Our d has just enough in savings to attend her top os pick but it is pricey and she is unsure of her major. One parent feels she should first attend an is school until she chooses her major instead of taking the chance of wasting $. The other feels we should let her follow her dream and obviously hope for the best. Both is and os are decent schools - os being the better of the two. Any opinions on a huge financial decision?
Its much harder to get into most schools as a transfer student.
I don’t see the problem here - a lot of kids are uncommitted as to major. Are there a lot of majors the instate school offers that the OOS does not?
Why would choosing her major have an impact on the choice of schools? Are any of the majors she’s considering offered at one school but not the other?
My personal opinion is that she should go to the out of state school if that’s what she wants. Yes, she may wipe out her savings, but it looks like she won’t have to go into debt. It’s debt that puts huge financial burdens on young people. Having no money in the bank is pretty normal.
At many schools, you don’t pick a major until the second or third year. Where does the d want to go? That’s the main question. If you force her to go somewhere she doesn’t want to, that’s a sure way to waste money.
What are your D’s stats? Is she an uber student, a BWRK, or more-or-less average?
This is really too much of an open-ended question. The degree of difference between the two schools matters.
As long as both schools have a wide choice of majors and a potential major isn’t much better at one school than the other, I don’t see what being undecided has to do with anything. She should look at requirements for potential majors at both schools, and the gen ed requirements and see if she’s likely to get into trouble with sequencing if she doesn’t get started on a major freshman year.
Usually though freshman year can be devoted to taking a few intro courses in potential majors and getting a couple of gen eds out of the way. By the end of my freshman year I knew I wasn’t going to major in anything at all similar to what I had started off thinking I’d do, but it really didn’t matter. The course that made me realize what I wanted to do was a second term freshman seminar that didn’t even count for the major, but I had no problem fitting in all the courses I needed in three years.
Agree with others. Not enough information based on OP to say whether one school is substantially better than the other and, unless the OOS school has a very limited number or majors, I’m unclear why there is a concern.
For me, if they are about the same academically but one is substantially more affordable than the other, it might make a difference, but they both sound, technically, affordable. With limited information, I don’t see why the dd shouldn’t be able to go OOS.
I think she should choose one school, not plan to transfer. I think kids usually fall in love with their school and for many reasons want to stay at one school for all 4 years. There’s a lot to be said for knowing the campus, professors, friends, etc. Obviously finances, etc need to be part of the decision, but one school for 4 years is preferable.
Even if she knew what she wanted to major in she might change. If she loves the OOS school and the education will be superior and she won’t get into crushing debt I say go for it. I think planning to transfer after two years is a really bad idea. The place she starts this fall should be home for four years.
Thank you all so much for your comments. Your opinions are a great help and truly appreciated.
I transferred after one year (due to $) and never regretted the choice. BUT I can tell you that IMO it is not the optimal way to go to college. While I loved the school I transferred to, I strongly believe that my experience there would have been even better had I started as a freshman. Many people make their core of friends freshman year when everyone is new to the school. I always felt like I was playing catch-up in that regard. Fortunately I lucked into good roommates and was in a smaller major where I made friends and it all worked out for me, but I saw other transfer students really struggle to find their place.
I don’t feel I can answer the OP’s question. Too many variables beside instate and OOS.
And no idea which instate vs which OOS…or for which potential major.
Assuming finances are not an issue, I would let the student decide.
My opinion is based strictly on d’s experience. She did not even apply to any school that we knew would not offer great Merit scholarship. At the end all of them did, but the difference in amounts was great. She choose the college that happen to offer a full tuition Merit, however, money were not her criteria, money were considered when she was applying.
My conclusion is that since your kid did not consider money when applying, then money must not be important to your family. Why money is considered now? That is my big question, I do not understand it.