Best decision for undergrad?

[pkteen]

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I've been accepted at three schools namely Drexel, SUNY - Stony Brook and Case Western Reserve University and my major is currently undecided.
In terms of tuition, all three of them are out of state for me (I'm an international student) but I am getting a $15000 scholarship from Drexel.
Although I'd be able to pay for tuition at all three places, I'd rather save up for grad school. For someone planning to go pre-med, which school will be the best option and will going to one of these schools be a disadvantage over going to another school? (Stony brook would be the cheapest for me)

 

[food2]

Go stony brook. Cheapest is the best. Education is what you make of it and if you can push yourself, you'll do great.

 

[Mornhavon]

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[Microglia]

I've been accepted at three schools namely Drexel, SUNY - Stony Brook and Case Western Reserve University and my major is currently undecided.
In terms of tuition, all three of them are out of state for me (I'm an international student) but I am getting a $15000 scholarship from Drexel.
Although I'd be able to pay for tuition at all three places, I'd rather save up for grad school. For someone planning to go pre-med, which school will be the best option and will going to one of these schools be a disadvantage over going to another school? (Stony brook would be the cheapest for me)

Stony brook has a med school, and I'm sure all the opportunities a premed could want. Can't go wrong though.

Just an advance warning if you're a noncitizen- do your research on what it takes to get into med school without citizenship or a green card. It is a very tough path, and it's best to plan it out starting now. Best of luck!

 

[Microglia]

Go with the most prestigious, competitive, and highly ranked school possible.

While it will cost more, most likely, there are many benefits:

1) You will be surrounded by high achieving, smart people. This breeds a culture of success rather than one of mediocrity. This will lead to you working harder, meet more interesting people with similar work ethic to yourself, and more opportunity to do cool things in organizations with motivated people.

2) Your school will have more resources available to you, as it will have more students seeking to go to medical school in the first place, and better know how to advise you. Having a competent advisor and pre-med committee is a big deal

3) There will be more money for research and more researchers doing interesting work that you can join in on.

4) If you perform well, your transcript looks better due to more "rigor" than someone from a cheap state school where you would be a big fish in a small pond.

5) If you don't get into medical school, or change your mind, you will find it much easier to get a good job or other opportunities.

I know this is my personal opinion, but depending on your financial situation, you should avoid being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Generally inaccurate. Just because a school is prestigious doesn't mean it will have what you listed. Do your research on premed opportunities and programs at each school.

Essentially everything but 5 can't be assumed. 4 is flat out wrong with the exception of 3-4 schools known for their rigor (Berkeley, MIT, etc)

 

[Mornhavon]

.

 

[food2]

Go with the most prestigious, competitive, and highly ranked school possible.

While it will cost more, most likely, there are many benefits:

1) You will be surrounded by high achieving, smart people. This breeds a culture of success rather than one of mediocrity. This will lead to you working harder, meet more interesting people with similar work ethic to yourself, and more opportunity to do cool things in organizations with motivated people.

2) Your school will have more resources available to you, as it will have more students seeking to go to medical school in the first place, and better know how to advise you. Having a competent advisor and pre-med committee is a big deal

3) There will be more money for research and more researchers doing interesting work that you can join in on.

4) If you perform well, your transcript looks better due to more "rigor" than someone from a cheap state school where you would be a big fish in a small pond.

5) If you don't get into medical school, or change your mind, you will find it much easier to get a good job or other opportunities.

I know this is my personal opinion, but depending on your financial situation, you should avoid being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

You should be penny-wise, especially for Undergrad. Barring Yale and harvard, most schools are pretty damn equal. Save up that money and use it elsewhere. No one gives two doo doo's on 'prestige' if you aren't coming from one of those fancy schools. Do well in school and do well on your MCAT's do a few good EC's and you're set. Sometimes it pays off to be a big fish in a small pond.

 

[pkteen]

I've decided to go for Stony Brook then and yes, I understand how hard it is for internationals to get in... (to med school)

 

[Redpancreas]

Go with the most prestigious, competitive, and highly ranked school possible.

While it will cost more, most likely, there are many benefits:

1) You will be surrounded by high achieving, smart people. This breeds a culture of success rather than one of mediocrity. This will lead to you working harder, meet more interesting people with similar work ethic to yourself, and more opportunity to do cool things in organizations with motivated people.

2) Your school will have more resources available to you, as it will have more students seeking to go to medical school in the first place, and better know how to advise you. Having a competent advisor and pre-med committee is a big deal

3) There will be more money for research and more researchers doing interesting work that you can join in on.

