<p>CMU , UMich , Cooper Union
Major: Ma/Eng , Eng , Eng
Scholorship: $0 , $15K , Free tuition</p>
<p>Any idea ?</p>
<p>I chose CMU over Cooper Union even though I’m from the city. One reason being that CMU has wayyy more options and opportunities, plus its a bigger school. Another was the location and a closed campus. It really stinks when you have to worry about transportation and danger late at night if you’re stuck on a assignment late on campus. The safety of a closed campus really adds on to a good college experience, in my opinion. Yes the cost difference is humongous, but if you do well at CMU, you will almost definitely find a way to pay it back.</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments. If you have too many options , it is difficult to choose. Regarding opportunities, I believe New York has more than Pitt.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, by opportunities I meant the connections CMU has with the job market, extra curriculars and other school-related things. I wasn’t talking about the surrounding city life.</p>
<p>Hard to beat free tuition. Living in NYC will not be cheap however. Can you afford to pay the full freight?</p>
<p>I’ve been given an ok aid package for CMU. I think Cooper has a dorm in the middle of 3rd ave, and it’s like 10k a year for living.</p>
<p>I think I read that at Cooper Union you are only guaranteed dorm room for the first year…after that you are on your own to find housing in NYC. OP may want to check into that!</p>
<p>We can afford it even for CMU with $0 scholarship but if my D go to Cooper, we could save $160k total for her down payment that makes her life much easier. However again, what would be difference between these schools regarding workload, social life, and other college experience ?</p>
<p>My father actually was against me going to CMU instead of Cooper Union because a. it was expensive, and b. it was far away. However, when we went to visit the Cooper Union campus, which is right by NYU, and it was starting to get dark, he got really worried about the community and the people who were roaming the streets, and he did not want me commuting alone after dark. However, college almost always requires you to spend at least a couple of long nights on work, might even be on campus.
I think the workload for engineering is relatively the same, but CMU is highly rated in terms of the programs. Social life: there are about 1k students a class, which is significantly larger than Cooper’s. Surrounding areas wise, yes NYC definitely is the place for a good social life, but that does not mean CMU isn’t. Everyone who goes to CMU is very satisfied with what they have. What kind of college experience are you looking for? If she wants to party hard, then NYC is the place. CMU doesn’t have that many crazy parties and you can find some sometimes on the weekends, or walk over to UPitt. If she wants extra curriculars, CMU is the place with over 120 clubs and organizations plus tons of different sports.
Yes you will be saving tons of money on Cooper, so that is definitely a big decision. I honestly didn’t submit my deposit until the day of the CMU deadline because I was so torn between the two. CMU would give me more opportunity, Cooper will save me money and I felt so proud of myself for being part of that ~8% of admits to Cooper. But I am very very happy I made this choice.
So my suggestion is leave it up to her. She understands the financial pressure but she might also want to have more options in college. Money vs. better college experience, it’s a tough choice.</p>
<p>This is a great example of “be careful of what you wish for.” It would be real tough to turn down $160k in after tax money. I had a cousin who went to CU and did well , but there’s really not much of a college experience. You do your classes and labs but most students commute so there’s not a center of gravity. Being in Manhattan is a mixed blessing when you’re trying to focus on engineering studies. CMU has a higher 4 year graduation rate than CU so that may indicate something.</p>
<p>Maybe think about first is where does D want to go if both were the same price? If she’s really strongly leaning towards CMU, then you have to think about how $160K could offset that.</p>
<p>Just an fyi, generally CMU matches scholarships.
According to professors, Cooper loses quite a few students because CMU matches the full-tuition scholarship.
If CMU is your #1 choice, definitely give this option a shot (even though I’m a Cooper student :P)</p>
<p>Are kidding me ? My D also got 15K from Michigan and 20K from RPI. We ask for match for this number (>15K). Guess what they give us ??? It is only 3K. Ridiculous !!! What a Professor said may be a single case. It can’t draw a general conclusion.</p>
<p>TimeTunnel, you could always be the single case and the professor could be talking in general. ;)</p>
<p>Time Tunnel: did you already hear back about your financial aid renegotiation?</p>
<p>Yeah, I asked for a financial aid package match but they didn’t raise anything. Maybe because I was RD and got off a waitlist, and CMU has a list of schools they will match with, it’s not all of them</p>
<p>RacinReaver: I like your comment !</p>
<p>PA-C: They said they only offer top 5% of the admitted students a merit based scholarship. No match at all ! This is what I heard from a finance staff not a professor.</p>
<p>@TimeTunnel
I’m sure if the number of Cooper students lost to CMU was less than 5 the Professors wouldn’t deem it any topic of importance and tell everyone. lol.</p>
<p>wait you didn’t ask them to match cooper’s? lol.</p>
<p>Hey! I’m in the same boat as you (accepted to Cooper Union and CMU). How really would one ask for more aid (not ‘match’ cooper’s offer)?</p>