Deciding between three colleges

College Search & Selection
1

I have been accepted to my top 3 schools and I want to lay them out for you and see what everyone would pick. I’m not asking you to choose for me, just look at the facts and see what you would personally choose (colleges will be labeled A, B, and C for privacy reasons, PM me if you want the actual schools).

College A
Top 25 ranked liberal arts college, very selective
Physics Major. Option for 3+2 engineering or CS minor
Unique program that fits my learning style very well
Ideal location/campus
2,000 undergrads
Good career prospects
Scholars program
Loans: 30k federal, 40k PLUS over 4 years

College B
Top 50 ranked research university, moderately selective
Mechanical Engineering major
Great Co-op opportunities, 5-year plan
Ideal location, pretty good campus
20,000 undergrads
Great career prospects
Honors program
Loans: 30k federal, 50k PLUS over 4 years

College C
Top 100 ranked flagship state school (not in-state)
Mechanical Engineering major
Good pre-law program
Ok location, Ok campus
50k undergrads
Good career prospects, possibility of law school
Honors Program
Loans: 20k federal, No PLUS over 4 years

My current opinions:
College A: Definitely the most exciting acceptance, most rigorous which I like, Scholars program is very nice, learning plan suits me the best, but expensive and would require changing majors (however this isn’t a huge deal beyond the potential career prospects).
College B: Very exciting acceptance, honors program is very nice, really like the campus and location in a city, co-op gives me great job prospects, however much larger and less rigorous, more expensive but loans could be paid off with a good job after college
College C: safety college honors program is very nice, would allow me to keep debt down for law school, but didn’t love the campus and isn’t ranked as high as I would like, has a huge partying reputation which annoys me, obviously much cheaper, however.

Ask for any additional details! Thank you all!

2

Also: I have no problem with loans as a science/engineering major but my parents would like to keep them low-ish

3

So it is 70k, 80k and $20k loans total for each?

4

Not having any PLUS loans would be a big plus for college C. This is especially true if you want to go on to expensive law school.

If you intend to study mechanical engineering, doing so at a college which has it natively (as opposed to a 3+2 program) is preferable, since 3+2 programs have an extra year of cost and uncertainty of admission and financial aid at the “2” college.

Pre-law requires no specific major or course work, although some undergraduate majors can be relevant for certain types of law practice (e.g. engineering or science undergraduate major for patent law).

5

@HRSMom yup but like I said I don’t mind the first 30k its the rest that may be an issue
@ucbalumnus agreed, if I went to A or B law school is off the table for a few years which I am ok with, I would like to major in ME but honestly I would be fine with physics or Computer Science instead, and by good pre-la I mean they have specific programs to match me to advisors and the ability to take law school classes as a undergrad

6

Honestly? If you want law school, do the lowest cost option.

The co op thing is not worth the extra IMO.

7

The key question I’d want answered is what type of educational environment will best fit your learning style and desired college experience? A 2,000 student LAC is much different than studying Engineering at a university with 20-50k students. Also, recognize that most students change majors at least once during their undergrad experience.

All things being equal, having less debt is great…but finding a good educational fit would be more important for me.

8

However, the need for parent loans at the higher cost options should give the OP pause before choosing them. That implies that neither the OP nor the parents really have the money, so the OP will have a longer period after graduation doing debt service, and may have to make career and life decisions based on chasing the money more than other factors (like how interesting a job is or how good it will be for future career development).

9

Exactly my concern. It isn’t like these loans are particularly unaffordable or we would default on them, but it would just be better to not have them
I know I would be better in a LAC, I’ve been in advanced self-sustaining programs my whole life and I love it and the opportunity to attend a rigorous school that would continue to challenge me instead of, honestly, a much less difficult state school. However the cost is a big pause

10

Just figured it out: it would be possible for me to double major in physics and computer science at the LAC which would improve my job prospect tremendously if I’m not wrong?

11

College C makes the most sense. Engineering is a flat major without much variation in salary based on school, so go with the cheapest option if the department is good.

12

So do you want to go to law school or be an engineer or be a computer scientist? This is confusing.

You don’t need to be any specific major for law school. Heck, my roommate was a French major and went to a great law school.

I advocate small classes, but if you are looking at $150 to $180K for law school, don’t go into debt for undergrad.

13

I would do any of them. Law school is the probably unrealistic dream, engineering is the most probable career and computer science would be working to pay off loans before grad/law school (though I am interested in it for sure). The engineering department at C is good but quite honestly I don’t want to go there and it just isn’t my place, I would be settling for the money if I went there.

14

You have no other options? Are you applying places RD? There HAS to be a middle ground between 20K debt and 70K debt–because it sounds like School A is the ideal but 70K is way too much. I would NOT go 80K into debt for Northeastern (sorry that one was obvious lol).

Can you apply RD for less selective liberal arts colleges with similar benefits as School A but that would cost less? 70K debt is just a terrible idea.

15

I have 12 other options lol with varying degrees of debt, some full rides some in that middle ground. I don’t particularly care for LACS but this one caught my attention for its particular resources and programs that suit me well. 70k is high but I feel like the experience and degree in computer science is worth it (especially because it would not only allow me to pay off those loans but also giving me a slightly easier path to grad school). Again, I only moderately feel comfortable with these number because of the pay of my degrees

16

And unfortunately there arnt really any other lacs with these benefits and they gave me a huge grant (the net price after direct loans from them is 10k less then my efc)

17

It doesn’t matter how big the grant is if you still cannot afford the bottom line price.

Picking a college involves compromises.

18

Is there time to apply to any other schools that would give you the smaller size you like without the crazy loans? C sounds like the best option, but you don’t like the campus. Are there any other options that you would be happy with? The kinds of loans for A and B sound like an absolute nightmare, even for an engineer. What schools are giving you a full ride? If you say the name, people can tell you whether it’s a good school or not.

19

College C is ASU and I would go there but it’s hard because I don’t particularly like the school and it has a terrible reputation around my area which would make it impossible to come back and find a good job (in the vicinity of UMich and UIUC). I understand it’s about compromise but I hate that I have to compromise from the perfect school to me to something like that. UCF and UNM are offering full rides but again I don’t like the campus/programs and even though the money is good it’s hard to justify spending the next four years of my life in someplace that really doesn’t fit who I am

20

I think you like the idea of a very selective LAC but not the reality. If you there is any chance you want to be an engineer, you will kill that chance by going to a 3/2 program. Its RARE that kids actually leave their LAC after 3 years. CS at LACs is also generally inferior to larger colleges. Do you like the location of the LAC? Size? Of the other 9 schools, are they mostly LACs?

The first 2 are too much debt. Especially since u all over the place with what u want to do.