<p>Hello. I'm new to the forum. My daughter has less than two weeks to choose which school to attend. Her options are UCSC, UCSB, UCSD, Drew, Syracuse, BU and NYU. I think she's mostly debating between UCSC and NYU. She would pick NYU, except for the cost. With the financial aid package she received, with a big stretch, we could make it happen. But, the question is, is it worth it? I don't even begin to know how to evaluate that. We live in CA and I know the UCs are good. Folks seem impressed that she got in to NYU, but I don't know if that means it's better; or if it has a better enough reputation that we'll be buying her something in that regard. Thoughts?</p>
<p>The additional expense may be worth it for a particular field of study, but that means that you have to carefully investigate the specific opportunities at both schools in the particular field(s) she is interested in.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, I’d say that “big stretch” favors attending the cheaper school.</p>
<p>She doesn’t know what she’ll be studying. She has strong leadership skills, is creative and extremely personable. She sings and does a lot of community service. Of the sciences, biology is her biggest interest. She loves travel. She’s compassionate and sensitive and very grounded. Does that help?</p>
<p>I don’t see any reason why she shouldn’t stay in CA, especially she doesn’t really know what she wants to do yet. But, if you could afford it, and she wants to be somewhere else I would consider BU and NYU. I would prefer BU over NYU because in my view NYU is over priced. No need to travel cross country for Drew, and she would freeze her butt off in Syracuse. My daughter’s friend is stuying at BU for music, and he is also strong in science.</p>
<p>Your daughter may want to consider some disadvantage of being so far away from home, if she has some good choices closer to home. My D1 was very sick a few times, and we needed to bring her home. But other people on CC have done great with long distance. The only thing is all of those schools are close to major airports, so it would quite easy for her to get home.</p>
<p>Has your D seen/toured the out-of-state schools? Specifically NYU if it’s made the first round of “cuts”. If she’d be taking the leap somewhat blind. That sure adds to the difficulty of the decision. In my humble opinion, a financial “stretch” is worth it if there is a determined, specific goal in mind. </p>
<p>If you’ve narrowed it down to NYU vs a UC. I would look at the major options for each one. From my knowledge of the “pecking order” or prestiege factor (based on acceptance rates) of the UC’s…it goes something like Cal/UCLA, UCSD, UCSB & UCSC – but it completely depends on what she thinks she may want to major in. It’s not too late to take a quick “road trip” this weekend, if necessary, to look at the UC’s</p>
<p>Don’t forget to add the “travel” costs and wardrobe necessities to the total $ picture if she goes cross county. CA winter clothes won’t cut it in East Coast temps.</p>
<p>My D did not want to go far away which made our choice easier Good luck & congrats to your daughter for her impressive acceptances.</p>
<p>Has she always lived in California? I think the culture shock could be intense if she goes to the east coast. I think the general attitudes are quite different.</p>
<p>UCSC and NYU are so totally different that I am having a difficult time understanding why those are both on her list. She needs to set up some criteria for the school she wants. UCSC is in the woods (disclaimer, I went there in 1969 for 1 year before transfering to Berkeley and I’m sure it’s changed a lot since then!) and NYU is in the middle of a huge city. The schools have more differences than similarities.</p>
<p>Her UC choices are all good schools with different environments. I wouldn’t think twice about staying in California.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response. Yes, she has toured all of the schools, except UCSB. We just did the east coast schools a couple of weeks ago. She liked NYU and BU a lot. BU has been ruled out b/c they did not offer enough financial aid to make it feasible. Although it does have the highest prestige factor, I don’t think she wants to go to UCSD–because it’s hometown. I just urged her to apply in case of financial crisis. Although the college savings have taken a hit, she won’t have to use that particular parachute.</p>
<p>I think her having NYU and UCSC as the two she’s debating between goes to how eclectic her interests are. Also, probably why deciding is so tough.</p>
<p>She’s been living in CA since age 5. She’s got an adventurous spirit, so a lot of the lure of the east coast is that it is something new and different.</p>
<p>My D was very skeptical about UCSB until she toured it. She liked it more than UCSD! The campus is beautiful. </p>
<p>One of my few regrets is not going away to college. I went to an excellent college & lived at home, but have always wished I’d had the “dorm” experience, etc. (I have an adventurous spirit too :)</p>
