College Selection Help!

I am a senior in Athens GA. My parents’ max budget is $35,000. My college admittances are given below:

  1. Sewanee- $30,000, chance to run D3 XC and track, beautiful campus
  2. UGA honors-$12,000, in my hometown :(, much larger than I would prefer
  3. Tulane honors- $40,000, expensive!!!, setting is not ideal
  4. Emory at Oxford- $35,000, great location, running opportunity Five: Rhodes- $27,000, chance to run D3, setting isn’t ideal

I plan to study neuroscience and biology, and I’m looking for a smaller school (preferably) while still not draining my parents financially without any payoff. Any thoughts on whether the more expensive schools are worth it or which would be a best fit? Thank you!

UGA Honors because you will save from $15,000 to $28,000 per year. (Contact the cross country & track coaches to be able to train with the teams every day.) Does the $12,000 per year include housing/dorm ?

University of the South because it is where you want to be.

Rhodes College because of chance for relevant medical internships.

Emory at Oxford because of everything except the price.

Tulane University Honors if the school will give you additional grant aid or scholarship merit money to match your other private school options.

Thank you for your comment! Yes, the $12,000 figure includes housing etc. for UGA- I got a couple little scholarships which brought the cost down as well as Zell Miller.

The University of Georgia is a great option if room & board is included for $12,000 per year. UGA Honors is quite competitive & prestigious. What are your stats ?

Just think of all the opportunities available to you since you are saving at least $15,000 per year over your next most affordable option (not including the savings of travel). You can study abroad in Europe, Asia, Australia or South America. You can afford to spend summers at just about any school in the country. Plus you can buy a new car. Savings can be used for graduate school.

My stats are 35 ACT, national merit finalist, and 4.0 GPA. You bring up a lot of good points about UGA- I just don’t know if I would succeed/be happy at such a large school, even though the honors program narrows it down

Any big school can break down to a smaller school- there are more opportunities to find your particular niche. Stay in the honors dorm, which seems like it is a school within a school- there are lots of smart kids with varied interests there. I have two children that are currently at UGA, and are extremely happy. I would definitely pick UGA, and save your $$.

Personally I would go to UGA. My thinking is that Tulane is too expensive, and UGA is well known and you can’t beat the price.

The thing about a large school is that you find your niche there: After a while it feels like you are in a small school that happens to share a campus and allow cross-registration in courses with a bunch of other small schools. Of course you might have a few large classes particularly in the first year or two, and there are some good arguments for a smaller school. However, the price is great and you can get a very good education there, employers anywhere in the US will know the school, plus you get the honors college. I agree with a post above that you might want to look at the study abroad program if you would like to also see a different part of the world.

In terms of being in your home town: If you are living on campus it will feel like an entirely different world compared to living at home, even if you are only a few miles from home. If something goes wrong and you could use some help, someone you know can get there quickly.

I have a daughter who graduates in May and is looking at possible jobs for right after graduation. At this point, having no debt at all is looking really good to her.

First year retention rates:

  1. University of Georgia 95% (probably higher for those in the Honors College)
  2. Emory 94%
  3. Tulane 92%
  4. Rhodes 91%
  5. Univ. of the South-Sewanee 89%

With a 35 ACT & a 4.0 GPA, it appears that you just wanted to stay in the South.

Did you apply to Davidson College ? Any schools outside of the South ?

It sounds like you love Sewanee and your family can afford it. In that case, I’d choose it.

Sewanee offers a beautiful campus, but the first year retention rate (89%) & six year graduation rate of just 82% are troubling. Plus, OP may not be as academically challenged as at her other options.

Ditto. Honors programs are great, sure, but there is a massive difference in student experience between a large university and a small rural LAC.*

If your parents can swing Swanee, go for it. You’ll perform best academically in an environment that makes you comfortable and happy.

