<p>I got a full tuition scholarship to Iowa State University and am planning to do engineering. I also was admitted to Purdue. Im waiting on UIUC, UW madison, U Mich, Cal poly, UCSB, UCSD. Not sure what to do. </p>
<p>The scholarship is for tuition only, so there is still room and board. The other schools I mentioned seem to have a bigger social scene which seems appealing. </p>
<p>Any advice?</p>
<p>Can you afford to attend those other schools? You will be OOS for a good number of them.</p>
<p>Engineering is one field where it doesn’t matter much which place you attend. As long as the engineering school has ABET accrediation, you will come out with a solid degree. It also is a field where you will have precious little time to enjoy a “bigger social scene”. I say, take the money.</p>
<p>California are expensive but do most people pay off their college debt very fast? How important is the cost?</p>
<p>See what the financial picture looks like once you have admission and aid decisions. If it’s a school you like, full tuition is very appealing and opens up more possibilities for the future.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>
<p>It sounds like you are OOS for the UCs. They would cost ~$50K/year making your monthly payment for your loans $2300. That means that after paying for your loans and BEFORE considering taxes you would be making the equivalent of $8.70/hour.</p>
<p>YOU can’t borrow much.</p>
<p>YOU can only borrow $5500 for frosh year. That won’t pay the high OOS costs at those OOS schools.</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>
<p>Your question about how fast people pay off loans is a bit silly. Since some people borrow very little, then can pay off the loans rather quickly. Some people are crazy and have their parents co-sign huge loans and then they’re drowning in debt for a very long time and their lives are horrible. </p>
<p>thankfully, most parents are too smart to co-sign a bunch of big loans. </p>
<p>There is NO REASON to borrow money for engineering when you have such a good deal already. </p>
<p>Social scene? ha ha…you’ll be in engineering…little time for lots of “social scene”. And the social scenes at UIUC and Purdue are NOT better than what’s at Iowa State…not at all. Why would you think that??? lol</p>
<p>Unless your parents will pay the high OOS costs, those other choices won’t work.</p>
<p>The scholarship is for tuition only, so there is still room and board</p>
<p>Uh…Room and board is a whole lot cheaper than OOS tuition, room and board at those other schools.</p>
<p>*It sounds like you are OOS for the UCs. They would cost ~$50K/year making your monthly payment for your loans $2300. That means that after paying for your loans and BEFORE considering taxes you would be making the equivalent of $8.70/hour.
*</p>
<p>Great job Erin’s Dad. Who would have thought that the net would be like working minimum wage…lol.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids-</p>
<p>"And the social scenes at UIUC and Purdue are NOT better than what’s at Iowa State…not at all. Why would you think that??? lol "</p>
<p>I was looking on college prowlr and purdue and UIUC were ranked a little higher that Iowa State. Not sure how accurate these are.</p>
<p>Im sure I will still have time to go to partys and still do schoolwork. </p>
<p>Is there any way your able to get in state tuition for an out of state school for your junior and senior year?</p>
<p>No, you won’t get instate tuition. Instate residency is based on where your parents live and pay taxes. </p>
<p>oh my…“ranked a little higher” for social scene…lol…so what. What does that mean? How does being “ranked a little higher” by a non-scientific methodology translate into spending $30k-40k more per year. Oh my…are you sure that you’re smart enought to become an engineer? Would you really consider spending more than $100k more for a school that CP says is ranked a “little higher” for social scene? Really? Think about it. There’s a whole bunch of things you can do with that money (or a lot less money) that could supplement a weaker social scene. BTW…the social scene at Iowa State is fine.</p>
<p>
You may not agree with his thought process. He may using fanciful young adult thinking. You are the adult and have the chance to educate him. A statement like that and you’ve lost many young adults, period. If you really want to help and not just show how much you know, don’t insult. Your message is solid. Your delivery is harsh which is never called for with a young adult who has not insulted or challenged you in any way.</p>
<p>The party scene is PLENTY active at any state school with 30,000 students!!!
