<p>I am really confused which college I should go to. I want to major in history and government. If I were to go to Georgetown, it would be an enormous financial strain upon my family. I would go for free at my Ole Miss. (nickname for University of Mississippi) I really like Ole Miss, but my my family can't afford for me to visit Georgetown at this time so I haven't even seen the campus.....yet I can't imagine that many schools would be better than Georgetown for my major.</p>
<p>It really is all about the $$ in your case.
There’s no doubt that GU is a more respected institution (although I suspect you’d have a great time at Ole Miss too), but you simply can’t divorce that from the financial aspect.
Question for you: are you planning to go to grad school? If so, where you go to grad school is more important than where you go to undergrad, so if you knock the cover off the ball at Ole Miss, you could get into a top grad school and use the money that you’ve saved by going to Ole Miss at that point.</p>
<p>Another issue is where you plan to work after college. If you plan to stay in Mississippi, an Ole Miss degree might carry more weight than a Georgetown degree.</p>
<p>The bottom line though is the bottom line. The cost of Georgetown probably isn’t worth it for you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I actually plan to go on to law school if that makes a difference in the decision. I really haven’t decided if I want to stay in state for a career or not.</p>
<p>If, you want law school go to Ole Miss. GU would not be worth the extra cost, especially if it will be a burden on your family. </p>
<p>Get a good GPA, score high on the LSAT and you’ll be competitive for a lot of good places for law school. Nice thing about law school is that they don’t really care where you went for undergrad, so Ole Miss would probably be fine.</p>
<p>Have you applied yet? Georgetown isn’t always the best for financial aid, but it’s always possible that you could get a sufficient package to relieve a lot of the stress on your family.</p>
<p>In a lot of these A vs. B threads the answer is that honestly the differences are marginal. With Georgetown vs. Ole Miss this is not the case. The two are in profoundly different leagues academically.</p>
<p>I would definitely go for Georgetown. Yes, the cost is harder than Ole Miss, but the difference between the two schools is profound as potatoes said. With Georgetown, you wil be getting a near-Ivy level of education for far less than you would at Harvard or Columbia. With financial aid and private loans, savings, and scholarships, Georgetown will not only provide you with a valuable education but will do it for pennies on the dollar. While Ole Miss might still be cheaper, if you turn down a school like Georgetown for a state school apart from UVA, UNC and the like you’ll probably end up paying for it for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>I know it’s not PC to admit this, but your first employer will look at your undergrad when hiring you. It’s not as importance once you start having experience, but the high quality internships and first employers take that into account to see if you can survive in an adult, intellectual atmosphere. In your case, going to Ole Miss simply won’t cut it and will put you at an incalculable disadvantage.</p>
<p>Before you say no to Georgetown, you should ask for more money.</p>
<p>Bedouin–I don’t know when you last checked the COA for Georgetown, but this year tuition, room and board, fees, and some expenses topped $60K. That is not far less than any school in the country.</p>
<p>The OP is unlikely to pay anything close to sticker price, if her financial situations is so relatively low compared to the cost of attendance at the college. It won’t be as cheap as the public school, but whatever negligible cost might be added for going to Georgetown over Ole Miss would be more than made up for the invaluable opportunities available at the former.</p>
<p>Georgetown is a wonderful school…but only if you can afford to pay your bills. If you’ve already been accepted, you have your financial aid package and know how much your family would be required to contribute. If this is financially doable, that is one thing…but if not…well…it’s not.</p>
<p>You can get a great undergrad education most anywhere despite the assertations by some posters that only the Ivies and equivalent schools will give you a leg up when you graduate. The Ivies and schools like Georgetown and the like are wonderful…but they will also be there for grad school.</p>
<p>This is a conversation to have with your family. IF they can pay for Georgetown and it is financially possible for all four years to do so…then go for it with their blessing. If it’s NOT financially a possibility, do realize that you CAN get a good college education elsewhere.</p>