<p>OK, my S and I are having a hard time deciding on a school for him... we are asking for a little help. S was offered the Auburn scholarship which basically includes everything except books. He has visited the campus and liked it quite a bit so if he ends up their, I am confident that he will be happy. </p>
<p>S also got accepted to Cornell and CalTech along with a few others. I've figured that my EFT would be in the neighborhood of 16K-18K a year at both Cornell and CalTech. I've read many threads that discuss fit, finances, alumni, weather, and the list goes on. I can afford to help about 10K a year and the rest would be his responsibility. </p>
<p>I guess my question is: are those schools worth the added cost. I would really like some input from anyone with experience from those universities. Are the job prospects from those schools much better? Is the education THAT much better? This is just such a tough decision that any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>We've also discussed him getting his undergraduate at Auburn and then a graduate degree from one of the other schools since I would have money left to help with. His major will be aerospace engineering.</p>
<p>You said your son liked Auburn quite a bit, but you didn’t mention at all how much he liked Cornell or Caltech. Why did he apply to these latter two schools in the first place? What kind of environment does he prefer in order to have a good college experience?</p>
<p>If you’re asking me, then of course I think Cornell is worth the extra cost because it happens to be one of my favorite schools. 16k per year for Cornell is a bargain compared to the amount other families have to pay or wouldn’t hesitate to pay for Cornell education. Beautiful scenery in Ithaca, loved it. What does your son think? Which school does he like better?</p>
<p>Son will visit both Cornell and CalTech mid-April. He applied because he was impressed with their engineering schools but applied to Auburn as a safety. Now that they have offered such a generous scholarship, the decision becomes harder.</p>
<p>I went to Cornell many moons ago and I knew many engineers there. I don’t think any one of them would have chosen Auburn engineering if they had the choice and all other factors being equal. </p>
<p>That being said, Auburn is an excellent school and Cornell is an expensive one. Your S can get a quality education at both schools.</p>
<p>I think what you end up paying for is the student population attracted to a particular school/program, and I doubt that Cornell loses cross admits to Auburn. Is swimming in the Cornell/Cal Tech pool worth 20K a year? Only you and your family can decide.</p>
<p>Congrats to your S on having such great choices, and good luck.</p>
<p>Cal tech is a small [ 800 UG students] STEM focused , research oriented college. The pace of classes there have been described as “like trying to drink water from a fire hose”. Has your son visited yet? If not, I strongly advise he does before making a decision, as it does have a distinct, academically intense, driven student population- which I imagine it is very different from Auburn[ more guys than girls, lots of asians]. If your son thrives surrounded by those sort of students, whose main focus in college is to LEARN, then he may very well love it there. If he really wants a more “typical” college experience, then Cal tech is probably not the place to go. Cal tech students generally have no problems finding jobs, but many do go directly on to grad school, and larger %[ 30%] of CT students eventually earn a Phd than students from any other college in the USA. If your son wants to get his MS, then grad school probably will cost you more $$. If he wants a Phd, then it won’t cost you more $.
