<p>So, I plan on majoring in political science.</p>
<p>I recently visited the University of Michigan, LOVED it and have heard great things about the political science program. I recently submitted an enrollment deposit for the University of Michigan, but also still have a few options open (one including a full ride to Rockhurst University). I am entirely sure that I want to attend Michigan and that I will stick with political science- I want to enter into a career as a political officer or a political diplomacy officer. I feel as though Michigan's locations and connections would provide me with an amazing amount of preparation for a career in the field.</p>
<pre><code>Now, I recently received my financial aid package from Michigan. The bottom line is that on top of the federal loan aid they offered, I'd have to take out a 20,000 dollar private loan to attend next year. Now, my other options are Rockhurst University (full ride), William Jewell College (8,000 dollar private loan but a year of study abroad at Oxford or Cambridge) and University of Minnesota (also known for poltical science but I have never visited). However, Rockhurst and Jewell are both very small private colleges located about 20 minutes from my house. I do not at all want to stay here or attend Rockhurst and feel my opportunities would be very limited at those schools.
My aunt feels strongly that I should take the chance and attend Michigan next year. She feels that, though the future is unpredictable, I will be able to secure a job out of undergrad in which I would be able to handle payments. She also feels that if I buckle down and apply for as many private scholarships as I can and get as much funding as I can next year, that I can significantly decrease the amount of loans I'd have to take out over the years. If I cannot, then I can transfer to another school next year. My father, however, thinks that taking out those loans would be the biggest mistake of my life. He feels that I will have ruined my life if I start out with that.
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<p>Do you all think that the education is valuable and worth private loans of that magnitude? Do you have any advice as far as which school I should attend?</p>
<p>I agree with your Dad that you don’t want to take on $20K a year in loans. You are not guaranteed scholorships in future years. Michigan is an amazing school and my son is attending their this Fall as well. However, I am very informed on U of Minnesota as well and you should strongly consider that as well. Their Poly Sci I believe is part of the great Humphrey school. A key is that the OOS tuition is about $20K less than U of Michigan (sounds like the magic number for you). Also, Minneapolis is a fantastic city.</p>
<p>My sister goes to William Jewell and while I don’t know anything about their polsci program, I can say the atmosphere is definitely very small. Liberty is certainly not somewhere you can spend a lot of time - there really isn’t much to do there. Unless you are interested in rushing, you won’t find much to do on campus either. Nearly everyone is in Greek Life and the parties are very exclusive. Outside of those parties, there isn’t much going on socially at Jewell. I’ve spent nights visiting my sister on campus and I notice immediately how absolutely tiny it seemed.
I also live approx ten minutes from Rockhurst University. Again I don’t know much about their polisci program, but I agree with you - it’s a tiny school that I’ve never thought much about.
I visited Michigan over Spring Break and I definitely think the campus/school/location are superior. And I think the opportunities you will receive at such a big, prestigious institution are well worth the extra cash. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Also, about University of MN, I agree that Minn. is an excellent city. I’ve visited and I absolutely loved it - lots to do and lots of interesting people. MN is a good school in general and I think it is worth the visit.</p>
<p>What kind of financial aid did you get from Minnesota? It’s a great school as well, and I would advise you to go there if it’s considerably cheaper. Think long term, you’ll probably want to go to graduate school, and you should save up for that. If you take out 20k on top of your federal loans you’ll be in 6 figures of debt by the time you graduate.</p>
<p>You’re not looking at $20k to go to Michigan… you’re looking at $80k, cuz you’re looking at 4 years with no guarantee (& not much likelihood) of any scholarship money. Graduating with a BA and $80k in debt is ridiculous. You’d almost have to go right to grad school and that would mean even more debt. But U-Mich must have figured that your family could afford it? If your parents will pay nothing toward your college, I definitely think you should contact financial aid at U-Mich and discuss this with them.</p>
<p>You probably got boned by Michigan’s financial aid because Michigan is cutting back on upper-education funding OR they expect your parents to contribute more. Either way, I think you should accept at Michigan for a few reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li>Your blurb seemed to indicate you were interested in international politics/diplomacy. This is probably Michigan’s specialization in PoliSci. Look up Prof. Inglehart for more info on that.</li>
<li>UMinn is in Minneapolis (a big metro area) while UMich is in Ann Arbor (a suburban town) making Ann Arbor probably a better place to learn to be on your own. A much higher percentage of the people you’ll see will be students going through the same stuff you will.</li>
<li>UMich (this is just based off the rankings) probably has more intelligent people around than UMinn meaning you’ll be pushed harder.</li>
<li>It’s really easy to do undergrad research at UMich if you want.</li>
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<p>I just graduated (April 2011) with an engineering degree and took Inglehart’s POLISCI 140 (International Politics) course.</p>