Help me decide between IUP [$8k] and VT [$30k+?] (microbiology major, German minor)

They have some German…maybe not enough??

German (GERM) < Slippery Rock University (sru.edu)

i did see this!! they do have a lot, but unfortunately it’s not an official german minor and i believe this all under a very generalized major/minor. that was a main reason why SRU was cut

I would ensure a school has the curriculum you need. I’m not sure a formal minor - by name - gets you anything in life - but it’s more of a supplement for you.

If IUP is the choice, great - but if somehow you found SRU to be better for your major and it works with German, I wouldn’t let the minor stand in my way.

And you might look into this minor with the European Studies focus - if - you had interest. If not, that’s ok too.

Students earning a B.A. in Modern Languages and Cultures with a concentration in Cultural Area Studies can choose a focus from American Studies, Asian Studies, European Studies, Latin American Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. This highly customizable curriculum works very well with another major without extending a graduation time, and students will develop their proficiency in their target cultural and language competence while applying their learning to the real world.

If you have the slightest interest, you can ask if German can be the language (vs. their Spanish and French minors, etc.) Never hurts to call.

Modern Languages and Cultures: Cultural Area Studies | Slippery Rock University (sru.edu)

1 Like

expanding on IUP german: my german teacher (frau) went here for her german major. IUP gave her a TON of opportunities for german, and i know she got a really prestigious award for a full-ride abroad to germany. she told me the german courses there are top-tier. when it comes to IUP, i know they are an amazing foreign langauge program, which is a huge plus considering i really want to expand on my knowledge on german. a lot of medical engineering and med stuff in general is from germany; it would be a HUGE plus in my prospect career. honestly, i considered double majoring in german and MB, but idk if that would be too much of a workload or not

1 Like

i bounced around with majors/minors in this order

  • major in MB
  • double major in MB and neurology (got shot down because the overlap is surprisingly large, and neurology is very grueling course wise)
  • double major in MB and german (honestly may consider, but i feel like it may be too much on my plate)
  • major in MB and minor in german

Check your portal and files (you should have a copy of the essay). If not, apply, since it comes with benefits including scholarships.

That’s because they’re waiting for the federal system to send them the financial info you submitted when you completed and submitted FAFSA.

All Cook students get scholarship money. Generally speaking if you’re admitted to an honors college or program at a PASSHE school (or PSU or Pitt) you get a scholarship.

1 Like

You do not need an official minor - what you do need is a set of classes and an indication of proficiency.

3 Likes

I guess your teacher got a Fullbright. (Congratulations to her :muscle::+1:)
Do ask her, or the IUP German dept, over the past 20 years, how many German students have received a Fullbright? (Ask the same at everg college BTW).

This is what worries me most for you. I know IUP&a couple PASSHE schools and it’s ideal for serious kids in the “2.6-3.0GPA/950-1150SAT/mostly regular with some honors courses” group. The regular pace is much slower than at Pitt/PSU let alone colleges like Dickinson or Lafayette or BrynMawr/Haverford, the professors know how to push students (“N+1”) but target their classes’ happy medium.
The Honors students are much better, like you they want to learn and also want to be the first graduating college in their family or the first to have a solidly middle class life through college opportunities; as a result, peers in Honors are cool&more focused, the Honors courses are more engaging and more in-depth so you’ll need to take as close to all honors as you possibly can (except for 1 class to give yourself a break😉); professors will make sure to push you, help with opportunities… because they want you not only to succeed but to flourish and do better than you thought you could.
However for many students a Passhe college is their second or third priority after work/making money, a child, family/elderly relatives, a car that threatens to break down, a medical problem…
I’m not trying to be negative, but to make sure you go into this with your eyes open. You will find support&challenge at IUP and it’s likely to be a near full ride, which is big. But there will be other challenges.

This could interest you!

ED: some colleges meet full need (run the NPC on Lafayette, which I suggested because it is very good at science) : you’ll see they offer very large grants&scholarships. But even if you get an offer but not enough money, the only legit way to break the contract is if you let them know it wasnt enough and they can’t become affordable.

