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Collge applications

#21
Nah, the big-name schools have the big endowments, and give away the most (or all) financial aid in the form of grants. Most of the schools we've looked at expect parents to pay little or nothing if they have an AGI of less than $60K to $80K or so, and prorate if their AGI is less than $120K or so. Unfortunately, those schools are more than a little bit hard to get into...

OTOH, state schools have low tuitions, but the only financial aid you can get from the schools is in the form of loans. Of course, if you're an athlete...

-jb
 
#30
username n/a said:
I would just like to point out that $40 IS TOO MUCH FOR A ****ING APPLICATION FEE!
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You'd think so. But the problem is that people have been applying to more and more different schools in an effort to get in somewhere. When I was in high school you might apply to six or eight schools -- now kids apply to ten or twelve. That means the admissions departments are swamped with massive amounts of paperwork from kids who may well not come anyway. They raise the application fees to try to discourage people from overapplying.

Anyway, to the OP, of course grades are the most important thing, and then standardized tests. The other main things to feature on your application are your extracurricular activity, the essay, and reference letters. The idea is to create a portrait of yourself: show that you're a rounded person, and also show that there are parts of your life where you take initiative or show leadership. Remember that admissions departments are not looking to just take the smartest they can get, they are also trying to build a community with different kinds of interesting people.
 
#32
hrodbert696 said:
You'd think so. But the problem is that people have been applying to more and more different schools in an effort to get in somewhere. When I was in high school you might apply to six or eight schools -- now kids apply to ten or twelve. That means the admissions departments are swamped with massive amounts of paperwork from kids who may well not come anyway. They raise the application fees to try to discourage people from overapplying.
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So in a way they're preselecting based on parent's income, and not on the intellectual properties of the kid?

Seems unfair to me.

Then again, I studied in a system where everyone with a highschool degree can study whatever they want at the university of choice (with some exceptions, like medicine).

Also, a year of university costs +- 500 euro, books etc not included :ninja:
 
#34
beelzelboss said:
Something along the lines of drug design, but I very well could change from that into something else science related... and after visiting D.C. this weekend, I am a lot more open to politics now, but that probably won't happen.
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If you are wanting to go down that route, Biochem isn't going to be something that'll stop you, but wouldn't Pharmacology be a stronger base for going into drug design?
 
#35
Vorago said:
So in a way they're preselecting based on parent's income, and not on the intellectual properties of the kid?

Seems unfair to me.

Then again, I studied in a system where everyone with a highschool degree can study whatever they want at the university of choice (with some exceptions, like medicine).

Also, a year of university costs +- 500 euro, books etc not included :ninja:
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In a way, yeah. But on the other hand, a person contemplating a college education in the US has to consider how they'll pay for it anyway, so in a sense they self-preselect. The couple hundred dollars one spends on application fees are peanuts compared to the hundred thousand dollars or more one will spend on four years of tuition, room and board.

The sensibility is different in America than in Europe. Here higher education is a service that people hire (with some assistance from private donors to scholarship funds and government subsidies), not a right all citizens get access to at taxpayer expense. I'm not saying that the American system is better, not by a long shot, just that it's a completely different approach. Or, put differently, a European university isn't free -- it's just that you're paying for it through your taxes, as are lots of people who aren't going to university. Americans accept that for education through high school but, so far, not for college.
 
#37
i_got_a_mohawk said:
If you are wanting to go down that route, Biochem isn't going to be something that'll stop you, but wouldn't Pharmacology be a stronger base for going into drug design?
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Yes, as a major. Plus, this way if I get tired of it, or don't decide that I like the medicine/bio route, I can change it over to just chemical engineering. Lastly, there are FAR fewer colleges that offer pharmacology as undergrad than biochem.
 
#38
i_got_a_mohawk said:
That depends very much on where you are in Europe. Not all countries have free college/university education.

I'm lucky in that Scotland is one that does, but, not all are.
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Isn't high school performance also much more important for getting into a university in Europe, and you're pretty much type casted as a professional or a laborer by the end of primary education? Am I correct about that or am I totally off base?
 
#40
beelzelboss said:
Yes, as a major. Plus, this way if I get tired of it, or don't decide that I like the medicine/bio route, I can change it over to just chemical engineering. Lastly, there are FAR fewer colleges that offer pharmacology as undergrad than biochem.
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I dare say the system is a bit different over here, in that we don't have Majors and whatnot. You just do your degree in whatever your degree title is. Tho you can stay modular and keep a few options open til near the end.

Try and get some experience if you can, summer project at a local company or something. That way you can get a feel for what you're doing.

IMO Chem Eng would be a wiser route to take, but that's probably because I'm of the belief that it's better to aim for a professional qualification as opposed to a degree in X, Y or Z.

(as someone with a BSc (hons) in Biochemistry and an MSc in Nanotechnology & Microsystems)


LiquidMidnight said:
Isn't high school performance also much more important for getting into a university in Europe, and you're pretty much type casted as a professional or a laborer by the end of primary education? Am I correct about that or am I totally off base?
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In the UK, I wouldn't say that's entirely true.

Some professions are picky and can afford to be, Medicine for instance. But anyone can go to college and get High School level qualifications (or equivilands), after high school. And get into University with those.

A friend of mine from school did that, he had to leave school to help support his family at 16. At 23 he signed onto an access course at college and now he's into the 2nd year of a degree in Physics.
 

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