Can some people clear up some things about these schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So, I am a junior looking at some colleges. Sadly, I have only visited some state schools, and as a whole I am shooting for some top-tier institutions. Sadly, my parents are not quite as supportive of this (They have told me,and I understand, that they will only pay for the cost of a public state university), so I have not gotten the chance to even visit some other schools. So, all of my research has come from some brochures, and the internet. I think maybe one of the foolish mistakes I made was using "The Princeton review" for some things, such as bad dorms, bad city, etc. These are some of the discrepencies I have come across.</p>

<p>In addition, I have heard that for OOS public-schools, you will get very little financial aid, nonetheless loan-free (which is what I am mostly looking for).</p>

<p>Duke University- "More to do on campus"/"town gown relations strained" (bad town relations? I don't see the relevence)
MIT (Sloan)- Ugly campus
Harvey mudd- ugly campus
University of Chicago- people say it's a "nerd" college, with no social scene
Dartmouth College- "students dissatisfied with financial aid", but I have also read as of 2008-2009 year, and beyond, they are becoming a no-loan financial aid school
WUSTL- I hear they give poor need-based financial aid
Johns Hopkins- "professors get low marks"
Carnegie Mellon- "is it food"?
USC- bad area of LA (this I can definetly see....same with Johns Hopkins)
Amhearst- "Students dissatisfied with financial aid"
Vassar- "More to do on campus"/"town gown relations strained"
College of the Holy Cross- "more to do on campus", "dissatisfied with financial aid"</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>Duke University- “More to do on campus”/“town gown relations strained” (bad town relations? I don’t see the relevence): Duke has a great campus life, and the tri-state area is great. Durham itself is hardly an ideal college town, however. The truth is it doesn’t matter, there is plenty to do in the area and on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>MIT (Sloan)- Ugly campus: Cambridge is nice but MIT is ugly</p></li>
<li><p>University of Chicago- people say it’s a “nerd” college, with no social scene: There is some social scene but the student body is very academically intense. Probably the least social top 15 school.</p></li>
<li><p>Dartmouth College- “students dissatisfied with financial aid”, but I have also read as of 2008-2009 year, and beyond, they are becoming a no-loan financial aid school: Dartmouth’s financial aid is amazing. This was before they changed their policy.</p></li>
<li><p>WUSTL- I hear they give poor need-based financial aid: Not true. WashU aid is fantastic and they offer numerous ways to provide aid.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Here are some answers…</p>

3

<p>First, have you figured out your EFC? If your parents don’t qualify, how much aid the schools give and whether they give loans or not is irrelevant.</p>

<p>Most often when parent’s “will only pay” for a state school it implies that they would not qualify for aid at private schools. In that case you would need to look at schools that offer merit aid which most on your list do not.</p>

4

<p>Ugly is subjective. I like the buildings at MIT.</p>

5

<p>Here’s what the Princeton Review has to say about each of the following:</p>

<p>Duke University- “More to do on campus”/“town gown relations strained” (bad town relations? I don’t see the relevence)</p>

<p>“Indeed people usually stay on campus for fun, as hometown Durham has a few quirky streets and squares with restaurants, shops, clubs, etc., but to really do much you have to go to Raleigh or Chapel Hill, each 20 to 30 minutes away by car. The perception that Durham is pretty dangerous further dampens students’ enthusaism for the city.”</p>

<p>MIT (Sloan)- Ugly campus</p>

<p><nothing commented,=“” some=“” of=“” the=“” modern=“” buildings=“” can=“” be=“” ugly=“” if=“” you=“” are=“” looking=“” for=“” a=“” ivy=“” campus=“”></nothing></p>

<p>Harvey mudd- ugly campus</p>

<p><nothing commented,=“” however=“” the=“” campus=“” buildings=“” have=“” “warts”=“” (i’ve=“” heard)=“” on=“” them=“” and=“” they=“” look=“” atrocious.“=”"></nothing></p>