Hope you’re done with PHEAA :muscle::muscle:
DO apply to Honors at SRU: it’s generally more selective than IUP, stronger for Biology/Microbiology, and it’s a Passhe so all the PHEAA&federal grants apply. Worth a visit to compare with IUP, too. But there, too, you should be in Honors.

I still think you should apply to a few more colleges (cf. Other thread). The reply deadline has been pushed to May 15 about everywhere anyway and there could be more challenging, more affordable options.
Allegheny and Muhlenberg were listed on your other thread. Both in PA so you’d benefit from some of the state grants for residents.

Wooster is nationally known for undergraduate research.

https://inside.wooster.edu/biology/
(btw, if you click on the small flag at the right hand corner, you can read it in German).

3 Likes

noted!! and i am pretty sure she did get a fullbright

i hope that iup’s honors program will be stimulating enough, which is also my main worry. i was expecting thay vt (even not in honors) would be able to satisfy this for me, but it is so expensive!!

i’m honestly worried about applying any other places right now; i have a deep feeling i will not hear back in time. i also don’t want to expand my decisions, i need to narrow down to the best options available to me.

pheaa is not done yet, they didn’t send me info yet. cue the closing of my coffin :skull:

i’ll look into wooster. lgbtq+ legislation is pretty low in ohio, though. it’s not out of the equation just because of that, just want to clarify :+1:t2:

ETA: it appears final decision for wooster is may 1st, idk if i’ll hear back in time :((

I don’t know your budget but it’s not how you chase cost - applying to a school that doesn’t meet need. Wooster is highly unlikely to come close to a price you need.

How much can your family spend?

What is your GPA and test score?

yeah, honestly it seems like wooster is a decent school, but again, very late in the game. i probably won’t hear back in time

i must fully finance my education myself. my mom is open to cosigning for me, so whatever that means is the answer (her words, not mine). i know i qualify for maximum pell grant and we have access to free lunches and food stamps. needless to say, we are pretty broke

3.9 weighted out of 4.0 (school doesn’t calculate unweighted), 1390 highest sat score

1 Like

It’s not about hearing back in time - what if they tell you that you have to spend $15K or $30K.

They are need aware - if you have full need, they’re likely going to reject you.

There are schools as cheap as $20K all in.

If they don’t work, then find that in state school - and maybe better if you live at home. Or go to a local community college.

Va Tech, Wooster - honestly, those type schools never should have been applied to. I wish you had better guidance in high school but you haven’t. Fortunately, you have IUP and SRU.

How much are you paying for those and how will you pay for them?

honestly, idek what i can and can’t afford right now. my family doesn’t make enough money as is, and we are just getting by. idk how much more realistic i can be at this point (sorry if i seem rude, i’m just really frustrated). my mom makes 33k a year. i’m looking for a new job because my current job only pays $11.50 an hour. rent and utilities is more than 2k a month take 33k a year, divide that by 12, and that’s our monthly budget for everything. it really sucks being low income, and all i want is to get into a decent college

well aware on both 2 + 3

i will have to live in the dorms for iup, it’s too far away to drive to and from everyday. i am not even allowed to drive independently due to my disability, and public transit through ADA does not take the route to iup. community college will not work in my case, and going will likely be a waste of time, as mentioned earlier

i applied to virginia tech mostly to see how the outcome would be, yk fafo? i did NOT expect to get in, honestly. i was only able to apply to so many colleges because i had a fee waiver because my family is so broke. why would i apply to upenn and cmu if i knew i would not likely get in AND have to pay a fee? :melting_face: there are more reasons why sru is out of the picture, it’s not very realistic in my case. i understand why it’s being brought up again, but it was cut for several reasons, same for every other college i was accepted into. sorry if i’m getting irriable, i just feel like i’m repeating myself. i’m not in a rich family like most people on this forum; i am JUST above the poverty line. i was homeless last year

i don’t know, i don’t have a FA package, like i said. estimated for IUP is 8k before state aid (which isn’t available yet), VT is about 30k. both estimates are annual

2 Likes

adding this from an article that i found. according to mit’s living wage calculator, the total required income before taxes for a single mom with one child in pa is $49,200. my mom makes around $33,000

