<p>Decision time is just around the corner, and I am having trouble making a final decision, so advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>I want to study business and engineering. I got a Johnson Scholarship at Washington and Lee in Lexington, which is a full ride for all four years, and I got into the M&T program at Penn, but received no financial aid. My family has already appealed our status to the financial aid office, with no luck, and the money from outside scholarships will be minimal. My parents do not want to have to take out loans because I won't have money left for grad school, I will graduate with debt, and I have two younger siblings. Is it worth taking loans to cover the cost, or should I take the full ride to W&L? Even though W&L's program is nowhere near the status of the M&T program, the school is small enough that I could easily double major there, too. I could see myself at both schools, but I think Penn's environment and program make it a better fit for me.</p>
<p>Its a biased answer, but choose M&T. You dont have to go to grad school right after. Get a job on wall street or big Fortune100 companies for a few years, pay off debt.
The amount of recruiting at Penn is amazing. Plus, the ivy name brand will be there for life.</p>
<p>Go to Penn. We only end up regretting the things we don’t do, not the ones we did. And your post seems to indicate that if money weren’t an issue you’d go to Penn. Seriously, go to Penn, take out some loans, and Hakuna Matata! :D</p>
<p>I think the real question is how much your parents can actually afford to pay. If you’re willing to do banking for a few years after college (~90-100 hour workweeks, no time to spend the money…some people do really like banking, I am just very anti-banking) and pay off the loans your parents take out, then I would say M&T. Otherwise, if money is a serious issue and you’re worried about your siblings, etc., then with WashLee.</p>
<p>Also, do you seriously want to go to grad school? Is there a specific engineering major you want to do a masters or phd in? If that’s the case, I would probably saw WashLee. If it’s just an option you’re throwing out there, well…yeah. Also, you said you’re interesting in engineering and business…do you have any ideas what you actually want to do? That might help with any advice.</p>
<p>Honestly, the bigger question is what you want out of college. Washington and Lee is EXTREMELY different than Penn… if you want a lot of personal attention from professors, go to W&L, since you just won’t get it your first few years at Penn (not at the level you would get at a very small school). You are also talking about the difference between Lexington and Philadelphia. W&L has a strict honor code which involves expulsion for things like stealing, and it is deeply embedded in culture at the school; Penn is just the opposite (partially because of the fact that it is in the big city), where students are warned to protect their belongings at all times.</p>
<p>Once you know what school you would go to if given the choice, you need to ask yourself how you make it work. If you want to go to W&L, you’re all set. If you want to go to Penn, you need to consider whether it is financially feasible to do it. If you do not want to graduate with a lot of loan debt, which is reasonable, Penn probably isn’t the right place for you. It is very easy to say that Penn pays for itself, but the reality is that it is VERY significant to come out of college debt free, regardless of what kind of job you may have (and, of course, W&L is a very good school, so job prospects are good there too!)</p>
<p>If you are looking to do grad school for engineering, you are going to get paid to go to grad school (at least for PhD programs and if you only want a masters, you can start in the PhD program and jump ship with a masters after two years XD)</p>
<p>If you want to do an MBA, money is also not really an issue because:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You won’t really need an MBA after Wharton.</p></li>
<li><p>If you really do want that MBA darn it, go work for a bank or consulting firm for a couple of years and get paid to go back and do an MBA.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>While I have a student at W&L, I generally offer the same advice. The U.S. is a brand conscious society so the “higer quality” brand is usually useful throughout adult life. W&L will give you a strong in-classroom experince but Penn simplyy has a bigger name and does what you seem to wan to do in a way that fits easily. Th.ey are an apple and orange experince-wise.</p>