<p>Daughter is a science & music kid. She thinks she wants to study physics. Other possibilities are computer science, the physics of music, or music (music theory & composition).</p>
<p>She has been accepted at
--Barrett Honors College of ASU, lots of merit $, cost: 8K a year
--University of Rochester, 12K merit $, est. price 52K/year
--Tulane, 10K merit $, est price 52/year
--U Conn 20K merit, 22.6K/year</p>
<p>We have enough saved such that she could attend Tulane or Rochester & end up with a small amount in loans (?<10K).
Because she does not know what she wants to study, she is hoping she could easily take courses in various disciplines, computer science, music, physics. She understands she could not take courses at Eastman. If she chooses Barrett, what we have saved will be available for graduate school.</p>
<p>Advice? We will be retiring soon & won't be able to help much with grad school.</p>
<p>Just be VERY clear on the college GPA requirement to KEEP that ASU Barrett merit award. It is high…I want to say 3.2 or 3.5. MANY students lose that award because of the high GPA requirement to keep it.</p>
<p>It looks like UConn would be more affordable than Rochester or Tulane. I’m a CT resident, and it’s a great school. She could do all of the things you mention there!</p>
<p>At this point, since it appears that money isn’t a factor (unless your daughter wants it for grad school)…let HER pick where she wants to matriculate. She knows what she wants. She applied to and got accepted to these schools…let her decide!</p>
<p>I grew up in Rochester. It is generally very overcast with a longer winter. Many clouds little sunshine.
The city is depressed. If it wasn’t for Eastman I would tell you to take it off the table completely.</p>
<p>Has she been to visit any of the schools? Which has the strongest physics/math departments? What opportunities does she have in music at the 4 schools? </p>
<p>To major in science, you need to hit the ground running, (& perhaps for music as well?).
If she needs to take an extra year, which school will be more affordable?</p>
<p>Yes, pay attention to the college GPA needed to keep the scholarships. 3.0 is usually not that difficult for a top scholarship student, but 3.5 forces the student to do GPA management like a pre-med or pre-law student (i.e. deliberately seeking “easy A” courses instead of taking potentially harder but more interesting courses).</p>
<p>Along the same lines, make note of the cost if the scholarship is lost. It looks like:</p>
<p>ASU: $8k with scholarship, $38k without
Rochester: $52k with scholarship, $64k without
Tulane: $52k with scholarship, $62k without
Connecticut: $23k with scholarship, $43k without</p>
<p>ASU is huge, and not that selective at the baseline, although a physics or CS major will likely not see to many of the more marginal students in her classes. If subject rankings (although for graduate school) matter to you, ASU is actually comparable to Rochester in these subjects, and ranked higher than the other two.</p>
<p>She will have to get started on math and physics (and probably CS) from her first semester in order to ensure that she won’t delay graduation if she chooses those subjects.</p>
<p>She also wants to check whether declaring any of her majors requires a competitive admission process at any of the schools.</p>
<p>Is there an in-state public school in the choices? It looks like both ASU and Connecticut are out of state, based on the prices.</p>
<p>I wish I had parents like you who were concerned about my college choice or future. For them as long as I go to college and follow thier wishes of becoming like my dad they are more than ok.</p>
<p>Barrett’s Honors College requires a 3.0 GPA to keep the scholarship. It seems some years ago the requirement was much higher, that’s why students would lose their scholarship. They seem to have changed things around to avoid this scenario. To graduate with honors you need to have a 3.25. </p>
<p>$8k cost with scholarship? My figure was closer to $13k, with a full tuition and fees scholarship, including books and transportation, around $11k without. Is this for the Tempe campus? Are the other campuses cheaper?</p>
<p>Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for your comments. Helpful all. I did not know that the Barrett was comparable to Rochester in physics & computer science. Good to know. I also did not know about the 5th year option at Rochester. Our daughter has visited all but Tulane and is going back & forth between Barrett & Rochester. She has signed up for an admitted student visit at Rochester to take a second look. She really liked Barrett, was impressed with the students & the Frosh seminar she took. We will check into requirements for keeping the scholarships at the various schools.
