<p>Hi! Seeing as how CC has been invaluable to me in the whole college process, I figure its collective knowledge can help me in making a rather difficult decision. </p>
<p>I have been very fortunate as far as acceptances go and have narrowed down my choices basically based on the amount of financial aid I was given (the most of which happened to be from some of my top schools).
Here are the options:</p>
<p>While the aid packages at Stanford and Yale are generous, it's hard to overlook a full ride, especially when I plan on majoring in international relations and/or political science, which would likely mean grad school. The argument for BU is that if I don't pay for undergrad, I can save money for my masters (although I plan to work before I go to grad school, so there's the possibility of saving money and getting loans too).</p>
<p>Honestly though, I think it would break my heart a little (no, a lot) to turn down my dream schools, especially when they offer so much of what I value (smaller size, incredible and inspiring students/ faculty, diversity, all around awesomeness). They match most of my criteria while BU doesn't really measure up. Between Stanford and Yale, Yale is probably the most plausible because of the 4K difference. </p>
<p>I guess what I'm asking is, will investing the money to go to Yale or Stanford pay off? Or should I save that money and go to BU? Any input is much appreciated :)</p>
<p>popeyoung5, probably on the east coast because of the proximity to the international/political scene. I’m assuming you would suggest Yale in this case?</p>
<p>susgeek, we can barely afford Yale, Stanford would only be possible with significant amounts of loans. </p>
<p>Thank you both for your input. I was suspecting that Yale or Stanford (leaning more heavily towards Yale) would be the better choice, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t turning down an opportunity that might serve me better in the long run.</p>
<p>IMO, as long as you can graduate from Yale with minimum loans (since you can “barely afford” Yale), I say go there. Only if you were paying full-freight to Yale/Stanford and needed loans to cover all of it would I consider BU</p>
<p>Honestly, go to BU. Stanford and Yale are incredible schools, no doubt about it, but are they worth $90,000+ more than BU? No. Especially not if you’re going to grad school.</p>
<p>Stanford and Yale will offer you some amazing opportunities, but just the fact that you were able to get in shows that you can thrive anywhere.</p>
<p>Frankly I think if it was Yale vs. Duke or Yale vs. Michigan it would be easier to take the full ride, but the quality of students is going to be very different at BU and the classes will be very large-----Yale if at all possible!</p>
<p>BU definitely. You won’t have to worry about paying anything when you graduate and so you can just get on with your life/career and not worry about paying back ridiculous amounts in loans and such.</p>
<p>You need to go to Yale or Stanford. You’ll have to take loans, but the money spent is going to be worth it since either is your dream school. 22K/year for Yale, for example, is still a bargain. Don’t pass it up!</p>
<p>As you can see, the decision seems obvious to some people. Oddly, though, they don’t agree on what the obvious answer is.</p>
<p>If this were about academic opportunities only, it would be clear that you should choose Yale or Stanford. BU is a great school, but it can’t really compete with the other two. It’s the financial situation that makes it harder. To me, the question is how much of a financial burden would it be on your family for you to go to Yale? If you can do it without substantial loans, and without putting your parents’ retirement at risk, I would still say that Yale is the choice. Indeed, it might make sense to carry some loans that you could manage.</p>
<p>Agree with Hunt. For IR (an area full of prestige hounds), and anything of that ilk, Yale is the no-brainer. The question is how much will the $22k burden your family.</p>
<p>It sounds like BU attracts Ivy Caliber people with full rides. Our tour guide at Harvard mentioned receiving this huge scholarship at BU making it free and how hard it was to turn it down (did nt tell us how much Harvard was costing but did sound like a full pay). What was more surprisng was that UPenn turned her down while Harvard accepted her.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what full ride means anymore. Do you mean no tuition, but you’d still need to come up with $16,000 or so in room/board/personals/travel? Or do you mean you will have tuition/room/board/fees/personal/travel all paid for?</p>
<p>If full ride = tuition only, then Yale is a no-brainer. $22k vs. $16k is irrelevant in the larger picture.</p>
<p>If you mean $22k COA at Yale vs. $0 COA at BU, that is a more interesting trade-off.</p>
<p>I would ask the same question as DunninLA: does “full ride” at BU mean tuition/room/board/travel? If so, and if you have visited and otherwise like the school, go there. BU’s best students are as good as the most selective schools’ best students and you will get to spend four years living in Boston. You will be particularly competitive with respect to to your fellow students and - if/when you do very well during college - you will likely be accepted to an excellent graduate school (while saving close to $100,000). </p>
<p>I understand the “prestige” attraction associated with Yale or Stanford. However, make your decision based upon a logical - and not emotional - analysis. The long-seated paradigm of attending the most “prestigious” college possible and paying overly excessive fees for the privilege is rapidly losing favor among wiser consumers. Don’t let the envy and insecurities of other CC posters who were never able to get into Yale or Stanford cause you to spend a ridiculous and unnecessary sum of money on an undergraduate college eduction where you can obtain the same education for free.</p>
<p>texaspg, I am planning on asking both for more money, but I heard something about Yale and Stanford’s financial aid offers that alarmed me. I know that the offers are preliminary, but is it true that after you commit, they can ask you for even more financial information and adjust your aid package accordingly? Could my financial aid package be significantly increased after I accept the offer?</p>
<p>DunninLA, thank you so much for asking that question! I called BU to clarify and apparently, it is only a full-tuition scholarship. In this case, you are totally right, it would be 16K for BU vs. 22K for Yale, which makes it a much simpler decision.</p>