Hello, I am a rising senior about to apply to colleges. I fell in love with Northwestern when I first heard of it and still have been in love with it. I was planning on applying for Early Decision since I know the acceptance percentage is higher however, I know with my parents’ incomes I wouldn’t receive financial aid. I was wondering if going for Industrial Engineering would be worth it since I also plan on going to grad school for an MBA but don’t know if the cost will soon add up and I will be swimming in debt. I really want to go but I know if I do Early Decision I have no other choice but to go, even if I realize the cost is too much.
My brother goes to Georgia Tech and I live in Texas so another option would be either to go to A&M for one year (auto-admit) and transfer to Georgia Tech through the Conditional Transfer Pathway for my second through four year.
Please let me know if you think Northwestern is worth the money especially if I plan to get an MBA, and I don’t want to be stuck with crippling debt but also don’t want to have future regrets or "what if"s.
All three are excellent schools. No wrong choice including 4 years at Texas A&M.
Most selective MBA programs strongly prefer those with 2 to 5 years of post undergraduate work experience, but for one planning on attending graduate school, the less debt from undergrad years the better.
So it comes down to what your parents can afford. For industrial you “might” not need an MBA. My son’s at Michigan for Industrial and it doesn’t appear that it is actually helpful so keep that in mind. But I would go to the less expensive college for Industrial and then pick whatever school for graduate school. As you know GT is ranked 1 in Industrial. But Texas AM and Northwestern are right up there also.
MBA are expensive… Keep that in mind. If money is no object then pick a school that you can see yourself succeeding in. All will be challenging.
Don’t assume you won’t get any financial aid. NU does give a range. Also, NU will left you off the hook on ED if you can’t attend for financial reasons.
You fell in love with a school when you first heard of it? Ummm.
Have you run the NPCs from the school’s website to see how much it will likely cost to go there? You need to get some hard numbers on income and assets from your parents. Also, what will they pay? If there is a large gap between what NW expects your family to pay, and what your parents are willing and able to pay, you can’t afford NWU unless you find that pot of gold st the end of the rainbow. NW does not give out merit money, so it’s financial aid or nothing from them. These are hard facts.
If it looks like the numbers are doable at NWU, go on ahead and apply ED, filling out FAFSA and CSS PROFILE, getting that financial aid application as well. You’ll get a financial aid package along with an acceptance if things go that way. If you can’t afford what the aid offers to bring down the cost, you can legitimately be released from ED .
As for the other venues, yes, you can apply to whatever schools you wish. In fact you can apply early to Georgia Tech and TAMU early along with NWU and mix and match as you please. You can make these decisions once all the cards that are left are on the table.