Undergrad selection for future genetics researcher.

Graduate School
21

<p>Generally, private universities/colleges in the top 50, maybe even in the top 100, cost about $200,000 over four years, including room and board. And although I’m sure that it’s possible to graduate in three years, it’s rare. Most students stay at a private college for all four years.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Of course, the definition of “middle class” changes from person to person, and region to region. The bottom line is that, if you’ve saved a lot, you have to pay more than another person earning the same salary. And FAFSA doesn’t distinguish among regions. One salary in expensive northern California is treated the same as one in less expensive Nebraska. </p>

<p>But that’s neither here nor there, since the OP’s son DID get a merit scholarship to Alabama. He did something very, very right. :)</p>

22

<p>Mama, I hope you check back on this thread, because this might help!</p>

<p>I am a Junior at the University of Alabama and I have been doing research since the third week of my freshman year (so, I’ll graduate with 8 semesters + three summers!). I also received a merit scholarship and, through secondary scholarships, have not had to pay for my schooling, so far.</p>

<p>In terms of money, UA is clearly the best option. As a state school, it isn’t nearly expensive as any private school you could pick. And the scholarship offer your son has sounds great!</p>

<p>In terms of reputation - the University of Alabama is by no means a low-tier school, education or research-wise. We are a strong, research-oriented school with many, many opportunities to engage in undergraduate research. You can pick and choose which lab you’re interested in working in based on the level of commitment you want to put into it - and it sounds like your son really wants to work hard to achieve his goals.</p>

<p>My lab is one in which you can certainly do that - our hardest working undergrads have gone on to MIT, UCSF, and other amazing schools thanks to their devotion to research from early on in college and the mentoring they received from their professors, graduate mentors, and older fellow undergrads. If he is willing to put in the work, your son should have just as much of a chance getting into a great grad school program as anyone from a private school - potentially more, given just how much research experience he can get here (some other schools don’t want undergrads involved in research until their 2nd or 3rd year - or not at all). That said, my lab is very competitive to enter, but there are many other labs that train undergraduates just as well as mine.</p>

<p>I have loved every minute spent in the lab here, and if you would like to learn more specifically about the program, please contact me! I would love to help!</p>

<p>Also, I would like to note - to grad schools, the ranking of the school you do your undergraduate work doesn’t matter quite so much as the quality of your research and your hard work during your time there. There is no shame and, more importantly, no risk of limiting yourself in coming to UA before going off to some fancy top-of-the-US-News-grad-schools-list program for your grad work :)</p>

23

<p>Whoops - Mama <em>or</em> Papa! Saw the other username with ‘mom’ in it and got all mixed up.</p>

<p>The offer still stands! I’ll blab on about UA to anyone who wants to hear. I love to help students just as excited by science as I am!</p>

24

<p>Alabama sounds like a much better value for the money. Going there will in no way be a restriction on what your son can do in the future. There are plenty of labs.</p>

<p>On the topic of undergraduate research, while it is important for your son to be interested in what he is doing, it is definitely not necessary to be working in the same field he wants to work in for graduate school. If he wants to study longevity in grad school he can do that as long as he is motivated, regardless of the work he did as an undergrad. Many people make drastic switches, like from physics to biology.</p>

25

<p>As an additional note, I’m in a different field (psychology). I started off doing developmental psychology research - child motor development. My senior thesis was on educational psychology. My graduate PhD program is in health psychology, and I didn’t do any health psych research in undergrad other than writing a paper for a class. Most people I know in doctoral programs started out doing unrelated research in their undergrad labs. Even if your son can’t do genetics research exactly at UA, if he can do biological research in a related field, then his chances should still be fairly good. I also came from a small liberal arts college to Columbia, so you can easily go from a great not necessarily top-tier university to a top graduate program with the right tools.</p>

<p>Unlike DanyTarg, I don’t think that cutting your costs to half is realistic or doable, and I don’t know where he got the $7500 figure from. The majority of summer internships I’ve encountered in research are around $3,000 for the summer. Any corporate fellowships that pay more are going to be incredibly competitive and nothing to rely on when it comes to paying down debt. I also think that struggling to graduate in 3 years for financial reasons when you have a perfectly affordable and excellent university offer in your pocket is untenable. It’ll limit his opportunities and perhaps make him not do as well as he loads up with an overwhelming amount of classes.</p>

<p>Personally, I’d choose UA and never look back, since he doesn’t already like UIUC and Chicago seems out of your research.</p>

26

<p>Thanks everyone. My son and I found the comments very helpful. For us, it appears that Alabama is the clear choice unless something very drastic changes in the financial/scholarship offer from the U of C.</p>