I am choosing between Bowdoin College and OSU. I understand they are completely different. I only applied to OSU as a safety school, however to my surprise I received a full attendance scholarship which covers everything for four years. Bowdoin is giving me pretty good financial aid and going there would cause me to be potentially be 30k in debt for all four years as long as my parents’ financial situation doesn’t change too much. I’m looking to major in political science(government), and I really want to go to law school after college. Bowdoin has a superb gov department, perhaps the best out of all the LACs, while OSU’s political science department is ranked in the top 15th in the nation. Moreover, I want to be at a small school and OSU is huge!
Can I receive any advice? Am I foolish to turn down the opportunity from OSU, or will the education of the LAC be incomparable to an OSU education?
Law school is expensive, so it is best to avoid debt and have money saved to help pay for law school. If you go to tOSU, will your parents offer the money saved against your law school costs?
@OnTheBubble
OSU would be 0(tuition and room and board included), while Bowdoin would be $3,000 first year(received outside scholarships that are all non-renewable) and $10,000 for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year. This is contingent on my family’s financial situation staying the same which I think it will.
Thanks for taking the time to answer, I appreciate it, it is a very hard decision for me.
So as it stands now, you can go to Bowdoin for a total of $33,000?
Hmmmm…I normally wouldn’t say this but I actually would take the Bowdoin deal at a cost of $8.25k a year.
The differential might be less than you think because the room and board portion of the OSU deal might be taxable. So is it zero? I don’t really know, it might not be.
@OnTheBubble I might have to take out loans for that 8k though because of my family’s finances. Do you believe a Bowdoin diploma is worth going into debt over? I mean I think Bowdoin would prepare me to be successful in law school more than OSU would, but OSU also has huge resources.
@RoundGenius Yes, the honors program allows one to take “honors” courses, first pick on classes, and honors advising < whatever that truly means. I didn’t view OSU’s honors program as that advantageous, whereas it would be (honors program) at different schools.
@hosefb
Most good public schools will have good honors programs, it is certainly worth doing more research about. If law school is your goal, school name doesn’t matter. Plus you would save money going to public.
Well looking at it as “$8k a year” underestimates the true cost of the Bowdoin diploma in this case because (from the way I read the OP) it is all borrowed money. Must figure in interest on $30k+. But I am a fan of private LACs and Bowdoin, and would choose it over any public university.
Bowdowin is great.You’ll get more personal attention. Get a campus job and work summers. What a deal!Are you saying your parents aren’t contributing anything? If not, they need to think about how much they spend a year on your clothes, food, entertainment, etc and see if they can give you a couple of thousand a year that they will be saving with you away