4) If you perform well, your transcript looks better due to more "rigor" than someone from a cheap state school where you would be a big fish in a small pond.

5) If you don't get into medical school, or change your mind, you will find it much easier to get a good job or other opportunities.

I know this is my personal opinion, but depending on your financial situation, you should avoid being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

A lot of this true but not all of it in my opinion. I can see how all of it might sound correct in theory, but in practice, a lot of the argument to blindly attend the most prestigious school breaks down.

1.) Yes, I absolutely agree that it's better to be among smarter individuals as it breeds a culture of success (gulp...as elitist as that sounds). It's one of the regrets I had in attending a lower tier school. Sometimes, I felt like there weren't many students I could study with because most of them were not altogether that driven or smart...but I did find a clique eventually.

2.) "Having a competent advisor" really is NOT a big deal. Just get on SDN and make a few contacts and that's all you need. Completely disagree with this one.

3.) I completely disagree with the sentiment here. There will be more money overall for the university but if you are a good student I don't think it would make a big difference. It made no difference where I went to school vs. what research opportunities I was getting. In my experience, I saw students who were able to get more involved in research with stipends and receive scholarships at lower tier schools than they would have gotten at higher tier universities.

4. Sure, the transcript will look better but will that outweigh the likely lower GPA and less time you have for ECs/free time? Hardly ever in my opinion but this has been heavily debated.

5. Sure, that's true. This wasn't a concern to me because I was choosing a lower tier school because of an early admit program.

This was just my experience and I've seen it echoed a lot on SDN.

 

[Redpancreas]

I've decided to go for Stony Brook then and yes, I understand how hard it is for internationals to get in... (to med school)

Well that was a quick decision...

 

[pkteen]

Well that was a quick decision...

😀 I was already leaning heavily towards Stony Brook but I wanted to hear other people's opinions too.

 

[Patros]

Stony Brook may look the best on paper, but there are some things you might want to be wary of.

First, you might not get the "college experience," if that makes a difference for you. The location is dreary and there isn't much to do outside of the campus. There isn't much student diversity (in terms of culture, not ethnicity) since vast majority of people are coming from NYC and Long Island. About half the school commutes, and a large portion of the residents head home on the weekends/holidays, so the place is generally a ghost-town during weekends. Basically, the school is pretty boring. This might be an issue for you since you are international and won't have any option except to stay on campus.

In regard to academics, I have to warn you again. First off, the pre-health classes are massive because a large portion of the school is pre-health (medical, dental, PA, nursing, PT, OT etc etc). To give you an idea, the standard premed courses are taught in classes of 600 students each and the finals are taken by 1000-1200 students at a time. Unless you are an exceptional student, it will be very hard to get to know your professors, and many professors refuse to write letters for premeds. Without a doubt, the school is oversaturated with prehealth students.

One more note on extracurriculars. In general, the school has a lot of opportunities available, but they tend to be competitive due to the saturation of premeds. I don't think it should be too hard to volunteer in a clinical area although some have waitlists (the volunteer EMS for example). There's a lot of research on campus, but it may be a challenge initially to find an open lab (again, due to the large number of eager premeds ready to fill up open positions). Paid research opportunities are scarce.

If you made up your mind to attend SBU, I don't want to discourage you. However, keep in mind the realities of the situation. You may save money, but you will also sacrifice some of the things that some people consider valuable in terms of a college experience. Also, be prepared to compete for every resource.

Edit: Don't know much about Case Western, but they get a ton of NIH funding and are a prominent presence in the medical field. Unless you have to pay more than double to go there, I would say Case Western without a doubt.

 

[Lya]

What is the cost difference between Case and SB? I was going to encourage a reconsideration for Case, but you already seemed to set on SB.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

What is the cost difference between Case and SB? I was going to encourage a reconsideration for Case, but you already seemed to set on SB.

Case was my favorite of the schools that the OP listed.

 

[pkteen]

Around 30-35k per year for Stony Brook and 55k per year for Case

 

[pkteen]

So Case is a better decision unless it is a significant financial strain on me... Am I correct?
Also, any ideas on what the student life at Case is like (Cleveland, in gereral as well).

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Go with the most prestigious, competitive, and highly ranked school possible.

While it will cost more, most likely, there are many benefits:

1) You will be surrounded by high achieving, smart people. This breeds a culture of success rather than one of mediocrity. This will lead to you working harder, meet more interesting people with similar work ethic to yourself, and more opportunity to do cool things in organizations with motivated people.

2) Your school will have more resources available to you, as it will have more students seeking to go to medical school in the first place, and better know how to advise you. Having a competent advisor and pre-med committee is a big deal

3) There will be more money for research and more researchers doing interesting work that you can join in on.

