Like that grl who led you on and slapped you when you kissed her

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>offered only work and unsub loan for mit aid. So I have a decision to make, and I'd love your guys' input. Wanna major in Brain and Cognitive Sciences or Chemical Engineering.</p>

<p>I can go to MIT, go out with about 100-120k in debt (parents will only pay half of sticker price at most). Would major in BCS.</p>

<p>I can go to UF for free, major in mediocre engineering program (relative to engineering schools that is).</p>

<p>Can go to BC for about 12k a year, triple major in physics, math, and philosophy in honors program and hope for the best for grad school.</p>

<p>What do you think is best? Please give pros and cons, and do not automatically say UF bc I honestly I would hate to go to UF</p>

2

<p>Here's something to think about:</p>

<p>There was a study done on people who got into both Penn State and U Penn. It found that those who got into U. Penn but went to Penn State made just as much money afterward as those who went to U Penn.</p>

<p>If you are awesome enough to get accepted to MIT, then you can thrive in life no matter where you go. MIT may open doors, but anyone capable of getting in to MIT can make those doors open for them.</p>

<p>I see you're very ambitious and have an idea of how to eke a first-rate education out of a first-rate school. With your financial situation, that may just be the best option. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Only you can decide, ask yourself if you care more about college life, getting a degree in your subject, or about the subject itself. If it is the first two, UF and BC both offer them without a 100k price premium. But then, if you genuinely care about the sciences and want to discover new things about them, well then I don't see any amount of debt I wouldn't be willing to incur. You only go to college once.</p>

4

<p>@Millerl1te: Sorry to hear you're facing such a tough decision. I have a different suggestion for you. Go to UF for two years for free and ace your classes. Then transfer to MIT, Stanford, or Berkeley. If your parents were willing to pay half the cost of an MIT tuition, perhaps they'd be willing to pay for the last two years at a top-tier school.</p>

<p>I understand that you don't want to attend UF (perhaps you live nearby?), but I'm not sure you'd be very happy at BC, right in MIT's shadow, knowing you could have attended. And I do think that you'll have some great transfer options (especially to Berkeley) if you decide to follow this plan. You could also end up with a degree from an outstanding school. </p>

<p>All the best.</p>

5

<p>Parents said not allowed to transfer, although I really really tried to push that on them. Thanks CalAlum, that really would be the ideal plan if my parents were open to it! Any other opinions? I just want to hear as many things as possible before i make a decision.</p>

6

<p>Well i would say don't go to UF. You said yourself that you wouldn't like it. I think it should be BC or MIT because even BC is a good name school that can get you into a good grad school (not to say UF can't but it will be harder). The transfer idea is a good one but seems pretty idealistic as I've heard (but don't have data to back it up) that transfer admissions at any top school can be MUCH harder than already very difficult undergrad admissions. I am actually in a similar situation (BC vs MIT) and am 95% on MIT, though there was an error made with my aid package so I don't know how much I am going to get.</p>

7

<p>Sorry about the MIT news. Looks like finaid is letting another one get away.</p>

<p>If you dont mind my asking: Do your BC numbers reflect a finaid award or one of the 10 or so full tuition merit scholarships that they give out every year? If the latter, then I am assuming that your 13k or so in yearly expenses would be for room board and incidentals? Those merit scholarships from what i hear are fairly prestigious. </p>

<p>I know some about UF. It's vastly improved in terms of selectivity and academic rankings and now is on the order of a UT austin and imo coming up on UNC. And, you likely would come in with enough AP credit to graduate in 3 years. It's certainly not a bad option, but I dont see a huge price differential with BC, which still has a somewhat better reputation, before you even factor in whether you are one of the merit scholars. I am guessing but with basic prepaid you likely would still have to pay around 10k for room, board and incidentals even at UF. </p>

<p>Given those options I would probably go to BC and try MIT for grad school if youre still interested. BTW, first make sure you talk to MIT's finaid people and explain that you cant afford it and will be forced to go elsewhere and see if there is anything that they might be willing to do for you. It's probably a longshot, but why not try. good luck.</p>

8

<p>yea I think you should talk to MIT fin aid first also.. they'll probably be quite helpful or at least nice</p>

<p>
[quote]
Only you can decide, ask yourself if you care more about college life, getting a degree in your subject, or about the subject itself. If it is the first two, UF and BC both offer them without a 100k price premium.

[/quote]

College life at MIT is very different from college life at the other 2.</p>

9

<p>D just got her financial package from MIT today. We are also surprised that the package includes not only a bigger than expected EFC, but also the student contribution + work study + unsub Stafford loan, which seem contradictive to MIT's claim to meet 100% need without loan. have to wait for financial packages from other schools and make a careful comparison. It is a tough decision.</p>

10

<p>I'm sorry to hear that. I was in a similar situation - I got a full ride into WPI and not much from MIT. My situation was different from yours in that my parents were willing to struggle to pay all of it (which is something I wasn't sure I wanted to put them through), and WPI is a great (and beautiful!) school that I knew I could be happy at. In the end, though, I chose MIT - and I think it was the right decision for me. This school is like no other. But it's not the right choice for everyone. I don't think that choosing WPI would've been wrong for me, though - just different.</p>

<p>For you, though, you really have to debate the money vs. happiness thing. Will going to a school you enjoy be worth making up for the money later? If you'd really be miserable at the other school, I think it'd be even more worth it to come to MIT.</p>

