<p>And you can transfer if wherever you go doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>Research by Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger indicates that, with the exception of students from low-income families, most students will have approximately the same future incomes whether they chose to attend a more selective or a less selective college. Any observed income differences are mostly attributable to selection effects (the result of admitting more talented, motivated students) not treatment effects (the result of better academic programs).
<a href=“http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/dalekrueger_More_Selective_College.pdf”>http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/dalekrueger_More_Selective_College.pdf</a></p>
<p>There may be other benefits to attending a more selective school, but earning more money apparently isn’t one of them. Nor have I seen any convincing evidence that attending a more selective/prestigious college, per se, significantly boosts your chances in medical or law school admissions. Law and med school admissions mostly come down to GPA and test scores. </p>
<p>By the way, Boston College claims to meet 100% of demonstrated need. So if there is a gap as large as $25K between your Expected Family Contribution ($40K) and what your parents are actually able/willing to pay ($15K), it’s possible that no other expensive private school would have offered enough need-based aid to close that gap. A good strategy would have been to focus on schools with low sticker prices (like your in-state public universities) or schools with generous merit aid for students with your stats. If you were accepted to Rutgers and can afford it, that’s a very good outcome for your situation (especially considering its apparent strengths in biology and CS).</p>
<p>how about tcnj. In state for you and probably has the more studious student body you are looking for.</p>
<p>TCNJ wouldn’t be very good for CS, though. </p>
<p>To those of us not in NJ, Rutgers is perceived as a fine school. </p>
<p>Remember that at Rutgers there are going to be plenty of people just like you. My bf in college had a full ride to Notre Dame. She didn’t go bc she didn’t like the vibe and instead went to state school Purdue. Went on to med school; she was admitted to Duke. Decided to stay close to home and went to IUPUI. She’s a successful Dr. Rutgers is a fine choice. Be proud. </p>
<p>Rutgers isn’t unknown. Which is to say that even I have heard of it, even before I started coming here and researching schools high on this us news list which I had never heard of before. (I had heard of the high school list and how wonky it was, rating on how many APs a student takes, not how many they pass… but nevermind…)</p>
<p>Anyhow. I would add into your thought process thinking through whether you would want to take a gap year in order to get high merit aid at some schools, like Alabama, to save the money for grad school, under the fairly well accepted rationale that for grad schools, high grades at a good school are better than mid level/lower grades at an ivy league school, anyhow… or to get a different college list together you could more realistically afford, if you really decide you want to go in a different direction. As they are noting in another thread on here (check out one called something like ‘did I really cost myself tens of thousands of dollars?’) only freshmen get the really big tuition deals on merit awards. If you take a gap year and actually use it to improve your resume you would also be better positioned for other colleges that give merit aid. Note, I am not suggesting you SHOULD take a gap year, I actually think Rutgers is a decent school, always have. However, if YOU are concerned, you should look into all options before you foreclose some by ‘having too many credits’ or no longer entering as a freshman.</p>
<p>I was actually surprised at how good Alabama seems from looking into it. I had never heard of it, from the west coast, and honestly, if I were my sons, I’d be seriously considering it (unfortunately it looks like the ‘wrong one’ of them might have gotten the scholarship so I don’t know if that is going to happen, but it depends on where the other one gets in at this point, likely.) Amongst other things, they seem VERY accommodating to honors students in terms of career help, you name it. And they are far more highly rated than I would have thought for a school I hadn’t heard of, but that only shows what can happen in a generation when you aren’t paying attention to college rankings. And they seem to have plenty of money from being the flagship of their state forever, while other state universities have been cutting to the point of requiring students to have an entrepreneurial nature to get an education. But while theirs is the richest package (full tuition and fees at Tuscaloosa, the one I’d consider, although you might get free room and board as well at one of the others) it is not the only merit money college around. For your own peace of mind I would suggest thinking through the options so whichever way you decide to go, you don’t feel later as if you missed out on considering an opportunity.</p>
<p>The application deadline for Rutgers SAS Honors was Dec. 1. Notification of admission to Honors is included with admission to the University. The OP’s stats are not a slamdunk for that program, although it partly depends on where he went to high school. Also, SUNY Binghamton merit scholarships are primarily for NY residents, and there is no tuition reciprocity between NJ and NY: the OP would be paying OOS for any SUNY and that’s not a great bargain.</p>
<p>It’s February and that’s generally too late to apply for really big competitive merit scholarships. OP, unless you are prepared to take a gap year, I think you should go to Rutgers. Forget what ignorant kids in your high school say. They don’t know anything, and at any rate, they aren’t going to pay your loans. You can get a perfectly good experience and education at Rutgers. It’s a big place and you’ll never see your HS acquaintances unless you want to.</p>
<p>And keep in mind that even if you don’t attend your “dream school” that there are tons of people your age who would give almost anything for a four year debt free college education in the US. Just continue to work hard, appreciate what you have, and you will be fine!</p>
<p>To be honest, if you want to major in computer science, eventually you’ll land a smack good job (it’s basically the top 1 or 2 number job when it comes to pay for recent majors that people are taking) so if anything, you could take on the debt and pay it back off later. Working also helps, ask the school if they could do some type of work-school aid type of thing. </p>
<p>Weighted gpa doesn’t get the high merit aid. You stats are good and you got fair aid. But if you want to go to a high cost school take the loan. Your unweighted is what? </p>
<p>goto community college, save yourself two years of tuition and the apply for transfer. </p>