Accepted into biochemistry as the University of Washington, great in-state option for me. Also accepted into the Honors College.
Great option but am honestly leaning toward a smaller institution but am not eliminating from my choices yet.
Accepted into College of Arts & Sciences at Boston College, little to no financial aid offered or any merit scholarships.
Beautiful campus but am worried about the competitiveness of classes.
Accepted into the College of the Holy Cross with about $20K worth of merit scholarships.
I love the liberal arts aspect, very pretty campus, and supportive advising and student body. Worried about the city of Worcester not having enough opportunities.
Looking to go into pre-med and am wondering which of these provides good pre-med advising, opportunities for research and internships, and general academics.
I am very interested in the Jesuit education and I think that is one reason I applied to both of the latter two schools.
Jesuits do education well, but med school is expensive. BC is a wonderful experience, but unless your family is wealthy, paying sticker is tough.
Have you visited HC? Worcester is the 2nd largest city in MA, so it’ll have any opportunities that you seek. Being a liberal arts college (3k undergrads), teh experience at HC would be significantly different than that of BC (nearly 10k undergrads).
That said, U-Dub is an excellent school. Save teh money and stay instate.
If your family is willing or able to cover the privates AND medical - then you are really down to the two. BC and Holy Cross are very different - with one bigger and not an LAC.
Given the major, career outcomes in the major, and the likelihood you don’t go to med school, I’d personally go to UW - but you don’t want that.
It sounds to me like you prefer HC except you worry about area opportunities. I’m not sure what that means but talk to the school (if you mean shadowing, etc.) vs. just thinking - it’s Worcester. Tons of kids go to college in Worcester (which is not a small city) and many small towns and rural places and find opportunities - so my guess is that’s over stated.
From an ROI POV, which may not be what matters to your family, UW will be best. I was in Charleston this weekend and was served by a recent (last year) FSU grad at a restaurant - her major biochem - and she told me, a ton of smart kids but no one is finding jobs as it’s not a major that applies to a lot. She’s been applying for medical sales jobs but with no luck. Maybe she’s the exception and not the rule.
But you might ask each school for career outcomes from kids in the major.
In the end, if your parents are on board, they also will fund your graduate education without you having to pay, then - go to Holy Cross - based on what you wrote.
I can’t tell you strongly enough how much debt will drag down your ability to accumulate wealth. One of my patients just finished paying off his medical school loan at age 62. At age 61, I’m retired. Debt…BAD!!!
Given that you intend to apply to medical school (or possibly another grad school) I would attend the University of Washington. I cannot think of any reason not to- it’s a very good school. The one student I know who attended had a wonderful experience, a research position, etc and is now in a very competitive graduate school program.
As far as finding a job as a biochemistry major- there are jobs out there but most eventually end up in some kind of grad school. The job that my daughter had hires biochemistry majors.
People may think study biochemistry → biochemist in the way they’d think study teaching → Teacher or study Engineering-> engineer, but that’s not how it works for most majors from Math to History to Economics.
You develop skills (their level, depth, and accuracy indicated by As) and must show evidence of those skills from experience (research, lab work, volunteering, internships).
Combine it all^ and for best results you need personal (one on one, regular) advising; an excellent career center (again, with regular workshops and one-on-one meetings); and opportunities for experiential learning and research. Also helpful: alumni network (how tight/helpful it is in particular), “pull” (power, reputation-can be regional), how well-known the college is for your major, ease of taking classes outside your major.
Review your choices for affordability (NO parental debt) then check the criteria above and upthread.
As a biochemistry major, you should be able to add a data science minor (biostats or bioinformatics or statistics also useful).