Current high school senior. I’m still waiting on three more decisions (Rice, Stanford and NYUAD) but the rest of my college decision season has been a solid mixture of rejections and waitlists. However, I got into Emory. Compared to my EFC they actually gave me a fairly generous aid package - enough grants to bring my price to $19,800 a year. However, my parents will not be contributing much toward the cost of my college so I’d likely be on the hook for about $50,000 in debt by the time I finish undergraduate. I’d like to weigh this against a complete full-ride at UF, as these are the best options right now. I also have my state school (UofSC Honors) but I can’t see how it’s any better than UF. NYUAD could possibly come out with a better aid package (I went to CW3) but I’m not holding my breath. Not expecting anything from Rice or Stanford.
I’m passionate about quantitative social science (specifically the intersection of data science and public policy). Emory seems to have the perfect major for this, Quantitative Sciences. Blends the liberal arts and my computational interest in a perfect way. I could pursue QSS at Emory with a track in Informatics or maybe some other humanities field I’m really interested in. Emory would probably be a good bit better for placement and research opportunities, is more specialized in my field, and Atlanta is obviously better than Gainesville. I also prefer the silghtly less impersonal and anonymous vibe of Emory.
I’m an out-of-state National Merit Finalist so I have the Benacquisto Scholarship at UF which gives me a full, full ride at UF (maybe with a few thousand left over right even). I’m just concerned about finding a niche at UF, what I’d be giving up by not going to Emory, and my odds at getting into prestigious grad schools from there. I am 95% going to graduate school so I’m not sure if taking on even $50,000 in debt is a solid idea for me. It’d be my dream to go somewhere like the London School of Economics or UChicago to pursue graduate study. I got into the Honors Program at UF but that program seems a bit disorganized and not really much of a big deal compared to other Honors Colleges. Now, UF honestly isn’t that bad of a school - up and coming T50 public university - but it doesn’t really seem to have anything special in the area I want to go into. I could major in statistics and maybe do a double major with comp sci or econ and try to pursue as many research opportunities as I can on the side. Not sure how much of a downgrade internship potential will be obviously being in Gainesville vs. Atlanta.
So, obviously UF has a fair number of disadvantages but it’s hard to turn down a full ride (effectively with stipend too). I would love to have the freedom of finishing undergrad with no debt but I’m not sure if it’s worth it.
Also let me know if the UofSC Honors College could compare or be a better option than UF for what I want to do. I’m in-state, I could also graduate it with zero debt, but UF seems like an objectively better university. I’m just concerned if the state could pull my Benacquisto funding or something like that.
Rice and Stanford would be slightly cheaper than Emory but are also extreme long-shots, not factoring those in. NYUAD might be the dark horse, but I’ll add that into my options if I get in on Monday after CW.
Take the full ride…even if you didn’t want to go to grad school I would say the same thing.
You can’t take out more than $27K in total undergrad loans on your own anyway…so your parents would have to take out any excess loans in their name, or co-sign private loans for you.
I think UF for free (with possibly even some leftover $$ from the Benacquisto) would be the better bet than Emory. You are smart; be proactive in developing faculty connections and applying yourself 100% in undergrad, and graduate school will take care of itself. Best of luck!
In addition to incurring no debt, it should be exciting to attend school in a major college town. You have the rest of your working life to live in major cities, but only one period of your life in which to fit in & enjoy life in a college town.
I went to UF for undergrad and Emory for grad school. I would choose UF for free, work hard, and you’ll probably have great options for grad school and no debt.
UF all the way. But if you want to stay closer to home USC would be a fine option too. The world has completely changed in a matter of months. As it is, we do not even know what any of these schools are going to be like in the Fall. Take the full ride
If you want to go to graduate school, take the full ride to UF. It is still a great school - weather, campus, social life, academics, etc. For most jobs, where you go to grad school is more important anyways. Save up some money while at UF and go to grad school.
Unless you can get outside scholarships to get the price of Emory don’t by at least half, I would say its not worth it compared to UF.
Similar decision to make here of UF vs Carnegie Mellon for IS. CMU has #1 program for IS but UF would be virtually free, best friends from HS going and in state. UF IS program doesn’t place as well though. Not easy
Completely unexpectedly, I received a scholarship to NYU Abu Dhabi that covered my full cost of attendance. I had some reservations about the name being relatively unknown / people being confused about the Abu Dhabi part, but the caliber and diversity of students and professors there is amazing. I have access to lots of resources plus the NYU network plus the LAC environment that I really dig.
Anyway, if that hadn’t pulled through for me I would have gone to UF. I’m not too sure about the out of state Benacquisto funding nowadays with post-COVID economic conditions. I would’ve had to think long and hard about that. I might have went with South Carolina out of at least being guaranteed money for all four years. I received an outside scholarship of $5k per year very recently. That would have brought my Emory costs down a bit (not dollar-for-dollar probably) but that money also stacks with my existing merit at South Carolina and Florida. It would’ve been a hard decision but I think the lack of debt would win out in the end.
I’m sorry to disagree but 50K in total for 4 years of Emory seems like a good deal to me. that’s not like leaving college with 200K in debt. it’s a manageable amount, if you prefer the smaller environment and LAC like atmosphere of Emory.