Colleges to Look At Suggestions - Biology major

[Anonymous]

Since it's junior parent panic time, here's another one. Interested in biology, possible med school but maybe graduate work in research. High test scores and gpa. In VA and have saved for public in state. We will not get FA and will not take on debt, so merit aid possibilities would be great. Absolutely no other requirements like size, location, etc. Thanks for anyone willing to suggest.

[Anonymous]

Case Western Reserve University.

[Anonymous]

UVA

[Anonymous]

Tons of great options for bio. Start by figuring out size and location (both geographic and urban vs rural) preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA

+1. Large department, and their wonderful and ever expanding hospital system and med school are right next to the heart of Grounds, which provide ample opportunity for research, shadowing, volunteering and more for those considering the medical path. I honestly can not recommend it enough!

[Anonymous]

Honestly and this is from my mom who is a fed researcher in biology. Don’t be a biology major. Unless pre med. it’s a hard long road and you need a PhD to do research. Super competitor and very little money and stability on the other side.

[Anonymous]

Juniata

[Anonymous]

Cornell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA[/quote]

+1. Large department, and their wonderful and ever expanding hospital system and med school are right next to the heart of Grounds, which provide ample opportunity for research, shadowing, volunteering and more for those considering the medical path. I honestly can not recommend it enough!

Definitely. DS is not even a bio major but took the intro course. It was very very difficult but well taught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly and this is from my mom who is a fed researcher in biology. Don’t be a biology major. Unless pre med. it’s a hard long road and you need a PhD to do research. Super competitor and very little money and stability on the other side.

NP here. What about Chem? My DD wants to major in Chem. I suspect it will be the same. She says she wants to get a PhD but I suspect that's because she likes the idea/prestige of the PhD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Case Western Reserve University.

This is a good suggestion, especially given the interest in merit aid.

Two others my bio kid looked at were University of Washington and University of Wisconsin. At the time (a couple of years ago), OOS rates were reasonable.

If DC has HYPS type credentials and/or is NMSF, consider USC which has some very generous but highly selective merit scholarships,

[Anonymous]

Small LAC options might include: Juniata, Mount Holyoke, St. Mary's College of MD, College of Wooster, Bowdoin, Davidson, Muhlenberg. Possibly Conn College, Hamilton, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Small LAC options might include: Juniata, Mount Holyoke, St. Mary's College of MD, College of Wooster, Bowdoin, Davidson, Muhlenberg. Possibly Conn College, Hamilton, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall?

OP said, "We will not get FA and will not take on debt, so merit aid possibilities would be great."

The bolded schools do not award any merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Check out Scripps College in California- highly ranked LAC with the resources of a larger university, tons of merit aid up to 22,000 per year, strong biology program.

[Anonymous]

WUSTL is strong for biology and for pre-health and gives merit aid. The merit aid made it cheaper for our DC than UVA. Flights on SWA out of DCA to STL are only $102 each way, which makes it pretty easy to get there and back.

Case Western is another good choice. They offered DC two-thirds off the sticker price (while WUSTL offered only 50% off), but DC did not like the urban feel of the campus.