Hi everyone! I was recently offered a full 4-year merit scholarship from Duke University. I was thrilled to receive this offer; however, I was also admitted into MIT a few months ago. Money is not a paramount concern for my family. I likely will not receive any financial aid from MIT, but my parents would still be able to afford the school. The only thing is that I don’t know if paying so much for MIT is really worth it compared to paying nothing for Duke. I am interested in being a biomedical/biological engineering major so both schools would be great in that regard. Does anyone have an opinion or any advice to offer me?
Depends on what you wanna do. MIT is strong for computational biology, modeling and bioinformatics. Duke is trong for medical research.
They’re both great for BME. I’d say Duke. Put that $250,000 towards a house or grad school.
You have two wonderful choices and you should be very proud of yourself. Your parents must be thrilled. I don’t think you can go wrong no matter what you choose. If it were me, I would take the scholarship and go to Duke. If money is not a paramount concern maybe your parents will be willing to help you pay for graduate or medical school with the money saved by going to Duke.
I would go for Duke. Even if money isn’t a huge concern, it will save you big time in the long run. Getting a full ride means they really want you.
Not many people are bold enough to throw away 250k, wow.
Do your post-graduation plans include the possibility of (expensive) medical or law school?
Are you parents really sure that $250,000 is spendable without compromising their retirement or a similar (plus inflation) contribution to any younger siblings you may have?
Have you seen this similar thread? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1750705-duke-or-umd-with-a-full-ride.html
MIT is the number 1 engineering school in the universe, but it is not worth 250k more than a Duke BME.
But if you really want MIT and 250k isn’t an issue for you and your family, go for it.
Duke! It’s a no brainer. Duke + $250k > any full pay choice unless you can easily pay $250k from your trust fund earnings.
Good luck with your decision.
If you are offered any aid at all from MIT, and it still is in the running by then, here’s the calculator that you want to run the numbers through:
http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml
Good idea to run the MIT Net Price Calculator but IMO if the OP says the family can afford it then the chances of getting any FA are between slim and none.
Agree with @funfatdaddy. Unless your family is so rich that you and they know that the $250K is definitely coming out of your inheritance (in other words, that it will never be needed for some other purpose) or a sum like $250K is play money to your family, why would you throw away $250K when Duke will offer about the same (at the very worst, almost the same) opportunities as MIT?
Go Duke.
Ask your parents: if the costs truly don’t matter to them (ie., it’s in a college fund and isn’t needed), you’ve visited, prefer MIT… well, it’s your family’s money.
It’s hard to imagine a family who can ignore a full tuition/full ride scholarship at a university such as Duke, but … if MIT means no special sacrifice and no debt, you’re lucky enough that the choice is entirely yours.
Go for Duke. If your parents really have that much money burning holes in their pockets, save it for grad school, a house, a big wedding (hopefully you wouldn’t spend ALL that on a wedding though, lol), car down payments, stock investments, your kids’ college funds, etc., etc. Duke is a more than fine university. Congratulations on both acceptances and the scholarship.