It's been a month and I still have no idea where to go, please help :(

College Search & Selection
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I’m currently deciding between UT Austin and Emory, and honestly, I think I love Emory more. However, I did receive a scholarship that gives me 7.5k a year for 8 years, which includes medical school, but I can only get the money if I go to UT. For now, this brings the gap between UT and Emory to around 4k. However, my mom got a better job, so I plugged in some numbers on the npc and the second year at Emory might have a gap of 10k. After further estimation, the third year had a gap of 6k (I don’t know why it decreased, I’m guessing I did something wrong).

So basically, the total difference is around 20k, adding up all four years of undergrad. Which is a pretty significant difference. Is Emory worth the additional cost, especially if I want to go premed? I know Emory is far better than UT in the natural sciences, and I love how many resources there are, plus the close proximity to atl and other fun cities. I guess one point that can help me is that UT originally cost 26k, which is around the highest I’d pay for Emory, and my parents were willing to pay full cost for UT. For a cost of 25k, my parents would take out loans of about 15k (this is without me working, so basically freshman year).

I’ve noticed that there’s some posts with similar situations to mine with schools and all that, would anyone mind helping out? Thanks so much in advance!

Also, unfortunately I can’t visit Emory because plane tickets are too expensive. I have talked to several people though, and it seems to fit me pretty well? And while as of now I love Emory more (I’ve been switching back and forth between UT’s cost and familiarity with Emory’s resources and education), my doubts are creeping back in about my ability to handle the courseload.

May 1 is coming up fast, any replies would be a godsend :) thank you!!

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My opinion is 20k is an insignificant difference over 4years.

I doubt that Emory sciences are that much better than Texas. However, Emory is small and private, Texas is large and impersonal (but lots of alumni). Texas has sports. Austin is a better college town. Emory has the better campus. And Emory is known for its premed. Two very different schools both with advantages. That’s tough.

You should decided which one you like best.

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You won’t get any more wow factor in my opinion goAing to either really great school. In some areas UT is much better too. But the experience for you at each will be different and that does es matter.

It sounds to me that Emory has your heart. But the money is weighing on your mind. I can’t judge how much of a burden the extra costs will be on your family. If your mom makes 150k bs 75k and will tap into her 401k to help you it’s two different questions.

I read this on another site and thought it was really well written about a UCLA vs lower ranked UC decision.

Good luck. It will all be great for you either way

“I suggest that he read Stumbling on Happiness and recognize that we humans cannot predict what will make us happy. I suspect the opinions of an 18-year-old about “liking” or “disliking” a particular UC are based upon rather superficial factors and are not predictive of what his actual experience there would be. Every large University will offer a rich set of experiences, peers and opportunities.

This young man may benefit from learning how to make the most out of the opportunities that present themselves rather than beginning this phase of life a sour grapes attitude. The opportunity to attend any of the extraordinarily high quality campuses in the UC system is extraordinary — and there are so many other candidates who would be thrilled to have his seat and will enjoy it if he throws it away.”

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Are there loans involved?

Do you care about school size? UT is 5 times the size of Emory, a massive difference. Do you care about sports and school spirit? There’s no comparison there.

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8 years or 8 semesters?

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Oops, I accidentally commented here instead of creating a new post on the college selection section…sorry haha

@NASA2014 Its 8 years, sorry if I was too vague :slight_smile:

@Chardo I don’t really care about sports, although I would like to go to a school that’s proud of who they are, so I guess some school spirit would be nice. As for size, Emory’s definitely perfect for me in that regatd, but I’ve heard the health science honors will help mitigate that.

@Greymeer hmm Emory and UT are close in the sciences? I didn’t really know that…that’s kind of the main thing that makes me like Emory more than UT, along with the resources they have for pre-meds.

I have heard, though, that the disparity in education quality between the two are basically negligible, and that having Emory’s resources wouldn’t give much of a boost, per say, to my experiences/application. Could anyone give some insight about this?

@privatebanker My parents are reluctant to discuss financial issues with me, but when I was running the npc, my mom said our investments will go down to support my college expenses. But the category I changed said “excluding retirement plans.” Is that a 401k?

Also, a huge thanks to everyone for the advice!! No matter where I go, I definitely won’t have a sour grapes attitude:) I know both schools are amazing, but it’s just that receiving the UT scholarship made me realize how much more I love Emory. However, it’s true that I haven’t visited, and that the school spirit (and meme group) are kind of lacking. There’s also my creeping doubts that I might not be able to handle Emory’s courseload, which would be slightly easier at UT. But again, thank you so much for the help!

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401k is retirement.

