I recently got accepted to both Georgia Tech and Stevens for civil engineering and quantitative finance respectively. I know they are different majors and in their respective fields they rank among the top in the country. I eventually plan to become a patent lawyer or work on wall street. I specifically narrowed down to these schools because I wanted an engineering school with a good business program. If I were to go to Georgia, I plan on minoring in economics. My biggest dilemma is finally picking where to go. Here’s a pros and cons list of both schools:
Stevens:
I currently live in New Jersey, about 45 minutes away. I got about $50k worth of scholarships so I would only be taking out about $16k per year, without considering outside scholarships. I also love the location and the fact that it’s a small school. However, my sister goes there as well as 7 people from my school having already committed. Although I don’t hate any of the people who are going there, I’m not best-friends with them either and do not want to go to a High School 2.0. I really want a fresh start away from my current school.
Georgia:
It is my dream school and I have been obsessed with it for years. When I got accepted it was the happiest moment of my life so far. I’ve already made a lot of friends with people who are going there and really like the atmosphere of the school. It is also more prestigious, is well-known, and has one of the best engineering programs in the world. However, it is about 13 hours away from where I currently live and I would be paying out of state tuition. I don’t find out about financial aid until April 1st, but from what I’ve researched, I should get about $20k, which would require me to take out about $25k a year, without considering outside scholarships.
I am very confused and have no idea where I want to go. Although my heart says Georgia Tech, I know it’s more financially feasible to go to Stevens, as well as being close to family and being able to come home for holidays. However, like I said, Georgia has been my dream school for years and is what caused me to push myself all throughout high school. I need to have a decision by March 10th as that is when the deposit for Stevens is due (I applied early decision II). I am going to Georgia Tech next week and will be asking if they could present my financial need early. I’m coming here because I need some help from a third party view, any advice will be helpful. Thankyou!!
Your only choices are $16,000 per year and $25,000 per year, with no parent contribution? Both are much greater than the federal direct loan limits, so, if you tried to finance those amounts with loans, you would need parent loans or parent-cosigned loans, which are usually not a good idea.
Maybe Stevens at $16,000 per year could be stretched if (a) you take out the federal direct loan of $5,500, (b) work to earn a few thousand per year, and © either (1) your parents contribute what you would otherwise cost them living at home, or (2) you can live at home and commute without too much cost.
Do you have any other lower cost options with your desired majors?
If there’s any intention of grad school, i’d Go the cheaper option. Right outside of NYC to internships, a great school and cheaper.
IMO the high school 2.0 argument isn’t really a valid one - my son is in a state school with tons of former HS classmates and never sees any of them.
I didn’t read this as no parent contribution, but if that’s the case $16k is still a lot to come up with!
Good luck!
The wording of these phrases is usually used in association with taking out loans.
Would your parents pay 16k/25k a year or would they have to take loans?
(You can borrow 5.5k, that’s it.)
7 people is a drop in the bucket at a college with thousands of students.
More than that many people from my class and HS attended my undergrad (which had less than 10K undergrads) and I didn’t even know who most of them were or saw almost any of them even once in my 4 years there.
Sadly, I would have to be taking out loans. I only applied to three schools, Stevens, Georgia Tech, and Rutgers since just the applications and sending in the SAT scores cost $100 per school and I had to pay for it myself. My safety school, where I thought I would get a full or almost full ride was Rutgers. However, I barely got any money and its more financially feasible to go to Stevens or Georgia Tech. I’ve already received $7000 in outside scholarships and I’ll hear back from a few more in the upcoming months. I know it sounds crazy that not wanting to go to a high-school 2.0 is deterring me from Stevens, but another big reason is because of my sister. She is highly against having me go to Stevens as she plays a huge role in the Greek life and various clubs, she’s created a life for herself that she does not want me to find out about. Although I don’t think we’d be running into each other often, she is adamant that we would and does not want me to go. Also, from the people who got in from my school, three of them are in the quantitative finance program. When I visited, the one professor told me I would be having a lot of classes with the same kids in that program since it is so specialized and they don’t accept as many people. I know both options are going to put me in a lot of debt (which I’m not very happy about), and I’m very confused because I love both of the schools so much. Thank-you to everyone who responded!
If Rutgers is not affordable, then it is not a safety.
If you have high stats, you may want to apply to Prairie View A&M and University of Alabama - Huntsville, both of which have large automatic scholarships (if the money has not run out yet) and civil engineering.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21089443/#Comment_21089443
Is the $7,000 in outside scholarships per year over four years, one year only, or total over four years? If it is per year over four years, then Stevens may be barely affordable if it allows the $7,000 to fully stack with the grants and scholarships it is offering you (ask directly to check on this) to leave $9,000 remaining, which you may be able to afford by taking a $5,500 federal direct loan and working part time and summers to earn another $3,500.
Otherwise, you may be financially shut out. You may have to go to work and earn some money and reapply a more affordable list of colleges for the following year.
YOU cannot take 16k or 25k in loans per year. You can take 5.5k. Anything else should be paid or taken on by your parents. Have they said they’d take loans? Are they unwilling or unable to give you anything?
As far as I know Rutgers has released need based aid but not necessarily merit, so if you got into the Honors College, sit tight and wait for what they send. Check your FA page often.
Do send an application to UA Huntsville. It’s an engineering university in a research park. Not Georgia Tech but as good as Stevens. If your stats are high enough that you hoped for a full ride at Rutgers I’m guessing you have a shot at very good merit there. Do that TODAY.
With respect to the Univ. of Alabama Huntsville, your living expenses may exceed $16,000.
Stevens Institute of Technology is your best option due to the major & due to your binding EDII acceptance.
Not sure that civil engineering is the best background for a future patent lawyer, but others know better than I.
Quantitative Finance correlates with your desire to practice on Wall Street.
Maybe Rutgers will grant you financial aid that covers almost everything. If so, go due to variety of majors & Big 10 membership.
Why do you plan to love your life according to your sister’s desires?
Setting aside whether any of your options are affordable, you seem to be avoiding what, objectively to me as an outsider, is the rationally best choice because of emotions.