<p>OK, here’s my situation. I got accepted to Villanova, Northeastern, Wake Forest, Syracuse (Newhouse), and Loyola College. I’m scratching Villanova, Syracuse and Loyola off my list because I didn’t get enough aid (merit and need) to make it financially feasible. I really am not 100% sure what I want to do career-wise, but I’m leaning towards communications or psychology (I know they don’t typically lead to high paying jobs). I’ve taking all the tough math and science courses and done very well, but I just don’t enjoy them. I graduated with a 3.7 UW and 4.0 W, with 1340 on SATs (M & CR).</p>
<p>So here I am with my list down to Wake Forest and Northeastern. With Merit aid from NEU I can finish school with no debt, while WF will cost a bit more and will leave me with about $24,000 in loans after four years. I know they are two very different schools. NEU has the co-op, 5yr program, in a great college city, beautiful urban campus, cold winters, reputation on the rise, larger classes that can get impersonal, etc… WF has smaller classes with greater access to profs, beautiful suburban campus, warmer weather, rated much higher than NEU (whatever that’s worth). At NEU I would be in the top 20% of the freshman class based on my stats, while at WF I would be right around the 50th percentile. While I think I could be successful and learn to like either school, I just had this feeling that WF was perfect for me.</p>
<p>My questions for whoever would be grateful to help:</p>
<li>Do you think the difference between WF and NEU is worth the $24,000 in loans?<br></li>
<li>How much should my “feeling” weigh in on my decision?</li>
<li>Given that I am not certain about my major, is one school better than the other if I change my mind?</li>
</ol>
<p>Where do you live, Ques? Or where do you think you want to live after graduation? A Wake degree will carry more weight in the South, and (I'm speculating now) a NEU degree will carry more weight in the North, that might figure into you "is it worth it" decision.</p>
<p>$24,000 over 10 years at 7% is $278.66 each month. Only you can figure out whether it is worth it. It's not an outrageous amount.</p>
<p>If you are in the coop program, you will be paid for your time. How that figures into what you might owe or not owe or save I don't know (you probably should), but you should take that into consideration.</p>
<p>also think about what kinda of college experience is important to you. For example, WF has D1 sports and a greek scene, which is very attractive to some, but that may not be of interest to you. OTOH, the Coop program could give you real world experience and a job to put on your resume. As mini notes, only you and your family can answer the worthiness question.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your responses, it's definitely helping me to think through this!</p>
<p>NewHope33: What does Q.E.D mean?</p>
<p>Cangel: I'm from the north. Do you think most people in the north don't know much about WF or it's reputation? Is NEU as strong in the north as WF is in the south then? Now I'm a little worried if people won't see as much value in WF if I look for employment in the north. Although, I feel it's also about my personal experience and development, and not all about reputation of a college as I seek employment. Thanks again for your help!</p>
<p>Q.E.D. is abbreviation for latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum" (which has been demonstrated). It is commonly used to mean "and this is the proof." Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>How much of your financial aid is need-based rather than merit at each school? I would have your parents call the financial aid office at Wake since that has a need based component. . Find out what typically occurs on need based aid over four years. If your income and assets stayed the same, is it likely either one would give you fewer grants and more loans with each passing year? Will additional aid that you qualify for based on tuition, room, board increases from year to year likely be met with more loans? That happens at some schools and could make a difference. </p>
<p>While I am not a big fan of 18 year old taking on a lot of debt, $8000 per year is certainly doable, even in a lower paying job. Means you'll have to give up the bigger apartment and new car right after you graduate but won't mean you have to move back home. And, if you really like Wake a lot better, you could always try to RA a year or two to get the loan amounts down. Also, I would at least see if Wake would increase grant amount over loan or something by just a little based on other money you received at NEU. Two possible outcomes of asking, one leaves you were you are and one puts you in a better position.</p>
<p>Ques1, my D is at Northeastern, so please don't interpret this as a criticism of NEU. Everything you said about NEU is true - but most of the students there are pretty clear about their direction. They tend to go into business, engineering, computer science, and pre-med/health related fields. Most of the students at NEU are pre-professional, you don't get a sense there that the students are looking for a very broad, liberal-arts type of education. And that may be the precisely the direction you should pursue: you have varied interests, are good in both humanities and math, and you aren't sure what you want to ultimately study. You seem to be the type of student who'd thrive in a school that offers lots of different choices of majors and opportunities. </p>
<p>Go with your gut -- WF may be the better fit.</p>
<p>As a northerner I would say that Wake is far better known even in the north than Northeastern is, and I would say that people in the north who have heard of Northeastern probably don't think as highly of it as they do of Wake (assuming they have heard of Wake). </p>
<p>If the finance are not a huge obstacle I think Wake is far preferable academically and also ikely to be more fun for the reasons mentioned by other posters.</p>
<p>First congrats! You managed to put some great options n the table for yourself. Second, have you called the fin aid depts at Loyola, Syracuse and Villanova to tell them about the offers from Wake? They might match them.</p>
<p>Third, have you visited Wake? A visit might be very worthwhile. Wake has a fairly conservative reputation and attracts a fairly mainstream kind of kid--has been my single data point observation.</p>
<p>NEU attracts a wider type of personality.</p>
<p>But there are no bad choices here. $24K of debt is doable on any salary above $30K IMO--although it would be tought to swing on a $30K salary in the city of NYC, WASH DC or Boston--where your housing costs will be high.</p>
<p>In your ideal job--what would you be doing? If you are going to take on debt, you need to focus more on where and when you'll start working....</p>
<p>Just a quick note: make sure that in figuring your total debt, you are not simply looking at the first year aid package. You can expect the amount of loans in your financial aid package to be at least $5000 over and above that because of increases in the maximum available Stafford loans in subsequent years:</p>
<p>So the total amount of debt that is attributable to Stafford loans is probably $19,000 over 4 years. </p>
<p>Also, most colleges expect students' earning capacity to increase over the years, so the expected student contribution from summer earnings tends to go up as well.</p>
<p>From my own experience, Wake Forest has the better reputation for liberal arts; NEU's Coop program is great for students who want to go into certain fields where paid internships are available (engineering and various technical fields). But for others, it may not be as good a fit.
Re the loans, is WF expecting you to work to cover some of them? Or would you able to repay some by working during the school year and the summer?</p>
<p>Keepmesane: Thanks for the advice - I will suggest that to my father.</p>
<p>katliamom: I kind of knew that NEU co-ops are really geared for engineering, business, computer science. I did speak with the co-op counselor for communications and she made it sound like there were good co-ops for that too. I do think it is stronger in the fields that you mentioned. All very good points - thanks!</p>
<p>Cheers: Yes, I have visited both Wake (once) and NEU (twice). I will be visiting again in the this month. I'm a pretty straight student and not really on the wild side, so Wake's reputation as conservative doesn't scare me. I like having a good time, but don't see myself drinking in college. Not sure about my ideal job, I wish I knew.</p>
<p>Calmom: Yes the $24,000 factors in an increasing amount of loans over time. I may need to take slightly more than the stafford allowed (in other loans).</p>
<p>Originally lived in the Midwest and never heard of Northeastern (except for the low ranked state college nearby) until D's college search. But heard about WF. It was always highly regarded, perhaps only becasue of their basketball teams, but still respected.</p>