4) If you perform well, your transcript looks better due to more "rigor" than someone from a cheap state school where you would be a big fish in a small pond.

5) If you don't get into medical school, or change your mind, you will find it much easier to get a good job or other opportunities.

I know this is my personal opinion, but depending on your financial situation, you should avoid being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Such a misinformed pre-med giving advice.

 

[DokterMom]

The best school is the one that will bring out the best in you, inspire a love of learning, ans allow you to succeed both in and out of class. These are all pretty personal criteria -- You say you're an international student. Have you had the chance to visit any of these schools and see how they 'feel' to you? It's hard to believe, but after you've visited 3 or 4 colleges, you get a strong and definite sense of what you love and what you hate, and whether or not a given school would be a place where you would thrive. When college touring, there were schools I loved instantly, and schools that literally sent us away with a bad case of 'the creeps'. It wasn't something you could predict without going there.

My two cents? Stony Brook isn't 'podunk', but a 'commuter school' has low odds of being a place where an international student who lives on campus will truly feel like s/he belongs. Plus the cultural homogeneity is either a 'great fit' or 100% of a 'bad fit'. Drexel is in Philly, which is often described as the rudest city in the U.S. And I hear it's in a not-good section of the city also, which leads me to believe that campus life would be pretty much ON campus. Cleveland is another U.S. city with a not-particularly-good reputation, though more for economic woes than for the people. The people I know in Cleveland say it's really a very nice place to live and that the city's 'bad rap' is unfair and untrue. For what it's worth... The med school at Case is quite good -- much higher ranked than Stony Brook or Drexel.

TLDR: Visit the schools if at all possible. All three schools offer the possibility of a great education, but whether or not you thrive at that particular school involves a combination of effort, which you can control, and 'fit', which you can't.

 

[darklabel]

In regard to academics, I have to warn you again. First off, the pre-health classes are massive because a large portion of the school is pre-health (medical, dental, PA, nursing, PT, OT etc etc). To give you an idea, the standard premed courses are taught in classes of 600 students each and the finals are taken by 1000-1200 students at a time. Unless you are an exceptional student, it will be very hard to get to know your professors, and many professors refuse to write letters for premeds. Without a doubt, the school is oversaturated with prehealth students.

One more note on extracurriculars. In general, the school has a lot of opportunities available, but they tend to be competitive due to the saturation of premeds. I don't think it should be too hard to volunteer in a clinical area although some have waitlists (the volunteer EMS for example). There's a lot of research on campus, but it may be a challenge initially to find an open lab (again, due to the large number of eager premeds ready to fill up open positions). Paid research opportunities are scarce.

If you made up your mind to attend SBU, I don't want to discourage you. However, keep in mind the realities of the situation. You may save money, but you will also sacrifice some of the things that some people consider valuable in terms of a college experience. Also, be prepared to compete for every resource.

Edit: Don't know much about Case Western, but they get a ton of NIH funding and are a prominent presence in the medical field. Unless you have to pay more than double to go there, I would say Case Western without a doubt.

I don't know much about these schools, but I would definitely listen to this the most. I went to a school that was considered a "pre-med feeder" school and it sucks. Opportunities are hard to come by, classes are competitive and it's very difficult getting letters or even getting to know the professor. I tried going to office hours but as you can imagine, everyone is gunning the same way.

I would suggest avoid schools with a heavy premed population. I loved my school, but it would've been easier going to a school where everyone and their mother weren't premeds.

 

[pkteen]

The best school is the one that will bring out the best in you, inspire a love of learning, ans allow you to succeed both in and out of class. These are all pretty personal criteria -- You say you're an international student. Have you had the chance to visit any of these schools and see how they 'feel' to you? It's hard to believe, but after you've visited 3 or 4 colleges, you get a strong and definite sense of what you love and what you hate, and whether or not a given school would be a place where you would thrive. When college touring, there were schools I loved instantly, and schools that literally sent us away with a bad case of 'the creeps'. It wasn't something you could predict without going there.

My two cents? Stony Brook isn't 'podunk', but a 'commuter school' has low odds of being a place where an international student who lives on campus will truly feel like s/he belongs. Plus the cultural homogeneity is either a 'great fit' or 100% of a 'bad fit'. Drexel is in Philly, which is often described as the rudest city in the U.S. And I hear it's in a not-good section of the city also, which leads me to believe that campus life would be pretty much ON campus. Cleveland is another U.S. city with a not-particularly-good reputation, though more for economic woes than for the people. The people I know in Cleveland say it's really a very nice place to live and that the city's 'bad rap' is unfair and untrue. For what it's worth... The med school at Case is quite good -- much higher ranked than Stony Brook or Drexel.