My son is graduating from USC, where he was on a full tuition scholarship, and is starting his Phd program at Cal Tech in Sept. Very smart, focused students who do well in honors classes, do research, and take advantage of all the opportunities that Big U’s do offer, will not have difficulty getting into competitive Grad school programs.</p>
<p>I think Caltech is ranked tops in aerospace engineering, the labs and faculty are top notch. I believe the projects and research opportunities he would encounter at Caltech cannot be matched at Auburn. If he had to borrow $8K a year for Caltech, it’s worth it, IMHO. But he has to be sure that it’s a good fit for him. Congratulations to your son.</p>
<p>I agree that he can get a good education at both but where are his job prospects better and is the alumni support going to help long term. I have a cousin who graduated from a great state flagship and had a decent job. He then went to Wharton school of business for a graduate degree and left with 100K in debt but says that it was the best decision he could have made. His job prospects vastly improved and the quality of job also improved. His salary at his first job after graduation more than doubled and is well into 3 figures. He said this would have been much more difficult at his state flagship given he had attained the same graduate degree.<br>
Wife and I are both educators and while every penny counts, we would be willing to tighten our belts if it meant long term opportunities for our S. Thanks for the replies so far though. They are appreciated.</p>
<p>Big congratulation. Go to caltech will be my vote. Student could work on campus and/or in summer, buying used books, getting full credits on educational tax will bring the gap down significantly.</p>
<p>One caution, many students, especially those born in US, change their mind about going for graduate school.</p>
<p>If you can afford to and would not resent paying 10K towards Caltech, and if he gets a reasonable loan for the remainder 8K/yr, <em>and</em> if he likes what he sees at Caltech, then I would vote for Caltech. </p>
<p>In this instance, I believe the reputation of Caltech so much exceeds that of Auburn that he will recover his investment and more within a few years of entering the job market (either after UG or after grad school).</p>
<p>I would pick either Cornell or Caltech. You are not talking about going into to debt for 200K. Going into debt for 50K and being able to go to either of those two schools is not something that I would pass up. I am making the assumption that the schools are a good fit because your son applied and got in. </p>
<p>Congrats…to your son for being in the position of having to make such a decision.</p>
<p>The decision criteria is incomplete until you know the financial aid packages from Cornell and Caltech. In particular, how much of the aid package will be loans versus grants?</p>
<p>As far as getting jobs after graduation goes, companies tend to recruit at local universities and high profile out of area universities.</p>
<p>Congrats on having such great options. Sometimes schools DO offer more $$$ to get students they really want. One caveat about CalTech is if is possible that your S may decide he does NOT want to stick with engineering, as the school does not offer much breath in other fields.</p>
<p>Some of the decision may lie on what your S plans to do. If he is thinking of grad school and relatively sure he with stick with engineering or STEM, he is likely to able to get funding for grad schools he is accepted to. If he MAY decide to switch to med school or law school or some other field for grad school, it is important to minimize the debt her will take on as an undergrad, which you can only do after you look at the full merit + FAid packages as they become available.</p>
<p>Both Cornell and CalTech have much more recognition as nationally known schools while Auburn is more known regionally, which could affect his job options upon graduation with his bachelor’s.</p>
<p>Seeing as he hasn’t visited CalTech or Cornell yet, there is really no decision to be made and nothing to worry about. It is amazing how after a good visit at schools where one has been accepted to, that all becomes quite clear. You can try to what if this decision all day long, but without a visit, it is not meaningful. If he completely falls in love with a school, or hates one, it becomes much more than just a financial/job opportunity choice. Don’t worry about it, visit, then choose between the ones he loves! Most people would conside 16K/yr a bargain for those 2 schools, but if it isn’t the right environment for him, then it’s not worth it.</p>
<p>I think sevmom has a great point: social fit will be very important here. Has son visited all three schools? What did he think? What part of the country are you from? Cornell is northeast and intense, Auburn is southern and maybe a little typical of large southern universities and Caltech is California, smaller and very intense. My oldest S grew up in NY State, his good friend (one of the top kids in his graduating class) went to Cornell and said the academics are incredibly tough but he has thrived there. My S went to Tulane, a large private U in NOLA, and found he really loved the slower pace of Southern living (the academics there are tough, mind you, but the students make time to enjoy themselves as well). I don’t think he would have done well at an ultra-competitive school. College is training for a career, yes, but you have to really like the school you go to and feel like you belong.</p>
<p>Not even close in my mind - go to Cal Tech. Cal Tech is in the Wharton strata of engineering schools. Yes, it will pay off.</p>
<p>I don’t know why he’d apply to Cal Tech or why Cal Tech would admit him, if both parties didn’t believe it was a fit. And if it’s not a fit, then go to Cornell. Again, not even close.</p>
<p>If you were considering a full ride to schools like Duke, Johns Hopkins or Case Western, then the $ would be more of a consideration, IMHO.</p>