Boston U full scholarship vs. Yale full price

[Anonymous]

Decision needs to be made very, very soon. Studying biochemistry or chemistry on a premed track. Looking for any input to see if there's anything we might have considered.

[Anonymous]

Yale

[Anonymous]

I would take full scholarship. Not a fan of BU. Went to graduate school there. Professors were pretty bad.

[Anonymous]

The fact your kid wants to be a doctor changes the equation. Yale is helpful to get into professions such as i banking or start ups. Med school don't care whether it's Yale or BU, they care about the MCATS and gpa. I would take the full scholarship, your kid is going to want to keep loans down if he or she is going to med school and avoid being half a million in debt by the time they are done.

I know tons of people in a competitive medicine field and most of them did not go to ivy leagues. Now if your kid wanted to do a start up or banking or another field then the equation changes again, but as a wannabe doctor whatever school works as long as grades are good and super important to keep student loans down since you'll be studying for a long long time not earning any money. I know doctors with a ton of student loans that can't even hug houses in their mid thirties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact your kid wants to be a doctor changes the equation. Yale is helpful to get into professions such as i banking or start ups. Med school don't care whether it's Yale or BU, they care about the MCATS and gpa. I would take the full scholarship, your kid is going to want to keep loans down if he or she is going to med school and avoid being half a million in debt by the time they are done.

I know tons of people in a competitive medicine field and most of them did not go to ivy leagues. Now if your kid wanted to do a start up or banking or another field then the equation changes again, but as a wannabe doctor whatever school works as long as grades are good and super important to keep student loans down since you'll be studying for a long long time not earning any money. I know doctors with a ton of student loans that can't even hug houses in their mid thirties.

But what if he changes his mind like so many college kids do? I too was premed until I bombed organic chemistry, as were most of my friends.

OP, your child should do whatever gives him the most options long term. I think that's Yale.

[Anonymous]

Yale, unless it will cause you financial hardship or he'll end up with mid-to-high five-figure/six-figure debt.

I would take PP about medicine not requiring a name-brand school with a grain of salt. Med schools look at your background. If you are from DC area (or Boston, can't tell), you might not get the same consideration for going to a lower ranked school as you would if you were a first generation college student etc.

BTW, congrats to your son! Choosing between Yale and BU with a full-ride is a nice problem to have

[Anonymous]

Boston. If he got into Yale he can get into a great med school with Boston as well. There are almost no scholarships available at med school. Definitely save the 250K.

[Anonymous]

How good is your kid at orgo?

[Anonymous]

Can you afford Yale without loans?

[Anonymous]

The question is, is money no oject or not? If yes, yale. If no, b.u.
If you don't know, then find out the answer to "is money no object?" first.

[Anonymous]

Yale for sure. This is from a Princeton grad who reaps the benefits of the name of the name of the school every single day. Every day. It has helped me getting into many grad school programs, get jobs and I always, always always have the benefit of the doubt. For example, say my gre scores are a bit lower, well it's okay, you went to Princeton so you must be smart! I'm rambling but you get the point.

[Anonymous]

Oh and I'm a previous poster about Princeton and I'm applying to med school, it helps a lot as well to be premed and have the name of Princeton (and I'm sure this works for Yale), I actually decided later in life to go and the Princeton name is really the only reason it has worked out for me. Going to Ivy League gives you wiggle room in case orgo doesn't work out or if you want to go at it later.

[Anonymous]

I'd say Yale except that my sibling was pre-med at Yale and my parents say they wish they'd saved the money and sent him to our state school. The pre-med classes are big lectures.

If your son might consider other majors, then Yale.

[Anonymous]

Boston U.Never pay full price for undergrad unless you have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd say Yale except that my sibling was pre-med at Yale and my parents say they wish they'd saved the money and sent him to our state school. The pre-med classes are big lectures.

If your son might consider other majors, then Yale.

FWIW, though, my sib is a big fan of Yale and is glad he went though.