That’s great!
Looks like he chose the right path.
Have you considered University of Washington in Seattle? It is ranked very highly in world rankings. My daughter has had incredible paid lab jobs- at NIH (the summer after freshman year) and in UW labs. UW has a wonderful biomedical program. My daughter loves her classes and her jobs- where not only is she gaining incredible experience and getting published- but she is also able to pay for her schooling completely on her own (even though we have offered to pay).
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Thank you, that list is helpful!
Last year and this year I see a lot of kids applying to Cambridge and Oxford, especially those from upper middle class families with no hook and enjoy learning for the sake of learning. Many of them are studying or plan to study hard core science and math. I don’t know much about UK colleges, just observing this trend.
Somebody else mentioned it to me, it’s having an upswing in apps lately? I have never been to that part of the country but I think Seattle has the vibe he would like.
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What about the University of Illinois- Urbana-Champaign? Lots of undergraduate opportunities there.
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Just a quick summary on Pitt.
Pittsburgh is a pretty interesting, historic city that went through a big boom and bust as an industrial city, and has remade itself as a professional services, research, and eds & meds city. The University of Pittsburgh is right in the heart of all that, surrounded by all sorts of hospitals and labs, as well as being adjacent to Carnegie Mellon (where Pitt students sometimes take some courses).
First time visitors are often surprised how green Pittsburgh is, with a lot of pleasant walkable neighborhoods. Long story short, that is because it has a lot of complex topography, with all sorts of rivers and creeks and valleys and plateaus and gorges and bridges and such, and undevelopable slopes that are left pretty wild or incorporated into parks. Many of the old industrial areas have been redeveloped, but lots of Pittsburgh, including most of the “East End” where Pitt, CMU, and other colleges are located, was never very industrial anyway.
Obviously there is a major airport in Pittsburgh. There are also a lot of convenient outdoor recreation opportunities nearby.
The University of Pittsburgh is particularly strong in Biology and related research. This is just one example, but it tends to do quite well in research rankings in this area (15 in the US, 21 in the world, in this ranking):
And another–18 in the US, 23 in the world in this one:
As a result of all the research opportunities and other experience opportunities right in the same area, Pitt has become a popular choice for pre-med, and in fact it has a very good medical school. But all this is good for anyone interested in Biology.
Finally, Pitt has an Honors Program–not a super fancy one, but it gives you priority class registration which is nice for academicky kids–a general merit program, and then also a few special big merit programs (very hard to get). So, that is also attractive to a lot of high numbers kids these days.
Obviously your kid will have a lot of choices. But Pitt is a likely admit, way better for Biology research than most of its normal peers, with merit, that would otherwise check a lot of boxes given the stated preferences.
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Just catching up with more recent posts, I wanted to add:
I note Pitt is in fact ranked higher than Texas for Biology research specifically by at least some reputable sources (like the ones I gave).
I would not say that is a determinative factor on its own, but I think it is also then relevant that Pitt is way smaller than Texas.
Like I love using this tool for this purpose:
In the last reported year, Pitt graduated 266 primary majors in Biology specifically, another 325 in related majors (181 in Neuroscience, which is very big there too).
OK, then Texas had 671 primary majors in Biology, 595 in related majors. Way more, like well over twice more total.
OK, if you then go back to the PhD Feeders list, over five years, Texas had 229 PhDs in Biological Sciences, or about 46 per year, and Pitt had 161, or about 32 a year. Obviously 46 is not twice 32.
My point is proportionally, more people from Pitt are going on to Biology PhDs than from Texas. Again, not definitive, but I think it reflects the reality that if you have that sort of ambition, Pitt has the professors, research, and other resources necessary to support you, and there is maybe a notch or two less competition at Pitt to get the benefit of those resources than there would be at Texas.
Again, just food for thought.
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I love Pittsburgh. Great city. I guess I would question whether he would get enough aid at that OOS public to offset the difference in tuition ( 38k vs 11k). Maybe he can.
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We have kids at JHU (currently enrolled) and Stanford (graduated 2021) and both schools have great research opportunities. D at JHU is pre-health BME but is also considering research because she “loves it”. She joined a research lab freshman year and her role there just keeps expanding. Interestingly, her internship for this summer is in Pittsburgh and she’s signed onto a dorm at CMU.
Stanford, is, well, Stanford - lots of research opportunities. S current GF is in PhD program at Cal (Chem Biology) but that’s way over my head.
Your S has great stats. Good luck.
I think only rarely. So more likely the question would end up whether the opportunity to go to such a strong university for Biology research that also seemed to check a lot of desired “lifestyle” boxes was worth the additional cost.
And maybe the answer would be no, but if it ended up close enough, maybe yes? Totally up to the kid and family, of course.
