(c) the charm of "intellectual student life" wears off pretty fast when you need a good dentist but don't have insurance
From personal experience, I know that the University of Maryland offers state-subsidized health insurance to graduate students. I would advise considering the availability of insurance as part of one's criteria for selecting graduate programs, rather than taking uninsured status as an inevitable result.
Almost all science programs offer a very basic health insurance package. Almost none offer dental insurance. Even with the health insurance, you often have to pay a ~$500/semester fee plus completely pay for the summer expense. Using Maryland as an example, I know an applied math graduate student there and she has to pay $1000 towards her own insurance plus cover it in the summer and gets no dental benefits. I go to a very wealthy Ivy League school and I also have to pay a little less than $1000 per academic year for student health insurance. I can purchas...
My friend is looking for some advice on what he should do after graduating from Harvey Mudd College. Some relevant bits of information about him are that he
He's currently looking for a grad school where he could tackle interesting problems with possible high benefits in the future. I've made my own suggestions, but I'd like to get a (somewhat) independent set of opinions from the LW community.
So please suggest away!