<p>Hey! what's with the really personal criticism, evil<em>asian</em>dictator! This was an unbelievably difficult decision to make for my family, and I was ready to give up MIT for Olin for the sake of my parents.</p>
<p>For starters, financial aid negotation brought our EFC down, and it will be lowered even more by the fall when a change in circumstances we've gone through is taken into account - it will be more like 100k in loans.</p>
<p>Through scholarships I've won and more scholarship money I am perpetually applying for, I've pretty much eliminated my self-help (definitely for next year and I'm working on getting rid of soph yr's portion) - the money I earn from work will go straight to my parents. As soon as I graduate college, the debt becomes mine; my intention is to live at home after graduation while working, so that I can accelerate my debt payments and be done with everything within a few years (putting possible grad school and independent living on hold).</p>
<p>My understanding of things at the time of my original post turned out to be pretty wrong. Olin isn't free, obviously, it's about 60k for four years, and the financial difference between MIT and Olin - after lots an dlots of finance consultations and things - turned out to really be more like 40k than 100k. Olin was not the right place for me, period, and this debt burden is something I have chosen to take on not "selfishly," in some crazy chase after the prestige, or "allure," of mit, but with the total knowledge that sometimes you just have to close your eyes and jump.</p>
<p>Sorry this was so long - I figure maybe the agony of my decision process will be helpful to someone in years to come.</p>