Where to go for Undergrad - Purdue, U of Cincinnati...?

[EsDad]

Please forgive - I posted this in another thread and realized I should start my own.

My daughter is about to graduate high school, and needs help picking a University.

She wants to major in Chemistry, or perhaps BioChem.  (she's in Honors Bio right now).  

She is starting to like the idea of creating better anti-biotics or medicines, to combat infection or disease.  But of course, who knows what she'll end up researching

She is determined to go to graduate school  in four years..  She's always been VERY studios, and is coming out of a top private school with a 4.0 average.

 

Knowing that she wants to go to grad school eventually - What are the relative merits of the following schools?

MOSTLY it's a choice between Purdue and the University of Cincinnati (honors program).

 

Here's what I know so far...

Purdue.  Her top personal choice (she liked it there on our visit).  But I've heard mixed things - Great reputation, Tough grades (i.e grade deflation - But, do graduate admissions counselors take low grades into account i.e. Is a B+ at Purdue = an A elsewhere?; Old equipment ?  Professors to busy with research to make themselves available to teach/talk with students?

University of Cincinnati.  Honors program has some advantages.  Co-op program - Good for her, or a distraction, since she will eventually go to grad school bound ?  

UIUC but TOO EXPENSIVE!!  so...should be out of the question unless there is great reason.  It's $30k more than the others.

Denison.  (but she doesn't want a small school).  However - would small class sized translate into better grades for grad schoola pplications?  vs - they don't do research there, do they ?!

Fwiw she did get into Rose Hulman, NOT her kind of school, and it is engineering focused. 

 

Thanks so much for your advice.

Edited April 27, 2018 by EsDad

[StatHopeful]

(Disclaimer: I am not a Chemistry student. Saw this on the main page and typed the response before seeing this was the in the Chem thread).

 

When I was coming up 5 years ago, I similar choices (Rose Hulman, Denison, and Purdue), so hopefully my advice can come from the same perspective.

I am starting my PhD next year in a top 5 program in my field. I graduated from a very-low ranked university that I selected due to cost, it made minimal impact on my applications. However, this isn't always typical. I stood out in other ways, and hopefully your daughter will too. No school is going to carry her into a top graduate program, so the decision should be made on other factors.

That said, graduate programs will always take undergraduate institution into account. A 4.0 from my institution probably wouldn't stand up to a 3.7/3.8 from Denison, and honestly, it shouldn't. The rigor at those caliber of institutions goes far beyond what I suffered in undergrad. She should select a rigorous program, not because it will get her to a good graduate school, but because it will teach her to be a better student and sharpen her work ethic. 

Overall, she needs to select the program where she will do her best work. Ideally she should feel comfortable in the labs, happy with her living situation (are the dorms nice enough to not stress her out?), and be able to meet people who have the same goals and passions she does. If she likes Purdue, I'd be hard-pressed to tell her not to go.

 

If it helps in the selection process at all, I had a full-tuition scholarship to Purdue, and I honestly regret it very frequently that I didn't attend.

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by StatHopeful

[EsDad]

17 minutes ago, StatHopeful said:

(Disclaimer: I am not a Chemistry student. Saw this on the main page and typed the response before seeing this was the in the Chem thread).

 

When I was coming up 5 years ago, I similar choices (Rose Hulman, Denison, and Purdue), so hopefully my advice can come from the same perspective.

I am starting my PhD next year in a top 5 program in my field. I graduated from a very-low ranked university that I selected due to cost, it made minimal impact on my applications. However, this isn't always typical. I stood out in other ways, and hopefully your daughter will too. No school is going to carry her into a top graduate program, so the decision should be made on other factors.

 That said, graduate programs will always take undergraduate institution into account. A 4.0 from my institution probably wouldn't stand up to a 3.7/3.8 from Denison, and honestly, it shouldn't. The rigor at those caliber of institutions goes far beyond what I suffered in undergrad. She should select a rigorous program, not because it will get her to a good graduate school, but because it will teach her to be a better student and sharpen her work ethic. 

Overall, she needs to select the program where she will do her best work. Ideally she should feel comfortable in the labs, happy with her living situation (are the dorms nice enough to not stress her out?), and be able to meet people who have the same goals and passions she does. If she likes Purdue, I'd be hard-pressed to tell her not to go.

 

If it helps in the selection process at all, I had a full-tuition scholarship to Purdue, and I honestly regret it very frequently that I didn't attend.

 

Thanks so much for the terrific response. 

So, it sounds like Denison, Purdue, (And, I think it's safe to say, U of Cincy) are all rigorous.  So, any will fit the bill.
So, the tie-breaker would be comfort (she likes Purdue).

Perhaps I'm worried Purdue is rigorous to the point of being harsh. (grade deflation) 

 

fwiw:

She has an absolutely stellar work ethic.  As a shy person, she is unnecessarily, but too-frequently intimidated by professors.  (she doesn't speak up in class, rarely answers a question...).  But gets her A's and a few B+'s based on putting in the work, every single day.  

I really thought she would prefer a small class size, but, not so.  She prefers being anonymous in a large class; she's fine one-on-one i.e. labs will be no problem.  

[pchem2018]

For me personally, I went to a good university, but I didn't go to a top university (definitely not nearly as good as Purdue). However, I was able to get into whatever university for graduate school that I wanted to because of the undergraduate research that I did. Undergraduate research is (in my opinion) easily the most important aspect of your graduate application. If you have 1-2 publications (especially if it's a first author publication) you should have no problem getting into a top university for graduate school, as long as your GPA and GRE are pretty good. I would look at the opportunities for undergraduate research at the institutions (are lots of undergraduates doing research or no?).  A lot of top universities have really strong graduate programs, and so it is more difficult for the undergraduates to have research positions. However, at my university the graduate program isn't very good, and the professors rely a lot on undergraduates to do their research. Anyways, those are my two cents. That being said, Purdue is a great university and it sounds like it is your daughter's university of choice, so as long as she can get a research position after her freshman year that would be an excellent choice.