<p>I live in Massachusetts and got a full ride to UMass Amherst. However, I feel the school isn't a good fit for me because I am an intellectual at heart, I dislike its reputation of being "Zoomass", and also I want to pursue quantitative finance, i-banking or consulting in the future, and I feel having a degree from a state school would put me at a disadvantage because Wall Street firms care a lot about prestige and how smart their employees are.
I like Swarthmore a lot more because of its intellectual culture and rigorous education and class interactions which I'm sure would prepare me well in quantitative sciences.</p>
<p>However, I don't think Wall Street firms actively recruit at Swarthmore either, but even so I would probably get smarter and focus more on academics if I attend there.</p>
<p>My family can afford my education (there's enough money in the bank). So I won't go into heavy debt if I attend Swarthmore. </p>
<p>Economically speaking, my question is whether I would be better off in the long run with the better Swarthmore degree as opposed to having an extra 200k when I graduate from UMass? I feel a degree in the sciences from an elite institution could open doors, while a degree from a state flagship would be sort of run-of-the-mill and not help me get jobs.</p>
<p>On another note, I got accepted to the Honors college at UMass, so perhaps its wrong to assume I won't be as happy there even if the general stereotype of Umass isn't a good fit.</p>
<p>You could always ask each school’s career center to find out who comes recruiting for students in your major, and whether they have survey results of recent graduates by major.</p>
<p>However, $200,000 is a very large amount of money, and it is a rare situation that any school is worth that premium over a decently respectable state university.</p>
<p>First, check to see if UMass’ honors program currently has most/all classes exclusively/mostly with fellow honors students rather than having most with non-honors students. </p>
<p>However, if my older in-state cousin’s experience at UMass in the mid-late '80s still applies, UMass is not a good fit for students with a serious intellectual bent unless they can tolerate being with a student body mostly inclined towards obsessively and loudly concentrating on the popular partying/beer double major. </p>
<p>It was a key factor in why none of his younger siblings considered it seriously as anything beyond a last-ditch safety if they failed to get into anywhere else…a situation which fortunately didn’t materialize. It was also a reason why when one of those siblings suggested it after I was aware of their oldest brother’s experience and those of friends who attended on scholarships…I dismissed it out of hand as the kind of joke used by older siblings to tease younger ones. Especially considering their knowledge of my strong tendency to clash personalitywise with those obsessed with the party/beer double major in a college setting.</p>
<p>UMass would hardly be unique in having a lot of party/beer oriented students; most schools with substantial residential populations have plenty such students.</p>
<p>Given your interests and objectives I would vote for paying up for Swarthmore. Commonwealth College at UMass does offer some good opportunities and I know serious students attend. On the other hand, you are correct about the importance of prestige within Wall Street careers. Not to say that UMass grads can’t make it, it is just that they won’t have the benefits that Swarthmore grads have.</p>
<p>If your parents have the money in the bank, and it won’t create a financial burden, I think you’ll have a better educational experience at Swarthmore. My answer would be different if you had to take on a lot of debt.</p>
<p>I would just note that almost every kid who can get admitted to Swarthmore or similar schools can get substantial merit aid at state schools, including free rides.</p>
<p>While Wall Street firms may not actively recruit at Swarthmore (as in sending reps to interview students on campus), there are certainly a number of Swarthmore alums in finance and management consulting. The Swarthmore career center has been doing a better job of helping students get internships (including in NYC) and sponsoring trips for students to visit alums in finance in NYC. The track from Swarthmore to I-banking and finance may not be as well trod as it is from Amherst & Williams, but finance and management consulting firms do know about Swarthmore and will generally have great respect for a Swarthmore degree.</p>
<p>This is a decision you have to make with your family. I let my kids pick whatever school for whatever reason as long as it was under certain cost parameters, but also offered to split the savings with them. </p>
<p>Do try to be sensitive to any true financial issue that may be affecting your parents that they may not be sharing with you. Tell them you want this to be a family decision and to make it, you need to know how they truly feel.</p>
<p>Congratulations for having such a great choice.</p>