Wow thank you for all that info. Funny enough I had zero knowledge about Pittsburgh until a couple months ago when I had an order for custom cookies (for the cookie table?) for someone from Pitt. I did a lot of research! I made a cookie with the Roberto Clemente bridge on it!
Something that we haven’t gotten into is the number of kids in bio who are going on to med school. I would assume it’s high for UT. I don’t know right now if that influences the curriculum enough for us to take that into account.
We could probably swing a trip to Pitt/Ohio if he shows interest. We will be visiting Boston in the summer to check out the vibe. He’s never spent any time in a big city in the NE.
Exactly - and we won’t know about that until merit offers come in. I’ve told him we won’t quibble over 10k or 15k if he really likes the lifestyle of the school. Can you save 10k in air conditioning costs??
Yes, it is very easy to combine, say, Pitt and Case Western, and I would personally suggest tossing in Oberlin if possible, and in fact you could continue on to Michigan in Ann Arbor (if you thought it worth considering). So you could fly into Pittsburgh, fly back from either Cleveland or Detroit depending on where you want to end.
But I don’t want to make it sound like this is a must, just a reasonable possibility.
Need to make sure heating is included . . . .
Although that is a good point generally. People have recently been building some swank student housing in Pittsburgh (with all sorts of amenities), but you can actually save quite a bit in an older building and still be in a nice convenient neighborhood. Again, I am not sure this will all seem super cheap by Texas standards, but certainly it is going to be a lot easier to save a bit on housing costs that way versus in much more expensive cities.
NE is lovely in the summer. But he would enroll in the winter, and that is another matter. Same with Pitt. I grew up not far from there, so I am certainly used to it, but the weather, the lack of sunshine, and the early sunset take getting used to for Texas kids.
My Texas kid spent 1 autumn in Boston and vowed never again. She is near NYC now, which is better, but still misses the sun.
Pitt is one of my favorite schools, but it is freezing (and I went to school in Buffalo). We were there in the middle of February and it was painful to be outside.
That being said, it’s a great school and will always be one of my favorites.
So - let’s go a little deeper.
A UNC / UVA won’t have the politics of Texas but they’re also not known to be liberal (NC has a dem governor but leans red - ane theyare not close to Texas politically although the gov of Va tried but failed).
A Rice in Houston won’t have the politics of Texas nor will a Vanderbilt in Nashville have the politics of a Tennessee. @twogirls correctly noted the Chapel Hill area is liberal, etc.
But I guess then it becomes - is a more liberal area in a conservative state ok? You noted for some schools maybe (UNC) but how about all schools? A W&M is - suburban and within reach of an airport although at your longest distance to an airport.
Case Western, for example, is in Ohio - a conservative state but not Texas conservative - you noted it’s a good choice but have you looked at it from the environment POV (Ohio being conservative - but not TX conservative).
A Boston area school - if you wanted smaller - a Brandeis could work. Tufts could, of course, but no merit. Brandeis would potentially have merit.
Other LAC types - but maybe bigger - a Lafayette - could work. Or how about (already mentioned) Lehigh…and I mentioned Rochester prior. Or Union College outside Albany? How about School of Mines outside Denver? RPI could be another as maybe WPI.
With NMSF, I believe USC offers at least a half scholarship (if you get in of course). Yes, it has school spirit - but it’s got brilliant kids and not everyone is sports focused (you can say that about many schools).
All these are airport accessible - it might give you a few more options.
I’ll throw one more “crazy” idea -
U of Kansas - a public with great cost and one of the Honors Top Honors Colleges - is also highly rated in BioChem. Conservative state but a democratic governor. The price will be right.
U of Denver also hits this ranking (linked) - it’s a solid school for the A-/B+ student I think (with tons of smart kids too due to great merit) - and he’d assuredly be $50Kish or less all in. It does have school spirit for hockey - but many schools allow the opportunity to be yourself.
Fantastic student - the sky will be the limit.
UNC is pretty liberal, as is the surrounding area. The rest of the state may differ …… depending on where. Parts are liberal, parts are definitely not.
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Yes - agreed - places like Tucson - blue city in a purple state or Charleston - blue city in a red state…even as Texas has blue cities.
That’s why I was asking about a CWRU in Ohio.
Even NY - I mentioned Rochester and RPI in theory liberal - but moreso down south than above.
So you never know - Wake is another that could work (in NC) and has merit aid.
I know the student body will skew wealthier and maybe conservative but that doesn’t mean politically.
And to your point about UNC and being liberal - even the governor of NC I believe is a Democrat (like a Kansas). There’s always pockets…
There truly is so many variances out there - so a lot depends on the “politics” the student is trying to escape from.
Yes NC has pockets of both, but your post said UNC which is why I responded. The campus and surrounding area actually feels more liberal than parts of the northeast that tend to go blue.