College Planning: most bang for my buck

[Premedandcats]

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I'm an upcoming senior in high school and I have a few choices. I dual enroll, so I can basically just show up at UF because I am an excellent candidate (great test scores, team captain 3 yrs running, A's in all the classes I've taken there, etc) but my dream school is Cornell. I have a good chance of getting in. But paying for it would be a struggle. I would be able to pay for undergrad if I later to scholarship through the military, but I'm not sure if I want that. So, play it safe at UF (a great school that I could do really well in and graduate early) or try for Cornell (my dream school)? What do you guys think?

 

[Tolbert]

Just for starters, do you mean you can show up at UF because you're doing DE there, or because you think you're a shoo in? Because I really hope it's not the latter, because it is known that UF is kinda a crapshoot. I personally know people with SAT scores of 1500's get in for summer, but others with 2000's not get accepted.

But back to the original question, if you do get accepted to both next year, wait and see what each is offering. You never know what will happen, and UF is also known for being a bit stingy, at least from what I've heard.

You can do all the research in the world and think you'll know what to do, but once you get those acceptances and financial aid packages, trust me everything changes.

 

[image187]

I go to my state med school with people from cornell in > $200,000 undergrad debt and people who went to community college and transferred to a state college with little or no undergrad debt... and we're all getting the same degree. If your dream is to get a certain experience from Cornell that can only be gotten by going to undergrad there (or to have a lot of debt), then you should go. If your dream is to have a diploma from Cornell and tell people you went there, not one person in medicine will care and it won't even help you get into school. It's all about where you do your residency.

I guess you gotta decide what your actual dream is in this case

 

[docwei88]

Debts. Loans. In the long run, maybe it's not worth it.
So just look into it.

 

[BioBeaver]

If you truly are competitive for Cornell, you should be able to basically get a full ride to UF.

Think about that, it's a great school with good programs and you're going for FREE! Of course there's no harm in applying to both and seeing how it all pans out. Having options is a good thing.

And remember, there's always Cornell for medical school if you still have a burning desire to go there in four years. 👍

 

[californicati0n]

It all depends. Apply to both and see how much UF gives you in merit. The good thing about UF is that if you're one of the best students there, research and LOR's will likely be easier to get. On the other hand, Cornell is an Ivy League, meaning it has top notch resources. Also, if you decide against pre-med/pre-health and go for a different field, Cornell is the place to be, even if it costs you more. Overall, it sounds like you'll succeed at whatever college you go to, so apply to both and see what happens. 🙂