@PurpleTitan The comment was made based on having a spouse who was responsible for Oncology fellowship matches at an Ivy hospital.
You would be correct that all GP’s make roughly the same (as do all cardiologists, oncologists, etc…for arguments sake here), but getting into a specialty could impact earnings by double or triple. Knowing the competition for those spots, I would suggest the Medical School differentiation for practicing physicians is significant. Over a 20 year career, the differences could be multiple millions. Quick math with inflation…could be $5M-$10M easy.
@EyeVeee: The tough part, of course, is differentiating between the med school and med school input. The top med schools would naturally also have the best incoming talent.
For any particular kid, then, you have the same issue as undergrad. No one gets two MDs from different med schools.
Sure, the OP’s kid could be destined for a happy career as a dermatologist in Beverly Hills, making a comfy 7 figure salary working four days a week, and spending two weeks a year in Mumbai “giving back” at a public health clinic. That’s a nice life.
Or the OP’s kid could be like most 17 year olds who think they are going to med school, and end up as a supply chain manager at an aerospace company, or head of government relations at a financial tech company, or a policy analyst at a think tank with expertise in pharma costs for medicaid/medicare recipients.
Planning for Match Day right now really sounds like slicing the bologna way too thin.
The argument about lifetime earnings being potentially higher at Brown than Villanova fails to take into account the opportunity cost of depleting the 529 and tapping into my own savings (or having him get loans). Taking just the 529 into account, and assuming that goes untouched for 4 years with son at Villanova and earns a somewhat modest rate of return (say 7%), that will be at around $160K on his graduation day. That makes the delta between Brown and Villanova not $280K, but $440K (not taking my own savings into account).
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@LurkerDad - you can’t double count the money. The total cost of Brown (in your example) is $280k. whether you pay that in 529 money, loans, bitcoin or pennies…it’s a cost of $280k. If you want to add 7% for 4 years (aggressive)…let’s call it $290k. That’s the cost.
Edit: That’s still a HUGE difference. I’m not saying I would favor Brown…just evaluating options in the crowd-sourcing arena.
I don’t think it’s double counting.
- Brown = spend $280K, and drain 529 to nothing (along with other savings). Net loss = -$280,000
- Villanova = spend $0 and 529 grows to $160K. net gain = $160,000
I see that as a delta of $440K
Well, there’s an inflation-adjustment as well (in tuition).
But it’s also the case that each dollar spent that takes you closer to a savings of $0 should be more dear.
Volatility is a fact of American life, and just as no company wants to hit bankruptcy when the first economic downturn happens, having a savings buffer is very valuable.
When you drain the 529 to nothing…you “pay” only $120k. If you save the $160k…you’re saving $280k (120+160).
Look at it another way…don’t spend the 529 money (no opportunity cost). How much did it cost to go to Brown?
The only opportunity cost is the potential growth of the money in the 529 between the time you would have spent it for Brown and the time you would eventually use it.
Nobody needs to convince the dad that Brown is “worth” it. The son isn’t interested in Brown. Problem solved.
What Blossom said! Not everyone desires Ivy League just because of its perceived prestige. It’s still about $$$ and fit.
Learning so much here.
ND has a vast alumni network … In Philadelphia. CWRU is superior because USNWR says so – even with like a dozen schools tied at 37. The next group? 50.
The scholarship the OP’s son received is very competitive at Villanova. It wasn’t merely handed over. He was interviewed and likely made several contacts at the university throughout the process. This may explain the attraction. Rest assured, he will not be in an honors program of one. There are plenty of bright, ambitious kids surrounding him.
The final two are both excellent. Good luck.
Brown
It doesn’t make sense for him to go to a campus dominated by big time sports.
If not Brown, U Rochester. Depending on what he wants to study, could take advantage of the “fifth year free” thing.
“He’s a very interdisciplinary thinker and really wants to do research”
“It doesn’t make sense for him to go to a campus dominated by big time sports.”
That’s . . . . quite the non-sequitur.
I didn’t bother to quote the OP’s comment about his kid not likely big time sports.
Decision made - he chose Villanova. Ultimately the perks of the Presidential Scholarship and the Honors Program, along with the interactions he had with the professors he met in the CS department swayed him. He really liked Case and it was a tough decision for him. And any one of these other schools he looked at could be good potential grad school options for him. Also, it was hard to turn down completely free at a good school.
Thanks all for the feedback and thoughts.
Excellent choice. Congratulations! Go Cats.
I don’t think he can go wrong with that decision. A kid who gets into all those schools and gets a Presidential Scholarship to Villanova is going to be successful no matter where he goes. Best of luck to him.
Congrats - All the best to your son!
Thanks for coming back to tell us! My very best wishes to him and you. Know he’ll do great. (I’m a little jealous you’ll have him so close to home-- whether he comes home often or not.)
CS and MCAT requirements can be done. Not that a big burden. Engineering and pre-med is a common choice for some. There is whole field of computational biology and bioinformatics for cs and biology majors. CMU has a B. S. in Computational Biology option in SCS.