Full Ride at UTD vs. UT vs. Wellesley vs. UChicago

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas Schools (Other Than Austin
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<p>So, I was accepted to UTD, UT (College of Liberal Arts), Wellesley, and UChicago among other universities. I'm basically stuck between these four. </p>

<p>UTD offered me a full ride + stipend as a National Merit Scholar.</p>

<p>UT Austin gave me nothing, and it costs ~24K per year.</p>

<p>Wellesley expects us to pay ~26K per year.</p>

<p>UChicago expects 40K per year.</p>

<p>My family's EFC is really high, and we have quite a lot in savings. However, my parents have over 110K in loans on our house, and my dad has a 95% chance of losing his job. They don't want to take out loans (even though I promised to pay them back, of course -- I think they're offended by the thought that they can't pay it off...which is true). </p>

<p>UChicago is my dream school, but if I attend in graduate, we'd have over $90K in loans since my parents don't wanna spend over $17K per year on my education (which is the max we can spend, without taking out more loans). Wellesley is my second choice, but we'd have loads of loans again. My parents really, really want me to go to UTD...but man, I just don't know. I know our financial aid will decrease by year, but my dad "doesn't want to take chances." I know we're expected to take out loans for UT, Wellesley, and UChicago, and so calling their fin aid offices hasn't been very helpful.</p>

<p>Has anyone taken loans and been okay? Is there anything especially good about UTD? I just don't know what to do...</p>

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<p>what do you want to do? do you want to go to some sort of grad school? this is important for determining where you want to go. have u been to utd’s campus?</p>

<p>i know this will be a tough choice for you. for me i narrowed it down to either 25k for an ivy or utd, and ended up choosing utd</p>

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<p>I have a similar situation but in reverse. I am pretty certain of acceptance to UT -Cockrell, but am concerned about commuting to school daily. At UTD I would live pretty close to the school comfortably, but at UT I would have to ride the bus/rail everyday. I know that the transit system in Austin is pretty good, but I just don’t know if the hassle of getting to class everyday and not being able to shoot home quickly is worth the “prestige” of attending the venerable Cockrell school of engineering. UTD has a fast track program that I am certain I would attend as well and if I decided to go here, I would be set. Austin COLA is also considerably lower for me as well -I will be drawing a housing allowance, so UTD will be much more comfortable in this respect as well. Dang I wish my decisions were easier!</p>

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<p>if you’re doing engineering, utd is great for it. tons of recruitment from big companies lately. sure it’s no cockrell, but you should have no problem landing an internship for future job</p>

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<p>We are in a similar situation in our house. My son was offered a full ride at UTD and also was accepted at several other schools he likes more that will cost him upwards of at least $60,000 over the next four years. Although we are not trying to steer him one place or another, we have shared with him our experiences of adults we know who are still paying off massive student loans years later. Unless you are planning on getting a job in a field that pays very well, getting $24,000 in student loans per year will be a big burden to pay off down the road. You have to ask yourself if your dream school is worth an extra $100,000+. Also look at the terms of the loans you will take. There are only a certain amount of loans you can take where the interest is not earned while you are in school. Many loans accrue interest right from the beginning, so that $100,000 loan is now much larger when you graduate. This debt load can affect your ability to buy a home or even a car at favorable rates unless you are able to secure a job with enough earning power to overcome. One suggestion is to try UTD for a year. If you don’t like it you can always transfer out. If you like it you will be so much further ahead financially, especially if you plan to attend graduate school. Also, the other thing to consider is your ability to do extras while in school. If you are starting out with $24,000 in loans per year, you will be hesitant to add anything extra, such as study abroad, joining a fraternity, or going to the beach for spring break, since all of your spare earnings will be going toward tuition.</p>

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<p>Wow, they are paying you to go to UT Dallas! You should definitely go there. The economy is bad right now, and once you graduation from college, you don’t want all your income to feed into the massive amount of debt and school loans. It would take years to pay off that kind of financial burden, especially if the career isn’t a 6-figure salary. Not to mention you would have other expenses-like food and housing and personal expenses. With that much student debt, it’s the same thing as shooting yourself in the foot and you will have to struggle to get out of that debt hole.
Going to UT Dallas you would have no financial worries and you will have the freedom to do whatever you want without any financial obstacles since UT Dallas is paying you. No worries, no guilt over borrowing money, just relief-that is an amazing feeling! You’re parents will be able to be secure financially and they would be happy as well lol. With some of the money that you don’t have to spend for tuition money, you can do other stuff like go on vacations during spring break, study abroad, etc. Its not a good idea to spend so much money just for undergrad (which is basically like high school). Save it for grad/professional school-where it counts.</p>

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<p>If you are a NMF there are tons of schools that offer you full rides and it is not to late. You should look at the National Merit Post about full rides. There are schools in Chicago if that’s what you want, Texas Tech will give you a five year full ride if you like Texas, Auburn & Alabama offer giant scholarships with tons of perks. Oklahoma, Tulsa and tons of other schools do to. You have lots of options for full rides.</p>

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<p>I’m going to take a stab at this and try to be as objective as I can be. One way to look at this is UTD VS UChicago. If you’re going to spend money, you may as well go to your top choice. Therefore, I’ll try to discuss some of the differences between the two.</p>

