefully…and please discuss this with your parents.

Keep in mind also that medical school will likely be $100,000 a year should you actually go.

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There’s many threads on CWRU so you can get some intel. You can read about it. Ask admissions connect you with a student ambassador so you can ask questions. That may be best short of visiting.

What is BU and NYU offering ? If you mean the urban ness, there may be but I don’t know. College of Charleston, much smaller city and it has a defined campus comes to mind. It has Medical U of SC adjacent. Pitt. UAB - which can be very inexpensive. U of SC.

Other than maybe UAB, you’re a bit late though.

Why not one you’ve already gotten into.

You know - there’s likely many colleges you can be happy it.

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@canary28 are you looking for mire colleges to apply to…or do you on,y want feedback on the ones where you have already been accepted (a great list!!).

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Florida is tough to beat at that price + living expenses. You could take the savings and put it aside for med school.

I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen of CWRU’s med school advising. And it has a hospital practically next door.

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She asked

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sorry, i meant if the less expensive equivalents were schools i already got into. so if say going to nyu or bu would give the same opportunities as going to another, lower cost school, that i was admitted to

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All these schools have tons of opportunity on campus. You will have to seek it out but they’ll have no shortage of research and clubs and guest speakers and parties and so on. But it’s up to you to go get it. No one is handing it to you, short of the GW program which is using as a marketing tool to get you there. But may interest you / and if it does then great.

There is no easy path to med school. If that’s what you seek, med school may not be right for you.

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If you’re even remotely price conscious, I would advise strongly not to ignore housing (and food) costs. They will exist at all schools. They will vary at all schools. Some schools may not guarantee four years of housing in which case it’s open market. It would not surprise me to have a 5-figure annual delta for these costs between the highest and lowest cost options.

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So…not looking for additional colleges.

The cost of your undergrad school really isn’t a key element. Neither is the college ranking. You need to choose a college that you like from your great list of acceptances.

Sometimes it’s easier to think if the things you really do NOT like, and eliminate colleges that fit that. See what’s left!

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yes this was one of the biggest pros about t university of florida and a reason of why it’s pretty high up my list! my parents agree that this school is really good but also don’t want money to be my biggest factor in deciding and is why i made this post😭. for us, we just want to know if there’s any school that i got into which is better than florida and is more worth the price despite the low tuition at uf if that makes sense

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Better in what way? UF seems to check off a lot of your boxes. Do the others?

What don’t you like about UWashington? What don’t you like about CWRU? What don’t you like about any of the schools on your list?

Having a higher undergraduate coat is not a guarantee of a successful medical school application down the road.

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