Did you get into MIT or this is hypothetical? If you did and got no aid from MIT, it’s because your parents are wealthy/full pay. If so, ask them if 260k is worth it.
I say take the freebie at UMD. Graduate and get a job near Cambridge, MA, and have your employer pay for a MIT Masters degree.
This is a post by the parent. He has accepted that finances are an issue. The post is an attempt to assuage my guilt for not being able to give him everything he deserves. He is fine. Harvard called him today to accept him there. These are not hypotheticals. He has been accepted to all of them. I am excited and devastated at the same time.
Don’t feel devastated, feel PROUD! My D is graduating from UMD this year, with ZERO debt for her, and ZERO debt for me too. That’s a Good Feeling.
Thanks
The arguments @maryversity referred to are laid out beautifully by Malcolm Gladwell in a talk he gave at Google. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UEwbRWFZVc
I don’t think that MIT is worth $260,000 more. Also, note that MIT is quite academically demanding and even if it were the same price, you have to want to do it and you have to know why you are doing it. The very demanding workload at MIT for me was fine for a year or two. Over time it became tough for a very young student who didn’t know why he was doing it.
I did undergrad at MIT at full pay, and have thought ever since that it was a mistake. My alternative was geographically in the opposite direction from you (McGill), but was also a very good university at a very appealing price. The tuition at MIT of course has gone up enormously in the intervening years.
For undergrad, to me UMD looks like a very good choice. For free it looks like a superb choice. If a student does very well there (mostly A’s), then top graduate schools will be available.
@momtimesfour Thank you soooo much for finding that - it was driving me absolutely batty that I couldn’t remember the name Malcolm Gladwell!
Thank you for sharing the talk. It was very helpful.
@maryversity You’re welcome! Fun that he uses UMD as an example!
A girl in my son’s HS class (2012) was accepted to MIT and other amazing schools. She chose UMD honors. I don’t know if she got BK or not, but she did very well
Take the free ride and become a Terp.
UMD is fantastic, especially for CS/engineering. It might not carry the name that MIT does, but it feels great to go to school for free, especially if you might be considering going to grad school. Lots of companies around here/in DC recruit specifically UMD students and I know many people that have worked for Facebook/Google/100k+ salaries from the CS department here
Disagree that no one knows MD has engineering; if you’re in the field, you know MD is very good.
I’m a parent and my DS has committed to UMD. I would not want to saddle myself or my student with 200K+ in student debt. It’s a very unfortunate situation to be in starting a professional life… Someone wrote earlier that having a 200K student loan is no big deal when you’ve got an MIT degree. I wholeheartedly disagree.
For CS, the school you went to for your undergraduate degree will quickly lose importance. You will be evaluated by what have done on the job, how well you take on new assignments, and how you function on multi-member, multi-discipline team assignments. Communication skills will become increasingly important. I say this based on my own experience.
I don’t know if it helps your decision, but my son’s friend who is a CS major will be STARTING out making $120,000 per year, working for a known company in the DC area.
No school in a world worth going into debt. Even MIT. If you have funds to send him there without debts it is completely different story. My DD is attending MIT as a full pay. She is also a CS major. It was a very difficult decision two years ago. PM me if you have any questions.