I was accepted to Bard College and the Macaulay Honors program at Hunter college.
Bard has given me a significant amount of financial aid.
I’d be able to go to Hunter college for free. 100%. All expenses paid. I would rather not stay in the city and am not a giant fan of lecture courses, which there will be some of at Hunter and none of at Bard.
I plan on going to graduate school. Would the Honors program at a public college give me an advantage? Is it more prestigious than a small liberal arts school? Where are there better opportunities?
Can you/your parents afford to pay for Bard with no debt? If not, I would take Macaulay and save your money for grad school. Both are great options, and both will get you into a great grad school and give you great career options. Macaulay has a great rep in the NYC area, and it’s very prestigious in its own right.
What kind of grad school? PhD students generally get free tuition and a living stipend — so while it isn’t a lot, you get paid to go to school, TA, and research. But if you are looking at an MBA, law school, med school, or some kind of master’s degree, you probably will have to pay.
I don’t know Hunter and its Honors program - but I do know that Letters of Recommendation are very important for admission to PhD programs - and that often in a smaller college setting the relationship between the students and professors is more intimate and close - in other words, the professor writing your letter might know you better than if they have hundreds of students. But, as I said, I don’t know the Honors Program at Hunter - it’s quite possible it operates like a small college within a larger university and you would have the same benefit of close relationships with your professors.
Students at larger institutions can get great letters of recommendation; you may have to put a little more work into establishing and maintaining the relationship. But the truth is most students at larger public universities are entering career fields in which having strong relationships with professors isn’t necessarily a plus, so not everyone is competing for the attention. (My office hours at a large, prestigious research university were often lonely, despite encouraging students to come ask questions about grad school or careers and life if they wanted.)
I don’t think Macaulay is necessarily more prestigious than Bard, but you could get into graduate school from either. Really, it’s about fit and cost. Lots of college students change their plans significantly or delay graduate school, so I wouldn’t rely too heavily on those making the choice for you. Still, having less debt gives you more options in the future. It could mean being able to attend a more expensive graduate program, taking a lower-paying job that’s a better opportunity for your career (or that you just like better), or taking a fellowship after college and not worrying about interest accruing.
Run the numbers carefully here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml
Don’t forget to include your own best estimates for travel expenses, clothing, etc. If you and your parents would end up with more than the standard federal student loans worth of debt for Bard, it probably is not a good choice. Macaulay has a very strong reputation, and can get you wherever it is you want to go. So don’t worry it that ends up being your only real option.
In response to SpiritManager, this is a really great point that I hadn’t considered. Thank you!
Happymomof1, set my mind at ease a bit. Thanks for the link.