Anyone know how likely scholarship money is for grad school in physics?</p>
<p>Your D will be told many times by her adviser not to even contemplate a grad program in physics which is not funded (i.e. where the school foots the bill, in exchange for her becoming a TA or research assistant.) So don’t add that into the calculus. Simply put, if she’s not strong enough to get funded for grad school in physics, she shouldn’t bother attending. If she does, she will simply join the long line of “I can’t get a Post-Doc appointment in Physics” which then morphs into “I can’t support myself as an adjunct instructor in physics”. It is hard enough getting on the tenure track ladder- and not getting funded for grad school is a very good sign that she should choose another career.</p>
<p>If she majors in physics, she may want to take some CS courses in her elective space. Some physics majors who leave the “physics track” (i.e. BA/BS->PhD->post-docs->research/academic-job, which has highly competitive gateways to pass through) do end up working in computers. Some others end up in quant finance due to their math abilities.</p>
<p>Yes, PhD study should be funded, as noted by blossom.</p>
<p>If she likes ASU and Rochester equally, then wouldn’t the decision be obvious due to the huge price difference in favor of ASU (even if she lost the scholarship, it is still cheaper than Rochester with the scholarship)?</p>
<p>I live down the street from ASU. Barrett is very well thought of around here with the honors college students being perceived differently than the main college/huge masses. I’m pretty sure there is another thread where a mom posted about her daughter’s current experience at Barrett. If you have questions about Tempe feel free to ask me. </p>
<p>With the price differential, I would be hard pressed to go somewhere much more expensive unless there is a compelling reason (like you live down the street).</p>
<p>Has she been accepted to music at ASU? She needs to pre-screen and then interview for composition, and that is finished for the incoming 2014 class. Or was she thinking of adding that as a major later? The head of the music dept, a composition teacher, does have at least one student finishing dual degree doing math. It isn’t easy. It’s one of the schools where even the music BA requires a ton of credits. They have a new performance minor students audition into, as well as the usual academic music minor. Though neither seems quite right for theory/composition. The music dept at ASU is very good, and the Herberger kids in Barrett have 2 floors to themselves in one freshman dorm. </p>
<p>It is quite a bit more than $8,000/yr after NMF money, unless she has outside or departmental scholarships. If departmental, she needs to remain a major in that dept to keep that scholarship. In music the scholarships require 3.25 GPA.</p>
<p>The math dept at ASU leans strongly to computational math.Their best faculty are there. My D is doing math/music and they have some really interesting summer and school year paid REUs that she has been asked to apply for. Look for CSUMS and MBTI. I think physics, like math, is a smaller dept and the better students get a lot of attention and support. The other ASU mom who often posts has a daughter in CS, so could answer any questions you have about that. </p>
<p>If she hasn’t visited yet, she should. They’ll reimburse for plane fare and set her up with a program including class visits and an overnight with current student. It isn’t too late, though they are very busy about now. They were swamped with NMFs visiting when we were there last March. Weather is great. </p>
<p>If you have any particular questions about ASU/Barrett, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Hi all,
I am back again. I just re-read all your comments about Barrett vs. Rochester. You guys are very helpful. She is going to re-visit Rochester& look at Tulane. So far, she is leaning towards Barrett, for obvious reasons: she loved it there, they have a good program, it is very affordable, she would get more attention & opportunities. If she decides to switch to music, there would be enough money for a 5th year, if need be. The only thing my husband & I worry about is the reputation of ASU. The perennial question: how important is a name school? I doubt Barrett is very well known on the east coast.
She also just got accepted at Case Western Reserve, with merit money ($24K). Anyone know how good CWR is in physics? I know they are good in computer science, nursing, music, engineering. </p>
<p>If she stays in the science field, the work she has done and her skills will matter more than school name. At any rate, Rochester, CWRU, and Tulane have good brand names, but they aren’t MIT or Princeton where I think there’s significant network value that you can put a price on. So it may be worth paying the price if she finds big experiential differences (intrinsic value of the private school), but not for brand name (extrinsic value).</p>
<p>I’m glad you’re going to visit Tulane and hopefully you’ve been on the Tulane thread. Tulane is excellent in the sciences and of course, New Orleans is a lovely city, unlike any other. I can’t wait to hear her final decision!</p>