<p>Why not take the scholarship and take advantage of the consortium with UMass, Amherst and the others? I would guess that you would find plenty of like-minded kids at Amherst (the LAC), you can save your family a boat-load of money, and you will have a much broader cross-section of people with whom you can interact.</p>
<p>FWIW, a young man I know went to Swarthmore and because it was so small, he decided he would graduate early. My own daughter looked at Swarthmore and did not even apply because of the size. You, of course, knew the size when you applied and it must have been appealing to you. With the larger school and the five-school program, you would never run out of options to explore.</p>
Before you do that, do some research on how easy it actually is for kids at UMass to take classes at the other schools in the consortium. It may be a great opportunity, but it also may be that Amherst doesn’t make it easy.</p>
<p>If your parents are OK with you going to Swarthmore, I’d pick that as it sounds like a better fit for you, even though a fine education can be had at UMass. </p>
<p>My D also got a full ride from our state university (UVM, a nice school), because ever val in the state is offered that. UVM was not even on her list of schools (she had other safeties) because it was not a good fit for her and did not meet her selection criteria. She was one of 100 Honor students if she were to have attended. She chose Brown and having gone through Brown now, I would say it was a perfect fit for her and that was worth the money to me. The student bodies at the two schools are quite different and that is the same with Swat and UMass, and that is a big part of a learning environment.</p>
<p>PS: You mention that if you go to UMass, you will then have $200,000. Your parents would give you the money they would save on tuition? That would NOT be the case in my family. I offer to send them to whatever school they want to attend but don’t give them money for any cost differential. In fact, the money is not just sitting there in the first place and I have to take out loans for part of their educational costs, but even if I did have the money in the bank, I would not offer to give it to my kid for something else. My offer is not a dollar amount to my kids but rather my choice to pay for their educations.</p>
<p>If money is <em>truly</em> not an issue, then I wouldn’t turn down Swarthmore. It would be a wonderful experience as well as a wonderful education.
My son was also tempted with a full-ride scholarship to UMass (Lowell, not Amherst) complete with honors college, guaranteed internships etc. , but ultimately turned it down because he just didn’t like the school. Actually, we were more tempted than he was :-)</p>
<p>By full ride, I actually mean just full tuition. I still have to pay room and board which amounts to probably 40k in the long run.</p>
<p>Another thing though is that even though I’m not entirely dead-set on my career. I would want it to be something mathy, or possibly even sciencey, and I’m not sure whether my plans of being an econ/math major would change.</p>
<p>Swarthmore and UMass are really different schools. It sounds like you feel that Swarthmore is a better fit. If there are no issues with money (it doesn’t seem like it from what you’ve said), then I would go with Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Better check your numbers!!!
UMass “tuition” is tiny but they tack a ton of “Fees” on top. So if they are only giving you tuition, not tuition+Fees, then there is no reason for you to choose UMass!!!</p>
<p>I would like to throw two thoughts out there. First, I would very strongly encourage you to research your career prospects with a Swarthmore degree. I went to several “how to interview for a job in ___” workshops hosted by Haverford’s career development office, given by Philadelphia-based firms. And more than once did the workshop end with the lines, “We fill our entry-level positions exclusively from Princeton and Penn.” (I’ve heard this from finance, consulting and tech companies.)</p>
<p>Since you said that you might be interested in something mathy or sciency, I would also like to throw out there that liberal arts graduates seem to be at a distinct disadvantage for the competitive graduate programs in math and physics (can’t speak for other sciences). That’s because the strength of an applicant is largely measured by how advanced coursework they have completed, and the stronger math + physics majors at research universities have the opportunity to start taking graduate courses in their second or third year. Liberal arts college students do not have this opportunity. For example, the math graduate programs at Stanford, Princeton and MIT have not accepted a single liberal arts students for several years. (I am not counting myself as a liberal arts student here because I took 3 semester’s worth of graduate courses at Penn outside of the cross-registration agreement.)</p>
<p>That all being said, it sounds like Swarthmore is the better fit for you. I just wanted to caution you to invest a lot of money with the expectation that you’ll be set up for your first-choice career afterwards. Happiness might be worth the price though! :)</p>