<p>My son got into several top notch engineering schools. Has narrowed his choices to Duke, Cornell, and U of Illinois. We're from Chicago and he would prefer to get further away than Champaign, but U of I offered him a full ride four year merit based scholarship. No money from Duke or Cornell. An outlier is that he may end up leaving engineering and could finish in liberal arts. Any thoughts? We're down to two weeks to decide.</p>
<p>Seems like a no brainer to me. Champaign is a world-class school, terrific campus, and you get to go there for FREE? And the only “con” is that it’s only 2-3 hours from home? In four short years, he can go to graduate school on the other side of the country on somebody else’s dime!</p>
<p>I have to agree, U of I is a wonderful school, and that merit aid seems too good to ignore. You could take the money that you had planned to use for college and save it for grad or professional school, give it to him for travel or down payment for a house, or even to put away for retirement.</p>
<p>UIUC engineering free versus $220,000 or so at the other schools? It seems pretty hard to see this as being a dilemma, unless the real goal is to work in investment banking or consulting, as opposed to engineering.</p>
<p>What are the conditions for keeping the full ride scholarship? Although even if he loses it, UIUC will cost significantly less.</p>
<p>What kind of engineering?</p>
<p>Unless the GPA to retain that scholarship is out of reach, why would you even consider spending $250,000 elsewhere? Even if he loses the scholarship, Full fare at U of I is less than half of what the other schools cost.</p>
<p>belril - I’m going to be the dissenting voice here. I’m a big fan of getting far away from home for college. You don’t grow much as a person if you stick to the ‘familiar’ all of the time. </p>
<p>If it’s not going to bankrupt you, I’d say Cornell all of the way. It’s great for engineering and it’s a totally different atmosphere than U of I. </p>
<p>I firmly believe that often times, things that are ‘free’ or least expensive are also not always the best choice. I have been blessed (I’ll admit) with never having to take the ‘free’ thing over the thing I’d have to pay for - but I’ll say that I’ve never regretted paying for better quality, a better experience, a new outlook, etc. etc. </p>
<p>This is not a knock on U of I in any way. I’ve never heard a bad word about it. I’m just saying, I’m hoping my Class of 2013 grad goes as far away from home as possible, to learn more about the world, and herself! </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Nice problem to have! Congrats!! </p>
<p>If spending full fee to attend a school will not cause you to bat an eye, then Cornell’s engineering is probably better than Dukes, and offers more choices. But if I were yo I wouldnt turn down that full ride!! Congrats</p>
<p>Champagne appears to be two and a half hours away (137 miles) from Chicago. Madison is about the same distance from Chicago and would you consider UW-Madison too close to Chicago? For me, there seems to be a clear choice here, and it is the University of Illinois even if he does not stay in engineering.</p>
<p>2-3 hours is plenty far enough away from home for a student to have their space and independence. Set some ground rules from the start. He can’t come home on weekends willy nilly. You can’t “pop in” in to surprise him. If he’s that interested in broadening his horizons, use some of that tuition money you’ve save to send him on a great study abroad semester…or on adventurous excursions for spring breaks and summers. Hell, with that kind of money you can send him and his new best friends!</p>
<p>We haven’t asked you whether you can afford Duke/Cornell or whether it would be necessary for your son or your family to borrow money so that he could go there.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, Cornell is a terrific choice for engineering. And because it’s a comprehensive university, not a tech school, there are plenty of choices for people who change their minds about engineering – and those choices are not limited to the liberal arts. Cornell has a business major, an information science major, a lot of applied sciences of various sorts, and a variety of specialty programs that you’ve probably never heard of.</p>
<p>I can’t comment on Duke’s engineering program because I’m not familiar with it, but the university as a whole is, of course, outstanding. </p>
<p>Your decision here must take into account your family’s financial situation, which is something you know about and we don’t.</p>
<p>[Full disclosure: One of my kids went to Cornell – but not the engineering school – even though it is almost certain that she could have gotten a full ride to our state university. (She withdrew her state university application after being accepted at Cornell ED, so we will never know, but classmates with similar or lesser qualifications got full rides.) Our family’s financial situation was such that sending her to Cornell was not a hardship.]</p>
<p>Hardship or not, that $250,000 could be used for other things down the road-house, retirement funds for the new grad, etc.</p>
<p>I’m with Laurendog. If you can swing Duke or Cornell, it would offer your son experiences and connections that he will not get at UIllinois. Otherwise, great choices and Illinois would certainly be an excellent engineering school.</p>
<p>OP, what were your son’s stats & ‘hooks’? A full ride merit based scholarship to UIUC is impressive indeed, especially when I know personally of a couple 35-36 ACT scorers, in-state, who got into engineering at UIUC but got no money at all.</p>
<p>Cornell (or Duke) is NOT a quarter of a million dollars “more terrific” than UIUC. I wouldn’t choose Cornell or Duke even if you COULD swing it (unless money is really growing on trees, in which case, I don’t think you would have asked.)</p>
<p>How does he feel about U of I? If he’s in despair about going there for personal reasons, I’d take that seriously. But if he likes all three schools, I would probably take the full ride even if he likes C & D a little bit more.</p>
<p>Considering how many people are willing to pay OOS tuition to attend UI for engineering, and you would receive a full ride, it seems illogical to consider anything else.</p>
<p>Paying for college gets old quick. Agree with Mini. i might not have 3 years ago. But we D2 we are more practical.</p>
<p>Y’all are probably right. Financially, it doesn’t make sense to not pick UIll. I just find it a particularly uninspiring place. But I’m not the applicant OR the parent…</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering</p>
<p>No strings attached to the scholarship; just maintaining decent grades, staying out of trouble, and occasional meetings/seminars with the other scholarship receipients.</p>
<p>If the pricy options require large parent loans… it’s a no-brainer… choose UI. </p>
<p>If the family has plenty of savings (enough to buy really nice cars with cash, never worry about job security)… then consider Cornell. </p>
<p>If somewhere in between, consider UI but with some extra perks such as semester abroad and interesting summer learning opportunities elsewhere.</p>