<p>I go to a public high school in southern Alabama with a class of roughly 240 students. For a while now, Columbia University has been my first-choice school. However, I recently sat down and had a talk with my parents about money. Our EFC is probably going to be right around $40000 and we are not going to be able to pay anywhere near that much (probably more like $5000).</p>
<p>Basically, I have three options right now: A) go to Columbia or MIT and incur 6-figure debt; B) go to the University of Alabama (or a similar state school) for free; C) go for merit aid at less-prestigious private schools.</p>
<p>The most important factor to me is the quality of people that I'll be around. Please understand, I'm not trying to brag, but I have numbers (1570, 2390, 4.0) and intangibles that give me a very good shot at getting in. Beyond that, I really really want to be around people that are similarly intelligent and to be in the sort of atmosphere that appreciates that intelligence. I think I'd fit in at MIT given what I've heard of their student body (again, I'm really trying not to brag, I just want to help you understand my situation). I've tolerated my (sub-par) high school for four years and I think it's time to get out.</p>
<p>I guess these are my questions:</p>
<p>1) Is it worth the debt to go to one of those top schools for the intellectual experience? Students make that decision every year, but I'd like to go into physics and I don't think it's exactly the highest-paying career in the world.</p>
<p>2) Is it possible to get a similar experience at Honors Colleges at state universities (comparable to UA)? I really don't want to have to give up any of the smartness just for money.</p>
<p>3) On a more practical note, what top-tier schools that offer merit money, public or private, are still accepting applications?</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to help me out with the soul-searching process...</p>
<p>well, I think 3 is the best option, but you might be cutting it close in finding a good school that's still accepting applications. Do you have any state schools that are maybe better than the flagship? Did you apply for any scholarships to pay for columbia? Didn't you know a ballpark estimate of how much you could pay?</p>
<p>I am not sure which colleges have closed their application process, I would suggest you consider this thought... The better reputation and program could result in substantially higher pay. Scholarships do exist.. In real estate they say, buy the best house you can afford. You do know what month this is, time is running out. Good luck.</p>
<p>I don't get why you're asking this question in January. Some great colleges give merit money -- U of Chicago, Wash U, Emory, some of the Claremont Colleges -- and there are other good schools where you'd be at the top of the stats which might give you merit money. But I have no idea what's still open.</p>
<p>If you really can't afford Columbia or MIT, here's another thought. Take a gap year. Spend part of it working, part of it doing something interesting. Do your research and apply next year to places that have the student bodies you'd like but also give merit aid.</p>
<p>NYU and Washington University, St. Louis are still accepting applications (I've actually been planning on applying to NYU for a while).</p>
<p>I don't know why I'm asking this now either, except that my parents have never been open about money to me. Also, we took the "we meet all need" declarations seriously. It was foolhardy, as I realize now, but we didn't see any reasons not to take their claims at face value.</p>
<p>My parents believe that I shouldn't worry so much about this and that if I really want to go to a top school, I should just take out loans and be paying them back for 10-15 years. I'm not sure if that burden is worth it, given the alternatives.</p>
<p>Also, I was assuming that UA would be a perfectly fine backup, especially at the price. After all, about half of the college-bounders around here go there. I wasn't really considering the intellectual community.</p>
<p>I agree with sac. You should qualify for merit money at several good schools, and if it's too late, do something interesting for a year. It sounds like UA will probably not meet your needs. It would be a shame not to have a college experience out of State and with your peers. Good luck!</p>
<p>BofP its me over the bay here. What are you planning on majoring in? Are you getting into Honors College, with the new dorm, etc.? Don't dismiss UA so fast, the honors college may not be Harvard, but there will be some like minded folks there, and from what I understand they roll out the red carpet for the Honors College people. If you are planning med school or law school, do not put yourself so deeply in debt, with your scores, etc, if you do decently in college, you will be admitted to UAB, and it is definitely not a slouch med school. If you are planning on engineering, I would give it more thought, because you will be able to haul yourself out of debt faster as an engineer, although UA's engineering school is not so bad either.</p>
<p>Look at Ole Miss's website, I don't know what their deadlines are, but I know the Honors College there is very small and tightknit. Apply to WUSTL. Wait and see what your FA offers are before you decide on something as drastic as turning down both UA and Columbia for a gap year.</p>
<p>Remember that UA is very proud of the fact that it has more students on the USAToday Academic Team than any other school, that may not mean too much next to MIT, but you will have some likeminded peers. A dear friend of mine graduated #1 in engineering at UA, went on to Stanford on a National Science Fellowship, he lived in old Mallette, prior to honors dorms, and definitely found like-minded peers.
