Brown Full Pay or Tulane Full Ride with Stamps Scholarship?

@rjkofnovi good point. didn’t mean to rule that out by implication. You are absolutely correct.

I only read the first few posts and I apologize if the following sounds too repetitive. It is absurd to suggest one should borrow $230K to turn down a DECENT PRIVATE college just to attend Brown. The poster who thinks you can pay it off within few years after becoming a doctor misses the concept of time value of money. Also, what if she changes her mind about being a doctor or just wants to do primary care? The so-called happiness ratings is overblown. The reason I think why Brown is “happiest” has a lot to do with their grade inflation. If you really need it to avoid any stress and be happy, going through medical school is probably not for you anyway. There’s a reason why Brown lags behind in recruiting when compared to other Ivies. Perhaps elite firms want not only smart students but only who those that have the drive and competitive edge to succeed.

OTOH, the scholarship would put her in a special group within a decent college. If she maintains decent grades, her resume with special research projects, etc is going to set her apart from many other applicants.

No-brainer for me. Tulane! From what my ex-husband tells me, because of his finances, my son probably won’t qualify for need based aid at a private college. So, unless he gets in to HYPS or Chicago, we’ll be going bargain shopping. There’s just no way that I can justify a quarter million on an education that can be gotten elsewhere for less.

Wow, what a wonderful accomplishment, and tremendous recognition of your daughter’s work.Best of luck.

@jsnowut, congratulations on a HUGE opportunity. The Stamps is highly revered and WOW, what an accomplishment. I read through the thread and, boy, I must say there are some interesting comments. But somehow you’ve stayed focused, positive and accepting of feedback. Will try and follow your lead here!

I have family who went to Brown, and loved it – creative writing major and now lives the boho life in NYC. My D is headed to Tulane, and is beyond excited for hundreds of reasons. I did lots of research on pre-med, and Tulane has a great program. I grew up in Boston and bright kids from my HS back in the day attended. I’m now in the Pac NW and bright kids are still going there. I’m assuming your D is in honors (like my D!), which means fantastic research opportunities, first access to courses, and other goodies for honors students. For the record (which is easy to find on Jeff Schiffman’s blog), Tulane’s past few years have seen remarkable applicants with incredible academic and intellectual standing. One reason can be attributed to the happiness and life-balance factor that this generation of young people is valuing. It’s more than the grind and the books – it’s learning a bit about life, too. Plus, the community service element that’s woven into the curriculum is amazing. It struck a cord for my daughter – and was refreshing to hear and see during her visit. Layer Stamps on all this and it is hard not to choose Tulane.

If med school does work out in the future, then saving the $$ will be greatly appreciated. Kinda obvious but I vote for Stamps and Tulane. Maybe I’ll see you at move-in day!

Continued thanks to everyone that has contributed to this discussion. I think it has been very fruitful and highlights an important question that many of us face - what is the value of an education at all levels. There is no question that all of the parents that read these and other posts care about the welfare of their children and try to assist them in making wise decisions. That’s our job. And we all bring our unique life experiences and value sets to that task.

It’s true that we would not have to borrow the full $280k - $300k to pay for Brown. But even if we had $300k sitting in the bank earmarked for D’s education I still think it would be a difficult decision. Maybe if $300k represented less than 5% of our net worth maybe it wouldn’t be too hard.

As far as fit and happiness are concerned, I hope that I have provided my children the ability to find happiness and be engaged in a wide variety of circumstances. For many of us that come from less privileged back grounds the idea that your child will be materially happier in one college at this level than another may not be tremendously compelling because we have always been very happy and motivated and worked hard in environments that offered far less in terms of enrichment and opportunities.

I am getting close to the end of my information gathering phase on this segment of the journey, and it continues to be educational and impressive both objectively and reflectively. I’ll endeavor to write a more complete recap of the what we found and what we decided for the benefit of any others that find themselves in a similar situation in the future.

@proudmama2016 thanks for your observations. It is very helpful because you have direct experience with both schools. I am excited for your daughter, I think it would be really hard not to have a great experience at Tulane.

All others that I don’t reference specifically, thanks for your comments and observations. My wife and I do consider them and we appreciate the time you took to read posts on this discussion and offer your thoughts and opinions about our situation. Thanks so much!

Cheers!

@jsnowut Congratulations to your daughter!

For what it’s worth, my kid chose a generous financial package at an excellent state flagship over full pay at Brown and two other top 20 private schools, and he is very happy with his choice. The implication that anyone who would turn down admission at Brown simply doesn’t care about their child’s welfare, and is possibly ruining his/her life, is laughable. IMO the prestige of being selected as a Stamps Scholar at Tulane is at least equal to the prestige of being admitted to Brown, and you are basically weighing the difference between a degree from Brown and a degree from Tulane PLUS all the amazing opportunities that come with being a Stamps Scholar PLUS basically the cost of med school or a starter home. For me personally (and for my child) that would be a no-brainer.

I know several other students who made similar choices, including one who turned down an Ivy for a full ride at Penn State, and another who turned down several top 20 schools to accept the Stamps at a state flagship, and they are all very happy with their choices. A kid who turned down more prestigious schools to attend 'Bama with a scholarship package similar to Stamps (full ride + fully funded research, etc.) is headed to Berkeley next year for a PhD in astrophysics. Especially for anyone planning on grad school/med school/law school, the name on the undergrad diploma is really less important than what you accomplish while you’re there. Good luck to your daughter, I’m sure she will flourish wherever she lands!

Thanks @Corraleno that is very helpful information and I really appreciate it.

