Ivy League(s) vs. Scholarships at State Schools. Help?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Agreed. I liked Delaware plenty when I stayed there, and would not be unhappy there, but don’t want to have a sudden revelation halfway through my second or third year that I would’ve been significantly happier elsewhere.</p>

<p>UVA, W&M, Boston U all come out to around 25K net price, and thats probably going to be around the best possible case scenario from financial aid from Ivies or Hopkins. Drexel comes out to around 15K Net Price. I’m going to try to appeal UVA, W&M and Boston and see if I can get any more financial aid out of them, but I don’t know the success rate for that at all. </p>

<p>Basically what I’m saying is is there a realistic alternative to Delaware? I don’t want to paint it as somewhere I don’t want to go, because I don’t think there’s any chance of me hating it, but at the same time I think all my other options are probably the better choice academically.</p>

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<p>With AFC = $0 and all of the other schools net prices >= $10,000 (or is it >= $15,000) per year, Delaware appears to be the only realistic choice financially.</p>

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<p>Delaware is probably the top choice of your schools for chemical engineering.</p>

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<p>Can’t argue on the chemical engineering point, and the head of their biomed department actually impressed me more than the head of the chem e program. </p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, what would you consider the point at which financially it could be feasible with AFC = $0?</p>

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<p>If your parents cannot contribute anything (except for the occasional meal if they come to visit), then it comes down to what you can pay out of your own pocket. If federal loans aren’t included in the package, you can borrow $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 sophomore year, $7,500 junior year, and $7,500 senior year. You also can probably earn some money in the summers and during the school year with a part-time job. However, if you don’t have somewhere free (like home) or dirt cheap to live during the summer, your living expenses will almost certainly eat up a significant portion of what you earn.</p>

<p>Read the rules for the scholarships that you have been offered. What do you need to do to keep them for the whole time you are studying? Can they be used to help cover the costs of a semester abroad if you want to fit one in?</p>

<p>Think long and hard about just exactly how long and hard you would have to work, and how cheap you’d have to live in order to study anywhere that isn’t UDel. Do you want X, Y, or Z so badly that you are willing to skip pizza night not just some of the time, but all of the time? Maybe you do. Maybe you don’t. A super-tight college budget will result in a very different college experience than having one that is only medium-tight, or not-tight-at-all.</p>

<p>Here is one useful tool for evaluating your different financial aid packages. Run the numbers and see what you think: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>

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<p>happymomof1: so realistically, anything beyond around 10K a year I simply could not do?</p>

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<p>It appears that an ESC (expected student contribution) of around $8,500 is fairly commonly shown in college net price calculators. This is usually broken down into a $5,500 Stafford loan and $3,000 in work or work-study earnings. If you assume that this is a realistic amount to contribute if your AFC = $0, then $8,500 per year is what you can afford. Possibly a little more may be doable with extreme frugality and/or more hours put into paid work if you can get them.</p>

<p>If you want to be more conservative (e.g. you want to take on less debt, or do not want to depend on finding and keeping a job during the school year), then you can use a smaller ASC (actual student contribution) as your price limit.</p>

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<p>Yup, I’d agree with ucbalumnus on the money range. If you have a particular job skill which guarantees that you can make more money than the average student with part-time and summer work, you can stretch that figure a bit - say into the $10k range. But most students don’t have that kind of job skill. And do remember that costs increase about 5% to 7% each year. Your parents’ income may increase without them being able to contribute any more for your education, but with the institutions expecting more money total from your family. Think the costs through for all four years, not just for one.</p>

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<p>Glad you are taking the financials seriously. You sound very mature and responsible. I understand your concern for “post buyer’s remorse” so therefore, consider what will make you happy from a campus life standpoint. The schools you list are very different when it comes to workload, student’s personalities and the campus locations. Also, I applaud your self-motivation towards your career goals. Time and time again, though, we keep hearing schools telling us that students likely change their majors 4 times. That said, take a look at the assortment of majors at each school. Can you visit some of the schools to help with your decision in the next month? I realize that may be difficult with finances.</p>

