MIT will open up careers like consulting, quant and IB if you wish, which will be much harder to obtain out of LSU. If it were me, I would offer other cost savings to my parents- you could agree to forego a fancy wedding for example. Or offer to pay half back when you are working. Or just get one of the US civilian or military agencies to pay for it.
You are comparing arguably the world’s finest physics school to a mediocre state flagship. Do what you need to get an MIT degree.
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and she will be attending UPenn law next year
The cost of attendance there is just over 100k per year. They can allocate their 50k of that back to you.
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quant and consulting are two fields I’m definitely considering and another reason I feel so strongly for MIT
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Does anyone think it’s worth paging MITChris for his thoughts, if he is still on CC?
@blossom , what do you think?
Given the unreliability of your parents with respect to promises and finances, it is likely better for you to go to LSU with a free ride to avoid running out of money before graduating from a college that costs money.
Regarding going into debt for MIT if the parents will not contribute, most of those loans will be parent loans or parent-cosigned loans, so if they do not have the cash to contribute, it probably is not a good idea for them (or you) to borrow that amount, if a lender will lend it.
Your sister should also be concerned about the promise of parent contribution for law school evaporating.
Three years for the OP and the sister’s law school.
Please see my post above that has a link to 2022 salary data for MIT undergrads.
Average salary in finance is $190k. 75% percentile is $250k. Consulting averages almost $100k.
You likely will not get those options from LSU.
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You should be able to get your sister on your side too
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Whoa! Unfair. No. Parents do not get to pay full freight for Brown and UPenn Law for one child, and insist that second child go to LSU instead of MIT. No. Just no. This is going to affect your relationship with them and your sister maybe for the rest of your life. I think your parents have not considered the ramifications.
Suggestion: Can they commit to paying for MIT and have your sister take out loans for UPenn law? Your sister will be making $200,000 as soon as she graduates.
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I spoken with her about it and while she sympathises she sides with me(not surprising considering she gets the better deal) she agrees with them, and unfortunately has financial logic on her side(I do have a full ride while she doesn’t).
If she got into Brown undergrad and Penn law school, she could have gotten full rides at other colleges and law schools if she had applied to them.
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I’ve only spoken to my sister about it, and would feel kinda bad asking my parents to take back their word and make her pay full price. Their motto is,“You can’t become a lawyer without law school, but you can get a physics degree without MIT”
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You cant become a quant from LSU. Sad but true. So if you say that is your career goal, will they reconsider?
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Show them that MIT physics majors earn double that of LSU ones. Especially tell them LSU physics grads earn $40k/year.
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Graduate salaries for University of Pennsylvania | Law School Transparency suggests not quite, but possible (median $179,672 for 2016-2017 graduates who borrowed, reported in 2020).
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I’m not sure about undergrad(I was too young to be involved), but she claims to have applied to MSU, Penn State, and LSU without getting any significant scholarships(not sure how credible it is).
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The sister could become a lawyer by going to LSU law school at a cost of 48k instead.
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How is it unfair? The parents earned. They get to decide how to spend.
I’m not saying I’d make this decision. But it’s their right.
Also, let’s be honest, there are 3 sides to every story. We are hearing one.
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I think this is all speculation at this point. There are many questions I’d have for the parents, but they aren’t here, and OP can’t control her parents.
The only thing OP can do is lay out her feelings and logic, hear her parents response and then go from there.
One thing you can do is lay out that your sister did have an option to go to LSU for $20K per year, but her parents opted to pay $80K per year to send her to Brown. A net difference of $60k per year. MIT for OP would be about $80K per year with an opportunity to go to LSU for free. So, basically your parents paid $240K over the other available option for your sister… Could you ask your parents why they thought Brown was worth $240K more for your sister over LSU but MIT is not?
Other than that though… if your parents are not willing to pay for MIT, then your only other option is to go to LSU. I assume this will affect your relationship with your family going forward, but if you have a full ride to LSU, then you are now independent and not beholden to them anymore. Familial alienation is horrible and should be avoided, but is a real possibility.
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