<p>When I was accepted to my dream school, Emory University a couple months ago I thought: "Wow! This is it! Nothing can stand in my way now!" But then I was offered the full scholarship for National Merit/Achievement Finalists from Auburn University. Now I'm stuck. I love Emory. I have friends there, I know teachers there, and I'm very comfortable/familiar with the campus. However, Emory is extremely expensive and no amount of scholarships are going to cover the entire cost of attendance. If I went to Auburn, there would be no financial strain on my parents what-so-ever. I'm getting a free lap top, free room & board, free tuition, a stipend, free study abroad etc...I could use my savings to buy my dream car (VW Beetle) and take a summer trip. But I visited Auburn yesterday and the whole football sorority state flagship vibe didn't appeal to me at all. How can I make the 'right' decision? Has anyone been through or seen their kids through similar situations?</p>
<p>How much money (total over 4 years) would you have to pay out of pocket to attend Emory?? Also, are you planning on Grad School?</p>
<p>assuming you were accepted ED to Emory, unless you can prove extreme financial hardship, you are bound to attending (unless you were accepted RD/Emory Scholars)…shouldn’t you have withdrawn your other apps? or am I missing something in your post?</p>
<p>Have you done overnights at each? At Auburn, did you do a generic tour or did you focus on Honors programs and opportunities? Are you planning on going to professional school (med, law, MBA) after undergrad?</p>
<p>Have you sat down and had the money talk with your parents? Can they cover your EFC at Emory or would you have to take out loans? </p>
<p>The good news is that you’re thinking about this now and you have options. If Auburn isn’t your cup of tea, would you consider University of Alabama? They offer the same NMF package that Auburn does and they have two automatic entry Honors programs (University Honors and International Honors; the more selective programs have already entered the interview phase) and outstanding Honors housing.</p>
<p>How were you accepted to Emory? ED? RD/Emory scholars? If you were accepted ED, you have to go to Emory and should have withdrawn all other applications.</p>
<p>Northstar: Its Oxford…just checked posts…OP was accepted EA</p>
<p>I glanced back at some of the OP’s posts and I didn’t see anything about ED so not sure where that is coming from… Does Auburn have honors housing or residential colleges or any type of college within a college that would make it “smaller” feeling? Looking into that might help you with your decision making.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should have a heart to heart with your parents and see what they think. Maybe they have always hoped you would go to the college of your dreams and planned accordingly- or maybe they really would be stretching to send you to Emory and would be thrilled if you’d be happy at Auburn. You need to work this out with them.
If you choose Emory, will you feel too guilty to enjoy it?</p>
<p>“Free” education can be very expensive if you pull a 2.5 GPA out of misery and drop out half way through your freshman year. Talk to your parents. Keep applying for scholarships. Call Emory FA office and speak about the situation. Sometimes more money can be squeezed in different places to make things happen for a student they believe in. Maybe you can get a summer job and at least come up with some money. I guess you have to decide what are you willing to do to make your “dream” school happen. I agree with the poster on the overnights. If you have not done an overnight at Auburn, do one. It could make a difference.</p>
<p>Since you would be attending Oxford at Emory -which isn’t quite the same as being at Emory (I know - we did the tours and son had applied to both), why not go to Auburn for a year or two, and if you still don’t like it you could probably transfer to Emory and cut out some of the cost. Just a thought.</p>
<p>^^^ </p>
<p>Totally agree about the saving money opportunity…at least for a year or two…</p>
<p>Yes…Auburn has honors housing…but she will have to pay a bit extra for honors housing. </p>
<p>I’m getting a free lap top, free room & board, free tuition, a stipend, free study abroad etc…I could use my savings to buy my dream car (VW Beetle) and take a summer trip. But I visited Auburn yesterday and the whole football sorority state flagship vibe didn’t appeal to me at all.</p>
