<p>I have a prestigious full-ride scholarship lined up at a state-school with a decent bioengineering program, but I could just as well go to the BME program at Hopkins. The thing is, at Hopkins I would graduate with five-figure debt. I love the Hopkins campus and the research going on there, but is it worth the cost? I'm also considering going to medical school afterwards.</p>
<p>Just ask if you want anymore details, and thanks for any input.</p>
<p>How big is the five figure debt? </p>
<p>Also, I don’t think that scholarships/honors colleges confer any substantial prestige.</p>
<p>Have you visited both?</p>
<p>If so, what are your impressions of both?
I think that if you can really see yourself enjoying the other college almost as much or just as much as Johns Hopkins as an experience as a whole, you should take the scholarship.
If you think you will enjoy Hopkins more and will get more out of Hopkins, you need to see if it’s worth that amount of money extra.</p>
<p>The debt would be around 20k. The scholarship is given to only 12 students a year and is worth over 80k.</p>
<p>I think my education would be pretty much the same, except that Hopkins has a far nicer campus and has a reputation (does this even matter for grad school?)</p>
<p>20k over four years?!? HOPKINS.</p>
<p>I’m choosing state school over ~100k to hopkins.</p>
<p>Yeah, but wouldn’t the 80k I could save be put to good use in medical school? It’s more than just 20k in debt. It’s the loss of 80k in payment ability later on. That’s the true cost in my case. So is it still worth it?</p>
<p>I have been admitted to Copper Union, full tution paid and no scholarship from JHU for BME program. I would be paying about 170K more over a period of four years at JHU. Is it really worth it?</p>
<p>^^^
That’s a complete no-brainer. Go to Cooper Union.</p>
<p>Thanks roberthhid,
anybody has any comment on Cooper’s reputation, not many people know about this school</p>
<p>I’ve heard great things about Cooper here in Canada ! Congrats !!</p>
<p>Cooper Union is highly respected, particularly for its architecture and engineering programs. In your case, go to Cooper Union.</p>
<p>yea cooper union is pretty well regarded. definitely not worth paying that much for JHU.</p>
<p>Not to deviate too much from the OP’s thread, but I was curious as to any opinions about saving $90,000 by going to Case Western Reserve University over Johns Hopkins, both for BME programs? Is JHU worth the additional $90,000?</p>
<p>JHU is not 170k better than Cooper Union unless you really dislike CU for some region. 90k is a closer deal, and I might pick JHU in your situation, but it would be really close. </p>
<p>These threads are really disheartening to me. It looks like JHU would have a respectable yield and a much lower admissions rate if it could supply some decent financial aid. In most of the Hopkins vs. XYZ threads I see, Hopkins loses because of money.</p>
<p>yes, It is disheartening for me also to not be able to go to JHU because of financial reasons.
I wish/hope someone from JHU is reading these threads.</p>
<p>My dad talked with the financial guys today over at JHU when we visited and basically, when JHU calculates financial aid, it uses its own formulas that consistently has a higher EFC than that the FAFSA formula results in. 
JHU financial aid is less than wonderful. Still an amazing place though.</p>
<p>^Really? What bothered me is that my efc from JHU pretty much perfectly matched my FAFSA efc with no deviation. In turn that meant that my appeal (which was actually pretty compelling) was rejected about a day after they got it. :\ Its sad, cause a 6k/year change would have probably convinced me to go.</p>
<p>I agree. I hope someone at Hopkins is reading this because their inability to compensate financially is the very reason that I am not attending. I can graduate with over 100,000 in debt and go to Hopkins, or I can go to another GREAT school for 11,000 per year and graduate with almost no debt at all. I think I’ll take debt freedom - even if it means I don’t get the Hopkins education.</p>
<p>JHU offered only one third of the need-based package I got from a top LAC. It doesn’t even seem worth calling to find out why Hopkin’s package was so much smaller. So no contest, I’ll go with the LAC or a merit scholarship somewhere else. I thought Hopkins was such a wealthy U, but I guess they don’t like to share it.</p>
<p>While it irks me to see you guys having to reconsider JHU due to financial constraints, do realize it is not the university’s fault. JHU is trying to rectify the undergraduate aid problem through the current fundraising drive. Yes, JHU like other privates has a sizable endowment. However, many of you don’t realize the endowment funds are a safety net and are earmarked for graduate programs, research, faculty funding in addition to undergraduate aid. It’s not like Hopkins can dip into the endowment and increase undergraduate aid randomly (the people who donate to the endowment specify their donations for specific purposes). So no, Hopkins isn’t being purposely stingy. Rich privates are known sometimes for varying aid (see similar threads on Northwestern’s board, Wustl’s board, and brown’s board).</p>
<p>Hopkins is an investment. My family and I (I did internships over the summer) paid about 80k while I had full rides to decent state schools (Jefferson finalist at UVa before I dropped UVa, Meyerhoff at UMBC, Banneker Key at UMaryland). It is an investment, but in the end it paid off for me and all of my friends. Sure you can go to a state school and save your money (and I agree with this if it’s a significant amount. But when you’re talking 20k (you’ll make more than this during college via summer internships and outside scholarships you will win later in college)…good luck having to graduate at the top of your class to try to gain acceptance to Ph.D programs harder to get into than undergrad (Cornell for structural engineering had an acceptance rate of 4% when I applied for a fully funded Ph.D.; I was informed of similar statistics when I went to MIT and Stanford for grad admitted visitations). It’s brutal for economics, biology, physics, and math programs as well. I earned back that 80k and more during my time at grad school through the stipends I was paid. Some of my state school friends who had full rides through undergrad weren’t as fortunate (try paying 70k out of pocket for a stanford master’s after not being admitted into the single digit selective Ph.D. programs, I guess collegeconfidential’s advice of saving for grad school applies after all…;)). Hopkins is an investment, but it will pay dividends in the end. I’m not an isolated case, my friends are all at top notch grad programs and are at jobs they enjoy.</p>