As for Rhodes, it doesn’t have a massive campus for running like Sewanee, but it does have a decent park across the street. The campus itself is self-contained, safe, and beautiful, and the sciences are very strong. Memphis gets a bad rap; it’s actually a pretty good city for college kids, and Rhodes is near the most interesting parts of town.

*For full disclosure, my boyfriend was in honors at UGA, recently got his PhD, and is now teaching at a LAC.

@runnersgirl2018: In your initial post in this thread, you asked which school would be a best fit.

There are several types of fit; financial, social, athletic & academic as well as location & size. None of your schools satisfies all of the requirements.

Tulane is out due to exceeding the “max budget”. UGA is too big & too close to home.

Surprised that Davidson College & Kenyon College are not on your list. Both award merit scholarships.

My concern is that you might leave Sewanee after one year.

This is the only time in your life that your stellar numbers (35 ACT & 4.0 GPA) matter.

I’m an LAC fan, and I admire both Sewanee and Rhodes.

That said, UGA is a hot school that has become ultra-competitive, probably in no small part because GA uses the state’s lottery “to fund the Hope Scholarship program, which covers 90% of tuition at UGA for students who finish HS with a B average and maintain that average in college” (Fiske, 2017). NOTE: Obviously, an applicant typically needs to be much stronger than a B student to gain admission.

Plus, honors programs are like colleges within colleges. All of the usual concerns (large classes, sections taught by TAs, little chance of forming close working relationships with professors) won’t apply to you. You’ll get the attention and rigor of an LAC but still get to take advantage of all that a large university has to offer (and, yes, that includes football and, ahem, lots of social opportunities…)

That said, your family has a budget, so if you and your family agree that one of the other options is worth it because you’re in love with, say, Sewanee, then by all means go there. My experience tells me that the significant savings at UGA would be nice, regardless of a family’s ability to pay more.

Publisher,

A retention of 89% is fantastic, and a graduation rate of 82% is also terrific. These are far from “troubling” numbers. Only the “elite” colleges have higher figures, and we don’t use elite colleges as the benchmark for all schools. The national average for the six-year graduation rate is 49%.

They are troubling to me for one with a 4.0 GPA & a 35 ACT score who is well qualified for elite schools.

What is the national average for ACT scores & GPAs & ability to pay college tuition ?

I am also troubled by Rhodes 80% actual graduation rate in six years.

Your standards are different than mine.

It seems like you have to decide how important being on a college track/XC team is to you. If it is very important, then that eliminates UGA and Tulane. More generally, I suggest you write down what are important criteria for a college for you and rank each school. You are in the best position to choose.

If you are still stuck after doing that, try this: pick one and then let that decision sit with you for a few days. If after a few days you still think it is best, then go with it!

@ Publisher- Davidson was on my list, but I wasn’t a finalist for the Belk Scholarship and I am assuming that Davidson (if I even get in) will not end up being an affordable option.

Does anyone have thoughts on Emory in particular? That would be my obvious first choice except for the cost. Could it be worth it in the long run since it has such a great neuroscience and biology program? Thanks to everyone for the thoughts on UGA- I recognize that it is a great option, and I am definitely going to do my best not to overlook that.

@runnergirl2018: If you select Sewanee, check out the drinking reputation/culture. It is a small isolated school. Gorgeous campus, but small. The issues that I see for you are lack of neuroscience major, drinking culture, whether you will be academically challenged, boredom & the honor code trials.

I understand the enjoyment of being a competitive distance runner. And I think that you will enjoy your first year there, but eventually will need more.

But, I don’t know you & you may be comfortable in that environment for your 4 years. I graduated from an LAC with a larger enrollment & felt a bit suffocated when on campus. Went to a large university for graduate school & found heaven.(Which is what front loaded honors programs/colleges are designed to do–give the benefit of a small school with all the advantages of a large university. Unfortunately for you, that large university honors college is in your backyard.)

If I had to make a wager on your ultimate pick from your 5 listed schools, it would be Emory at Oxford, then UGA. But I think that you sold yourself short. It will be interesting to see what Davidson College offers.