<p>I don’t think any school is 100K better than NYU though. It has New York City as its backyard and I’m sure many students get awesome internships.</p>
<p>I don’t think any school is $132k better than UIUC honors, if it has to made up in loans. Play with the [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) calculator, and that becomes quite easy to see.</p>
<p>BUT, supposing you had an extra $132k to spend on education. You could spend it on 2 1/2 years of law school, or two years of med. school. Five years working for free on public health in Africa. Four years of unpaid internships in Europe. A year learning to paint in Italy, plus $80k for the graduate school of your choice.</p>
<p>I frankly don’t think it’s close.</p>
<p>About the salary data, it is not entirely because of Dartmouth is a better school. You have to consider that Dartmouth is a smaller school, with less majors. It has 56 compared to over 150 at NYU and UCIC. The majors that it offers have more potential to earn more. No offense to any actors and musicians in here, but how much do you think the average actor/musician earns? How much do people, coming from NYU’s Tisch or Steinhardt or Silver (social work) earn? Some of NYU CAS’ best majors, philosophy and applied mathematics, isn’t exactly high wage careers either. With limited major offerings, you eliminate many low paying careers, thus elevating the median salary. If you compare major to major, I doubt Dartmouth’s economics student earns $30,000-40,000 more a year compared to NYU or UCIC.</p>
<p>And the whole “college is once in a life experience”. How do you know OP won’t have that at any of the other schools? Some people may prefer the no campus thing. Some people may prefer the State school atmosphere. Not everyone is the same. Just because you had a great experience/thinks it’s a great experience doesn’t mean it would be for the OP. Also, 20’s is a once in a lifetime experience too. Do you want to spend it slaving away and saving every penny to pay back loans? I didn’t realize how heavy that burden is until one of the posters put up the debt calculator. Even if you start at $40,000 more than the median Dartmouth graduate salary 15 years into the job, you’ll still have to pay back for 10 years. More than likely, you’ll be paying back the loans for 15-20 years! I don’t know if 4 years of experience is worth using your whole 20s and 30s to pay back. Buying your first house is a once in a lifetime experience. Building a family is a once in a lifetime experience. Having a wedding is a once in a lifetime experience. And all these once in a lifetime experiences will be compromised if you’re still paying back debts you took on when you were 18.</p>
<p>Excellent post, moosey. None of us know what any individual’s experience will be.
There is some Dartmouth “piling on” on this thread. But I have yet to hear of an Illinois or NYU grad describe their experience as “special”, and I know quite a few. I also know of more than one NYU student from here in Chicago who left NYU, in spite of their merit aid, because the loan expectations at NYU and parent contributions were onerous. The worst of both world’s to me. Massive debt and no NYU degree. And, more likely than not, no friends made at NYU. Over and over again I have heard NYU students described to me as shallow and fake by students from Chicago.
At least at Illinois students tend to describe it as the best education available to them on a budget. And I haven’t heard them describe their fellow students as a turn-off.</p>