33k / 12 months is about $2,750 to use per month

rent is $1,800. $2,750 - $1,800 is $950

say groceries are $200. $950 - $200 is $750

utilities, let’s imagine, are $200 as well. $750 - $200 is $550

aaaand we haven’t even mentioned loans, credit card payments, etc. if it was not for the hefty divorce settlement my mom got from her ex husband (who was in six figures, about $200k per year if i had to guess), we would have had to file for bankruptcy. by the time she got the settlement, my mom was over $70,000 in debt. i’m being realistic and very blunt. it’s been a hard life. ever since i was a kid, i have dreamt of getting out of this life my lineage has been in for generations. that’s why i tried so hard to succeed in school, and i feel i have. i just wish that the “do good in school, get a full-ride to college” thing my parents told me as a kid was true. now i’m freshly 18, a month away from HS graduation, and completely lost on what to do

1 Like

Any college that wants applications also wants students to come and for that they need to give them an answer quickly then give them some time to decide.
(They wouldn’t do it to be kind but as a win-win: because of the FAFSA mess there’s been a drop by 30%, more in some areas -e.g., rural/working class- in FA submission, meaning these kids aren’t coming, and if the FSA doesn’t figure it out quickly colleges are going to be in A LOT OF TROUBLE. So it’s really to their advantage to take apps, accept solid students, let them know quickly, and ensure they can come.)

I understand if you don’t have time - but don’t deprive yourself of opportunities because you’re afraid of something that is immaterial.

Wooster meets need for most applicants BTW although they’re need aware -and I am willing to bet you a bunch of chocolate eggs that if they pushed their application deadline they’ll push their enrollment deadline too. Same for most colleges.
(In fact if you find yourself hesitating between colleges that admitted you, email them to say you need a 1 or 2 week delay, most accept even in normal times and with the FAFSA mess it’s to the colleges’ advantage to be flexible. )
Wooster can be surprisingly generous and it is very supportive of research (that’s what it’s natiobally known for). The middle 50% students at IUP would be in the bottom 5% at Wooster and you’d be in the top 30% not top 5-10% (most of the campus would be a peer group for you). It doesn’t mean you’re a shoo-in who will get a mind boggling scholarship but it means you have a shot
The huge downside to Wooster is that it’s in Ohio (=no PHEAA grant). So, I would prioritize

  • applying to Honors at SRU (unless clearly not in the running anymore)
  • other PASSHE Schools with Honors? What about West Chester, Ship… are they still accepting applications + Honors?
    If you do neither ^, next order of business is sending more CommonApps.
  • Allegheny, Muhlenberg, etc.
  • Wooster?
    If your common app is already set up you can just add Wooster to your dashboard and send the app through then email your regional rep so they know to expect the app (you can use the start of the PSU statement I DMd you.)
    A list of colleges that miscalculated yield is likely to turn up within 2 weeks. You have to be ready to pounce as the best colleges with FA will fill up fast.

Btw the frustration you’re feeling is currently being felt by literally hundreds of housands of kids whise FA packages are stuck or were wrong or who can’t even submit.

“Work hard and you could get a full ride to college” is real. The issue is that your new GC was probably overwhelmed and if she didn’t know about your financial situation you couldn’t guess&apply to Questbridge and you didn’t know that applying ED to a full need college as a full Pell student meant a near full ride if admitted. :sleepy:
That’s water under the bridge but you can STILL apply to some full need colleges and see what happens; if that doesnt work you can spend a year at IUP honors, get straight As, send a transfer app in January-February to the PA meet-need colleges (Haverford, Dickinson, Lafayette, Lehigh, Gettysburg, Muhlenberg… - I’ll look up BMCs policy wrt nonbinary students
ETA you don’t need to detail here, you can just check out whether any of the cases discussed apply to you
https://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions-aid/policies-resources/admissions-aid-policies/transgender-applicants
) because at worst you still have a great value at IUP and at best you have a great college with lots of resources to support your goals.

Finally, Penn was NOT a ridiculous reach. It WAS a reach, odds being low of being admitted, but it never was out of the question, and your essays were good.