The comments on CP are more random than the ones here on CC 
Most of the people who bother to comment on CP are complainers, the kids who are really happy don’t usually bother to go on CP to tell people how happy they are.</p>
<p>You didn’t do enough research -
Princeton Review rated it #2 in the nation for being a party school:
[University</a> of Iowa ranks as number two party school - Iowa State Daily: News](<a href=“http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_06cdb86e-eb1d-11e1-a3b8-0019bb2963f4.html]University”>http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_06cdb86e-eb1d-11e1-a3b8-0019bb2963f4.html)</p>
<p>[All</a> about the age - Iowa State Daily: News](<a href=“http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_b1693223-0481-5758-a6dc-90eef497f84f.html]All”>http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_b1693223-0481-5758-a6dc-90eef497f84f.html)</p>
<p>Out of thousands of colleges, Iowa made it into the top 100 (at #34) in the country -
[College</a> Rankings :: Party Scene](<a href=“http://www.myplan.com/education/colleges/college_rankings_11.php]College”>College Rankings :: Party Scene)</p>
<p>[A</a> Saturday night in Ames, Iowa - YouTube](<a href=“A Saturday night in Ames, Iowa - YouTube”>A Saturday night in Ames, Iowa - YouTube)</p>
<p>i did do my resarch half the links were about university of iowa</p>
<p>also what about scholarships for OOS and if any of you have graduated, how much debt do you have? what schools?</p>
<p>capn:</p>
<p>You ask an impossible question. IF your family can afford the tuition at one of the other schools you mention (without undue hardship) and you prefer that school, I would recommend it.</p>
<p>However, Iowa is a great school, and affordability, is a major factor in choosing schools.</p>
<p>When you have all of your options in front of you, I think you need to sit down and have an adult-to-adult talk with your folks.</p>
<p>Ooops, my bad :-(</p>
<p>There are a number of threads on the topic of guaranteed merit-based aid, and merit aid that is not guaranteed in the financial aid forum. Go there and scroll down to find them. The cut off dates for some of the scholarships have passed, so you might need to wait a year if you really want that one.</p>
<p>I take it that you are from out-of-state, and have never been to Ames. Send an email to the scholarship office, tell them that you are very appreciative of the offer, and that you’d like the contact information for some students at ISU so that you can learn more about the university from their perspectives. Very, very few students have the chance to experience undergraduate life at more than one university, so it can be difficult to make comparisons. Multiple generations of my family have studied at ISU. I have a nephew there now. To the best of my knowlege, none of my relatives ever lacked for social activities or entertainment there.</p>
<p>Blueiguana…</p>
<p>My point may have been harsh, but it was not a direct insult. I posed the question that way to “shock” him a bit into realizing what he was doing. No one thoughtfully spends $50k-100k more on his education for perhaps a slightly better “social scene” - which was suggested by CP opinions and other non-scientific sources.</p>
<p>As for possible scholarships at the OOS schools…</p>
<p>Not likely for the UCs
Not likely for UIUC
Not likely for UMich unless stats are super high…and then still iffy.</p>
<p>Purdue’s scholarship for high stats is about $9k per year…so the leftover amount will still be $15k+ per year more than Iowa St…so $60k more debt for a bit more social scene???</p>
<p>What are your stats? What is your GPA? What are your test scores? (including SAT breakdown).</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year? If they’ll happily pay more for you to go OOS then fine. If they won’t pay then how will you pay the costs? Again, YOU can’t borrow much…only $5500 for frosh year. If your parents co-sign for more debt, then that’s not a good idea for your future. </p>
<p>Asking what debt others had is irrelevant…costs have changed, scholarships have disappeared or have been reduced, family contributions differ. One student may have graduated from Purdue 5 years ago when tuition was lower, merit scholarships were bigger, and his parents may have paid for most of the cost. The fact that that student may have only had to borrow $2k per year is irrelevant for you. </p>
<p>Again, as an eng’g major you will be busy with school work. I’m not saying that you won’t have any time for any parties, but when you do have time there will be enough parties at Iowa State to keep you amused. Any school with Big Div I football & sports is going to have a good-sized party scene. That’s pretty much a guarantee.</p>
<p>*I toured it on a Friday night and around 6pm there was nobody outside. Do they go out later? *</p>
<p>YES! College kids typically go out around 9pm or later. Many are napping (lol) or eating at 6pm…not partying at that time.</p>
<p>OP, you’ve been asking a number of questions but haven’t answered any of ours. Have you asked your parents how much they will pay? What is your home state? How about stats? With a little bit more info we can make some recommendations rather than working in the dark.</p>
<p>ACT: 27 </p>
<p>English and math: 31 (Georgia tech only took English and math)</p>
<p>GPA W 3.83</p>
<p>6 years of math taken in HS - trippled up one year</p>
<p>5 APs total</p>
<p>home state is IL</p>