<p>Ok here's the scenario...</p>
<p>My decision has come down to two schools. </p>
<p>1st school:
I first visited Washington University in St. Louis last spring and have loved it since I first stepped on campus. I have been back 4-5 times and fall in love even more each time I am there. I am going to major in economics and go on to grad school to obtain a dual MBA/JD degree. Also, I will have the opportunity to play for the Bears Women's Basketball Team which has been a DIII powerhouse for over 20 years. I love the coaches, the team, and everyone I have met at WashU. It has pretty much been a dream of mine for the last year to attend WashU. I have gotten a pretty good financial aid package but it will still cost me $20,000 a year to attend.</p>
<p>2nd school:
On March 23, I was awarded one of the most prestigious scholarships in the state of Indiana. This scholarship is a four-year full-tuition scholarship to any accredited public or private university in the state of Indiana. If I choose to stay in Indiana, I will attend DePauw University. DePauw is a great school and has a strong reputation for its economics department. I went down to visit this week and was accepted into the Management Fellows Program. This is a prestigious program that will ensure me an awesome internship and great connections upon graduation. Also at DePauw, I will have the opportunity to play basketball. They also are DIII and ironically beat WashU in the national championship game (so no matter what I will be playing at an awesome and well-respected program). Now that I've had the opportunity to visit DePauw, I now love the coaches, the team, and everyone I have met there as well. If I chose to attend DePauw, I will be making money, because I was awarded a $17,000 scholarship before I received the full-ride. I have talked to my parents and it sounds like I will be able to pick out any new car I would like if I choose to attend DePauw also.</p>
<p>I just wanted to get some imput while I was making my decision.
DePauw or WashU??
At WashU I will come out with close to $80,000 in loans, at DePauw I will have nothing to pay at all.
Which one of these schools sounds like the better choice and opportunity?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.</p>
<p>You plan to get an MBA/JD after undergrad. That will involve a LOT of debt if your family can't/won't pay your way. Add 80K to that and you will be stressing after grad school--even at top pay scales for JDs (and if you don't come out of very top Law School or at the tippy top of your class at a less renowned school, you'll be making significantly less). </p>
<p>I'd go with the money given that you like the school. (Exception is if you know that you will get into Harvard Law/MBA or the like--then you could pay down the loans quickly enough.)</p>
<p>Finally, instead of a new car, you might want to invest the money to have more on hand when you start professional school.</p>
<p>Ya I would advise DePauw as well. Just make sure that you can get to a favorable institution after graduating. Good luck!</p>
<p>Just to make your decision more difficult, I'd say go w WUSTL. As I've told my daughter, first priority is to go to a school you LOVE. Why? You're more likely to excel at a school in which you're 100% emotionally invested. Second priority is go to the best school (academically) you can get in to. Why? Better salary when you get out, better chance at top grad schools, and, uh, better education. For you, that's WUSTL on both counts. Sounds like you're enough of a top student that finances 15-20 years down the road are not likely to be a big problem.</p>
<p>Go to DePauw. WashU isnt worth 80k</p>
<p>Plymouth: It's not that WashU is not worth the extra $80,000 in cost (I believe it is) but I don't believe it's worth an extra $80,000 in debt. That's just way too much debt to take on for UG education when you have an "great" alternative and you plan to continue for an advanced degree. Maybe you could renegotiate your package with WashU, but if not, go to DePauw and through yourself into the experience there and it will be worth coming out of college debt free.</p>
<p>I think you should call Wash U's financial aid office and ask them for a break on tuition(?) You never know. They might be willing to help you out.
Wash U is a great school.</p>
<p>Haha....good luck getting more money out of WashU...I had no such luck.</p>
<p>Don't go into that amount of debt. You don't need the stress. DePauw.</p>
<p>I wonder aloud why OP didnt pick Notre Dame? Perhaps a personal choice. But interesting OP picked DePauw.</p>
<p>Its about FIT and that means fit with the school (will you like your professors, are they approachable and down to earth, or are they publishing profs who dont like to hang with students and hate answering undergraduates questions, will you fit into the student body...are they like YOU or are they something else and you feel like a stranger in a strange land....socially, academically, emotionally, spiritually, financially...etc etc....are they frenetic and all caught up in themselves and narcissistic and cut-throat or are they laid back, helpful,, friendly, balanced. Are the kids your intellectual equals or are they above or below you by a large measure?</p>
<p>Will you be challenged or bored? Will you be stuck in a library for 12 hours a day and trying your level best to avoid a bunch of C's, or will you be working hard and playing hard and making A's or B's?</p>
<p>These are rhetorical questions for everyone. And everyone has a different response and ultimate conclusion.</p>
<p>Some kids prefer to be challenged more, even if its more competitive and frenetic. Some prefer to have a life and be happy and make better grades. </p>
<p>Where do YOU feel like you fit in the best? Good luck.</p>
<p>Why not Kelly business school at Indiana? But I don't know if these are options. I wouldn't worry about fit as much as I'd worry about the money.</p>