<p>I have been accepted to a wide range of state public universities including Wisconsin-Madison, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Georgia, and University of Alabama. Right now I want to major in economics and possibly pursue a career in investment banking or some financial job. I’m also still slightly interested in doing pre-med. I wanted to get some opinions on what people thought about what I should do. Michigan, which is obviously a top rated university would cost around $30,000 than Alabama. I toured Alabama and Georgia this past weekend and I will be going up to Michigan and Wisconsin next month.</p>
<p>First…congrats on all of your acceptances!!! :)</p>
<p>I believe that you’re from Texas, right? Then… </p>
<p>Isn’t Michigan going to cost more than $30k when compared to Bama? (Or did you mean that going to UMich will cost $30k more than Bama PER YEAR???</p>
<p>Michigan’s COA is $50k for OOS students.<br>
Bama’s COA is $31k (which can be reduced thru merit).</p>
<p>What scholarships did you get from Bama?</p>
<p>Obviously, UMich’s ranking is very appealing. 
If you’re considering pre-med, then minimizing debt/cost is imperative as an undergrad. Attending med school costs about $200k-260k (2009-10 dollars). Most have to borrow that money. The “max Stafford” for undergrad **PLUS **med school is about $224k. </p>
<p>Therefore, if you borrow for undergrad, you could end up running out of borrowing power in the midst of med school. I have been told, that some med schools will not accept students who already have a lot of debt, because of the concern that they won’t be able to borrow enough to complete the 4 year program. </p>
<p>Obviously, the debt issue would be the same if graduate b-school is in your future. The “max Stafford” for grad school is much lower for those going to med school.</p>
<p>How much will you likely have to borrow (in total for undergrad) to attend each school?</p>
<p>Also, if your parents are going to pay the difference, would they “set aside” whatever you saved them by going to a less expensive school, and then let you use that savings for grad/med school?</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick reply mom! To clarify a few things, I am from Texas and I’m still waiting to hear from UT. I believe that Michigan’s COA is approximately $47,000. Where can I find a link to Alabama’s COA. I looks on their website and I thight that it was only around $16,000 a year. Pre-med is a very distant thought and probably will not be happening. I just wanted to make it known that it is out there. Being the oldest of 4 kids my parents aren’t going to shell out all of the money on me of course, so minimizing costs would be ideal, but they also realize that it would be hard to pass up a such a prestigious university in Michigan.</p>
<p>[Quick</a> Facts: Cost of Attending - The University of Alabama](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama) NOTE this is the cost PER SEMESTER for oos</p>
<p>$15,742.00 (therefore 31484.00 per year)</p>
<p>Yes, the OOS COA of Bama is about $31,500. But that includes the pricier dorms. Some choose the regular dorms and save about $2k per year.</p>
<p>What scholarships have you rec’d from Alabama? What are your stats?</p>
<p>Being the oldest of 4 kids my parents aren’t going to shell out all of the money on me of course, so minimizing costs would be ideal, but they also realize that it would be hard to pass up a such a prestigious university in Michigan.</p>
<p>True…but how do they imagine that you (or they) would pay for it?</p>
<p>How much will your parents contribute each year towards your education. You need to be dealing with specific numbers so that you’ll know what you’re dealing with.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t think any undergraduate education is worth shelling out that much money. You’ve got to keep your career goals in perspective. If it’s going to cost an arm and a leg to go to Michigan, why not keep your arm and go elsewhere? There’s really not THAT much of a difference between all the schools you listed. It’s the prestige you’re paying for.</p>
<p>OG-J, you made a great point. There are many posters on CC who think differently, but I strongly believe that for an undergrad degree, what you learn and how you market yourself matter more than what school you went to. IMHO, if a company won’t hire you solely because you didn’t attend a certain school, you shouldn’t be working there at this point in your life. It’s not like we are discussing the difference between HYPS and Podunk Community College, the schools in question are roughly equal to each other.</p>
<p>As much as I have heard great things about UMich, I can’t fathom paying 120k extra over four years to attend. Wisconsin, it would really depend on the money. UGA and UA are pretty much equal to one another, but I eventually chose UA for a variety of reasons, one of which was money. I applied to schools based on financial aid, and UA actually costs less than attending my state school. UA does have a lot of Texans due to scholarships and the TX top 10% rule and all the ones I’ve met really like UA.</p>
<p>I messed up on the price difference. It is actually around $15,000 a year for Michigan vs. Alabama, if that would make any difference.</p>
<p>* It is actually around $15,000 a year for Michigan vs. Alabama, if that would make any difference. *</p>
<p>I don’t understand that…</p>
<p>Alabama’s COA is 31.5k minus the $3500 per year scholarship = $28,000 (that includes the pricey super suites.)</p>
<p>Mich’s COA is $47k for frosh/sophs and $50k for juniors and seniors (I don’t know what level of dorms that includes).</p>
<p>So, that’s about a $20k difference, right?</p>
<p>I think we pmed about this a few times, but here’s my two cents. If you’re majoring in Econ at UMich, you will probably not get an IB job. Those go to the top students at Ross because business is better than econ at Michigan. Obviously Econ at UMich could still get you a good job in finance, but why not just major in finance? Don’t waste 75k on Michigan unless you want to go to Ross and think you can be top 5-10%. Why don’t you go to Texas or Texas A&M?</p>
<p>As far as business/econ goes it’s:
1Michigan
2Texas
3Texas A&M/Wisconsin
5Alabama/Georgia</p>
<p>I agree that for DWT, it’s financially cheaper to to to UT or TAMU, but I’m wondering if he has reasons to be looking OOS - maybe to get away from his high school classmates. Some kids just want to get OOS.</p>
<p>^True. But those schools have 30,000+ kids. It’s not like he’ll be running into hundreds of kids he knows everyday.</p>
<p>Yeah, but still you would run into people even at a huge state school in your home state. It’s not like you’ll see them all the time, but it definitely does happen.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think that you should go with the cheapest option for you, as they’re all on the same playing field. An employer(at least according to my dad, who is one) won’t care about which college you went to as much as how much you can contribute to the company. Likewise for med school, it’s wisest if you borrowed the least amount of money.</p>
<p>If money were not a factor though, then I would go with Michigan, Georgia, Alabama, and then Wisconsin in that order in terms of academics. You can get a great or lousy education anywhere though.</p>
<p>Wisconsin under them all? Wisconsin is a top 40-50 school in one of the best college towns in the country.</p>
<p>When the OP comes back, maybe we’ll learn why he wants to go out of state.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. The reason that I’m thinking about going OOS is because of the top 10% law that we have in Texas. For those of you that aren’t familar with it, basically if you are in the top 10% of your class then you are automatically admitted to UT or A&M. Since I go to a very competitive high school this hurts me and I have to look for OOS options. With that being said, if I do get into UT more than likely I will be going there.</p>
<p>Ahhh…I forgot about the 10% law at UT and TAMU and how it hurts kids who go to competitive high schools.</p>
<p>This rule must really hurt the private schools.</p>
<p>I wonder how they handle schools who don’t rank.</p>
<p>Half of the kids at A&M aren’t in the top 10%. Did you apply there?</p>
<p>I bleed orange. I could never go to A&M.</p>
<p>that’s silly.</p>