My son got into a in-state Public school with a scholarship in Honors program (Univ. Maryland CP) but would like to enroll to out of state Univ. Michigan with no aid. Top tier school-brand name school! Is it worth a tab of 50 K with my second son getting ready for the college in 2018. Any good feedback is welcome. Thanks… Oh, he is interested in Biological Sciences with Global Health policy- may be pre-medical but not committed to it yet.
No it is not worth it. I promise you that everyone else on these forums will tell you the same thing. UMCP is a great school and Michigan is not worth the extra $50k.
From what I know pre med schools also do not care enormously about your undergraduate institution. It is much more important to get a high GPA and MCAT score than to attend a prestigious school.
Oh gosh, no. And I went to Michigan. UMd-CP is a fine school, do NOT spend the premium unless it is easily affordable for you. It won’t help your kid’s med school admissions a bit to go to Michigan, either (and even if he ends up not going to med school, he can get a find education at UMd-CP in whatever major he chooses).
Absolutely not! But what did you tell him/agree to going into this about what you would pay? Unless you are absolutely rolling in it, it makes no sense. You have a younger son to consider as well.
No. UMD-CP Honors is a terrific choice and not only will it not hinder him, but he may discover that the perks will give him a leg up :), whether he chooses message school or not.
The ONLY situation where Michigan MIGHT have an edge is if your son had been admitted to Ross AND wanted to be in IB /consulting. Since it’s not the case, UMD-CP is likely to actually be better for him since he’ll be able to build a solid resume and stand out on his own terms.
Congratulations to your son.
You are saying your son would “like to enroll” out of state. Does he like UMCP? Has he been thinking until now that he could go to the University of Michigan if he wanted to?
Unless money is not at all a factor for your family, I’d go to UMD with the honors program.
I vote for UMD-CP over Michigan. Both are large public flagship universities. I’m not sure what Michigan can offer over Maryland to be worth the $50,000
Is the difference $50k per year, or $50k over four years?
^ If the child received a scholarship to UMD-CP, the difference is likely $50,000 a year because the difference between full cost instate at Maryland and full cost OOS at Michigan is $30,000 a year.
Not remotely worth the cost difference.
Plus for someone interested in public health, it would make a helluva lot more sense to be at UMD to take advantage of internship opportunities at the NIH.
@sevmom raises a good point. If your child has been led to believe until now that he was enrolling at UMichigan, now’s not the time to pull the rug from under his feet. It’d be cruel.
If the difference in cost would make a material difference for your next child(ren), then it would be cruel to cater to the first child at the expense of the second.
All too often on this forum parents show up who’ve spent everything on the first child, leaving little for the younger children.
Thanks for all your valuable feedback. He did not get a full ride scholarship and if he heads to U. Mich it will be about 30 K per year over instate MD. He has worked hard in HS getting a good GPA and SAT score. Unfortunately he did not get into his dream school, DUKE in ED choice and wait listed for UNC-Chapel Hill.
He also got CWRU with 25K in funding, putting 18K over instate MD. Hope he gets a clarity in choosing the right school in the next few hours, CWRU has one more day to accept. Thanks again!!
Maryland clearly sounds like the best choice financially but if you did not set any financial limits going into this, I’m not sure what option you have now beyond just letting him decide. My niece is at Maryland instate in Honors. She is very happy there . Good luck.