But I hear you. My daughter is going to a school she loves and it is more expensive . She had a full scholarship elsewhere but not going to be ideal. To each his own. But to be be sure if it required tapping into home equity loans or retirement she knows it would be a different answer.

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@privatebanker ah I see, I’ll definitely check with my parents about that, thank you!

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UT is actually a better school!

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Think your math is off. 4k difference Freshman year, 10k sophomore, 10k Junior, 10k Senior. 34k difference.

How can you possibly love Emory more if you have never even been there. And you don’t fall in love with places. People make your college experience what it is not places.

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If you can’t afford a plane ticket to Atlanta then can your family afford the $20k extra? You might have your answer here.

You can get a very good education at UT (especially if you’re in honors/Plan II but even without). If you go to med school or any kind of grad school then where you attend undergrad is less important than what you do with your time there.

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401(k) assets are excluded from taxable income and assets. For that reason, contributions to a 401(k) plan should also positively impact financial aid.

I don’t believe $20K in total is a substantial difference for a future doctor and that assumes you are not putting that debt on your parents. However, nobody here can put themselves in your shoes or how much of a value you put on an Emory experience as opposed to Texas. Only you can quantify that.

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I would be hard pressed to tell you to choose a university where you have never visited. I know it happens all the time but it’s hard to determine fit without being there. Did you factor in travel costs in your calculations? I’m assuming you’ll want to go home for holidays and such and as you have already seen, it can be significant. My $.02 is to go with the more affordable option, especially since you’ll have medical school expenses afterwards. Pre-med is going to be challenging anywhere but you’re obviously a committed student to get into such great programs. You’ve got great options on the table. Congratulations!

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Thank you for your responses! @ccfk1221 can you elaborate on why you think UT is better?

@gearmom haha sorry, I provided rough estimates on yearly costs, the npc said next year would be close to 9k, and the following year 5k (not sure if that’s right) so total would be around 23k. However, assuming the third fourth years will be 10k too, then it’ll go up to about 35k, which is a lot bigger.

Also, I should have clarified, my bad–I did “visit” Emory in Jan, but it wasn’t on an official campus visit or anything, we stopped by when we had to fly in to ATL on a personal thing. It was pretty peaceful and I liked the vibe, but it was definitely more vibrant at UT.

Again, thanks so much for responding!! I really appreciate all the advice!

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@lollypip You don’t know a place based on a quick January stop. Go to UT. It’s the people that make a place.

Wow. And EIGHT years of scholarship which brings you into med school. What is the dilemma? UT is the obvious choice.

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@ljberkow thank you for the help!

I think what will help me quantify this is the resources and education at Emory. I already know Emory’s much better than UT in terms of the class sizes and professors who care about teaching, but I am unsure about how much better Emory’s premed resources, or just health-related opportunities in the vicinity, are compared to the average school/UT. Could any Emory students/alums help me out here? Thank you!!

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@lollypip : The pre-med “resources” are kind of available and similar to anyone attending a school with a large pre-health population and a healthcare system. Maybe remove that as a factor. Most major research universities will be strikingly similar. I suppose they would be more “undergraduate accessible” at Emory because the undergraduate student body is smaller. I suppose Emory healthcare may have more clout throughout Atlanta than UT Austin (I don’t know if Austin has a Healthcare system actually), so that means many different type of Emory run healthcare centers that you could possibly access. I don’t know…either way that isn’t going much of a difference. Any one who is in a decent sized city and healthcare focused school like Emory or even big but perhaps non-healthcare focused schools like Austin will have plenty of opportunities. Going to one over the other is unlikely to give any sort of edge in that arena.

I’m sorry I can’t help that much (you may really have to go with your gut on this, assuming Emory does not completely break your family’s bank), but I do advise dropping that from the equation if the UT of interest has a health care system, is in a large city, or is heavily affiliated with a healthcare system.

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You didn’t answer if there are loans involved

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No brainer. UT

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@Chardo ah sorry, I must’ve missed it. My parents can pay about ~12, 15k without loans, so the rest would be loans. For UT, about 5k loans. For Emory, about 10k loans.

@bernie12 thank you for the help!! Hmm, by healthcare do you mean like a branch of hopsitals? We have Seton and St Davids and Dell that together I think, have about 4 hospitals downtown, which includes the children’s hospital and Brakenridge (the big name hospital here). Not sure if I should include Dell Medical center since that just opened up.

If pre-med resources are basically research, volunteering, internships, and shadowing, then I guess it won’t really matter where I go? It’s just really hard for me to pass up Emory’s beautiful campus and its better study abroad program, especially since I’ve heard how good it is for pre-med. I don’t know why I’m being so illogical, considering I don’t really know Emory.