<p>Umm.. well first of all I live in central Ohio, but I have family that lives in Seattle. I have always wanted to go to the University of Washington. It's just amazing to me. I loved the campus, their academics are perfect for me, I loved Seattle, I just loved everything about it. And I got my acceptance letter today!! =) I also was accepted to The Ohio State University. They were just supposed to be my back up because I only applied to 3 schools. I received another letter today from Ohio State offering me a full ride- full tuition, room, meal plan, books, supplies, and personal expenses. I never really planned on going to OSU, I always planned on going to UW. I was going to get my acceptance letter and move to the west coast. And if i didn't get accepted, then i was going to go to OSU. I never would have dreamed that something like this would come along. I don't know what kind of financial aid UW will offer me, but I know it wont be nearly as good since I'm an out of state student. I want to study chemical engineering and pre-med, and undergrad-wise both school are about equal. I know that for med school UW is much much better, but I dont know if they are more willing to accept their undergrads or undergrads from somewhere else. I'm freaking out now and I dont like it at all.. I'm extremely happy but this wasn't in my plan... Does anyone, especially parents, have any advice for me??</p>
<p>Congratulations! You must be a great student. Having 2 good options is a good problem to have.</p>
<p>What do your parents say? Do they have money saved to pay for college? Med school is very expensive, so getting your bachelor’s for free could be really beneficial.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, I’d suggest you try OSU for a year. If you really hate it, you could transfer to UW. But once you turn down a full-ride offer, it’s usually gone. I doubt they’d offer you that again as a sophomore.</p>
<p>Yes! Here’s one mom’s advice: you are in a very fortunate position of being able to go to an excellent school in the field you’re interested in, a school you would have been pretty happy to attend if your 1st choice didn’t pan out, and they are offering you a FULL RIDE!</p>
<p>You’ll be able to put all the saved $$$ toward med school.</p>
<p>To me, this is a no-brainer. Take the money!</p>
<p>Huge congratulations on your outstanding award at such an excellent school.</p>
<p>You can always look toward the Pacific NW for med school and/or your future life. For now, this $$$ deal is a dream come true. My advice is to take it!</p>
<p>Congratulations from me too! You need to talk to your parents. If money is no object and they don’t mind paying most of your out of state (and therefore HIGH) costs of attending UW, then you can still consider it.</p>
<p>However, you are indicating that you are interested in possibly premed. That being the case, you want to keep your undergrad debt to a bare minimum. OSU is offering you that chance…and as you know, it’s a fabulous school (UW is too). </p>
<p>Maybe you can wait and see what UW offers…and then go from there. We had a kiddo who did NOT go where the money was but we were able to fund her college costs. If we had not been in that position, she would have gone where she got the big money.</p>
<p>We dont have any money saved for college and cant really afford it… so i keep thinking about osu more and more… but i was so set on washington that this whole thing has me thrown off… my mom is fine with whatever i choose… but i really know she doesnt want me to go 2500 miles away… and i know chem e is a really expensive undergrad major… this whole thing has turned my world upside down… i mean im a good student… i have a 3.8 and i got a 32 on the ACT, but i wasnt a national merit finalist, actually i didnt even take the psat because i had swine flu, and im not in the top 10 or anything like that so i never expected to get something so big… its just making me very anxious, excited, and nervous all at the same time… and im freaking out. its really overwhelming.</p>
<p>When will you find out what, if anything, UW is willing to offer you?</p>
<p>i dont know… i just got my acceptance letter today and it said to expect a welcome packet within the next week… but i dont think any of their financial aid information comes in it… its sort of a wait and see type of thing =/</p>
<p>amanda, I am in total agreement with all the other posters. Go to OSU and don’t second-guess the decision. Congratulations on your accomplishments. There are so many kids who would love to have that same OSU offer as yours on the table. Good luck!</p>
<p>Take the scholarship. Full ride often comes with extra perks, and if you plan to go to medschool, you’ll need the money even more.</p>
<p>Btw, your flights from the west coast will add hundreds of $$ to your college cost if you choose that route.</p>
<p>Take the scholarship. Since your parents don’t have money saved for college, you would likely end up with quite a bit of debt if you choose UW. Then add Med. School debt and you would be swamped. The OSU scholarship could literally change your life.
