<p>My D just got off the waitlist (no aid, no scholarship, I guess) from Duke (Trinity).
She has committed to a 50th private rank school (full tuition scholarship) last week. She wants to be a doctor someday. Should we save money for medical school or invest money into undergraduate? Should she attend Duke or not? Only one week to make a decision. Please help. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Congratulations! My bias is to have her attend Duke, but it sounds like finances are a serious consideration. I know many people here will say you should save the money for medical school, but I think going to a school like Duke will guide her towards a higher rank medical schools than if she went to a 50th rank college. (I say that after talking to med school students). She may also switch her focus, and Duke is a fine, fine school with amazing options. Could her 50th rank school offer what Duke offers?</p>
<p>The difference is $200,000. For most of us, that would be a deal-killer.</p>
<p>You allowed her to apply to Duke, so you must have been prepared to pay if admitted. We had to make a similar decision 4 years ago, and we decided to decided to go with the school our daughter wanted to attend. D1 is graduating in few weeks, we never regretted our decision. </p>
<p>We alwasy assumed we would be full pay, we never expected a full tuition merit aid from a school, but still it was hard to give it up (a new car every year for 4 years).</p>
<p>Thank for your sharing.<br>
For example, if a university like Tulane and the difference will be >230,000 in 4 years. Is Duke still worth the difference of 230,000? She has declined to attend WashU and Cornell and others due to COA. We thought her college decision is over until today with a call from Duke. We will have a tough weekend to make a decision.<br>
Any more input will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>If you have turned down WashU and Cornell, why would Duke be any different?</p>
<p>No school is worth $230,000, unless your income is somewhere north of $1,000,000 and you can easily afford it. Duke is a top-notch school, but it’s just not worth it. Neither are Harvard, Stanford, MIT, or anywhere else.</p>
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Tulane is an excellent school; I would be unsurprised if some students picked it over Duke without money in mind (each school has its draws). You expressed concern at “rank” earlier. In addition to the fact that such things are unquantifiable and the list is regenerated with a new formula each year to make more money, note that Tulane’s rank was hurt by Katrina and the 6-year rates will soon be out of its realm, so expect Tulane to go up a few places soon.</p>
<p>If your daughter is planning on a pricey professional school, it’s really an easy choice on paper. It’s just her getting over the draw of Duke that will be hard.</p>
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Seconded, there shouldn’t be a difference.</p>
<p>The “Amazing US News Ranking” playing a factor here. Duke, Dartmouth, UChicago all rank 9th. I Just checked the ranking in Biological sciences, WashU (11th) is better than Duke (13th). Harder decision to go to Duke. Ahha.</p>
<p>Duke is in the same “rank” as WUSTL and Cornell, if that helps you decide…</p>
<p>Like Oldfort, we let the kids choose the (much) more expensive schools rather then “going with the money”, and have no regrets. But I am sure we could have felt differently if things did not turn out so well for them.</p>
<p>My advice is to save your money and have her stick with the full scholarship. If she is a hard worker she can end up with a better GPA than she likely will at Duke, and money in the bank to pay for med school.</p>
<p>You can, of course, give her the choice. She can count on X dollars for med school/grad school, or you pay for Duke (can you even pay for all of it, or would she have loans?). Most kids will take the full ride and money for grad school if they KNOW they plan to continue their education.</p>
<p>Most kids who start as premeds change their mind during freshman year, and most kids change their major or intended major at least once while in college. So it is pretty safe to say that most kids don’t know what they will end up pursuing after college…</p>
<p>The college years are formative in many ways. If you can afford to let your child choose, I would not let money alone be the deciding factor.</p>
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<p>How much of a burden is it for you to spend that $230,000?</p>
<p>It’s a lot of burden for my family. My take home pay will be all gone to Duke after retirement, insurance etc. per year. No saving for 4 years, maybe for 8 years (if medical school coming up) + (My S will be in college in 8 years).<br>
It looks like I have to work for my daughter’s UG’s education for free. I hate to let her to get loans with 7.9% interest.<br>
Thanks for sharing. 6 days to go for a decision.</p>
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<p>In that case, my advice would be to stay with the full tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>ha, are you saying that you are able to pay for Duke out of your current income? So you would not have to take any loans? And you don’t have to deplete savings?</p>
<p>If that’s the case, let your daughter decide where she would like to go.</p>
<p>The full ride really seems like the smart move here.</p>
<p>Two years ago, my son turned down Wash U (got a nice financial package, but still, there would have been considerable loans) and selected a school where he got an incredible National Merit offer of full tuition, honors housing and lots more. He has not regretted his decision. He loves all the opportunities that he has had … and will graduate debt free. It’s nice to know that as he wants to attend grad/law school.</p>
<p>Go with the full ride and save the money for med. school,law school.grad. school, your S’s education…whatever.
There a lots of med. schools out there. She doesn’t have to grad. from Duke to get into a fine med. school. She has already turned down other big name schools so don’t see why Duke woulld be a game changer. My Dr. that I love,love,love graduated from a state u. med. school. Wouldn’t think of changing Drs. because of the college name on her diploma.</p>
<p>Does she want to practice medicine or do research?</p>
<p>If it’s research, she will want to get into a top-ranked M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. program – and Duke will help her get there (WashU or Cornell would have done the same). But if she wants to practice medicine, any medical school will do; when you come out, you’re a doctor.</p>
<p>A friend of one of my kids went the lower-ranked-school-with-the-full-ride route as an undergraduate and is now going to attend a lower-ranked med school. For her, this was an OK decision; her interests are clinical. But if she had wanted to do research, maybe it would not have been such a good decision.</p>
<p>OP, who cares if Duke ranks #9 and WashU #13. So if you can drop WashU you sure can drop Duke. Now, MD/PhD… sounds nice and impressive but for a high school sr. to plot that far, it’s just impractical. I know a guy in a better known MD/PhD and, listen to this, this is his 13th year in the program with no end insight!</p>