Complicated question, but my son got into Penn Engineering school today. He had previously gotten in to Delaware (Honors College) with a Distinguished Scholarship award of $120,000 over 4 years. He is accepted into bioengineering at Delaware, and would likely do the same at Penn. We would get zero need based aid. Net cost at Penn for 4 years is now ~$280,000. Delaware would be ~$64,000. If needed, we could pay for Penn, but it would hurt a little, and he would have zero money left for possible grad/medical school (end game not certain at this point). He would be a ‘big fish’ at Delaware, with priority registration, extra advising, honors housing, program flexibility, etc. But, it is not Penn. Any thoughts from CC on pluses and minuses to this classic dilemma?
I’m in the camp of following the money. Sounds like a good deal. But congrats on Penn anyways!
This is a tough one. My daughter is definitely pre-med so it was a no-brainer for her to take Rutgers honors (in-state). I have the money saved for a more expensive school (barely). After much thought she came to the conclusion (bless her) that she would rather save some of that fund to for med school than spend it on an undergraduate degree.
That is a big financial decision. Medical school has GPA requirements also. I know people who went to IV leagues and could not maintain grades, ended up doing their medical degree in much lower ranked schools. looks like in your son’s case that won’t be an issue. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is happiness. You should let him choose where he wants to go,
Also, there are ways of saving. For instance, one can graduate in 3 years instead of 4
Which school does your son prefer? How put out would he be if you now require him to choose the less expensive option?
@NorthernMom61 I think he is pretty ambivalent. He would have jumped at Stanford or Berkeley but not to be.
Looking at everything, I think there is an edge at Penn purely academically, but as a whole, I think Delaware would be the smartest choice.
Did he not apply to anything in between? UDel and Penn? No merit money schools? It is very hard to walk away and leave that much money on the table, but also hard to pass up one of the best schools in the country. Is he certain he wants to go to med school? If he is, then going where is is easier to get good grades and saving the money make sense… Not an easy choice, but most kids at an Ivy likely passed,up large,merit money at other colleges.
@mom2and He did apply to a bunch of other schools, but based on acceptances, programs, and geography, it looks like it will come down to UDel or Penn. He got a huge merit award at Delaware (Telkes DiScho, $30,000 per year), which makes the net cost for us ~$16,000 per year. Penn would effectively be $70,000 net per year. I think he is going to take a third or fourth look at each school (we have or had children at both schools incidentally…). Not easy!!
If he is ambivalent, I would steer him towards Delaware. UDel is a popular choice from our school. Everyone who goes there loves it. I know one who went through the honors program. She landed at Emory for grad school, one of the top rated schools in her field. She said everyone in her honors class ended up at great grad schools.
Perhaps it would clarify things to ask where the UDel honors students in BioE end up. Try to get real data.
This is definitely not an easy decision. But, especially if med school is in the picture, the finances have to be a serious consideration.
Wow, great options. Congrats on both acceptances.
Given you say he is ambivalent, that Penn does not float his boat and med school is a possibility, I am inclined to say Delaware.
Best of luck.
My D did the honors program at UD. The opportunities are amazing. She had a major in the chemistry department, though, and UD is a great place for chemistry (thank you DuPont!). The kids she went through with were incredibly accomplished and went on to all sorts of great things, Fulbrights and such, great graduate schools and incredible jobs. There are also some nice honors perks. Really nice. Like paid research, and the honors kids typically get first crack at that. My D had a generous scholarship and ended up graduating from UD with enough money in her bank account due to research and on campus jobs in her field to be able to have put a downpayment on a condo if she hadn’t chosen to go to graduate school. One of the best things for her was the employment. She got a job in her department the first week on campus and was promoted up through her four years, which looks spectacular on her resume. If I can answer any questions, please le me know, but otherwise, good luck! No bad choices there.
We were in the same predicament a couple of years ago with different schools. We basically told ds that the “pile” of money was his to do how he see fit. He chose to spend all of it on undergrad, so we will not be helping with grad/professional school. We let him decide how to divvy up the pile.
Personally, I would not be able to turn down Penn and I doubt my kids would, either.
I would take the Delaware Honors, not because of the scholarship but because one of the smartest people I know went from there to MIT to study science. He said that the personal attention and opportunities that he received from the Honors program were worlds apart from the undergraduate grind he saw as a TA at MIT. He said that at UDel he had time to digest the material, to ponder. These accolades are about THIS particular honors program.
On the other hand, Penn Engineering requires 40 courses for a degree. That’s lunacy. Just nuts. Mind you many of these are the same courses that Arts and Science only requires 32 courses for a degree. My D went to a summer program run by the engineering school at Penn and during the banquet at the end, the Dean (not sure if it’s the same one) boasted about how brutal the engineering program was like it was some kind of macho thing. This didn’t really appeal to my daughter, and I can see it being really difficult to be a pre-med at Penn Engineering. Another acquaintance had a S who flamed out with Penn Engineering.
So I think Delaware Honors is a win-win.
Try this mental exercise: Take the cost difference between Penn and UDel, compound it annually at 5-7% for 40 years (or how ever long you think is appropriate) until you pass away, and tell them they’ll receive that amount as an inheritance.
OP said the difference to them between Penn and Delaware is $216,000 over 4 years. $216k compounding annually at 6% grows to over $2,200,000 in 40 years.
Now, is it still a no-brainer to turn down Penn? Everything has a price.
Yeah…still leaning toward Delaware but it is a hard decision all around. @NUwildcat92 that is exactly the kind of stuff that runs through my head. I am hoping to visit with him and get a better look at the Engineering side of things.
@NUwildcat92, I understand the math. I stand by my opinion.
I would definitely have chosen Penn at age 18, but at age 40, I would probably advise my pre-med child to go for Delaware as long as he liked it there.
You and your kid might like to read through this thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/905843-top-student-at-a-3rd-tier-school-four-years-later-p1.html
At work today a colleague reported that their kid received an Ivy rejection yesterday. Kid is very sad, but the colleague and spouse did a secret happy dance. Kid will now go to the perfectly fine state U on a full scholarship. There will be money left to pay for med school four years from now.