N terms of national prestige and opening doors, Stamps= Brown.
The money matter is obvious so I’ll skip that. :wink:
So now, the next issue is fit.
Tulane is with hard play hard, lots of liquor flowing. Students there are typically very happy but its vibe is very different from Brown’s, which is bohemian, more intellectual. There’s also the New Orleans environment, which is southern with a twist, v. New England elite culture. (Both will have wealthy students). And finally the specific Stamps environment - stamps students tend to be close knit and have a sort of subculture.
If your child can find her people among the stamps students and isn’t yearning for New England liberal artists and intellectuals then the choice would be very easy. Even if she is yearning for Brown’s brand, does she feel the Stamps creates something she wants equally?

@MYOS1634 Excellent information. Thanks. I think you have framed the cultural difference between the options well. I think D sees herself as NE liberal intellectual more than anything. I don’t know if D is focusing and evaluating the opportunities that Stamps provides, and that will need to be part of the discussion.

@jsnowut, what was the decision?

@TTdd16 Short answer = Tulane. Long answer = I will post a more complete wrap up soon when I get a bit more clear time for the benefit of folks facing similar circumstances in the future.

Thanks for asking!

Tulane w/STAMPS would totally be my pick so yay,and congratulations!

Tulane is an awesome choice. I’m from Louisiana, and many of our high achievers pick Tulane. She is going to meet some great people. You do know about Tulane’s humanities/med school program (I forget the actual name)? Check it out. Last year my daughter turned down Stanford, Dartmouth, UVA, and Tulane for a full-ride (Johnson Scholarship) to W&L. We are still pinching ourselves with happiness!

GREAT choice. Time to celebrate with a great dinner out with your smart daughter. You can afford it! (That, and study abroad maybe, a nice graduation present… you and your daughter have so many fun options now!)

Wonderful – congratulations!!!
Looking forward to reading your wrap-up post. :slight_smile:

What a smart decision. Congratulations!

Thanks all for your support and positive comments! I appreciate them very much. It’s great to have the application and decision making process behind us and to get excited about what is to come.

@luckymama64 thanks for the insight about Tulane. That is an impressive set of options that your D compiled!

Outstanding! I am sure it was not an easy decision, but the decision to choose Tulane along with the Stamps is such an amazing opportunity. If that one decision leads to your child being debt free after medical school (so you can focus on those costs instead), one of the biggest roadblocks facing young professionals has been removed from your child’s life. Congratulations!

Hey all,

I still owe this thread a wrap up post about our decision but I am copying a post from another thread that shows some of what we went through.

@EastGrad I suspect this refers to my family’s circumstances, if it doesn’t I would love to be put in touch with these folks because we have a ton in common:

“You’re so right, @carolinamom2boys. This is happening to a 2018 grad in our neighborhood (who attends a charter rather than our excellent local high school). She was accepted by many tippy-top schools, including Brown and Tulane. Her heart is set on Brown. Her parents are insisting that she go to Tulane on the full scholarship they have given her. They could probably afford Brown but according to their neighbor it will include many sacrifices on their part. Last I heard, she wasn’t speaking to them and hadn’t since mid April. Sort of sad to end your child’s senior year this way.”

Let me clarify a few things so that these circumstances don’t become over dramatized and a piece of internet lore that might misdirect someone in the future:

“Her heart is set on Brown. Her parents are insisting that she go to Tulane on the full scholarship they have given her.”

A more accurate description would be:

My daughter saw herself at Brown more than Tulane. She worked very hard in high school [as so many do] and believed that a spot at a progressive Ivy League University on the east coast was a better and more fitting outcome for that hard work than Tulane.

Her parents immersed themselves in finding out as much as they could about both amazing opportunities to help their daughter and themselves to arrive at a decision that was the ‘best’ under the circumstances. There is actually an entire thread on this topic on CC which was one small part of the due diligence that we did.

“she wasn’t speaking to them and hadn’t since mid April.”

It was a difficult decision, and of course a very wonderful decision to have to make. Our daughter did not engage with us for many days, probably 2 - 3 weeks, about this decision because there was a lot of emotion involved and some other personal issues. We hoped that it would be a collaborative discussion leading to a consensus decision of what was best for the entire family. However, that was not the case at the start. We respected that she was not ready to engage and gave her the space she needed to come to grips with her opportunities and to begin weighing them against one another.

We shared all of the information that we were obtaining with our daughter. This information included, among other information, considered advice from some of the most amazing, intelligent, and successful people that we know, many of whom EastGrad you also know and whose thoughts, advice and observations I am certain you would not dismiss out of hand, as well as advice from their children who attended and are attending the top colleges and universities in the country for undergrad, grad and professional education. Our daughter was part of many of these conversations.

“Sort of sad to end your child’s senior year this way”

Equipped with a vast amount of information, we had numerous discussions about our daughter’s numerous opportunities, and these discussions as well as the entire journey were educational experiences for all of us. In the end, the decision was not tremendously difficult. There was still some mild mourning that needed to be done for the loss of the idea of attending a progressive Ivy League University on the east coast, which was gradually replaced by the growing excitement for the adventures that lie ahead.

Our daughter’s senior year ended last Friday. The ending was as close to a fairy tale ending that one could imagine, with much joyful celebration with friends and family coming from afar to show their support for this wonderful young woman.

“They could probably afford Brown but according to their neighbor it will include many sacrifices on their part.”

The question for us wasn’t “can we afford it?” it was “is it a good decision to afford it?” when weighed with the other options and future plans of our daughter. Hopefully the decision we made will work out. It’s like anything - you do your best, make the choices you think are right and then cross your fingers and hold your breath!

All the best - Cheers!