Intergalactic_Captain
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Which college to attend?
Alright, this is my second go at this...for some reason it wouldn't post the first time...
Anyways, I have come to a turning point in my life. I'm a high-school senior, and need some help deciding which college to go to. I figured
that since most of the people here have a university education, someone here would be able to help me out.
Ultimately, I see myself as working in research and development in pharmaceuticals, most likely neuropharmacology. I have been accepted to the
biochemistry programs at both the University of Buffalo (UB) and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and need to choose where to go. I had
my mind set on UB, but I recieved my acceptance letter to RIT last night. I wasn't expecting to get in with a ~85 gpa, but I guess the 1360 SAT
and essay really helped.
So, has anyone here attended UB or RIT? Work with anyone from these schools? Would anyone care to share their experiences and/or recommendations?
[Edited on 2-18-05 by Intergalactic_Captain]
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Al Koholic
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Well, I used to date a girl at UB...she was in the PT program but I knew some of her friends, one of which was a Math/Biochem major and now works at a
pharmecutical company in Chicago making good money. He did really well for himself at UB.
I happen to be an alumnus of the University of Rochester and have known a few people sporadically throughout my many years in Rochester who attended
RIT. Unfortunately I cannot comment on what these people are now doing but I do know that they enjoyed their RIT experience very much.
As far as choosing is concerned, Buffalo is probably a cooler city to be in than Rochester, but not by much. Rochester has a lot to offer in the form
of entertainment and technology, being home to some very large companies and some very interesting research institutions such as UofR and RIT. I
happen to still live here and personally, I was also accepted to UB and I'm glad I ended up here. On the other hand, I'll never know what
would have come of UB so it is impossible to comment on the alternatives that could have happened...and such is the nature of life.
My advice is to scope out both cities, thinking about your possible entertainment, student body, academic environment, location, amount of lake effect
snow, etc, and go with what "feels good".
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chochu3
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depends on what your studying. I went to Texas A&M college station, TX I chose this school because of the military and biochemistry programs they
had.
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T_FLeX
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Well congrats on getting into RIT man; ironically I had a very similar situation last year. I had to decide between the University of Georgia and
Georgia tech. I was pretty sure I would get into UGA because of my GPA but I knew that Georgia tech was an overall better school and I had a good
shot at getting accepted. It just depends on what you think would be best.
I suggest you look closely at all the classes required for each college’s majors. My brother was chemistry major at UGA and after talking to him
I found out that most of his classes were nightmarishly boring, dealing mostly with theory and busy work, and after talking with a few people that go
to Georgia tech it sounded like the same story.
Fortunately for me I found out UGA had started a new major called applied biotechnology two years ago that basically made up my mind for me. My
brother took me up to the department, and after talking with the head of the department the decision was made. My brother liked it so much he
actually switched his major also. 
Well that’s my story, it might help you and it might not. Just make sure you know what you’re getting into and if at all possible talk to someone
in the department before you make the plunge.
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JohnWW
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What you should do, before any decision-making, is to track down recent previous students (whether passing or failing) of the respective
colleges' courses of interest. Then you will be able to find out first-hand, and from people having no interest in promoting the courses, such
things as the value of the courses with regard to knowledge attained and preparation for employment and graduate courses, the quality of teaching, the
fairness and relevance of the examinations and required coursework, the fairness and honesty of the examination marking, and the pass rates. You
could also ask the respective Students' Associations if they have any information.
The only problem is: how to contact such previous students. The colleges themselves may be able to refer you to some. If lists of graduates are
published annually (this may not be the case with all colleges, for privacy reasons), giving both degrees awarded and the graduates' majors, and
they live locally, you may be able to trace them.
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JohnWW
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I went to both conventional universities, AND to the School of Hard Knocks. Certainly not very compatible with each other.
As regards contacting previous students of courses, if all else fails to locate them, you could try advertizing in the Personal columns of local
newspapers and in the student newspaper.
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chochu3
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For chemistry a good school to go to would be Berkeley. Some of the greatest minds have either been formed there or worked there. Havard does alot of
badass research so they're another one.
\"Abiding in the midst of ignorance, thinking themselves wise and learned, fools go aimlessly hither and thither, like blind led by the blind.\" -
Katha Upanishad
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Sandmeyer
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Generally, it dosen't matter, if you can (yourself) come up with a good method during your undergraduate period and do the thesis
about it, where this is done dosen't matter, a smaller school is generally better as the student-mentor relationship is generally closer. I wouldn't
concern myself with which university is the best, what building you spend the time in during the undergraduate period dosen't matter. For phd/postdoc,
then you can start thinking about where you want to live and to search after a reserach group that does work that you are interested in.
[Edited on 16-12-2005 by Sandmeyer]
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neutrino
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How much does it matter what school you go to for undergrad education? For example, MIT vs. some not-so-good school. I've mainly heard that it doesn't
matter worth beans, but I'm having a little trouble believing this.
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franklyn
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It's a blast !
There is an interesting article in the Times Science section , Section F of
today's New York Times , about a one-week session of an explosives camp.
Intended for teenagers as an inducement to study at college level at the
University of Missouri-Rolla's engineering school in the field of explosives ,
for such careers in mining , excavating , demolition , etc..
It seems that this small field is now mostly staffed with older employees
reaching retirement age. This year's session was held last month , at
Rolla, MO, with 22 students having " a passion for all things explosive
and proof of United States citizenship." The all inclusive fee was " $450 ,
to cover food , lodging and incidentals like dynamite."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/science/03boom.html?_r=1&a...
.
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JohnWW
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Franklyn: You should join and post that on the "Explosives & Weapons Forum", http://www.roguesci.org/theforum ! They will love you for it.
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16MillionEyes
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| Quote: | Originally posted by neutrino
How much does it matter what school you go to for undergrad education? For example, MIT vs. some not-so-good school. I've mainly heard that it doesn't
matter worth beans, but I'm having a little trouble believing this. |
Yes, I have some trouble believing that (if it is true). Perhaps is that people usually think more of a university with higher standards than others.
I don't think there's anything wrong with that but the learning is mostly dependent on the person and not the college itself. On the other hand, if
you have the opportunity to go to MIT or any other equivalent why complain?
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blazter
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UB alumni here, it was a decent school for engineering. I knew a few people in the pharmacy program here, and visited the buildings that are
dedicated to that major. I even knew one guy who worked in a lab looking at slides of rat brains that had been exposed to methylphenedrate (ritalin).
Hell, I even took a course from the department about herbs as traditional drugs.
Anyways, the feeling that I got about the pharmacy program was that they really had their shit together and was involved with a lot of cutting edge
research. Beware though, the program was extremely competitive, with washout rates similar to that of engineering programs (~75%). The pharm
majors had it particularly hard because they needed to maintain a really high GPA to get accepted into the program their sophomore year.
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