Hooked daughter has been admitted to Michigan (waiting for their Ross business school, she is a strong match for) and has competitive apps out to the other three. After using financial aid calculators, are the other three worth an estimated extra $5k-10k a year over UMich?
She’s unsure what she wants to study. Likely business/econ → perhaps law school.
Depends on what you consider “worth” (she also has to get in first).
If you are affluent and can write out the checks, fine. If more loans then not a good idea with law school on the horizon.
Depends upon a number of factors including desired major area of study. For example, if wanting to be a business major & admitted to Ross at Michigan, then that should be one’s top choice since Northwestern doesn’t have a business major (economics) & Cornell’s business school is similar to Ross.
If intending to pursue graduate study, then it is wise to minimize undergraduate debt.
Of course, getting admitted to Northwestern in the RD round is extremely difficult as the admit rate is expected to be in the 6% range.
In my opinion, Michigan, Cornell, Penn & Northwestern are peer schools with significant differences when examined closely with specific interests & goals. For one who is undecided as to major area of study & on a particular career, Michigan is an outstanding university due to the breadth of offerings.
Congratulations to you & your daughter ! If admitted to Ross, then go if interested in business as being a direct admit business major is difficult–especially at Ross.
I think it depends on which school she really likes better and if you’d be borrowing the money or just using more of what you have. To spend an additional $30K above whatever you’re spending for a somewhat more prestigious school she really prefers may be worthwhile. To borrow an additional $30K for a school she doesn’t prefer that much but where the added prestige might theoretically add some value seems unlikely to be worth it.
My personal opinion is that top public and private schools are not peers in respect to the cohort and the level of attention that undergrads get at privates. They are peers in respect to the professors/research of the universities. The experience at UM will be quite different then Brown. There is no substitute for size and UM is a large public university, whereas Brown is relatively small. You could substitute Northwestern for Brown here, a little less so for Cornell. People tend to call them peers in a general sense (which is true for what I stated above) but in the sense of your undergraduate DD there would be a world of difference.
I hope people don’t fixate on the concentration preference, she’s wholly undecided. It’s just her stats are a strong match and her experience led to a savvy way to frame the Ross b-school app. Note: There’s no risk to apply to UMich’s b-school after getting admitted to their large liberal arts general college. Does it change anyone’s response to compare UMich liberal arts vs NU-Brown-Cornell … UMich b-school vs NU-Brown-Cornell?
My husband and I had a great time at our big flagship university, but we’re just not at all privy to the differences in size, resources, depth of the student bodies. Or more specifically, the stark (or subtle?) differences between a top 30 public U and a top 15 private U. We’ve visited, all the campuses are beautiful and she could of course imagine herself at any of them.
We’re certainly not rich. Upper middle class. She’s our oldest, with a brother and sister in primary school.
Probably not. The difference isn’t terribly huge anyway, so I’m thinking that it’s going to come down to preference more than anything else. If she’s interested in Business, Northwestern is the highest ranked business school.
@coolguy40 Actually, Northwestern does not have an undergraduate business school.
If she is undecided, I think it would not be a good idea to attend Ross. Ross is VERY bussiness-y. She will not get a well-rounded education. She has to REALLY want business to be happy at Ross. BTW, nobody is a “high match” for Ross. It’s not that straightforward. Admission to Ross is holistic. Students with very high scores are rejected.
As for the money question, there’s nothing to think about until after she knows where she’s been accepted.
Again she’s undecided on major. She applied to Ross business school on a whim as there was no risk, and it’s an exclusive college within the university.
Michigan is an exceptional public university. If truly undecided, then Michigan is an excellent option.
Also, a Northwestern University acceptance in RD is unlikely simply due to the odds (6 out of 100).
CU123 is a very knowledgeable poster, so I do not disagree; I just think that much depends upon your daughter & her personality. Does she need guidance or does she prefer to explore & decide on her own,
These are all outstanding universities, but yes, Northwestern will provide more individualized attention.
As an aside: I believe that Cornell University is the only public/private hybrid among National Universities. Some of its schools/colleges receive substantial public funding from the state of New York. My opinion is that Cornell is a bit more like a Big 10 school than an Ivy, and conversely that Northwestern (the only private school in the Big 10) is more like an Ivy than a Big 10 school.
The questions to ask are:
–Did she get into each school? Do you have the final financial packages? Until then it is all hypothetical.
–Can you comfortably afford the (expected) price differential?
–Could she thrive equally in each environment?
@huntmich1: Are you willing to share some basic stats & work experience or background that suggests your daughter is well suited for Ross. I ask because I do know a great deal about law schools & graduate business schools that may help guide your daughter at this stage.
Also, to which schools or colleges did she apply to at Cornell & Northwestern.
I forgot to discuss Brown University. CU123 is correct, to the best of my knowledge, that Brown & NU would provide ta high level of attention to your daughter.
Brown is a very liberal environment, more so than the other three schools. Not sure if a conservative would feel comfortable there based on several recent articles that I have read about Brown.
For a truly undecided student, Brown’s open curriculum, unlimited pass/fail option, might be viewed as a way to explore different majors without fear of harming one’s GPA. To me, among elite privates, Brown is the polar opposite of the University of Chicago which has a core curriculum & more academically intense environment.
I don’t agree with this. I am a Cornell grad. My D goes to Michigan, so I have experience with a Big-10 school. Cornell is not in the least like a big-10. First, it’s way smaller than all big 10s except Northwestern. Second, it does not have any football culture AT ALL. Lots of other reasons too.
Are you out of state and full pay for all of these schools?
If your D could cover a $5k-$10K difference with “self help” (student loans and summer/work-study earnings) would it be worth it to HER? Assuming she understands what her monthly student loan payments would be after graduation and the number of extra hours she’d need to be employed?
Another significant consideration since her daughter is “wholly undecided”, yet seemingly craves the small college within a large university setting hence her application to the Ross School of Business at U. Michigan. But OP has disappeared & she may not fully understand how Northwestern works. Need more info.
OP: If truly undecided, then look into SESP or the School of Communications at NU for maximum flexibility in choice of majors (up to three).
@huntmich1 If you are quite affluent and can thus easily afford the extra cost without a big impact on your finances, then sure i would go with any of these three over UMich for undergrad. If however the extra cost would make law school financially difficult for you and you would have to go into big debt or raid your retirement savings or really tighten your budget or something, then I would take UMich in a heartbeat.