@princetongal, what year did you graduate and how much debt are we talking about? If you graduated more than 10 or 15 years ago, the numbers and the job opportunities were quite different than those of today.
ETA: This is from a post made earlier today by @princetongal:
Caveat emptor, readers!
I graduated Ivy college in late 80’s and law school in Chicago mid-90s. For college, I got 50% scholarship, my single working Mom paid 25% and I took out loans of 25%. For law school I got 60% grants and loans 40%. I owed total of about 50,000 when I was in my late 20s in mid 90’s (miserable job market). I consolidated the debt and paid it off in 5 years. I stick by my story of DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY.
The high school junior is my son - he has privacy issues about having his own account. His threads are completely separate from mine and he is doing his own research without his parents input because he knows we are biased.
The costs of privates (even is real terms) back in the '80’s were a small fraction of what they are now.
@princetongal it is a violation of the TOS for your son to use your account. Have him get his own.
@yankeed We went through a similar situation last year. Replace Ivies with places like MIT/Cal-Tech and you have my son’s situation. He made what we think was a rational decision. He is going to get his BS/MS in 4 years for basically nothing from a major state school and then he can go for a ‘name brand’ school for his PhD. With NMS he is in a rigorous honors program and has plenty of academically inclined peers with whom to discuss the issues of the day (or puzzle out the world as they see it).
Expensive schools are fine if you have the money to throw away, but they do not yield the improved results one would expect in most cases. They are almost never worth the increased cost. Caveats being if the price increase is minor or if you have a career dream (like being POTUS) that seems to be disproportionately filled by Ivy grads
If you are riding on the business aka finance track. Ivys have way better recruiting options, more seats, and options to choose from. Job placement wise–now that I am a senior in college looking back–you want to be under the tier 1 shade
Agree, @tsh1226, though not just Ivies; Duke, Northwestern, Georgetown (obviouls also Stanford) among other elite privates are also Street targets.
So are Ross, McIntire, and Haas.
Re: Business School rankings
I’ve found this site to be have the most comprehensive survey of all Business school rankings (plus coming up with their own):
Also very interesting to read for Investment Banking jobs is:
Great thread! Here’s a real world 2015 example from Florida:
Our EC came in over 30k, but we are nearing retirement age and supporting an elderly parent so this number has NO basis in reality.
Son wants to major in econ, and is passionate about politics and history. He plans to go for a PhD.
He will graduate HS with AS degree, has high GPA and SAT (and subject tests,) NMF, 100+ hours of community service, although not many ECs. He has FL Bright Futures scholarship, and in addition to whatever he gets through NM, the Florida Incentive scholarship picks up everything else - even travel and walking around money. We have already prepaid tuition, fees and r/b through FL guaranteed program.
If he goes OOS (accepted at UVA and Wake Forest so far) it’s a crapshoot as to which college credits will transfer. And bye-bye to the two FL scholarships. In-state, all his college credits will transfer.
So at the end of two years, he could potentially have his BA (probably at FSU honors) or stretch it out with a dual major, research, internships, etc. Then have the funds already saved to start his grad study.
Or… he could go to Penn or Duke etc. and MAYBE get a small merit scholarship and MAYBE get out in three years with a degree and definitely have a big old heap-o-debt.
Maybe he’ll get “an offer he can’t refuse” from one of his OOS schools, but the savings and flexibility of going instate are hard to beat.
@subtropicus, FYI: there’s no “merit money” at Penn and I don’t know how many credits they will accept. Sounds like instate makes a boatload of sense for your DS. What about UF?
@LucieTheLakie He liked FSU campus better than UF, the econ program at UF is not as strong (they are actually defunding the PhD program.) Several other things, not the least of which is that Tallahassee is 500 miles from Miami so it practically is out of state.
Florida State’s economics major does not appear to be that good for pre-PhD (in economics) students.
The intermediate micro and macro economics courses do not list any math prerequisites, in comparison to most other schools that list calculus as a prerequisite and a few schools that offer these courses with more advanced math listed as a prerequisite. The economics major at FSU only requires “college algebra” for math. An elective advanced microeconomics course lists calculus 1 as a prerequisite.
http://registrar.fsu.edu/bulletin/undergrad/depts/economics.htm
University of Florida’s intermediate microeconomics course does list calculus as a prerequisite.
If he wants to go on to PhD study in economics, he should at least take substantial additional math and statistics courses, including multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, real analysis, and calculus-based probability theory, as this is recommended preparation for PhD programs in economics.
https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/grad/admissions/preparation
https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/undergrad/current/preparing-for-grad-school
UF is moving it’s economics (and PhD program) over to CLAS (College of Liberal Arts and sciences) where it will receive increase funding. Something to do with the “Responsibility Center Management budgeting process” used at UF.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20140620/articles/140629977?p=1&tc=pg
Either way, after he completes his undergraduate degree, he shouldn’t limit his PhD program search to FSU (or UF).
@subtropicus, I can’t comment on either school’s economics programs, but I’ve visited family in Tallahassee (who’d relocated from Fort Lauderdale), and you’re right, it’s a different world, much more Southern up there in the Panhandle.
^^ That’s what they call LA (Lower Alabama).
LOL, @NoVADad99. Actually Tuscaloosa reminded me a lot of my visit to Tallahassee. Personally, I found both charming, but I’m sure others might disagree.
Florida:
South is North
North is South
Here is an interesting speech I read on the topic, though it is open to debate.
I feel that it definately depends on the major and if grad school is required
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UEwbRWFZVc&t=31
i am new but I have the same issue with s. He got 25K scholarship for Washington and Jefferson College and may directly admit to Temple Med school but he is also accepted for Rice University with no scholarship and UCLA, UC Berkeley with no aid. Any comment what to choose?
@benina, obviously, a lot depends on what you can afford.
What is the full annual cost of attendance for each school? Are you a CA resident?
Stating the obvious, a $25,000 scholarship to a school that costs $50,000 is a lot more than a full ride and it will total $100,000 over four years. But it could be worth it if your son would be guaranteed admission to medical school. Admission to CA medical schools, from what I understand, is quite competitive.
You have to weigh the pros and cons against your ability to pay. Nobody here can advise you “what to choose” without more information.