I have the potential to have a full ride to Northwestern plus a stipend but I have the option of going Ivy League as well with the tuition being less than 5,000 dollars. What should I do ? I understand that these are all amazing schools.
So pay like 20k a year including room and board or be paid to go to school?
I think the answer’s simple.
Which Ivy, @swagnation234 ?
Do you have a strong preference for one school over the other?
How would you have offers to both NU and an Ivy already?
Are you saying:
Northwestern would be totally free? Tuition, room, board, books, etc, all free???
Ivy school would be: $5k for tuition and maybe $15k for room board and books? (About $20k per year?)
Well, I can’t imagine what an ivy could do for you that NU couldn’t also do. What are your parents saying? Will THEY pay the $20k per year for the ivy? Or will they/you be borrowing that $80k total?
You have the “potential.” Does this mean you’re talking about Net Price Calculator results or do you have actual offers?
@swagnation234 for that is worth, every year there is quite a handful of transfer students from Northwester transferring to Penn. I m guessing that is the case for many other ivies too, since it is for Penn.
I think it also depends on which Ivy. Personally, if it is Harvard,Princeton, Yale, Penn or Columbia I d definitely choose the Ivy. If it is Dartmouth, Brown or Cornell it would be more of a toss up but I d probably still choose the ivy given that the cost difference is small. would u have to take out a loan for the 5k tuition?
Lastly keep in mind that the ivies are not all the same. There are substantial differences in terms of campus vibe, atmosphere, academic philosophy etc.
@Penn95, there are some of us on here who remember when Penn was the easiest Ivy to get in to (go back a little further, and Columbia had a 40% admit rate and was almost bankrupt), and honestly, the characteristics and relative positions of the various Ivies really haven’t changed that much over the past few decades.
How do you have a “full ride” plus stipend from Northwestern?
@PurpleTitan And the point is? Penn (along with Cornell) was the easiest ivy to get into back in the 1980s. It has been 30-35+ years since then. Also at that time Stanford was an afterthought to HYP. Look where it is now, vying for top spot with Harvard. Things do change over the decades. if you had looked at say 1920s-30s things would also be different compared to the 80s. Penn improved tremendously starting at the late 80s and throughout the 1990s. And so did Columbia. Of course the characteristics and relative positions have changed.
Just being objective here. HYP still remains the top of the ivies but Columbia and Penn have made grater progress than Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell and for the past 15-20 years they have been consistently seen as stronger universities than Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell. All the rankings (domestic, international, college, research) and metrics support that.
Just one example, Penn and Columbia had 50-51% RD yield rates for the class of 2020 while Brown had 43%-44%, Cornell 41% and Dartmouth 38%-39%
@Penn95, by the metrics I look at (alumni achievements), there’s just not that much change (and of the non-HYP Ivies, it’s actually Brown in front). Even by the '80’s, Stanford was already in HYPM’s league (even if perception on the East Coast hadn’t caught up to reality yet).
And yield rates reflect the preferences of HS kids. I’m of the opinion that achievements are what matter.
The Ivy League schools im looking at are upenn, Columbia and Dartmouth and the total fee that I would have to pay is less that 5,000. This includes books, food, tuition and room and board
Are you a junior?
Senior
also northwestern does not include the stipend, I made a mistake. My apologies.
What field? What are you looking for? NU is on par with quite a few Ivies and is even better in some areas. You need to give more details.
How do you have offers from all these schools already? That doesn’t seem realistic–are you speculating or asking about a hoped-for future dilemma?
I question your story, or at least think there must be more to it.
However, assuming it is true, and if the question is whether to choose Northwestern for free or several of the mid tier Ivies for 5k per year, I would not let money be the deciding factor. That amount of money/debt is too small to matter. I would go to the one you like the best, or that has the best program for whatever it is you want to study.
There really is zero practical difference between Northwestern, Penn,and Dartmouth for purposes of prestige/opportunities, and the difference with Columbia is small at best. But the atmosphere of Columbia or Dartmouth will be very different than Northwestern (Penn will be the closest in atmosphere to Northwestern).
If you were talking HYP, my advice might be different. Or maybe not. I could see turning down HYP for Northwestern if I wanted to study journalism, music or theater.
Anyhow, if your story is true, go where you feel the best fit.
@ThankYouforHelp: If the details given by the OP are correct, the $5K is only for tuition and room & board isn’t covered at the Ivies. $20K a year may be a lot of money depending on circumstances.
In any case, is this a hypothetical? What offers do you have and how?