<p>It sounds like your D will have the dorm life experience wherever she decides to go, but if NYU wouldn’t threaten the family financial security…maybe she should just go for it. You could try appealing to NYU Financial Aid for a little more help or work study?</p>
<p>On the other hand UCSC has one of the highest ratios of guys to girls & they have a nice honors program if she’s interested… Could be fun!</p>
<p>Thanks doame. Good to hear that UCSC’s honor program is worthwhile. She got invites to these honors programs, which I don’t recall existing back when I was in school (perhaps they did, but I was not as good a student as my offspring). You pretty much have put your finger on the whole dilemna. She definitely wants that “dorm life” experience and being off on her own, so that is why UCSD is not really what she wants. She loved the physical beauty of SC and the urban excitement of NYU. It’s this tug of whether it is “worth” the, rather substantial, extra expense. We still have a week to noodle on it. But all the input and thoughts really are helping. Thanks.</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the schools, but I can say that moving to NYC is a life changing experience. But it’s not a casual thing to do, especially from so far away. Since NYU is so expensive, unless she’s just dying to go to NYC (and some kids dream of this their whole life), it doesn’t seem worth the $$. And it doesn’t sound like that’s her primary goal here. (And she could always move to NY after college.)</p>
<p>“California has excellent schools, and it sounds like that is a better financial situation too. She can always go to NYU for grad school.”</p>
<p>I agree with this. I know a person who’s gone into big debt to send a kid to NYU. Meanwhile, I know someone else whose kid turned down NYU – due to money-- and decided to go to flagship state school. After graduating, he was accepted to grad school at a top 20 university.</p>
<p>Your D will get an excellent education and contacts in California. No reason to pinch pennies for NYU. It’s not worth it.</p>
<p>If she wants to experience NYC, she can get a summer job there, a post graduation job there or attend grad school there.</p>
<p>Is there any reason why she couldn’t live in the dorm at UCSD? It too is a beautiful campus. I’ve lived in or near most of the places on her list including in Manhattan for many years. The life style is just so different. NYU living is just an apartment building within a large city (I’m not knocking it but I don’t think it has that campus feeling). UCSC is all campus since there’s nothing else right there. UCSD has a beautiful campus with town a bit closer than UCSC. As someone who has been on the outside of these colleges for too many years, I would really be surprised if UCSC academics are in the same ballpark as UCSD.</p>
<p>I still think that I would stick with one of the UC’s and not incur the expense of NYU. She really can always move there later.</p>
<p>Thanks Sharon. If she would go to UCSD, she could live in the dorms. I, personally, think that is her best option. But, she’s 18 and wants the adventure of going somewhere new. It’s interesting, the parents are almost 80% in favor of a UC, and her peers are almost all urging NYU. Ah, youth. When anythings seems possible. :)</p>
<p>NYC is no fun without money. Broadway shows, good food, great shopping are fun, if you have the money. There are free stuff in the city, but not if you are not into museums or street fairs, even movies are more expensive in NYC. I also don’t think NYC or any big city is a good place for a 18 year old girl by herself (just my opinion). I still caution some of my more mature friends when they are dating in NYC. </p>
<p>If she likes NYC she could do a summer internship, come here as a grad student, or get a job here after graduation. </p>
<p>I originally thought BU maybe nice because I think Boston is a better place for college students.</p>
<p>I have 2 Ds raised in Southern California (San Diego county, even) so I know the pull of going someplace far away and different for college. Both of my Ds went or are going back east for college. </p>
<p>If you can afford it, I’d send them back east. But that is a big “if.” </p>
<p>Too bad BU didn’t come through with a do-able package. I’d prefer BU over NYU, just because of the stories that I’ve read on CC about NYU financial aid. But if you got a good package from NYU, one that won’t put the whole family into serious debt, I’d go for NYU.</p>
<p>My Ds figured that going off to college was probably the best time to be able to go out of state and experience something different. They figure that they will most likely come back to California to live after college, so they see college as the time to experience something new.</p>
<p>Older D said that she never got tired of snow, even after 4 years…</p>
<p>When she was a freshman, as the first snow of the year was falling–a number of kids were outside, cavorting and playing in the snow like little kids. The kids who stayed inside the dorms rolled their eyes and said, “California kids.” :)</p>
Good luck & congrats to your daughter for her impressive acceptances.</p>