Deadline approaching. I'm choosing this weekend. Help me weigh my options?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I didn't want to associate names with my choices, because while name recognition is sort of important to me, I don't want it being the deciding factor. That said, it wouldn't be too hard to figure out my school #1 by looking at my post history.</p>

<h1>1 - Not Ivy, but in the top schools. Prestige factor. My dream school. Has the program I want, the academic challenge I was looking for, the people I want to be around, access to boundless opportunities in terms of involvement in college and job placement after college...It's just a really great match for me. The issue is there's about a $15,000 difference per year between it and the other two schools. I haven't gotten my parents to give me specific numbers I can work with, so I don't know quite how that factors in, though it will be major. I also don't know if I'll get solid numbers I can work with. But I'm pushing that this weekend. I'm willing to take on debt, but I don't know what's reasonable. Cost/benefit analysis here is weird. My other concern is just that with all the name and opportunites, I'm worried about it being overwhelming. It's also a little bigger than what I was looking for originally, but I think that wouldn't be major.</h1>

<h1>2 - Locally (like within the Midwest I guess...) very prestigious, but not really a top school. A little small, also not so major. It seems like people are very active, so that gets pushed to the side. I like the atmosphere, but am a little taken aback by the lack of diversity. I'm a white kid who is a minority in her own school district. I'm more comfortable WITH diversity than without it. My program (communications) is here, though it seems a little weird - not quite the focus I wanted, but plenty of opportunities that I could make something work. I'm in the honors program, but I'm still slightly concerned about being challenged, and the Spanish program is sort of weird. Spanish is something I want to keep up, so I guess that's kind of major. (I'm an intermediate/advanced student, so I'd be interested in taking electives just to further my skills, where here, the focus is on mastery. I like the critical thought/analysis/culture aspects.) Will take much of my IB credit, which is a definite plus.</h1>

<h1>3 - Decided to apply here because of promise of scholarships and credit. When I visited the campus, it felt a little weird. It seemed like there weren't students around, and I got sort of a weird vibe. Maybe it was an off day? Typically, it's ranked as having great quality of life. My programs - Comm and Spanish - are strong. Not a household name around here anyway, but more selective than #2. Not sure what's up. Today a teacher I know told me to avoid the school at all costs, but she didn't really support her reasons. Don't know. Is a weird vibe enough to rule it out? Communication with the school has been slow and awkward, and somehow I missed getting into the honors program. However, they are willing to work with me and adjust financial stuff.</h1>

<p>Okay, so I guess that's the deal. If other factors should play in, ask me about them. It seems like choice 1 is the clear answer, so I guess I need advice with the money situation, though that's hard since I don't know what our exact situation is. I might not. Don't know. What's reasonable undergrad debt? (Also a tough question without an exact answer, I realize...just throwing stuff out.) And...if money doesn't work out, I need to decide between 2 and 3. They're tied right now.</p>

<p>And I have to decide this weekend. <em>pulls out hair</em></p>

<p>If giving names would help anyone give me advice, I'll post them after a few responses.</p>

2

<p>Well, $60K can provide a pretty nice start on postgraduate life, and it’s a lot of debt to pay off on your own. How critical is $60,000 extra to your family given their financial situation? Are you looking at your parents splitting the responsibility for the extra $30K with you?</p>

<p>That aside, school #1 has “the academic challenge I was looking for, the people I want to be around.” How do you want to turn out, personally? For better or for worse, you will be pulled in the direction of the peers with whom you spend the next four years. They’ll have a major impact on your values, goals, and aspirations. I see a lot of posters on CC saying “It’s more important where you go for grad school than undergrad.” That’s only true if your entire self image is your career. Grad school can make you a lawyer, a biologist, a financial analyst. Undergrad will have a much greater role in building the type of person you will be, the types of things in which you find lifelong joy, the sense of membership in the “tribe” to which you feel you belong. It would be worth considerable sacrifice for me to spend the most critical four years of my development with peers who inspire me and nudge me to set the bar higher for myself.</p>

3

<p>If you’re pretty confident that you’ll be able to get a high-paying job out of school, so paying back the loans will be easy, then i’d go with your first choice. The extra $60,000 will take you a year or two to make probably, so you’ll just have to budget your money more carefully. Definitely find out how much your parents will help you out, and how much you will need to take on, because that is obviously extremely important in your decision.</p>

4

<p>I guess it’s the standard head vs. heart issue.
School #1 is truly where my heart is. I’d meant to include the undergrad/grad thing since people have said if you’re planning on doing grad, undergrad doesn’t matter. I’ve tended to see it how you do though, and while I expect to get my masters, I honestly don’t know where I’ll be when grad school’s the issue.
I don’t expect the $60K to be all on me. There is some college fund, though it’s shrunk a ton in the past year. I plan to work consistently, and I think my parents will contribute something. I just can’t get any sort of solid answer. “Too many unknowns,” which I completely understand - just makes it more difficult.</p>

