Now that time is runng out to inform the colleges accepted my child is in the midst of a very important decision where we cannot go wrong. Got full ride to UPitt and got accepted to one of the top 20 national universities where we have to pay. Which one to accept.
How much would the top 20 university cost you over 4 years? Can you afford to pay that?
Either way, a full ride to a great institution like Pitt is hard to pass up. They are clearly a high achieving individual who will find success regardless of where they decide to attend. My vote goes to Pitt.
Depends on goals, what’s desired, how much you have to pay, how much you can pay, what the other option is, etc.
First criteria is what your family can comfortably afford. If both can be done (preferably without loans) then look at fit.
Pitt.
Pitt is a fabulous school. If it were me, I’d go there and use the money for a top 20 grad school.
For most individuals and families, Pitt is the obvious choice, due to affordability. However, if your family can truly afford – in both the short- and long-terms – the first-tier national research university, your decision obviously becomes much more difficult. What you have not mentioned – and this is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT – is with which institution do YOU have the better “cultural fit?” Where do you want to spend the next four years, which students are more appealing, with which schools’ attitudes and values are you more comfortable, which community seems better for YOU, which university’s intellectual and academic atmosphere is preferable, and so much more. These “cultural fit” factors may well be appropriately decisive.
Pitt! If you said full ride at Southeast State College, then you should weigh the options. But a top State U like Pitt seems like the way to go if the other choice is full pay.
Agreed. It’s Pitt, unless you have unlimited funds and the other schol is a much better fit culturally.
Top 20 national universities provide excellent need-based aid, so I’m assuming you can pay for it if you stretch. Is that incorrect?
What university also matters, as well as the major. Even if Pitt is excellent, some doors close by attending there - IB, but also in fields like publishing, entertainment, art. MIT, with its research/industry lab combos, provides something Pitt doesn’t. In short, it’s not that easy depending on your kid’s goals.
If your child is premed, or engineering, it matters much less.
It depends. It could be a full ride vs paying $1000 per year. In that case, the top 20 university would be the obvious choice.
Top 20 is very broad actually. It could be Harvard or it could be UC Berkeley. Please give us a little more information as to:
Planned field/major and its reputation at the school?
Opinion on location?
Thanks to all for your opinion. As some of you asked we have to pay 22,000/year vs. nothing.
Also planned field of major is neuroscience.
Pitt has a strong program in neuroscience. Better save the money for graduate school or medical school. At which school will your child do better?
22000?
I still vote for Pitt. That money would be better spent for graduate or medical school.
It would help if you named the top 20 university. There’s a big difference between paying 22K to go to Harvard over a full ride or 22K to go to, say Notre Dame over a full ride.
There’s certainly a big difference within the top 20, though if the kid is definitely going to stay committed to neuroscience, my vote would be for Pitt regardless.
Ivies and Ivy-equivalents would definitely open doors to Wall Street, though (schools like WashU and Vandy, not nearly as much).
22K for a Top 20 national university is a great deal though. In many states, you can’t attend your state flagship for that much (Penn State, UIUC…) I’d seriously consider it if it were my child, provided I wouldn’t have to dip into retirement.
Factors that affect how much attending an elite school are whether you’re URM, immigrant, lower-income, or first gen. Those are the cases where attending a “top college” really makes a difference, because the college provides the social/cultural capital that the student doesn’t come “equiped” with thanks to family/neighborhood etc.
On the other hand, if you’re upper-middle class or both parents have a 4-year degree (or graduate degree), there’s statistically no difference in outcome for your child; the only difference is in the experience.
Thanks MYOS . This is the stat. for my d.
Choice Rice or Emory or University of Pittsburgh
Cost with merit and FA 22,000; 25,000; full ride(pitt)
Goal - go to med school
Find best research opportunity, internship.
Location - houston, atlanta, pittsburgh