3 Likes

You can calculate unweighted yourself. Add up all of your grades (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0) and divide by the number of grades. We do not know your high school’s weighting system, so weighted GPA is meaningless.

1 Like

self calculated is about 3.8 out of 4.0

2 Likes

I’m sorry that you received poor guidance in the college search process, I’m sorry that you’re stressed, and I’m sorry that you and your family have had to deal with a lot. That stinks, there’s really no way around it.

That said, however, you have performed well enough that it looks as though you will have close to a full ride at IUP. Most students whose families are approaching the poverty level have to live at home and work, maybe getting to take 1 or 2 classes/semester at a local college, meaning that it takes them 2-4x longer to get a degree than you probably will.

Because of all the hard work you’ve put in, you have a spot in IUP honors, you’ll be living in a dorm on-campus, and from what @MYOS1634 had said, you’re likely to be among the top students, getting you access to the best opportunities available at the school.

Additionally, if you read many threads of people who are interested in med school, the general advice is that the name of the college on your diploma doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have high grades and a strong MCAT score. Getting the highest grades is much easier when you come in as one of the top students, as your background is likely to give you a leg up on a lot of the competition. Many people who come from families that have a lot of monetary resources are advised to go to one of the least expensive options they can be successful from including non “name brand” colleges (like state flagships or Top X schools).

If you decide to submit additional applications, know that there are people here who would be happy to help you in any way possible. But if you decide not to do any more applications and roll with IUP, realize that all your hard work through school has paid off by getting you an opportunity to attend a 4-year residential university on-campus with very little additional cost ($1k/year?), and that your hard work is likely to make college easier for you than it would have been if you were goofing off throughout high school.

Wishing you the very best.

6 Likes

@bonkistobias your frustration is understandable. I am sorry you have been struggling and not had stability in your life in recent years.

Take a deep breath. Visualize your goals and take small steps each day.

There are colleges that are able to assist driven students with financial need, but it may take a reconsideration of your plans. OOS public universities typically do not have the endowments to cover the additional costs. You need to look at colleges that meet need as others have been suggesting.

I know you said community college was not an option, but do not discount that option for next year. There are 100% meets need colleges that take transfers and meet 100% need. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation specifically has scholarships for students like you transferring from community colleges. Our Scholarships - Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

3 Likes

Cc is not an option because 1° in PA they (may) lead to PASSHE schools - the pathway to a flagship is through branch campuses for the “2+2” system and CCs are primarily meant for career prep with a little gen ed with PASSHE having gen eds&4 year majors with a couple associates. The new governor is working on integrating CCs and PASSHE. 2° OP would have to forfeit a near full ride at a Passhe school to attend a CC which would be counterproductive.

@bonkistobias cOULD apply to PSU for the PA version of cc->flagship, ie., 2+2 (1° University Park: College of Ag, Immunology - a cell&MB-heavy major in a college known for offering extra scholarships 2° Altoona? Harrisburg ?) and hope to get either Main campus or Branch campus. Branch campus would be cheaper so they could even apply directly to a Branch though hopefully Immunology is one of the few majors that’s not full yet (time is running out and officially UP doesn’t accept apps anymore though I believe Ag and Education still have a few spots).

They can also apply to several of the colleges still taking applications, including in PA Allegheny, Susquehanna, Juniata, Elizabethtown, Washington&Jefferson, Chatham (in Pittsburgh), perhaps adding Muhlenberg(which leets need) hoping one comes through financially. All would be eligible for the state grants.
Finally, as soon as the NACAC list of colleges that miscalculated yield is published, someone should post the list of colleges that offer full need packages and @bonkistobias would apply immediately since time is of the essence.

@bonkistobias :slight_smile: you can wait till may 1 or May 15 to decide. And if a better FA package, or an affordable package at a better school comes your way, you are allowed to switch. You just can’t be enrolled at 2 schools. And if you need more time to decide around April 28, you can email IUP and let them know you’re thinking of committing but would need until May 8 (or, if new deadline is May 15, you need until May 20.) It’s in their interest to be a little bit flexible due to the FAFSA fiasco (and even without that problem, colleges usually are).

3 Likes