Help! ICO vs. UMSL

[Ibabiejae]

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Hey everyone,

I'm in a slight dilemma and was wondering if you guys could give me your perspectives. Does anyone know much about UMSL? From what I see of the threads, it's not as commonly talked about on here as ICO, SUNY & all of the other schools. Well anyways, I got accepted to ICO and had my heart set on it, since I'm from IL, but UMSL just sent me an interview invite along with an offer of a merit scholarship for 13,000 per year. Although it is not my first choice school, the scholarship makes the school highly attractive. Should I take that interview or should I pass it up? Keep in mind, I'm in FL at the current moment, so getting there is going to take a heavy toll on my decision. Please help! Any comments would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you for your time!

 

[gochi]

Hey everyone,

I'm in a slight dilemma and was wondering if you guys could give me your perspectives. Does anyone know much about UMSL? From what I see of the threads, it's not as commonly talked about on here as ICO, SUNY & all of the other schools. Well anyways, I got accepted to ICO and had my heart set on it, since I'm from IL, but UMSL just sent me an interview invite along with an offer of a merit scholarship for 13,000 per year. Although it is not my first choice school, the scholarship makes the school highly attractive. Should I take that interview or should I pass it up? Keep in mind, I'm in FL at the current moment, so getting there is going to take a heavy toll on my decision. Please help! Any comments would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you for your time!

I cant tell you anything about the schools but perhaps I can offer so financial guidance.


ICO = 25K/yr* - 0k= 25k/yr

25k/yr + 0k (housing/food assuming you already have a place to live)= 25k/yr


UMSL= 25K/yr* - 13k/yr= 12k/yr

12k/yr +10k/yr (food housing etc assuming you dont have a place to live) = 22k/yr

*inaccurate ?

I think financially, both pursuits are relatively close with minor deviation.
If my calc's are correct, I would stick to ICO since you know the place, so you basically have piece of mind. I dont think one school is better over the other so you should not choose you're school based on their rep's. Both schools are accredited.

 

[STLOD08]

I'm now living in St. Louis, so UMSL was the only school I applied to. I interviewed just before Christmas and got in. They give lots of scholarship money to non-residents to get them to come. Cost per year for non-res is ~36,000 and res is ~20,000. So your 13,000 scholarship would put you close to the res rate.
If you have more specific questions, let me know. If you are not set on one school, I would recommend going for the interview...but that's just me.

 

[StephanieOD2B]

I am working on my O.D. at UMSL right now. I was from IL, and I wanted to stay close to home, so I considered UMSL and ICO (as well as Indiana). I decided against ICO mostly because of its location. I'm assuming you interviewed there, so you know it's kind of rough. I was also pulled into UMSL with their offer of a 14,000 per year scholarship, which with me being out of state, put me right in line with their resident tuition, which was VERY appealing and made me choose UMSL out of all 3 schools. Interest adds up very fast (if you are planning to take out loans), so cost is definitely something to strongly consider. However, you will be spending 4 years wherever you go, so you should consider where you want to live, as well. I have family in both Chicago and St. Louis, so just from visiting them, I knew I would hate living in Chicago, and I really like St. Louis. If you are the other way around, you should consider that. One other thing you should consider is size of the school. UMSL is very small, so you will get to know your classmates pretty well, but if you don't like any of the other 43 people in your class, you are kind of out of luck. Now, to advertise for UMSL, we have great professors [except for one 🙁], and we do great on boards. In fact the high score for Part 1 for all students this year was achieved by one of our 3rd year students. Also, we are strongly encouraged to have class-wide (sometimes school-wide) social gatherings, so you will get many invites to house parties, bar parties, etc. Like, the first years this year have gone to a Cardinal's ball game, have gone ice skating, and have gone to an arcade in addition to just partying. I hope this information helps you a little.

 

[Jay12]

I think you should definitely go to the interview......you really don't want to start optometry school with that one thought in the back of your mind asking you "I wonder how much better it might have been at that other optometry school".......