<p>S turned down Yale and Duke for ND. He will graduate next month. He has never regretted the decision. ND has been an incredible experience for him.</p>
<p>Hey Omnipulse I’m also headed to Notre Dame and glad to hear that you’ve gone with your heart and not what other people told you to do. From my experience with my sister (a recent graduate) and her friends, I know that ND kids with top grades are doing just as well as their counterparts at the traditional Ivies. Have fun and don’t look back.</p>
<p>Well guys, FA did not come through for me.</p>
<p>I put everything together, and Notre Dame would cost me upwards of $40,000 more over four years than Penn. For a person from a modest background like myself, it is an unreasonable amount of debt to assume.</p>
<p>I called the FA office on Friday, and they basically told me that unless my financial situation changed, they could not alter my package. I explained to them my situation, and told them that, while ND is my first-choice school, I will essentially have to turn it down because of finances. Realistically, I cannot afford ND with what they have offered.</p>
<p>Notre Dame is an absolutely wonderful school, but I suppose life is leading me elsewhere.</p>
<p>I thank all of you again for your help.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear that. Good luck to you at UPenn. It’s a great school.</p>
<p>Ah, forget my last post. After many hours of conversation with my parents, Notre Dame alumni, teachers, and friends, I decided to just go with the debt (my FA concerns had much more to do with my near-retirement parents than with my own debt load). I sent in my enrollment deposit to Notre Dame today.</p>
<p>College is an expensive proposition no doubt but not many decisions you make will have a bigger impact on your life. 35 years after leaving school my best and most trusted friends are still those guys I met my freshman year in college.</p>
<p>ND is special. UPenn is a great grad school.</p>
<p>Congrats, omnipulse! You won’t regret it.</p>
<p>Congrats, bro! Great choice!</p>
<p>Wise choice! See you next year!</p>
<p>onimpulse, I am glad you chose ND! I wasn’t picking between ND and an Ivy like you, but I still gave Vanderbilt a fair chance. FA came through horribly for me as well at ND, but I’m going to make it work. ND CLASS OF 2015!!!</p>
<p>I myself am a catholic who had to choose between Penn and ND. I chose Penn because I liked it better, but even I am sure you made the right decision.</p>
<p>A college decision should be based on where you feel the most comfortable. Nobody wants to spend 4 years in a place they dont want to be. Anything after that - reputation, alumni network, etc, is just semantics.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the support!</p>
<p>@LondonGentleman You know what, the financial difference between ND and Penn still does scare me, because, believe me, it was soooooo pronounced. But again, there’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be than Notre Dame, and I feel that at certain times in life one really must go with their heart.</p>
<p>I’ll see you and princetongirl93 in the fall!</p>
<p>@Negoblle2 They’re both fantastic schools. In the end, I tried to — but couldn’t — imagine myself at Penn. But I am 100% sure that you made the right decision in your college deliberations as well.</p>
<p>reading this thread makes me think I should go to Notre Dame…but I’m still undecided :s
and at this point I’d have to overnight my payment to ND tomorrow…indecision is a pain haha.</p>
<p>cjester, where are you deciding between?</p>
<p>You don’t have to overnight it. “Send” by May 1st. So as long as the postmark date is by April 30th (May 1st is Sunday), you’ll be okay.</p>
<p>Baylor and Notre Dame… I would be paid to go to Baylor and have great flexibility with double or triple majoring and still be able to go abroad for free for 2-3 semesters. My sister there wouldn’t have to take out loans any more and they’d give me about 55 credit hours for AP. Notre Dame costs much more and is less flexible, especially if I do the honors program (which would mean I could use even less than my 45 expected credits) and double majoring in Theology and Physics would mean I could go abroad maybe one semester, but with a large financial burden… Most people want me to go to Baylor but I really love Notre Dame. It’s quite a predicament…</p>
<p>And thanks Billy, I just was told the same from an admissions counselor I know so at least now I have another day :s</p>
<p>onimpulse- I can tell that you’ve wisely thought out your situation. Good luck and see you next year!</p>
<p>cjester- I’m not one to assess your financial situation, but think about it… is the experience you’ll have at Notre Dame worth any sum of money? Is 200k (drastic example) worth a lifetime of wishing you had gone to ND? Studying abroad is awesome, but remember, you’ll have the rest of your life to travel. Personally, I’m trying to get involved in the NROTC program, which would make ND affordable and give me opportunities to travel … that’s my plan for “making it work” ;)</p>
<p>Even if you really love the school, please give a lot of thought as to the crippling nature of private debt. Run a calculation to see how much you would pay each month for ten/twenty years. Figure out what you would make after college. Give it a lot of thought.</p>