<p>Biology major, California resident.
what it comes down to is the cost:</p>
<p>Vandy: 21k per year
UCSD: 10.5k per year</p>
<p>My family has the ability to pay for vanderbilt but my parents are very frugal and don't know if a vanderbilt degree is worth the extra cost. Any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>side note: if both cost the same, i would rather be at vanderbilt.</p>
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<p>Then you should go to Vanderbilt. The cost difference isn’t significant enough to forgo the school you’d rather go to in my opinion.</p>
<p>if it makes you feel better, take out the unsubsidized Stafford loans you are eligible for in your name and split the difference with your parents. A strong showing in biology at Vanderbilt can lead to good next outcomes plus you will also enjoy a very memorable, full four years of a broad and valuable liberal arts education in a great college town. Vandy really has many pockets of small and intimate in a research institution.</p>
<p>to be fair, I am ignorant about the caliber of life science education at UCSD. You will get smaller classes, access to full professors, fantastic equipment and access to many things related to a strong medical school on grounds at Vandy. The trick is to be successful at Vandy among your equals. Everyone is ready to do well in your Vandy class and they are all well prepared and highly motivated. Vanderbilt’s reputation will be strong at grad schools for this very reason…entire class of scholars who are self starters and know how to run their own shows. If your parents can afford Vanderbilt, I really think you should be showing them the stats on the class of 2015 and perhaps showing them some of the outcomes from the recent commencement at insidevandy.com.</p>
<p>I think Vandy is worth the extra 10.5k. Follow your heart and choose Vandy 
You don’t want to live the rest of your life regretting this decision.</p>
<p>thanks for you guys’ replies. i am still unsure of what to do, my parents say it’s up to me but i can tell they secretly hope that i’d make the right choice. (which i think is sd because it’s in california). but i really want semester system(i heard semster > quarter?)…and also vandy’s average gpa is 3.3 while ucsd is 3.0. Does this imply that vandy curves better?</p>
<p>I don’t think “vandy curves better” can be concluded at all from the ave gpas above. 25% of this year’s incoming class tested near perfect on a standardized entrance exam. The typical Vanderbilt student had an A average in the most demanding curriculum in American high schools before showing up. My son’s friends all work very hard. A’s take a lot of discipline and stellar writing or lab work, B’s take a lot of focused work. Not atypical at all at peer institutions. Same at Duke where eldest son graduated. I believe their average GPA is 3.4ish. Rather than competing with each other, which would be a hopeless enterprise in top 20-30 institutions of students of equal talent, success at these colleges requires individual mettle, self-direction, vision and discipline and running your own race while admiring the talents of your classmates.
Graduate schools have their own formulas and ways of judging the level of difficulty at undergraduate colleges re GPA scores.<br>
Aren’t the real differences between the institutions things like discussion based and/or smaller class sizes, national footprint of student body, and selectivity factors for membership in the freshman class, four years likely of residing on campus, amount of money spent per student, endowment factors, four undergraduate colleges (engineering, arts and sciences, conservatory of music, and HOD Peabody) and alumni networking factors among other ways to compare and contrast? If you have a chosen major or educational focus, you should be judging the institutional resources related to your field of study.<br>
Disappointing your parents by appearing to be willing to spend their money is certainly a chilling factor for anyone your age. However, many people would consider getting an education that costs full price students over 55 thousand a year for 21 thousand to be a really great opportunity…again, an opportunity based on the vast amount of money that Vanderbilt will put toward financial need and merit aid for its students that exceeds the endowment of most institutions.
If you were admitted to Vanderbilt in a year that the waitlist looks just like the admitted list, you can no doubt make an education at UCSD shine and you have the personal power to be a top student there as long as you stay focused. However, are you looking ahead with vision at the possible advantages from Vandy at outcomes for your next round, graduate school admissions if relevant?</p>
<p>BESTVENOM, were you offered Vanderbilt off the waitlist 2nd wave? Congratulations!</p>
<p>Just noticed that the OP is a transfer student; so two years at $9,500 extra to attend Vandy…</p>
<p>IMO, no contest…Enjoy Nashville!!!</p>
<p>How will the recent budget cuts for the UC system affect UCSD. I have heard some horror stories recently.</p>