<p>They’re both in great cities. Chicago, if you don’t mind the cold winters, is undoubtedly one of the great cities in the U.S… Dallas, while being more spread out and newer, is also a superb city. As you’ve probably seen, the Dallas / Fort Worth area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas and one of the top places to start a career. It is very diverse from an industrial and economic perspective. Because of its location in the center of the country and its major airport, it has been an ideal place for companies who want to do business on both coasts. It has clusters in telecommunications, aerospace/defense, energy, medicine/medical research, banking, legal, logistics and manufacturing. Companies such as Texas Instruments, Ericcson, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, RIM, Exxon Mobil, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Bell Helicopter, Boeing, Raytheon, Comerica Bank and Perot Systems have either Corporate Headquarters or a major presence in DFW. Also, Texas doesn’t have an income tax, so the adage for professionals moving here goes: move to Texas and buy yourself a BMW. </p>

<p>So what does this mean for your college decision? I believe that DFW, Austin, and the Research Triangle in NC are going to be the destination cities and hubs of major innovation for our generation. Unlike Silicon Valley and Boston, Mass, they’re still affordable and accessible to people just starting out. To afford to live in Silicon Valley these days, you practically have to be a social networking millionaire. </p>

<p>Why am I bringing all of this into your decision over UChicago vs UTD? Because it is parallels your college decision and characterizes the contrast you’ll get walking the campus at UTD vs UChicago. When you’re on the UChicago campus, you’ll see historic buildings and can learn of its storied history that includes many Nobel Prize Winners. There’s a real sense of tradition there. This is very different from the feel you’ll get in Dallas and at UTD. You’ll have to remember that UTD only started admitting freshmen 20 years ago. In such a short span, it has seen remarkable growth and is competing favorably with Universities with a hundred years or more of history. UTD, and Dallas in general, has a palpable sense of being a place of the future. There’s unfettered growth, innovation and a “can do” spirit. UTD students have the opportunity, and even the responsibility, to get engaged and leave a mark in ways that are significantly more difficult at UChicago. Many times, institutions with history have well defined boundaries and hierarchies that can hamper or stymie young innovators. </p>

<p>Like Chicago, Dallas is also home to many Nobel Laureates. UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas has the more than any other medical school and UT Dallas has also been home to several. Both cities have nice museums, music venues, professional sports and other amenities. </p>

<p>I agree with what others are saying about graduate school. It’s almost a prerequisite today and this should be factored into your decision. I’d also agree that UTD would allow you much more financial freedom over the next 20 years and the opportunity to explore the world much more as a result. However, if you do come to UTD, I definitely want you to be happy. Therefore, I want you to have an appreciation for the difference in atmosphere before you arrive. </p>

<p>If you haven’t already, please make a trip out. Best of luck!!</p>

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<p>These are exactly the same places my daughter was considering for grad school. She graduated UTD and then was insistent on being in either Chapel Hill, Dallas or Austin for Grad School. She said she wanted to go somewhere that she could see herself staying for awhile after school. She thought about Virginia / DC, but decided that unless you’re in government work, it’s not worth the high price. She had friends that also found these areas as among their top choices. I think there’s merit to Nano’s comment.</p>

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<p>Another helpful thread for anyone still on the fence. Best of luck!!</p>

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<p>The above posts sum it up well… UTD is a very modern spacious campus and U Chicago is much more traditional. U Chicago is is very cold during the winter and surrounded by rough neighborhoods. UTD is hot for a couple of months but pleasant during the winter and is in an affluent suburb. The school is very up and coming and the old stats can really be deceiving. No one realizes the various honors programs have a lot of kids with very, very high SATs (some perfect SATs) who benefit by smaller class sizes, trips and other perks. The faculty really seem to care about the students especially those in the specialized programs. I’m not sure you would find that at a well known large University. </p>

<p>(We noticed the AES Scholarships are now 50 SAT points higher in 2013 than they were last year and are in the Ivy range.) </p>

<p>The dorms at UTD are 2nd to none. As a freshman you get a single room in a suite of 3 (share a private shower & separate private bathroom). As a sophomore you get your own apartment (or share) on campus with a pool, washer/dryer, internet/cable at an unbelievable price (less if you share). All the dorms were built within the last three years and more are coming. The majority of the kids are from Texas but that will change as the word gets out especially with the generous scholarships attracting students nationally (think University of Virginia or U Michigan five years ago) There are a lot of foreign students recruited as well. The school is very serious about academics…Yes they are known for their amazing chess team but even so (notice on the chess team video) their motto is “Academics first, chess second.”</p>

<p>U Chicago starts in September and finishes in June. UTD starts in August and finishes in May. For us both are located a plane ride away but are major hub cities.</p>

<p>As a NMSP member you’ve probably seen this page…
[National</a> Merit Scholars Program - Honors College - The University of Texas at Dallas](<a href=“http://honors.utdallas.edu/nmsp]National”>National Merit Scholars Program Overview - The University of Texas at Dallas)
and you probably should see
[Collegium</a> V Honors Program - Honors College - The University of Texas at Dallas](<a href=“http://honors.utdallas.edu/cv]Collegium”>The UT Dallas Collegium V Honors Program - The University of Texas at Dallas)</p>

<p>What U Chicago has is name recognition (for now). Where you go to grad school may be more important and cost effective. See where you feel comfortable but don’t go on reputation…you may miss out on a good thing…</p>

<p>I had this post ready to go then I saw it was from 2011 .
This might be helpful to other students who are now deciding. Where did you end up?</p>

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<p>Talk to the fin aid dept at Wellesley - they may surprise you with a better offer you can live with.</p>