Congratulations on such a great opportunity.</p>
<p>
Then what was the plan - loans? If you plan to do chemE then you’re probably pretty good at math so do some calculations to see how much it’ll actually cost at UW assuming full price OOS. After that, figure out how much med school at UW would cost. Now, consider how long it would take you to pay off the loans at some rate per month (ex: $1,000) for UW plus med school vs. OSU plus med school. There’ll likely be a significant difference.</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful advice guys! I know that OSU is the 100% most logical choice… its just that i loved everything about UW and being in seattle just made me a lot happier… im not sure what it was but i just felt so much more happier there… its just hard to let go.</p>
<p>Congratulations yet again.</p>
<p>Give yourself time to “feel the love” even more than you already do for OSU. Unless UW surprises you with huge $$, follow your logical self’s analysis.</p>
<p>With all of the saved money, you can go to UW for med school and/or visit Seattle several times between now and then. You can also live your whole life there… free of crushing debt.</p>
<p>Crushing debt is probably just an abstract notion to you right now… it’s hard for it to be anything else to an 18/19 year old. But, as ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad suggested, get out a spreadsheet. Calculate a likely income in your early post-grad years. Calculate expenses for rent/utilities/transportation/food/minimal clothing/health insurance/a little entertainment. Add in $700-$1000 per month student loan payment and see what it looks like. Probably looks like a lot of red ink.</p>
<p>Is it fair to assume that your package for the UW will be less, just because you’re out of state? I mean, I can see that, but I wouldn’t assume it until I saw the UW package.</p>
<p>That doesn’t solve your problem, but fwiw. </p>
<p>But is there some scenario where your WA state family could translate to in-state status?</p>
<p>I agree with the comments about debt; avoid it like the plague. But I would try to convince myself that I’ve done everything possible to keep both options alive.</p>
<p>This is not a good time to go to UW. HUGE budget cuts mean that the majority of students won’t finish in four years (that’s almost the case now). Classes will be much larger. There will be fewer research opportunities. </p>
<p>And if you can save $140k toward med school, you have no idea how much that is going to add to your quality of life in later years. </p>
<p>This one is a no-brainer to me, unless you are really loaded with dough.</p>
<p>Full ride at OSU is awesome. Congratulations!</p>
<p>mini is correct about the budget cuts at UW. It is a good school, and a great area to live in, but it’s not the best time. They’re unlikely to give you much aid (sorry; I hope I’m wrong!) Nothing about UW is so much better than OSU as to warrant giving up a full ride. Like any place, UW/Seattle have strong points and weak points.</p>
<p>Once you get your UW numbers, can you give yourself a chance to fall in love with OSU a bit more in person? Go for another visit and check out what interests you: the courses, the dorms, the sororities, theaters, … ? Talk to some professors. Spend the night. </p>
<p>I feel that the concept of “college fit” is often taken too far. It’s wonderful that kids are now able to think about so many aspects of a college and how it will fit them personally. Of course gut feeling is a part of this. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that there is only “one true fit”. I think that “fit” is best used to rule out major incompatibilities: a right wing college for a gay student, downtown New York city for someone who craves solitude and open spaces, a school that just doesn’t offer your major. </p>
<p>UW Medical School is higher ranked than its undergraduate programs. If you are still in love with Seattle in four years, come here then. </p>
<p>I bet that once you have a chance to sleep on this, if the UW numbers are as expected, you will know what you want to do.</p>
<p>If you would need to take out loans to go to UW, and there is no appreciable difference in quality of academics to justify the cost, I would choose OSU. This, to me as well, would be a no-brainer. Even more so if you plan to go to medical school…</p>
<p>Once you have spent your first semester at OSU, you’ll be a happy camper and all settled in with your new friends. Congrats!</p>
<p>Maybe you can go to UW for med school. I’m joining the chorus of you should take the free ride if med school is in your future. Be a bloom where you are planted person. :)</p>
<p>Joining the chorus…take the OSU full ride. 4 years may seem like an eternity now but it isn’t really much factoring in your life expectancy! You can start med school free of undergrad debt…and why pay so much more for what are essentially the same core classes? If you keep your vision clear and make the choices that will put you in Seattle in 4 years’ time, you’ll have a much greater chance to do what you really want than if you start out with the burden of debts (Like go off to help in another part of the world, live a little more comfortably, or just know that you aren’t adding to your parents’ debt load).</p>