<p>Hello everyone! A bit of an emergency here! </p>
<p>I ended up sending FAFSA and CSS to Carleton just for the heck of it, and despite not getting any FA from Grinnell, Swarthmore, UW-Madison, or UM-Twin Cities prior to this, Carleton offered $20.5k in grants and 2.5k in work study. This places the total cost down to about $35k at Carleton, compared to the $28k sticker price at UW-Madison. </p>
<p>My family is only able to contribute about $20k a year. Do you think it's a smart financial investment to spend about $7k more a year at Carleton? </p>
<p>I purposefully didn't go to the admitted students weekend at Carleton because I didn't think they would offer me any money, so I have no idea which one I'll "fit" better with. I liked Madison a lot, but I am truly worried about the educational quality (i.e. size of classes, working with TAs, apathy among students). </p>
<p>Any thoughts? I need to make a decision in about 6 hours.</p>
<p>Econ major, dreams of working in corporate finance or developmental economics research. Likely going to graduate school. Originally thought small school was for me, but after touring Grinnell I felt a little underwhelmed, but maybe that’s just Grinnell.</p>
<p>UW has a fabulous Econ Dept. You can take classes in the Graduate School as an undergraduate. If you do well there you can do whatever you want. With your interests you’d be well suited in Madison. You would have opportunities unavailable at a smaller school.</p>
<p>" Do you think it’s a smart financial investment to spend about $7k more a year at Carleton?"
"I liked Madison a lot, but I am truly worried about the educational quality (i.e. size of classes, working with TAs, apathy among students). "</p>
<p>At $5K per year, take Carleton. At $7K difference, it’s more of a personal decision. Carleton’s not quite Amherst or Williams, but it looks awfully good with an MBA. </p>
<p>Grinnell’s not Carleton by any means. I never heard anything bad about Carleton.</p>
<p>In what way is Carleton not Amherst or Williams? And could you explain what you said about the MBA? Business is definitely something I’m considering going into, and I feel as though Madison’s business school would prepare me better than Carleton. Thoughts? In other words, I’ve been worried that Carleton wouldn’t have the capabilities of preparing me for everything Madison could.</p>
<p>Amherst and Williams used to be men’s colleges and have an aura of being the LAC equivalent of Harvard, Yale and Princeton. </p>
<p>There is some snob appeal involved in corporate finance and management consulting, but nothing like the legal profession. A top LAC like Carleton carries more prestige than UW.</p>
<p>If you are going to do accounting and finance as an undergrad then you are stuck with UW.</p>
<p>I think it’s safe to say that Carleton would be a better bet, personally and in general, but I am very worried about spending an extra $7-$8k more a year especially if I’m planning on doing graduate school. </p>
<p>I’d have about 28 credits at UW Madison if scores are taken and used and what not.</p>
<p>Only you and your family know your situation, but only 7-8K difference to attend Carleton seems like a very good deal to me…one that I would be hard-pressed to let my kid pass on. There are folks who would play 30K or more for Carleton. It’s arguably the “best” LAC in the country.</p>
<p>As much as I’d encourage a careful look at cost and debt, $7-8K a year is certainly a manageable sum, especially given your career goals. </p>
<p>Wisconsin is a great school with a strong economics dept. But it’s not too common someone applying to LACs emphasizing individualized attention and seminar style teaching like Carleton, Grinnell, and Swat would be happy facing class sizes, even upper class offerings, routinely in the mid 100s-300s. </p>
<p>I’d suggest you go where you see yourself fitting best, where you see yourself happiest. Four years is a big chunk of time.</p>
<p>Go with Carleton. It is the better college and its one of the elite LAC’s. You need reputation if you are going for competitive Business majors. </p>
<p>University of Wisconsin has around 30k undergrads vs 2k at Carleton. Carleton has bigger campus (around 950 acres) vs Madison (around 930 acres).</p>
<p>YOU (the student) can’t take on that much unless your parents cosign additional loans beyond the $5500 you can get.</p>
<p>You haven’t visited Carleton. If you didn’t care for Grinnell, I would not be confident in choosing a school that has more similarities than it does differences. Carleton is a fantastic LAC, but you might not like the environment as much as you did UW. And the undergraduate business program at UW is exceptional, by the way. Remember that you have to apply to get in sophomore or junior year, and the process is competitive. Good luck.</p>
<p>As the son/friend/cousin of more than a dozen UW Madison grads, I really hope that you choose/chose Carleton. It is by far and away the better school.</p>
<p>^ In other words, attending Carleton probably depends on the family taking out ~$6500/year in private loans. This may be manageable (e.g. by tapping into home equity). Or it may not be (depending on the parents’ age, number of other children, any existing equity in the home, etc.) </p>
<p>(Not a decision you really want to be making in the final 6 hours before you’ve even framed the issues very clearly.)</p>