TLDR: Visit the schools if at all possible. All three schools offer the possibility of a great education, but whether or not you thrive at that particular school involves a combination of effort, which you can control, and 'fit', which you can't.

Unfortunately, I can't visit any schools since I don't live in the US.

Overall, at this point in time, the decision is between Stony Brook and Case. I don't mind the campus being empty on weekends. I know lots of people from the city, NYC and also fellow class 2018 prospectives that I will already know before I'm there.
What I want to know is that is Case worth the extra 20+K dollars because I haven't heard a lot of good things about Cleveland either and I've always wanted to live in close proximity to NYC.
All in all, can anyone here give me a good idea of how hard it would be to be pre med at Stony Brook?

 

[Patros]

Unfortunately, I can't visit any schools since I don't live in the US.

Overall, at this point in time, the decision is between Stony Brook and Case. I don't mind the campus being empty on weekends. I know lots of people from the city, NYC and also fellow class 2018 prospectives that I will already know before I'm there.
What I want to know is that is Case worth the extra 20+K dollars because I haven't heard a lot of good things about Cleveland either and I've always wanted to live in close proximity to NYC.
All in all, can anyone here give me a good idea of how hard it would be to be pre med at Stony Brook?

It's not hard, I didn't mean to make it sound like it's a bad place. My intention was to inform you that it is a very premed-heavy school, and it's important you realize that you will one among a crowd. However, the school tries very hard to keep its students happy. There is every opportunity for you to succeed, as long as you are willing to search for those opportunities and out-compete others for them.

I only know about Case from reputation. It might be a really tough place to be a premed, like some other top tier schools (such as UC-Berkeley, U.Chicago, Johns Hopkins, etc). Not sure if there is anyone here who went to Case for undergrad; try searching through some other forums for first-hand accounts.

Just fyi, there is a large international student population in SBU (mostly from South Korea and China, don't know why). They seem to have a lot of fun visiting NYC and other places in the east coast, so you probably will too. In any case, do some research and pick the school that suits you best.

 

[pkteen]

It's not hard, I didn't mean to make it sound like it's a bad place. My intention was to inform you that it is a very premed-heavy school, and it's important you realize that you will one among a crowd. However, the school tries very hard to keep its students happy. There is every opportunity for you to succeed, as long as you are willing to search for those opportunities and out-compete others for them.

I only know about Case from reputation. It might be a really tough place to be a premed, like some other top tier schools (such as UC-Berkeley, U.Chicago, Johns Hopkins, etc). Not sure if there is anyone here who went to Case for undergrad; try searching through some other forums for first-hand accounts.

Just fyi, there is a large international student population in SBU (mostly from South Korea and China, don't know why). They seem to have a lot of fun visiting NYC and other places in the east coast, so you probably will too. In any case, do some research and pick the school that suits you best.

Ah ok!

 

[3838]

I've been accepted at three schools namely Drexel, SUNY - Stony Brook and Case Western Reserve University and my major is currently undecided.
In terms of tuition, all three of them are out of state for me (I'm an international student) but I am getting a $15000 scholarship from Drexel.
Although I'd be able to pay for tuition at all three places, I'd rather save up for grad school. For someone planning to go pre-med, which school will be the best option and will going to one of these schools be a disadvantage over going to another school? (Stony brook would be the cheapest for me)

My gosh. Be smart and save up for med school if you're 100 % sure about medicine. Go to Stony Brook. I got brilliant LORs from professors in 300& 500 person classes. If you're genuinely interested in their subject and make an effort in their class, you WILL stand out. Getting federal or state loans as a non-resident/non-citizen is not possible. If you have money to fund med school but not to afford Case AND Med school, go to Stony Brook dude. Whether you have the funds to pay for four years of med school may also be a factor in your admissions decision.

 

[pkteen]

My gosh. Be smart and save up for med school if you're 100 % sure about medicine. Go to Stony Brook. I got brilliant LORs from professors in 300& 500 person classes. If you're genuinely interested in their subject and make an effort in their class, you WILL stand out. Getting federal or state loans as a non-resident/non-citizen is not possible. If you have money to fund med school but not to afford Case AND Med school, go to Stony Brook dude. Whether you have the funds to pay for four years of med school may also be a factor in your admissions decision.

I payed the deposit for Stony Brook today 😀
I am gonna be able to pay for med school and if I go to stony, I'll be able to pay for med school and the little bit of money I will need, I can loan from UNFCU (It's a US based Bank for UN officials.)