Hey all,
I am looking to transfer into a Philosophy program. I am applying for Pitt, UMN, and Boulder. I am out of state in all, but since I am a Wisconsin resident I get in-state tuition at UMN. I am hoping I can get some opinions, or perhaps any alternate school choices would be great! I wish to either go to Grad school in a related field, or to Law school after my undergrad. Some pros and cons I can list are below:
Boulder:
- City/Campus looks beautiful
- Mild Winters (as compared to Wisconsin mind you)
- Two very notable faculty that I have followed for a while in a very niche minor department which share the exact same interest as my own (in Nordic Studies)
- Philosophy department seems to have a good mix of faculty with great names on PhD schools attended and interests
- Out of state costs are absolutely insane at CU
- Living expenses are about the same
- Talking to Yale about grad placements, the lady didn't even know anything about CU; I hear the philosophy department there is mediocre perhaps?
- Party school reputation/Mixed reviews on CU's academic reputation
- I am 23, so may not fit in with student body
UMN:
- In-State Tuition
- Highest overall rank
- I would probably fit in better culturally (have attended an LAC back east and meh)
- Close to family, though I don’t really care so much
- Probably some great networking opportunities
- Actually has a decent law school (#21) which I could wiggle into perhaps
- Minnesota winters (though bearable since I am from WI)
- Twin Cities. I am not a fan of large cities in general so the campus and city don't seem particularly attractive.
- Tuition is same as UW Madison, without the UW name.
- I am unsure of the quality of the Philosophy dept. and their faculty and outcomes
- Housing costs fairly high still
- I am older, so may have hard time fitting in with student body
Pitt:
- Extremely prestigious Philosophy program, and two Phil majors; ranked above Oxford and Harvard not long ago.
- After talking to financial aid, there is a very good chance I will get an attractive aid package
- Housing is a little cheaper
- Not as much of a party school if I am not mistaken when compared to the others above
- Mild Weather
- City has a reputation for giving the "rust belt" its name, and I am not a city dude as it is so it's not the best look
The city of Pittsburgh has been getting greener and cleaner in recent years. Not nearly the center of pollution it once was.
Will you need to take out loans? If so, I’d scratch CU Boulder off the list.
OP: UMN because it is affordable. If given financial aid or merit at Pitt, then Pitt becomes an attractive option.
Yeah I would be taking loans. I suppose I will wait and see what their finaid department says but I hear horror stories about the financial situation at CU
I’ll definitely keep that in mind. When talking to the top programs (besides Pitt actually) they all seemed very impressed by their program. The only thing pitt lacks is any semblance of specialization in my niche interests, but I’m not sure I want to spend 20X as much for that and some pretty mountains at CU.
How did these three get on your list? Do you have anything else on your list right now? You are a WI resident. Why aren’t any of the U-WI campuses on your list?
You mention that you were at an LAC on the east coast previously. How long ago was that? What were your grades like? What have you been doing since you left there?
What is your budget? Run the Net Price Calculator for each of these places and see what the numbers look like. Even if you wait to enroll after you are 24, and hence considered independent for federal aid, the federal loan limits aren’t going to cover costs at any of these.
[quote=“happymomof1, post:7, topic:2096761”]
How did these three get on your list? Do you have anything else on your list right now? You are a WI resident. Why aren’t any of the U-WI campuses on your list?
You mention that you were at an LAC on the east coast previously. How long ago was that? What were your grades like? What have you been doing since you left there?
What is your budget? Run the Net Price Calculator for each of these places and see what the numbers look like. Even if you wait to enroll after you are 24, and hence considered independent for federal aid, the federal loan limits aren’t going to cover costs at any of these. /quote These got on my list mainly because of cost (minnesota), the faculty in my niche interest (boulder), and the elite philosophy program (pittsburgh). I am also considering some overseas colleges: I am applying for the University of Freiburg at their Liberal Arts and Sciences program in Germany; University of Vienna, Austria; University of Manchester, UK; and possibly University of Oslo, Norway. Norway is completely free, Germany and Austria is close to it (3k and 1k a year respectively), and in all of these housing is up to 1/2 the cost of all of the aforementioned cities. Only main negatives is having to improve Norwegian and German which would take about 9-12 months for either, aside from Freiburg where the program is in English, though they have some excellent placements into grad programs.
(ii) UW-Madison I actually attended once as a visiting student and was very unimpressed with their language department. The city is expensive as well (same price as Minnesota and maybe a tad more than Pitt). Also, they are very weird with admissions at times and don’t know if I could get in right away. I also was hoping to start this fall which is not possible there at any rate. Though I am not totally against Madison.
(iii) I attended a small LAC in Maine for two terms and left in Spring 2019. My grades were okay, though I felt very isolated as I did not fit in at all with the student body there (all quite arrogant and snobby). Grades were okay. I was getting a 3.0 when I left due to financial aid pulling a scholarship which lost me 13k/yr. I have been attending a CC since then that I was at before. GPA in the past year here is 3.75.
(iv) My budget is quite flexible, though I want to take out as few loans as possible. I currently owe 10k and don’t have much to show for it due to me getting bad grades early on due to some mental health stuff, though my academic record in the past 12 months is much better. My early grades are killing my cum GPA which is hurting my chances at places like Madison and even Pittsburgh if I am being honest. So net price is showing me getting pretty typical aid with no merit. Boulder gives me a 9.5k grant on the calc, and Pitt has a Pell grant match (I max out on Pell). I think I have to just wait and see with this part sadly.
Thanks!
@Mythwalker, the arts and sciences program in Freiburg has come up before as a program of interest for a student who wanted to go to Germany AND have an LAC like experience, but sadly that student’s mom appears to have left the room. I’d love some updates if you apply/decide to attend.