And their parents also tend to be very competitive and comparative about college admissions.
Yes. Looking ahead one year to the beginning of her senior year, encourage your daughter not to discuss with any of her classmates what schools she is considering or where she is applying; this may help with relieving some of stress. My wife and I did this with both of our kids, who attended an independent/private high school; and they said that it helped a good deal. (And for those nosy students who insist on asking about each and every school that is being applied to, we told our kids to simply say – at least into the beginning of their final semester – “I am applying/have applied to Big Public University as a safety, and I haven’t yet decided where else I’m applying.”)
As an FYI…don’t discuss with relatives either. We told our kids to say something like “ I’ll let you know my final college decision once I make it at the end of April”. And we told them if anyone pushed (the grandparents did) to excuse themselves because they needed to go to the bathroom.
You’re absolutely right, she does NOT know what she wants to do. Wish I had one of those kids that wanted to be a veterinarian since 3rd grade, but this one is definitely not that. She is ambitious academically and intellectually curious. She wants to do “something in science” and is very deep into her high school research project involving cell biology as it relates to aging. She has said that she doesn’t want to solve “every day problems” - that is one reason why medicine doesn’t appeal to her. She likes contemplating larger and more existential issues rather than illnesses/disease/injury. And she is self admittedly an introvert and not a people person, but does enjoy close intellectual mentorships and friendships. MD/PhD came up as a possibility because of the medicine in my family background, but I really don’t know what I’m talking about, lol! I am afraid of what some of you have said about straight science PhD’s - sounds like an expensive road to unemployment. As an aside, she has a deep love of birds, just to throw that in there! Thanks for all the help everyone - I read all the posts and am taking note of the info I’m getting.
She might want to look into programs in computational biology, which could let her work on “non every day problems” in health/science/biology and because of its computational component might be more employable than a straight bio degree. But it does require a lot of math and computer science, so that might or might not be a good fit for her.
Not to put too fine a point on it (but I guess I am, anyway), that’s pretty much the same problem with starting a four-year engineering program - then dropping out after two years. She would have no choice but to put most of her credits toward a “straight science” degree.
I am afraid of what some of you have said about straight science PhD’s - sounds like an expensive road to unemployment.
Not unemployment per se, but probably not as a full time basic science researcher at a academic or government research lab.
Every year about 5500 new bio PhDs are awarded. About 1% of those grads will eventually find a job in basic research/academia.
Most will find jobs outside of basic research labs. In education as HS or community college teachers. Management consulting. Technical/scientific writing. Medical or science liaisons. Applied research labs in industry. (Like making “designer” mice for the biotech industry by manipulating their genetics. Or developing new, less “sticky to human tear proteins” plastics for contact lenses) Quality assurance in pharm, biotech, chemical or agriculture industries. Permanent lab assistant at a research lab. (Sort like being a permanent grad student, only slightly better paid.)
The good news is that most science PhD programs are fully funded. This means the university/research PI has funds that will support your child through their graduate education. It will pay for tuition, fees, health insurance plus a modest living expenses stipend. Likewise post-doc programs (1 to 2 year post graduate full time research programs that are more or less required to get an academic job) pay a modest stipend. VAP (Visiting Assistant Professors) which are kind of like an audition at a university to see if they want to hire you–those are paid too, albeit modestly.
Getting back to school recommendations- I mentioned SUNY Binghamton, but I also think SUNY Buffalo is a good match. She would likely make honors (giving it a smaller feel) and there is a wide range of majors. There is also a major airport close enough to the school. SUNY may get you to your budget.
You can try the NPC for UNC- not sure if it is too big (if she wants BME or bio). There is also UDel.
I think if they remove the geographic limitation - there will be a lot more schools to get to budget - including these two.
Bing is a five hour car ride on the nose from DCA Airport. It has biomedical engineering that is ABET accredited.
I think one thing to study and someone mentioned it before and others have mentioned on other threads:
What is bio engineering
What is bio medical engineering
How does cell biology relate to these - if at all. In other words and I know it came up on a ChemE vs Chem chat - someone made the comment - the two are nothing alike - so a student may love bio but not biomedical engineering…or vice versa.
As an opinion on biomedical engineering as a major, I don’t regard this as a deeply scientific approach because of the lack of depth in any particular area of science.