As I enter the college admissions game this fall, I’m encountering a certain financial conundrum. Assuming that this is my situation come spring of 2016:
-Admitted to Yale University with no financial aid
-Admitted to several small LACs (which I like a great deal) such as Washington and Lee University, Samford University, Hillsdale College, and Covenant College with very significant (most likely full ride) financial aid
-Planning to attend graduate school, most likely medical school, upon graduation
-Unable to attend Yale without accruing significant debt
You have no choices now. Your odds of getting into Yale are low no matter what your stats are. Apply to a range of schools and see what options you have in the spring. Be sure to include at least one you know you can afford and you are pretty much sure to get into, and a few where you are likely to get merit aid. And go ahead and apply to Yale.
You can only take out $5,500 in loans freshman year, $6,500 sophomore year, and $7,500 jr and sr years. Your parents would have to help you borrow more than that.
Have you run any net price calculators (on the college websites) for the colleges you are interested in? You should.
Why don’t you wait until you get into Yale before worrying about this? But, if it concerns you, why not tell us what circumstances would cause significant debt if you attend Yale? Wealthy parents who won’t pay or file FAFSA?
As of a couple of years ago, 15% of Yale seniors graduated with debt, and the average debt was $13k. That’s money, but nothing compared to med school.
@intparent, I won’t get into stats, as this is just a hypothetical…I understand how difficult Yale admission is, and while my scores are good even compared to Yale’s student body, I’m not holding out false hope. I’ve also followed the model you suggested with applying to schools, as the list I provided in my original post probably indicated…Yale is the only school where I’m extremely concerned about cost.
@IxnayBob, those are pretty much the circumstances, yes. Our family finances involve a lot of assets with high value that aren’t accessible when paying for college (the house for instance) but relatively low direct cash flow. Finances are also complicated for my family in general…our accountant (who, ironically, is a Yale graduate) has pretty much said that the amount of time it will take us to retrieve information for the FAFSA won’t be worth whatever award I might receive in needs-based aid. That’s why I’m competing for merit scholarships at all other schools.
@ClarinetDad16 Thanks for your input as well…the debt concern with medical school was my primary reason for asking this question. I’m curious about other people’s opinions on the value of Yale+ lots of debt vs. a lower-ranked school + no or little debt
@hastingsvictor, this is a difficult decision, and applying to a range of schools, as you’re planning to do, is a good idea. Why not also, though, consider highly ranked schools that do offer merit aid, such as Duke, the University of Chicago, or Rice?
Although it’s interesting and, to a certain extent, useful to consider hypotheticals, you may find that your feelings become much clearer in the spring when you’re weighing various offers.
Yale is one of the most generous schools for FA. You might be surprised. Filling out the net price calculator isn’t nearly as onerous as the FAFSA form, you still should do it.
Regarding your initial question, if your family has the money, Yale would give you 10 times the education of any of the schools you listed. There is a huge academic gap between Yale and the schools you have listed. But if you have truly amazing stats and ECs, go ahead and apply to Yale. You will be in a huge pool of comparable applicants, and would have about a 7% chance of acceptance. But there are a lot of academic points and associated price points between your other choices and Yale.
Unless you are just weighing whether to spend the money on the Yale app, come back with this question if you get accepted. Hypotheticals are a waste of time.
I have a classmate who regretted choosing Yale over her full ride at her state school. She was solidly on the pre-med track. Near graduation time, she said she wished she’d attended her full ride and applied to Yale Med. Instead she was at Yale with me and went back to her home state’s med program.
If you happen to be so lucky as to be admitted, it’s a big conundrum. I live in MI and we lose the most Yale admitted students to fantastic scholarship packages offered by UMich — every year.
Take the money and run on the track to med school. Yale is the wrong path if it throws you in deep debt and potentially can derail your dream based on rigor and steep competition.
No one ever asks a doctor where did you go undergrad.
The only wrong choice here is to go into debt. What is most important for doctors is where they did their residency and fellowship (if so) . The medical school is important (but not as important as where you did your residency). No one cares where you went for ugrad.
This may not answer your questions, but I want to offer some (counter intuitive) advice on what to do after you have made that “value” determination. If you are sure you won’t be qualified for need-based aid even in HYP and for whatever reason you would not be able to attend private colleges with the price tags of 60K+ without incurring significant debt, then DON’T apply to them. Instead, focus on schools that offer merit scholarships and schools with cost more within your comfortable range. If you decide to go for a school like Yale - regardless how much it will cost, you will make it happen, then save yourself some headache by not applying to those 2 tiers lower that offer merit scholarships. Otherwise, you might put yourself in a situation later where an ideal decision would be impossible to make and no matter what you chose you’d always wonder what if. So, essentially I am advising not casting a wide net and for a good reason IMO.
I agree with @panpacific. There’s a lot to be said for not putting yourself in what may ultimately be a position that will likely lead to regret, one way or the other.
Hmmm. That sounds awfully fishy to me, unless he’s run a calculator and can show you definitively that you won’t get any need-based aid because of assets.
This is just my own personal opinion (I’m a parent with a college child and a high school senior) --take it for what it’s worth–but if medical school is your goal then I would most definitely pick a good school with generous financial aide. My own nephew graduated from Washington and Lee and is now an opthamologist and was well prepared. In my hometown, there is a tiny liberal arts school who sends 90% of their students who apply for med school. You can get the education you need there.
I’d encourage you to apply to other top schools that offer great merit aid, like Duke, Vanderbilt, University of Southern California (need to apply via common app by dec 1…no additional merit app required), WUSTL, JHU, URochester, Northeastern.
