<p>I know this is a timeless situation, but I'll just see what others would do.</p>
<p>I'm in a situation where I can take a full ride (tuition, room and board, plus an academic stipend) at William and Mary, a school that I might like, but I probably don't love. The program comes with a gaggle of special features: priority course registration, amazing faculty interaction, nearly unlimited resources, travel, study at Oxford, private meals with distinguished guests...</p>
<p>Or I could attend:
- Michigan with LSA Honors (in-state tuition)
- Northwestern
- WashU
- or my dream school, the University of Chicago, which I've been thinking about attending since I stepped on its campus almost a year ago. </p>
<p>I don't know what to do. :( There are so many angles to look at this from. Maybe I'm being silly and I'll like W&M after all, or maybe I should just stick with my gut and go to Chicago. Or maybe I should go to Michigan and be close to home and still pay a relatively small amount.</p>
<p>What would you do? Any inspiring advice about what's the most important?</p>
<p>Logistically speaking, I 'could' go to any of these schools. Obviously, W&M or Michigan would be a lot easier to pay for, but I'm lucky to have parents and grandparents who have been planning for a potentially expensive education since I was young.</p>
<p>Of course, that doesn't mean we have college fund money to just throw into the wind...</p>
<p>I went to W&M, and I loved it. It would definitely be a different atmosphere than UM. 6000 undergrads, I-AA football. Smaller class sizes, professors that are there to teach and not to do research.</p>
<p>You have a great choice to make, either one is a winner.</p>
<p>Interestingly my son is in a similar situation, with a slightly different twist: zero aid to W&M, but really wants to go there vs. substantial scholarship to South Carolina, plus Honors college and instate tuition benefit there.</p>
<p>He wants W&M from the heart, but USC from the wallet.</p>
<p>I think I want to study public policy, which makes it even harder, since Chicago, Michigan and W&M are all strong in that area.</p>
<p>I spent two nights at W&M. It was alright. I didn't hate it, but I wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about it as I was about Chicago and probably Michigan as well.</p>
<p>If I was deciding just between Michigan and W&M with the opportunities that each is giving me, I'd go to Michigan and be content with staying close to home. For whatever reason, boiling it down to those two makes Michigan an easier choice. I wonder why?</p>
<p>Make an arrangement with your parents to get a portion of the money saved into your account. Go to W&M and feel good about saving 20K a year vs. UM.</p>
<p>If you really don't like it there (which I doubt, it has many things that UM does not- nice weather, smaller classes, etc.) - you can always transfer to UM (or to Chicago for that matter).</p>
<p>If you go elsewhere though and regret not taking full ride, it will be gone.</p>
<p>dont go to UM over W&M or UChicago. If you have any type of intellectual tendancies I cant imagine a school that size comparing to these schools at all.</p>
<p>really the issue is Day trip to Va Beach vs life in Chicago</p>
<p>My opinion is that if Chicago is your dream school, and your family can afford it without accruing debt, then go there. It wouldn't be wasted at all since that's what your parents and your grandparents have been saving for, right? You might as well use that money!</p>
<p>Yes, you have great options for next year... but if Chicago is truly your dream, you should go for it. I think.</p>
<p>Day trip to DC is also doable. W&M is a great school. If you had to choose full ride at a crappy school vs U Chi, yes go with Chicago. But you can go to a great school for free. What luck!</p>
<p>And the money you save will help for grad school, or if you get grad school paid for, then you will have a bunch of money for a down payment on a house or that Mercedes you always wanted.</p>
<p>Haha, so I'm potentially biased, because I want the scholarship that you speak of quite badly. I'm happy for you though! Now I know who #3 is.</p>
<p>Now the topic of question. You could be really happy at W&M, but if you have the option to go to your dream school, which you really love, and it won't put you in debt, go there.</p>
<p>Only you really know which you would really prefer. </p>
<p>It's the Murray scholarship. Meesh and I met last weekend, which was the finalist get-together to give presentations and be evaluated.</p>
<p>The process is kind of complicated - first, you have to be nominated by your school and write a special essay (if you go to a school that can nominate), then you have to be selected by the scholarship committee (they pick 20 finalists out of a little more than a thousand applicants), and then you go to the finalist weekend, where you give a presentation, and then they pick four students to award with the scholarship.</p>
<p>Chicago was my dream school, and I went there, and I truly regret it. As far as hanging out with intellectuals for four years, reading Plato, and learning how to think, it was great. But the expense was just not worth it. As much as I enjoyed my college experience, and my GPA was above average with a science major, the Chicago degree is worth so much less on the marketplace than an ivy degree. Your parents will not be pleased to have your tuition payments come out higher than your first year salary on the job--which will inevitably happen unless you major in econ or have good family connections. </p>
<p>Even if you are planning on going to grad school (which is what I am doing now), your money is much better spent on a good grad school--so save it for later. No one cares anything about their undergrad prestige anymore once you add that second degree. </p>
<p>And as far as being the "dream school." Sure, Chicago is great, but college is such a fantastic experience that I bet any of the schools that you listed could be the "dream school." Each one of them will have intelligent, amazing students and professors, good activities, etc. Choose one of them. (I'd go for the full ride or Michigan, and you seem to be leaning towards Michigan for good reason). </p>
<p>And if Chicago is the "dream school," then by all means, go there for grad school! Almost all of their graduate programs are amazing, and you should get a full ride for a M.S./Ph.D., or a degree that will pay for itself if you go the professional MBA/JD/MD route.</p>