<p>University of Chicago- people say it’s a “nerd” college, with no social scene</p>

<p>“We spend a large chunk of our time studying and should be studying much of the time that we are not. Without question, the popular stereotype of the Chicago student is a nerdy, socially awkward person.”</p>

<p>Dartmouth College- “students dissatisfied with financial aid”, but I have also read as of 2008-2009 year, and beyond, they are becoming a no-loan financial aid school</p>

<p>The Princeton Review surveys colleges once every three years so this was probably 2 years ago.</p>

<p>WUSTL- I hear they give poor need-based financial aid</p>

<p>WUSTL is probably the best school at giving out financial aid.</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins- “professors get low marks”</p>

<p>-Johns Hopkins is a research institution so there may be a perception that professors are more interested in research than teaching undergraduates. This rating refers to the fact that professors are boring and uninteresting.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon- “is it food”?</p>

<p>-Can’t resond to that, but if the students think the food is bad, it probably is since many of the schools on that list really do have bad food.</p>

<p>USC- bad area of LA (this I can definetly see…same with Johns Hopkins)</p>

<p>-I haven’t heard of this but I don’t live in LA.</p>

<p>Amherst- “Students dissatisfied with financial aid”</p>

<p>-Again, see answer for Dartmouth, possibly 3 years ago, financial aid wasn’t as good as it is today (or students don’t think they are getting enough financial aid because of the high cost to attend Amherst)</p>

<p>Vassar- “More to do on campus”/“town gown relations strained”</p>

<p>“Life is campus-centered at Vassar, in large part because hometown Poughkeepsie does not offer much in the way of entertainment, The campus provides most of the weekend activities. One undergrad observes, It’s unfortunate but not rare for people to graduate from Vassar knowing nothing about Poughkeepsie other than where the train station to New York City is.”</p>

<p>College of the Holy Cross- “more to do on campus”, “dissatisfied with financial aid” </p>

<p>-Worcester doesn’t really have a lot of stuff to do. Financial aid is probably because students don’t think they are getting enough to pay for the high cost of Holy Cross.</p>

6

<p>hmom05, err, no I haven’t yet, but I do think we will qualify. My parents combined make 70,000-90,000 a year, but I think it’s more in the spectrum of 70-80K. We own no unusual assets to speak of, our home, my mom’s car, my dad’s car, and mine, none of which (especially mine :p) are nice by any means. And then I have a sister in college, with no financial aid/scholarships, at a state-school. We have no major medical bills, and don’t think we have any other major bills. And finally, if this matters, we haven’t bought anything extravagent within the last few years, no expensive vacations, etc.</p>

7

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<p>The majority of students (about 60%) are receiving some kind of financial aid, and WUSTL was listed as number 11 on the Princeton Review’s ranking of schools where students are “happy with financial aid.” </p>

<p>In addition, WUSTL offers some of the best merit-based aid within top 20 schools. All of those scholarships do require a separate application though.</p>

8

<p>The equity in your home will count at most private colleges, but if it’s modest you look to be in good shape for lots of aid at the big endowment privates.</p>

9

<p>WUSTL is great at financial aid, their reputation in this is underrated. That said, I did get less FA at WUSTL than I did at Duke with similar stats to yours (middle class income and average assets but only child). Both packages met my FAFSA EFC, but Duke had more to give in terms of grants. You shouldn’t be disappointed if you get in though, both give good FA (and are GREAT schools). And Princeton Review’s rating for WUSTL’s quality of life? I haven’t seen a lot of other colleges, but the dorms (especially the new modern dorms) and food (sushi and dumplings on the meal plan, that’s all I have to say) are awesome.</p>

<p>As a kid going to Duke and having visited Duke, I think the Princeton Review’s accurate in their ratings. Beautiful campus (even the freshman East Campus, but West Campus especially), lots of school and social spirit. Students themselves admitted that Durham wasn’t exactly the best city though, but they also said it has its spots and that Chapel Hill nearby is a great town. </p>

