<p>I have been fortunate to be accepted to these schools... though the decision is difficult. I live in California, and received No aid to any of the private schools.
At this point it seems like I'm leaning either UCLA and stay cheap or go all out for a private school and go to Duke or Penn (my dad is seemingly ungrudging to consider ND or Vandy).
I feel like I would like life at Duke or Vandy and prefer the south (I grew up near Dallas... Big city life like penn would be new for sure).
I would like to go into Busines... though of course I am an idiot and didn't apply to Wharton.
so that's kinda the equalizer.
It's like... well you wanna go to business but... out here penn is just overshadowed by Wharton it seems. So to ME, it seems Duke and Penn would be on equal playing fields as far as after college.
But I want to have fun in college
and both schools seem to fit the "have fun" ticket as far as upper schools go
and IDK!
Do I want to go to UCLA with the other 31249 kids from my school
or spend the 50,000 a year and go east (my dad has said we could handle it... but just isn't excited about it).
I am visiting Penn and Duke next week ish... If i fall in love, great. If not, I may have to visit Vandy... </p>
<p>any advice</p>
<p>then there's the 26,000 a year scholarship to pepperdine... lol
or Regents at UCSD?</p>
<p>Personally, I would go farther away from home- college is supposed to be time of growth and all that crap......um, I would be between Duke and Penn (actually, I would for sure go to Duke, but I didn't get in- it has the ultimate college experience, I think)</p>
<p>But I think I'm going to ND in the fall, so maybe I could see u there? haha.....good luck deciding!</p>
<p>Your dad said he can handle it... what does that mean? In thirty years, if your dad has very little spending money in retirement because of the extra $120k spent on Duke or Penn, are you prepared to kick in a few thousand dollars each year so that he can enjoy his retirement?</p>
<p>does it mean he will need to postpone retirement for five years in order to make up the savings spent on Penn or Duke?</p>
<p>You've really got to think this through. I'm not saying it's not worth it, only that a parent's willingness to sacrifice for a child affects the whole family, and probably you too, when you become responsible for your parent's well being later in life.</p>
<p>i would go take advantage of ucla in-state tuition, if you end up saving more than 100k. if you choose not to go to ucla, id go to duke. but, imo, i don't think that either vandy or nd are worth that much more money to go over ucla, while duke or penn might be worth it if your parents are willing to pay.</p>
<p>Go to Duke because you didn't get into Wharton and the CAS at Penn is definitely overshadowed by the business school in terms of job recruitment.</p>
<p>Let me try a really radical idea: go where you think you would be happiest!</p>
<p>The institutional quality differences among these five colleges is infinitesimal. The quality of the academic experience that you will have at all will be excellent. Think about what you are looking for outside of the classroom and what you want to enjoy for your four years of college. I assure you that you will be a proud alum of any of these colleges.</p>
<p>A few other quickie thoughts:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Cost-UCLA is the obvious winner</p></li>
<li><p>Social life-UCLA and Vanderbilt have the strongest reps for this, but Duke and Notre Dame are also considered very good and U Penn is sometimes called the social Ivy. </p></li>
<li><p>Athletic life-the only outlier here is U Penn as it would be a big step down from any of the others. ND is probably your best choice here.</p></li>
<li><p>Weather-ND and U Penn are the losers here. Definitely longer, colder, wetter winters. </p></li>
<li><p>Campus-It'll be interesting to hear what you like after your visits. Be sure to get out into the neighborhoods surrounding each campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Bring your dad (and mom) along on your visits if possible. If you decide to go on a path less followed, you want him there with you so that he can understand why you are making the choice that you are.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>thank you to all!
after visiting ucla officially, I found nothing extraordinary, simply a nice class I could be happy at.
Which brings me to USC... Where I wanted to go so long but was not offered even half tuition that I was hoping for (and would without a doubt accept!)</p>
<p>After talking with my parents, they are on board with whatever makes me happiest... Though USC over ucla may he hard to convince of my dad
(we can afford it, he is just the cheapest most stingy person I know)</p>
<p>thanks again and I will update after duke Penn and explore USC</p>
<p>Have a great time on your journey eastward!</p>
<p>And yes, evil<em>asian</em>dictator is incorrect. (rejected, much?)</p>
<p>CAS kids get recruited by Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and all the biggest of the big names. I have no doubt that it is a smaller % of the CAS body than the Wharton body, but this is for the dual reasons of 1) CAS is simply much bigger and 2) Wharton is more focused on this sort of thing, so of course a higher % will be trying to get these jobs in the first place. CAS grads, meanwhile, have students going off to med school, law school, grad school, dental, advertising, thinktanks, nonprofits, government, and so on.</p>
<p>If you are in Penn's College (and you pick a REAL major, for example: not Asian-American Studies), then you will do very well indeed in the job market. I speak from experience.</p>