MIT [list price] vs LSU [full ride] for Physics

[momofboiler1]

@DadBodThor

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?

THIS! You can offer to pay them back that difference!

[SouthYankie]

Another thing to consider and discuss with parents: LSU graduates only about ~10 physics majors a year. MIT more than 80.

[emma1231]

thanks for all the suggestions, will discuss with parents and hopefully it all works out!

[momofboiler1]

Please circle back and let us know the outcome. I’m praying your parents will come around.

[emma1231]

Will do!

[emma1231]

Sorry if I came across bratty/ungrateful just frustrated with the situation. This was more of a rant than question lol

[Sfa2024]

OP - celebrating your success and validating your concerns.

I came here to add that at the end of the day, family relationships matter. Your feelings and needs are important and valid, as are your sister’s, and your parents.

To avoid potentially serious regret and resentment among all parties, could you share with them how you feel in an honest way while, as other have said, listening to what may be going on with your parents and sister, to help all of you figure out how to move forward? Do your parents know how important it is to you to attend MIT and about the resentment that will fester if you do not? Does your sister know this is happening and what are her feelings about how it will impact your relationship? Does everyone in the family agree that there will be unequal financial support between the two sisters? Are there any special circumstances with your parents or sister that you should know about that are influencing this change? It seems likely there may be more to the story than “opportunity cost”. Perhaps they just want you to love LSU for their own, unknown, reasons and haven’t thought things through.

I hope that you find joy and success in whichever of the many open doors you choose. Those doors are open because of your hard work!

[ucbalumnus]

Here is an older thread from a parent… who seems to be similar to your parents…

Need advice on college choice, $$, etc.

Our family is having a difficult time navigating some great choices. DS has been accepted so far to Princeton and 2 very good in-state schools. He has interviewed for merit scholarships at the in-state schools, but we will not qualify for any need-based aid. He is thrilled about Princeton and would choose to attend in a heartbeat (although he hasn’t visited yet, so maybe that might change when he visits). The problem is the money. We are very frugal, both parents work hard, and we have saved a lot of $ while driving old cars, living in a very small house, etc. We have previously told both of our children that we will pay for their college education if they work hard, which they have done. However now that our first one is about to go to school, the reality of 4 years of Princeton costing $260K is hitting us. We also feel that to be fair we would need to offer our second child the same deal, so now we are talking over half a million dollars. Yes, we could technically afford it. Howeve…

[kelsmom]

I am sorry this is happening to you. I won’t put your parents down, because that would be wrong. They have every right to spend their money however they choose. I also understand how you feel. You have had a chance to blow off some steam here, and you’ve been given some good information about salaries following graduation at the two schools. I suggest putting your thoughts on paper and making a case for why you feel MIT is clearly the best place for you. Sit down with them and TALK … don’t accuse, don’t talk about fairness. Just lay out the facts about your options. They may or may not be swayed, but I think it’s worth trying.

If the end result is LSU, you will be fine. Others have pointed out reasons why it’s not such a terrible option; it’s just not what you want. But you can excel there, for sure. And you can apply for summer programs that can feed your need to be with other extremely motivated students. I’m guessing you’ll be a superstar at LSU, so you would have great opportunities and recommendations.

[simba9]

@emma1231

Is there any way I can contact MIT about the situation. I won’t qualify for financial aid but I am being prevented from going because of money and they claim to meet full need.

Absolutely let MIT know what’s going on. I don’t know about MIT, but I know some schools will offer or increase financial aid if a student they want has a better offer from another school.

[Yonkers6thBoro]

@SouthYankie

Maybe it’s just me but in my opinion, for a nerdy student really into Physics, LSU and MIT are not comparable at all. They might as well be on different planets.

It’s not just you!

I am not totally sure I believe all of the details in the story, it feels like a Reddit AITA post. But the comments minimizing the difference between MIT and LSU are bananas. LSU’s six-year graduation rate is 70%; it just has a completely different mission and orientation from MIT.

[Hippobirdy]

What if you and your sister defer MIT and Penn Carey for a year so parents can better sort out cash flow? And you both sacrifice.

https://www.law.upenn.edu/admissions/jd/faqs.php

[emma1231]

tbh honest I think the issue is that I have the option for a full ride and I’m turning it down, they’ve admitted they technically can afford it

[Shaworld]

Maybe you should convince your parents that MIT opportunity is very valuable and that’s what can motivate you to challenge yourself. And if you want to go to graduate school for physics your parents don’t have to pay for that, you will get PhD stipend for your cost of living too. I really hope you can convince your parents to let you go to MIT. Not many students can get into MIT. Good luck.

[emma1231]

This is actually very helpful! I feel in a very similar situation adding on a sibling. Unfortunately I don’t think OP ever posted the final choice.

[tsbna44]

@Shaworld

I really hope you can convince your parents to let you go to MIT. Not many students can get into MIT

Interesting comment - I was curious as to the yield after I saw that. 1365 got in per the most recent CDS and 1176 enrolled so 86%. Presumably the other 14% didn’t attend schools like LSU - but that’s more a curiosity than anything else.

How about a compromise - a school like U of Arizona that you can still apply and get into with big merit (but not Honors). If you have a 3.9+ undergrad, you’d be out for less than $25K a year…it’s not MIT but it’s well thought of in Physics.

This is from Grad Reports.com

25 Best Colleges for a Physics Degree 2020

By the GradReports team | Updated 4/1/2020

These are the 25 best colleges for physics majors based on alumni earnings in the first year after graduation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is ranked in first place due to its high median salary for physics graduates. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with campuses in New York and Connecticut, comes in second, followed by University of Arizona and Ohio State University.

Tuition, median salaries, and median debt were reported by the U.S. Department of Education in November 2019. View our methodology for more details about these rankings or read more about the top-ranked schools.

[neela1]

del

[jtb]

I’ve got to be honest, as someone who has a physics degree – I find it hard not to think about going to get a Masters or PhD afterwards. Trust me, if you survive/like the MIT culture, there will be a natural pathway to continue into some type of grad school (and expectation). What do you want to do with a physics Bachelors afterwards? All the quants have PhDs, all the data scientists have masters at least, you won’t do research - you could get into labwork, switch to a type of engineering, teach at the highschool level. Thinking this through may help you figure out what the value is worth for you, and the likelihood that you may pursue some graduate program.

[Hippobirdy]

And there are so many new topics that undergrad just scratches the surface, such as quantum or neutrinos, or astrophysics…

[MMRose]

But isn’t it true that a physics PhD will be funded by the university and include a small stipend for living expenses? So the OP doesn’t need to conserve money at the UG level in order to fund a PhD.

(Although as was posted above, a terminal master’s degree is usually not funded by the university so if the OP wants a master’s degree only, then saving money might make sense. But at this point in their life, I don’t think they want to choose LSU for undergrad and then spend money on some future Master’s degree).