<p>Can’t really say much for other colleges personally, but I have a classmate going to Johns Hopkins. He says the location’s nice despite Baltimore’s rep, but the social scene is a little lacking.</p>

10

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<p>At Brown you’d be looking at slightly more than half paid for each year with no loans with numbers like this (certainly while your sister is in college, and during that time possibly as much as 3/4s).</p>

<p>Most top schools will provide you with significant aid so I wouldn’t worry too much about expense on the front end and see how things play out with packages on the back end if you get in.</p>

<p>Of course, this is assuming no large college savings funds and stuff like that.</p>

<p>My parents make slightly more (just under 100k) and we had 60k saved for my college + I had an $18,500 scholarship + my sister was only in school for my last two years at Brown + I live on LI so even though my parents bought our house at 100k, it was worth just less than 500k when I entered Brown + financial aid has gotten better over the last four years.</p>

<p>I’m graduating undergrad with about $8500 in subsidized government loans on Sunday.</p>

11

<p>haha, I wish I had a good college fund. I don’t even think my parents have enough in there to directly pay for a 4 year state school.</p>

<p>And congradulations on your graduation! This may seem weird to ask, but by any chance do you have a cousin living in Washington? haha</p>

12

<p>University of Chicago: students themselves wear T-shirts that say “Where Fun Goes to Die.”</p>

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<p>No cousins I know of…</p>

14

<p>Speaking only for Johns Hopkins:</p>

<p>I can guarantee you that the majority of professors are wonderful and clearly talented in their fields. Are there bad ones? sure. But there will be terrible ones at any school from Harvard, Brown, Duke, Notre Dame, etc. This is not exclusive to any one school.</p>

<p>The professors at Hopkins are always, from my perspective at least, willing to help. Whenever I stop in for office hours, I am always greeted with a handshake and can sit and talk for quite awhile about anything I want. Some professors, I just stop in to chat and share a coffee. At other times, I have been invited to have dinner with the professor’s family, etc. </p>

<p>For humanities classes, Hopkins offers LAC like environments. Small classroom sizes and professors that really understand and work hard to motivate each individual.
For science and math classes, the professors do seem to try to make their classes engaging, and they always encourage you to visit them after class. They are also always more than willing to help you where they can. My one professor last year helped me find my current research job and he spent nearly a week doing so, even though he had his own things.</p>

<p>These Princeton Review rankings are often misconstrued and do not really reflect the experience of all the undergrads at the respective schools. </p>

<p>I can recommend Hopkins to you with no shadow of a doubt unless you are lazy and/or unwilling to be challenged. In that case, I suggest you look to some inflationary schools like Harvard, Stanford, Duke, etc ;)</p>

15

<p>Everyone I know who is at the U of C or graduated from the U of C–and that’s a fair number–had plenty of fun.</p>

<p>Dartmouth’s FA is superb.</p>

<p>MIT’s campus is kind of ugly, but it is in Cambridge, which makes up for everything.</p>

16

<p>There aren’t too many families making $80K with a second child in college with no aid that can afford half of a private college tuition. I think he would get more.</p>

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<p>I was going with my situation, which was “better” financially (though in the same class) and I got half. I bet that they’d get more as well, but I can practically guarantee half, which brings you down right about to ISS costs.</p>

18

<p>Duke, Holy Cross, Dartmouth, Amherst have great school spirit with very strong alumni networks. Duke has nearby Raleigh-Durham, Chapel Hill, Holy Cross is 1 hour to Boston, while Dartmouth and Amherst more remote.</p>

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<p>^^ Wow, a Brown education for the debt of a cheap used car (ignoring the boatloads of cash payments of course.) Congratulations!</p>

20

<p>The front facade of MIT is highly impressive but once you start walking around the campus it is surprisingly rather appalling. Looks like engineers designed it!</p>