Debt terrifies me, I guess, but you should apply to WUSTL, and wait to see what offers come your way.</p>
<p>You should of had that talk long before you applied, because whether or not you want it to be that way, money is an issue. </p>
<p>Debt is not something easy to get out of, it becomes a little hole that never stops. It's not as simple as some math forumla, save this much, pay this much later.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to apply to WashU and NYU as well... and then comes the wait. I can't make any of the decisions now, obviously, I'm just interested to see how people weigh the debt versus the experience at the top schools. Your post does ease some of my concerns about honors at Alabama, so thanks. :)</p>
<p>I'm not dismissing it completely, but we've used some EFC calculators available online that told us it would probably be right around 40k. I'm definitely going to apply, I'm just not getting my hopes up based on our income level and such.</p>
<p>Who knows if it's worth it? Nobody can send themselves to both colleges at the same time and see what happens either way!!</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that if you come out near tops at UA, then you can do about as well with grad schools, etc, as if you went to one of these other places. But that doesn't mean you will have had the same experiences along the way. Plus there's no guarantees about what will happen to you there, or anyplace else.</p>
<p>At my daughter's private school in the Midwest, two of the last three valedictorians wound up going to the honors program of the local state university, eschewing Ivy league offers to do so. It was about money, mostly.</p>
<p>My daughter, on the other hand, gave up a free ride to that same state university honors program in order to attend a private liberal arts college. She just didn't think that the state university offered her personally the best environment and opportunity to succeed- both academically and socially. The money is quite significant to us, and to her, but we were willing to make the sacrifice to give her the best chance. These four years are irreplacable.</p>
<p>These are tough decisions.</p>
<p>FWIW, I recall that UNC offered some free ride programs for National Merit Scholars. Don't know if these still exist, or about deadlines.</p>
<p>There is no wrong option here, but I would rank them C - B - A, and unless you are planning on an engineering or specialized science major, add some top LACs that give merit aid, like Grinnell, Occidental and Kenyon, (assuming the appropriate deadlines have not passed.)</p>
<p>I'm almost in your exact same situation. Little money at top schools and a ton of money at state schools (including U of A...I'm going down there next weekend for an interview for their Blount program). If you hurry and apply quickly (Jan. 15th), you can get into the Computer-Based Honors Program and/or the International Honors program both of which are top-notch. The CBHP is known for producing major fellowship winners and USA Today Academic team members. They're in the process of building awesome new honors dorms and moving to a bigger building with more offices and professors. On top of that, the food is incredible. It's definitely one of my top choices for a safety and I'd be more than happy to go there for four years. </p>
<p>You also bring up the possibility of merit aid at lesser private institutions. I've searched a lot for that and most are quite stingy. I know Kenyon and Grinnell offer at most half tuition to a select few students and few other instutions have more than a handful of full rides or full tuitions. Unless you've done something really exceptional that would help you stand out from the rest of the applicants, major programs like UVA's Jefferson and UNC's Morehead are very, very difficult to get. (Plus for you the deadlines are way past.)</p>
<p>My advice is to hurry and find a state school safety you'd be happy at. Go ahead and visit and talk to students; UA will escort you everywhere and go out of their way to help students like you. I've found that most are much better than popular perceptions say they are. But the deadlines for merit aid are coming up so apply first then tour later. I think many have passed already. Do the same for private schools, but make sure you check out the scholarships carefully. Some offer only 3 or 4 full rides but a lot of little 8-10k things. After that, wait for the offers to come in and make up your mind then.</p>
<p>Check out schools like Rice (January 10 deadline), Washington University (January 15 deadline) and Emory (January 15 deadline). They give a lot of merit aid. And Rice costs like $30,000 (including room and board and books) as it is, so even if they just give you some merrit, you will probably be in much better shape.</p>
<p>Also check out schools like University of Texas-Austin (February 1 deadline), UNC-Chapel Hill (January 15) and Michigan-Ann Arbor (February 1 deadline). </p>
<p>UNC has an awesome scholarship called the Morehead Scholarship. I am not sure if you qualify, but it is a great opportunity. Check it out.</p>
<p>You really should have looked into option C before waiting this long, first of all there are many privates that could give you merit aid, such as Carnegie Mellon which is very intellectual. Many of US News 30+ schools could potentially have given you a lot of merit aid, like USC is another example. I thikn you should have well researched schools before having to wate this long . University of Michigan is a good option for being this late.</p>
<p>I already have a full ride at Alabama set up, and have also already applied for Computer-Based Honors. I was just having second thoughts on whether it really is a suitable back-up for me. Thanks for easing my concerns, vig.</p>