<p>Edit: Also, the $15K gap doesn’t mean $60K over four years necessarily. We have $30K to come up with vs. 15/20K at the others per year, though that could decrease after some phone calls get made. FAFSA EFC, while clearly unreasonable, was In between those amounts, so while we don’t have that to contribute, there’s definitely something there…</p>

5

<p>Bump…</p>

<p>Would I get more response if I named the schools? Let’s see…</p>

<h1>1 = Northwestern University</h1>

<h1>2 = Drake University</h1>

<h1>3 = University of Tulsa</h1>

6

<p>Northwestern if you can handle it…hands down for your majors especially (yea, I know kids change their majors, but I still say Northwestern.)</p>

7

<p>I think that you should really try and pin down the financial issue. If you have to take on $30,000 of debt, then I would say that Northwestern is worth that additional cost. It seems to be by far your first choice, and I believe that the job opportunities coming out of Northwestern would allow you to repay your debt in a reasonable period of time. If you have to take on $60,000, the decision gets tougher.</p>

<p>Talk to your parents and see if you can get a real sense of what they would expect you to contribute for at least the first year or so.</p>

8

<p>Thanks rodney and especially midatlmom. I’m trying to do just that, and I think I’m sitting them down and making me talk to me tomorrow - I just haven’t been able to get real answers, and it is exceedingly frustrating. When my parents did the college thing, they both went to a state school and also were able to declare themselves independent, so I’m not sure exactly how they’re viewing all this. Different times with different people and different priorities. They’re also both engineers, so they decided I should make a spreadsheet with all the financial info. Spreadsheets solve all the world’s problems, but don’t seem to have gotten me anywhere in pinning anything down yet.</p>

9

<p>Northwestern</p>

10

<p>I chose Northwestern. Thanks guys! :slight_smile: It still hasn’t quite sunk in. I’m just happy to finally KNOW where I’m spending the next (probably) four years of my life!</p>

<p>I still didn’t exactly pin down the money issue, but my parents are willing to go far to help me out and have said we’ll make the first year. Kind of sucks taking a year at a time, but I’m pretty sure it’ll all be good in the end.</p>

11

<p>Oh, and Dad quote…
When I said I didn’t want money to overshadow my whole college experience and life after college, he says “If you’re not worried about money, you don’t know what’s important.”
I’m not quite sure how to interpret that…but I took it as his approval, which was a big deal.</p>

12

<p>I actually have nothing to contribute to this thread except</p>

<p>* Tulsa’s not that/Tulsa’s not that far *</p>

<p>/obscure?
//Grats on picking your first choice. </p>

<p>Actually I do have something to contribute. Your dad sounds fairly practical and down to earth, at least from that. He might be approving of your school choice, but it sounds like he’s rather concerned about your, not disregard, but maybe less focused nature when it comes to the financial side of things.</p>

13

<p>I don’t understand the first half of your post [Wait no, I’m guessing it’s a song?? Yeah, that would be obscure.], and actually, I’m not sure I understand the second.</p>

<p>There is no disregard or lack of focus when it comes to the financial side of things. I have been raised to understand the importance of saving, investing, and spending wisely. I think you misinterpreted my comments. I was more concerned about the financial side of things than my parents, I think. Northwestern was by far my first choice once Chicago’s (crappy) aid package came in. However, even during the college visit, I wouldn’t let myself get too attached because I was so afraid that the parents would say we couldn’t make it work and I didn’t want to feel like I was settling for something less if I ended up at Drake or Tulsa. The financial situation is one of my biggest fears for the next four years. “I don’t want financial problems overshadowing my entire college experience” = me saying that if the money situation was a stretch, I was willing to go somewhere else to make things more comfortable. For me and for my family. If money is all I’m thinking about 24/7, I will not be a happy college student. I am a generally happy person, but can turn into a big emotional wreck when I’m worried long-term about anything. That won’t work for me.
The “If you’re not worried about money, you don’t know what’s important” was to reassure me, not to accuse me of being irresponsible or “less focused.”</p>

<p>Rereading this thread, you may have gotten the sense that me failing to pin down the money issue is somehow related to a me thinking “I want my first choice. It better work. My parents better give me money.” I am not a spoiled brat, and that’s NOT the case. Most of the frustration comes from THEM not being able to tell me exactly what I’m taking on, even now. Part of that is because in my family, money is a very private thing, so they haven’t given me many numbers to work with. More of that is that they don’t know exactly what’s available or how this works. I’m DD1, in CC terms. We haven’t done this before.</p>

<p>For now, I’m working my butt off during the summer and we’re using income and college funds to get through the first year. We’ve got to see how things go in terms of my Dad’s job situation, my job situation, FA appeals, scholarships, and any other mess that works its way in. If necessary, my parents are willing to take out loans later on. Some loans will definitely fall on me, and I’ve made it clear I’m okay with that, as long as I’m not racking up 100K in debt. We’ll make it work. </p>

<p>(Okay, so probably a long and unecessary post. I probably took way too much offense to your post. I had to clarify things though. I apologize if I come across as anything other than the bright and friendly person that I am. Thanks for the 'grats.)</p>