First, what I want to do: I don’t really plan on sticking to one profession my whole life. Throughout high school I started and led several projects from scratch. The path I see myself taking in the future is one with a lot of risk, especially because I have more project ideas I want to pursue, and businesses I want to get started. My projects are from a wide variety of fields– a podcast, a news aggregator site, a tech company relating to augmented reality, etc. Above all, I’m looking for a solid community and access to resources to pursue these ideas.
Northwestern’s Medill Journalism school (180 students / year) is somewhat of a dream for me, and I really loved it when I visited. My high school experience so far has really been geared towards journalism, but if I go there I’ll be taking their Integrated Marketing Communications path. I know I’ll learn a lot of branding stuff there, and I’d also probably double major in business. I also am really attracted to their alumni network, and it could be a great help in the future when I’m trying to start a business. Pretty much the only thing is NU will put me in about $100k in debt, and average Medill graduate starting salary is $45000.
FCLC I’m not as excited about, but I’m honored to be accepted into their Honors Program (16 students / year). As a North Jersey native I have a lot of experience with NYC, but I didn’t really click with the campus. I’ll be Undecided at Fordham and from what I’ve read, I’m getting mixed signals on how the community at Fordham is, too. Fordham seems to really want me though, giving a good scholarship, and I know that Honors Program students get access to top professors. Fordham will still cost a lot for my family but we won’t be put into any debt– and so coming out of college I’ll have a lot more flexibility with my options.
So I’m just wondering 1) which school will better prepare me to pursue my projects and 2) is the difference in education worth going into debt for?
Northwestern, the one you seem more comfortable at, would be the better choice if it weren’t for the 2) $100,000 in debt, which is A LOT. I would suggest taking the debtless option here. Have you appealed financial aid/merit at NU?
NU does offer a master’s in your field if you decide to go that route.
@albertsax Yup, visited their financial aid office– no help. I also should add that I’m really interested in studying abroad and traveling during my time at college, and NU Medill seems to have a lot more opportunities, though Fordham is pretty strong internship-wise within NYC.
My son and I just returned from Friday’s Gabelli school admitted student’s day at Lincoln Center. He was admitted into their honors program. We learned that they have just opened a brand new and impressive facility at their London campus. Consider that option as you make your decision.
Overall, we were very impressed with their recently renovated facilities and their attitude toward learning, being global, and working for common good.
OP’s options do not make sense to me from a financial perspective.
Northwestern University is a very wealthy university which meets full financial need. I am, therefore, confused as to why OP & his family would need to borrow $100,000 for a Northwestern education.
OP: Did you apply for need based financial aid at Northwestern ?
Did you apply to any public university honors colleges which award full tuition merit based scholarships ?
You say that you’d like to double major in business at NU. NU does not have an undergrad business major, although it does have some business-related minors and certificates.
Northwestern is a great school and its journalism school is wonderful. But I don’t see how that is an affordable option for you. You cannot borrow $100k. Are your parents able AND willing to take that amount on debt out on your behalf? And if so, how would you pay them back? Unless you have a reasonable/workable plan to fund all four years at Northwestern, I would not go there.
If you do not like Fordham -LC what other options do you have? Have you considered asking if you could switch to the honors program at Fordham - RH if you think that campus would be a better fit?
I believe Northwestern meets need with loans issued through the school. I haven’t personally seen a financial aid award from NU, but I have heard a few fellow parents mention it.
You won’t be able to do this with $100k of college debt. You will need steady and dependable income to make your payments. Honestly, if you end up with the average salary mentioned above you will probably have to get a second job until your student loans are paid off.
Journalism, unless it’s a cable tv gig is a notoriously underpaid profession. The starting salary data the OP posted reflects that fact. The advent of blogs and podcasts have also put a further dent in print media.
100k in interest bearing debt is much more than amount. No one ever seems to talk about this in the heat of the moment.
Carrying 125k debt load and trying to make your online project or freelance reporting work for you will be impossible.
You sound like a go getter. Fordham will give you a great preparation for whatever life brings you and can’t think of a better place to be for someone interested in many things and great stories than the former big and now “green” Apple.
I don’t see Medill fitting your goals in life. Kellogg would be a better fit for someone that appears more entrepreneurial than a marketing wannabe.
If you were comparing undergrad b-school to Fordham, that would be one thing, but attending Medill just to learn marketing and branding, I just don’t see it given your interests. (And no, working on your HS newspaper is not really journalism.)
Regardless, you cannot borrow that kind of cash, so unless your parents are willing to borrow it themselves, NU is not a financial option.
@AlwaysMoving : According to Northwestern University’s financial aid brochure (which I just googled), “all need based aid is 100% loan free”.
So there appears to be some crucial information which OP has not shared regarding COA at Northwestern.
P.S. NU seems to be acutely aware of the potential Endowment Tax and wants to avoid it. Look for continued & increased spending on facilities & financial aid.
It seems to me like there is likely a discrepancy between what the OP’s family is willing to pay and what Northwestern believes they can/should pay – that is not terribly unusual. If the OP has been invited to the honors program at Fordham I expect that he/she received a large merit aid award.
Thank you for the responses! To address some things that were brought up–
Yes, there’s a discrepancy in what NU thinks we can pay and what we can actually pay, however 100k is more of a worst-case estimate. We can cover two years without a loan, and from there it’s whatever we can scrap together. My family can probably still contribute a lot towards college out of their income, but definitely not as much as our EFC. Hard to exactly judge, but due to some good news over the past few days and a clarification of some ambiguities we had, the loan amount is looking to be closer to 50k if not less, and we’d be borrowing it later so there won’t be so much interest accruing. So that’s a big difference (or maybe I’m being overly optimistic).
At Northwestern I definitely want to take business-related classes, but I don’t yet know what I would do a double major in. Since most people in Medill double major, I expect that I’ll do it too. About how Medill fits into my vision for my life, I think there’s a lot of skills to learn and insight to gain there that’s transferrable to any field. The branding/marketing path is mostly chosen more as some sort of safety net, since it’s better than traditional journalism. I also really loved the community at NU Medill when I visited because of how small it is, and I believe the alumni network is a big plus too, and both of those are really important in what I want to do.
The path I see myself going down put simply is 1) take a wide variety of classes during college, especially ones related to business 2) pursue bigger projects and just see where they go. I’m expecting a lot of failure along the way but I’m someone who always gets back up with new ideas, and 3) if they do all fail, the alternative is to follow the Integrated Marketing Communications path at Medill. I think the 40k starting salary figure is pulled down by traditional journalism and does not represent IMC. I may be overestimating my ability, but I think I should be able to land a 60k or 70k starting salary job. As for the loan, it’s still really hard to tell how much I’ll have to take, but everything I know right now suggests that it’ll be significantly less than the 100k I originally said. Again, the exact number is really hard to pin down since we’ll only be taking the loan in the third and fourth year.