<p>Have you tried looking into outside scholarships? If you were accepted into MIT, you have a good chance of getting a lot of scholarships.</p>

11

<p>I feel your pain. Full ride to ga tech, ~150k debt to Caltech or MIT. For me, the decision is as at least as much a question of growing as a person and scientist from interaction with the people around me as one purely of which will be best long term financially/career. I posted a thread in the Caltech forum with lots of advice that'd be relevant to you: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/661665-dream-school-vs-no-debt.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-institute-technology/661665-dream-school-vs-no-debt.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

12

<p>
[quote]
honestly I would hate to go to UF

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If you would HATE to go to UF, then don't go to UF. Forget prestige of the program, heck forget classes. Keep in mind that you are picking your home for 4 years. You have only one shot at life (in many religions), find a place that you want to be.</p>

<p>That being said, that is a prodigious amount of debt. If you cannot afford to go to MIT with what the financial aid office is offering you, then by all means contact them and explain it to them, they do reconsider. There is one important caveat here. I have met a significant number of folks who COULD afford to go to MIT, but do not want to pay the money. If that is your family, then you are out of luck. When you say that your parents won't pay more than half of the sticker price, that suggests that they could, but won't.</p>

<p>I also note that Transfer is not an option for you, but I would add that anyone would be crazy to PLAN on transferring into MIT. Transfer admissions is so hard and so competitive (a small handful every year), that it makes regular admissions seem trivial.</p>

13

<p>There's a big problem with the "money vs. happiness" dichotomy: $100k of debt may make you miserable for years afterward.</p>

<p>Your after-college years should be every bit as worthwhile as your undergrad years, so you must weigh them carefully. But remember as well, you can always apply to MIT for grad school, and grad school's free! And, what's more, there's no rule about only going to grad school once.</p>

14

<p>Do you have options besides MIT or UF? I wouldn't go somewhere I absolutely hated, but I'm not certain if getting into debt to go to MIT would be worth it to you or not. Is there a school that costs less but would be a decent fit?</p>

15

<p>mia: the numbers reflect that merit award. That's hard to turn down.</p>

<p>And yeah, I just want to know if MIT undergrad is worth the debt, and MIT grad school is even harder to get into than undergrad, so Im not even sure if UF or BC would adequately prepare me for uber competitive admission to its graduate program, be that in engineering or BCS. But i could be completely wrong. "College education is what you make of it." To an extent, I think.</p>

16

<p>can you do aggressive scholarship search? after all, you're hispanic and looking into doing Math and science....there should be a lot of scholarships out there for that?</p>

17

<p>MillerL1te: I know you and I commiserated about financial aid earlier. I have a similar situation money-wise, though I got a small "MIT Scholarship". However, I'm lucky to have mother who looked at the numbers and told me that we could afford it if that's where I decided I want to go. I'm a little surprised you didn't apply anywhere else that might have been a good "in-between" sort of school, like UIUC or JHU, who are much more willing to give merit aid (personal experience at UIUC, still waiting on JHU) but also have strong programs. However, that's the past. Personally, I would come and visit. If you truly HATE UF, then there's no point in attending. I know that BC can attract some excellent students and for science and math that may be the best deal. However, I definitely wouldn't give up on MIT before talking to a finaid advisor and your parents.</p>

18

<p>wildchartermagne: almost all hispanic scholarships are based on need anyway, so I wouldn't win those either way. So kinda stuck in a predicament here.</p>

19

<p>My daughter isn't getting any money. I always felt that she needed to pay for part of her college education so that she'll appreciate it more. I had to.</p>

<p>If you looked at what I got in 1975 and multiply everything by 7, I got:
Loans: today's $: $8,750 (then:was $1,250, so ended up with $5,000 in loans)
Summer Work: today's $: $7,000 (then: $1,000)
School Year Work: today's $: $7,000 (then: $1,000, but I made $2,000 during the summer so I didn't need to work)
Parent's Contribution: today's $: $7,000 (then: $1,000)
MIT Grant: today's $: $21,000 (then: $3,000)
Total: today's $: $50,750 (then: $7250)</p>

<p>When I graduated in 1979, I had $5,000 in student loans and made $16,000/yr. Within two years I was making $24,000/yr. Within 4 years I was making $48,000. I paid off my loans in 10 years and it never felt like a burden.</p>

<p>So I always assumed that my husband and I would pay the Parent and MIT Grant portion and my daughter would work and take out loans.</p>

<p>I don't think $35,000 is too much to ask for when she may be making close to $90,000 when she graduates.</p>

<p>I was worried the most about how much she could make during the school year and summer, but the coach of one of the teams just wrote to her saying that you can make the $14,000 above between summer and school year jobs. He mentioned one student who made $30,00 during the summer doing computer work. Some of the students had UROP positons that paid quite well.</p>

<p>So now I'm not so concerned about her "carrying her own weight".</p>

20

<p>I'd just like to add that this is what I'm expecting:</p>

<p>She will get/earn/sign for:
$6,000 in merit scholarships (she will apply for 12-15 from lists our high school put together as well as from web searches)
$8,000 - $10,000 in summer jobs starting the summer after freshman year and school year UROP
$10,000 in loans per year</p>

<p>Which makes her portion $26,000 (50% of $52,000)</p>

<p>We will pay the rest of $26,000 (50% of $52,000)</p>

<p>I had to work and take out loans and so can she.</p>