<p>BTW…OP…your Auburn NMF scholarship doesn’t include “meals”. It covers tuition, room, laptop, $1k stipend, etc. However, you may have been given an additional stackable scholarship on top that will pay for meals. :)</p>
<p>It’s a great scholarship and Auburn is a very nice school. :)</p>
<p>What was the vibe that you didn’t like? You don’t have to join a sorority. 75% of the girls aren’t in a sorority. Not everyone is “into” football. Some like it, some could care less. No big deal. However, don’t be surprised if you find yourself liking it. My son and his GF didn’t care about football - AT ALL (both NMF scholarship winners). But, at Bama, they kind of caught the fever and now love it.</p>
<p>Keep this in mind. My son’s friend accepted a NMF scholarship to Fordham. He went for a year, but cold weather wasn’t his bag, so he’s now at Emory. But…he at least tried Fordham and got one year free (big savings there!). </p>
<p>Emory isn’t hard to transfer into later. But, you won’t get that Auburn scholarship offer later. So, you could try Auburn for a year or two, if you don’t like it, then go to Emory. You’ll still have saved a bunch of money!</p>
<p>“Free” education can be very expensive if you pull a 2.5 GPA out of misery and drop out half way through your freshman year. Talk to your parents. Keep applying for scholarships.</p>
<p>I doubt anyone could be miserable at Auburn…seriously. It’s a very nice school. You’d have to try to be miserable. </p>
<p>As for applying for other scholarships. That’s kind of late at this point. </p>
<p>Bama would give her the same scholarship even tho she’s missed the deadline, exceptions are made for NMFs (and Bama’s covers the entire cost of honors housing), but the vibe is probably rather similar - except Bama is in a good-sized city while Auburn is more rural.</p>
<p>OhioMom
</p>
<p>RobD
</p>
<p>mom2collegekids
</p>
<p>Rodney
</p>
<p>MomLive
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<p>MoonChild
</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: Scarlett.B probably received the NMF department scholarship in addition to the publicized NMF scholarship. The combination pretty much takes care of everything other than transportation and personal expenses.</p>
<p>Scarlett.B: I really have to agree with mom2collegekids about seriously considering Auburn initially for a little while and then transferring to Emory, if you still want to. Who knows, you might even learn to love Auburn and not want to leave. Many kids find their “dream school” is not what they thought it would be only after paying out a lot of money. </p>
<p>My daughter is also a NMF and she did fall in love with Auburn from her first visit. She has no interest in joining a sorority, but wanted a football school knowing school spirit tends to be very strong at these type of schools, even though she doesn’t know a lot about football. (Her boyfriend has tried to explain the game, with little luck, to her for the last two football seasons.) She sees football and other sports as one way for students to “unite” and when she visited she was very much drawn to the “school spirit” vibe she felt. Anyway, my daughter is very excited that Auburn is so generous and that she won’t have to dip into her college fund for undergrad. She can save it for grad school and leave college (undergrad and grad) without a penny of debt. Graduating without debt is far more valuable than I could ever express.</p>
<p>*I’ll definitely look into Alabama even though you said it’s pretty much the same vibe. *</p>
<p>Same vibe in regards to that many kids like football and 25% are in sororities.</p>
<p>But…Bama is a lot more liberal arts minded than Auburn is. Bama also has the Blount Undergraduate Initiative which is like an LAC on campus.</p>
<p>If you’re more liberal arts minded, then Bama may be a better fit for you. But, Auburn is still a great school. :)</p>
<p>proud_mom</p>
<p>Thank you so much. I think your daughter and I have a lot in common. I really do love school spirit and unity but I’m not a fan of sororities and fraternities at all. I’m glad to hear that she ended up liking it and I definitely understand what you mean when you say don’t take debt-free undergrad ed. for granted.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids
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<p>Okay, Cool! I’m going to call up the fin aid office tomorrow and find out how to receive their NMF offer. I’ll probably also make an apptmnt to visit. Thanks Again!</p>