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<p>Okay, sorry for the lag in response time, got a chance to visit UVA and stay with a friend for a night so I took it. </p>

<p>livn487: right now we’re in a situation that tagging along with friends is the only option, as stretching the gas money for a 200 mile round journey trip is pushing it. It’s tight right now haha.</p>

<p>happymomof1: I should be able to tutor Piano at a reasonably high level? I’ve played for 10+ years and should be getting an ABRSM (Royal Board of Music - a British program) diploma soon.</p>

<p>Okay, so this is the update on my situation, original options as follows:
The DuPont Scholarship from Delaware is getting harder and harder to ignore, graduating debt free from a school with a fantastic Chemical Engineering program is proving hard to say no to. My major discomfort with saying yes is the possibility of “buyer’s remorse,” and the fact that despite the brilliance of their Chem E program, their Biomedical Engineering program doesn’t even seem to be ranked.
UVA is another option, as an instate school with an undeniably better all round academical program, and the best bio med program in VA. I also got accepted to VTech Honors, but without merit money; its a similar net price to UVA, but I think UVA actually has the better biomed program, and adding that up it doesn’t seem to be worth it, please input if you think I’m wrong here though.
Boston University gave me a presidential scholarship and a decent financial aid package, making it around $10,000 cheaper than UVA’s net price of approx. $25,000., they have a fantastic biomed program, and I absolutely love the city.</p>

<p>The new options:
Got accepted to Johns Hopkins University, but not their biomed program. Their financial aid package brings total cost to around $35,000 as well, and I’m completely unsold on the prospect of living in Baltimore.
Also got accepted to Cornell as a McMullen Engineering Dean’s Scholar, their most prestigious honor! It was originally my top choice and now its resurfaced. Their financial aid is better than Hopkins, and brings net price to $24,000. </p>

<p>I had basically settled upon Delaware, despite my love of Boston, before I heard back from Cornell with their financial aid. We’re going to try to appeal, but have no idea if we can bring down the EFC any further than it is currently (approx $25,000, but with an AFC of exactly $0). I included the other options so that if anybody has any input that I should hear, i’ll still hear it. I’m not good at being decisive haha. Any input would be much appreciated! I’m fully aware of how blessed I am, but this is still tearing me apart.</p>

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Biomedical engineering has been discussed a lot on this forum, with the general consensus being that a more traditional undergrad major will offer a greater range of options following graduation. The well-known program at Hopkins might be an exception, but in general I would recommend ChemE (or ME, EE) over BME.</p>

<p>Buyer’s remorse is natural following any big decision. You probably will have it if you go to Delaware…but you’ll also have it if you take out more loans and go elsewhere. The important thing is to move on and make the best of whatever you choose. Good luck!</p>

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<p>I’m reasonably sure where I want to end up: neural engineering. Any opinion as to whether chemical engineering is a reasonable path to that?</p>

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<p>Try looking up the CVs of people involved in that field to see what possible career paths look like. I would guess that a variety of different majors could get you there, depending on your research interests.</p>

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<p>That might be a good question to take the the Parents Forum. Make the title of the thread something like “X, Y, or Z for preparation for grad work in Neural Engineering”.</p>

<p>You also could pin down the grad programs in Neural Engineering, check through the courses they offer, and see where the professors teaching those courses did their own undergrad and graduate degrees. It also is perfectly OK to pop a note off to some of those professors and ask about the best undergrad major to pursue if that field is your longer range goal.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much, both of you, that’s fantastic advice which I’m acting upon now. Any thoughts on what I should narrow it down to? Delaware, Boston, and Cornell is my inclination?</p>

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<p>I posted it here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1482013-cornell-udel-bu-full-rides-preparation-grad-work-neural-engineering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1482013-cornell-udel-bu-full-rides-preparation-grad-work-neural-engineering.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;