I’m in a really tough situation right now. I’m choosing between a full scholarship + stipend at a regional university with great connections near SF (but is virtually unknown elsewhere), a significant scholarship at Rice, and no financial/merit aid at Northwestern.
I am completely stuck with my decision. I want to major in econ at Northwestern, finance at the regional university, Mathematical Economic Analysis at Rice (perhaps minoring in CS at all these schools), and then go into banking or corporate finance in SF/NY. I know that Northwestern is fantastic at econ, and I LOVE the school so much that I can definitely picture myself there, but it’s so expensive compared to the other schools … I just don’t know what to do. Also I’ve heard that Rice’s math classes are notoriously hard compared to other schools, so I don’t know if I can make it through the Mathematical Economic Analysis major.
Is there some reason not to mention the regional U? That may help. When you say that no one knows it, do you mean hs students? Certainly businesses and grad schools make it their business to know about local and national colleges both.
Are you saying you have the college budget for all these options but you hesitate to spend it? What is the net price at rice before loans?
How much in loans would you or your parents take? Or can your parents pay for any of these out of pocket, without touching their retirement?
can you name the “virtually unknown school”, like is it Santa Clara or USF?
Northwestern and Rice are both great schools and perceived relatively similarly by graduate schools and sophisticated employers. By attending Northwestern you (and your parents) will take on a substantial additional financial burden without a commensurate increase in value received.
With the field you are interested in, an elite grad school degree would get you farther than an elite undergrad degree. Save all your money for grad school, and then go all out.
It’d depend on the unknown school and its resources, the typical student there -300sat pts below your score, in need of remediation? With a decent peer group for you? Good funding/endowment?
@ecat108: CONGRATULATIONS on your Northwestern and Rice acceptances; they are both outstanding universities.
Please consider te following in your deliberations. In reading this thread, I’d bet you’ll want eventually to receive a first-tier MBA. Essentially no one is admitted to any elite MBA school without two to four (or even five) years of post-Bachelor’s professional experience(s). The content of and the recommendations from those initial job(s) are major admissions elements for the top MBA programs. While the very best iBanks, other Wall Street/finance, consulting, and high tech enterprises will certainly interview/recruit at Northwestern (and, perhaps to a slightly lesser degree, at Rice), they are unlikely to at the unnamed Bay area university (similarly, the “right” summer internship opportunities may be near-impossible)
I do not suggest that the foregoing should be decisive, but neither should it be unaddressed, in your decision.
What @TopTier said. Banking is one of those prestige-focused fields that recruits at a small handful of schools; Northwestern and Rice are in that pot of elite schools, but the small regional one in SF probably isn’t. Of course, you could always work more locally, go to an elite business school and enter Wall Street from there. People go to top business schools from lesser-known universities all the time - but having a prestige job post-college might give you an edge, and getting those prestige jobs is much easier from a place like Rice or Northwestern.
I think given that you have significant aid at Rice, Northwestern is mostly off the table - you can get a comparable education and network at Rice for a significantly lower cost. So the choice to me is between Rice and the smaller regional school. (Don’t worry about what you’ve “heard” about the math classes - everyone has a different perception of difficulty, and besides, you want to be challenged so you can learn the material.)
Thanks so, so much for all the feedback! Your advice has all been really helpful! @MYOS1634 For privacy reasons, I won’t say which regional school I was accepted to, but it is of a similar calibar to SCU and USF. Also I was accepted into a very selective program there where I’ll primarily interact with a few other high-achieving students. @juillet My family can afford all these schools, but my parents aren’t particularly eager to pay over 70k per year for college.
I definitely agree with many of you, who have suggested that Rice is a better option than Northwestern. The main reason, however, I’m hesitant to choose Rice is due to my desire to work in NYC/SF after graduating, and I’ve heard that many Rice alums stay in Texas, as few out-of-state firms recruit at Rice. Is this perception accurate?? Also I think that minoring in CS may be easier at the regional school than at Rice (which has a pretty competitive CS program).
unknown should be in quotes “unknown” the issue of debt if your family can not afford to pay is a concept that is hard to grasp until you have to start paying bills yourself. that debt if it can be avoided should be!
@zobroward My family can afford all these schools without taking loans although it will eat into our savings. It’s more a matter of which school will give the greatest return on investment.
If its SCU then I’ll take SCU over Rice. Your perception of Rice graduates stay in Texas is certain true for my nieces. I think investment banking jobs there are mostly oil related.
Rice.
If your family can afford Northwestern without touching retirement savings (ie., using college savings or others) then it’d be a good investment if you intend on taking one of the " business certificates" that have a high cachet.
Also,SCU = excellent school : USF = so-so expensive school… so that’d really change your perspectives. Overall, if your parents have the money and can pay “ut of pocket”, AND if you wouldn’t need to take loans (if possible, prepare to work 6-8 nours/week to help), go with Rice or Norhtwestern.
Privacy? You already gave two schools you got into, your major, we know you are high income, you got a 2330 on the SAT, and you have a scholastic art and writing award gold key. There are very few students who have gotten into both Rice and Northwestern and have accomplished all of those things with the same exact major. You’re probably the only one, so you might as well just tell us. If someone was able to figure out who you are, they wouldn’t need to know the third school. They would probably be able to know who you are already based on the info you gave. Help us, help you.
