Notre Dame experience worth the Notre Dame cost?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm rather heartbroken over notre dame: I've been accepted EA, but I don't qualify for financial aid. By the same token, my parents can't afford to pay for ND completely out of pocket. I would have to take out some pretty hefty loans; plus, I would have no money for law school, which means I would probably have to attend a state school that's just OK for law. On the other hand, I've been offered 2/3 tuition at a smaller LAC that's less prestigious but still good. I'm just wondering... Is notre dame worth it?</p>

2

<p>If you are going to be a lawyer (and seriously, look into how many people think there is a big law school bubble about the burst), your grades, test scores, and any interning you do will matter more than the school you went to for undergrad in terms of getting into law school. Once there, where you went to undergraduate school will matter little. Bringing > $100,000 of undergrad loans at 7-8% will be a HUGE burden. Add in law school debt and compound interest, and you could easily emerge into an uncertain job market with > $200,000 of debt. That is a life-altering amount of debt that you would regret forever.</p>

<p>Recommend:

  1. Take the money, go to the small LAC and don’t look back. Seriously, in 4 months you will wonder how you could have ever even considered another option. </p>

<p>2) Take the money and work to transfer. I don’t recommend this, since all of your friends at college will seem “temporary”, and there is not a guarantee that you will get it.</p>

<p>3) Go to ND and work for an ROTC scholarship. If you can get in to ND, then you would have be competitive for a 3-year ROTC scholarship that would pay full tuition and some living expenses. You’d still have one year of debt to deal with, but that would probably be manageable. Again, though, there’s no guarantee that you would get this.</p>

3

<p>Notre Dame is an excellent school. However, no college is worth potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.</p>

<p>Go to the LAC, dedicate yourself, excel, enjoy your stay, and go on to a great law school. I have a feeling that wherever you go, you will most likely end up loving it.</p>