A while ago I sent in my intent to enroll to Oberlin College and everything went fine with admissions and I’m in the process of filling out all the paperwork and stuff, but now I’m panicking because it’s going to be uber expensive and I haven’t even covered the extra 20,000/year I need to go there yet. I live in Texas, and I can still apply to Texas Tech before June 1. I know I’ve told the other school I’m going there, and I still might attend Oberlin, but I think I’m going to apply to Texas Tech now just to see what happens. Should I call the schools up and tell them about my situaton? I’m sure I could get a decent scholarship and stuff at Tech. Even without aid, it’d be less than Oberlin with the 15,000/year grant.
I intend to study the social sciences. My likely majors (I’ll probably double major) are poli sci, econ, and anthropology. I know poli sci is pretty popular at Tech, but it seems like the educational quality is quite a step down from Oberlin. But my focus in the long run is to get a Ph.D without having much debt and people have told me that where you go for undergrad doesn’t matter so much anymore. It’s all about the grades and GREs or applicable test scores. What’s your take?
<p>tough situation. If you are going to grad school immediately following undergrad, try tech. BUT be very careful not to screw yourself over by going behind Oberlin's back and risk getting rescended/rejected by BOTH schools. If you are going to get a job to work off the debt of undergrad, it's not as big a deal because you may be in a better place as far as job offerings coming out of Oberlin as compared to TT.</p>
<p>I think you have answered your own question. Everything you said made sense and you definitely sound like you would be happier at Texas Tech. I am not sure about the issue concerning accepting two schools. It is very doubtful that Oberlin and Texas Tech are sharing information, and technically you have not accepted two schools by just applying to Texas Tech. Oberlin is going to expect to lose a few people because of freshmen dropping off as they are taken off waitlists at other schools. I'd be interested in what other people are going to say about this.</p>
<p>In terms of higher income because of attending Oberlin, you might consider the following. There have been statistical studies showing that graduates from Ivy League schools make more money over their lifetimes. However, recent studies have compared people who attended Ivy League schools versus people who were accepted to Ivies but decided to attend somewhere else. There is no statistical difference in income. The kind of people who are accepted to Ivies are more successful (monetarily), but it is because of the kind of people they are and not because they actually attended.</p>
<p>That's pretty much how I feel. Really, the education is what I choose to make of it. If I go to Tech, I'd also start out with more credit because of APs (about 20 hours I think as opposed to like 6 or 8 at Oberlin), so I could take more upper level classes earlier that count toward my major, so I think it will make the dual major easier. Not to mention at Tech I'll know some people and be able to afford to do fun stuff and pay for a car.</p>
<p>I know there's absolutely nothing wrong with straight up applying to Texas Tech right now, so I know I'll do it. However, if I decide to attend Texas Tech, I will tell Oberlin about it before I tell Tech I'll enroll. Does that sound good? I mean, if it's for financial reasons and stuff, I think they'd understand. I think I'd be in the clear as long as I broke things off with Oberlin before enrolling at Tech, but I haven't had any experience with this and it's a pretty weird situation. I'd like to hear what more people have to say about this. Thanks for the input so far.</p>
<p>Yeah, we had the same debt panic here. My son was accepted at CMU and wanted to go there forever, but it is just too darned expensive. We examined financial spreadsheets detailing where we could get the money for four years and the parental and student debt at the end. Then we added in graduate school and the younger sibling. It really made everything crystal clear. If it is any help to you, we ALL were very relieved to select a state school that was cheaper and offered some nice scholarships. I don't think that choosing Texas Tech over Oberlin will be any handicap in graduate school, employment or earnings.</p>
<p>Maybe you should speak to your guidance counselor about your dilemma in contacting Oberlin and TT...I'm sure you cannot be the first person to comtemplate withdrawl of acceptance due to financial matters.</p>
<p>Oberlin is in the process right now of contacting students on the waitlist. (My daughter was called). So if you've decided on Texas Tech, this would be the time to tell Oberlin Admission so that they can offer a spot to someone else who is waiting and hoping to get in. </p>
<p>They won't hassle you or put you through any grief, there are other students waiting (however, I don't know if you'll get the $300 back)</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm aware of the waitlist, and I feel horrible that my spot is preventing someone else from being called up. I'm calling Oberlin right away to see what will happen. I haven't been accepted to Tech yet, though. It would suck if they were full or I couldn't go for some reason and then I would have NO college to go to. So yeah, I'm right on it. Congrats to your daughter, by the way. Oberlin is a wonderful school and I'd be thrilled about going if it wasn't going to bury me in years of debt.</p>
<p>Do not tell Oberlin until you are accepted at Tech! It's nice that you are thinking of others - but you could be left with nothing! Schools are aware that students change their minds. They plan for it in the acceptance numbers.</p>
<p>I agree with We'llgetthruit. This is an unusual situation. I don't think it is like the situation where you have been accepted at two schools and trying to accept both at the same time. It is more like the situation where you have been accepted at one and waitlisted at another. I would wait until you heard from Texas Tech before withdrawing your acceptance to Oberlin. There are other people who were accepted to Oberlin and waitlisted elsewhere. The smoke on people coming off of waitlists doesn't completely clear until August.</p>
<p>Kyle, I'm troubled that you seem to see your college choice mainly in terms of grad school prospects, future earnings, etc. In those terms, and in light of the money issues, it may make sense for you to go to Texas Tech. (Although I continue to believe that a student with a degree from Oberlin has a better shot at grad school admission than a student with the same test scores with a degree from Texas Tech.) But I would say that the most important factor in choosing a college is the particular experience you'll have there--and those terms, it's absolutely not true that "where you go for undergrad doesn't so much matter anymore." Oberlin is a very distinctive place, and a liberal arts college allows a very different experience from a large state university; I just think you need to keep that in mind as you weigh your options.</p>
<p>While Dave72 makes some good points, unless you are wealthy, you need to consider the value of your degree vs. the cost. In the old days, you could count on your earnings exceeding the cost of your education in a few years. I graduated from Bentley College in 1980 - cost $5000./yr. I was making $20,000, three years after graduation. I think about the amount of debt my daughter is likely to carry. She will be lucky if she can even think about buying a house before she is 30.</p>
<p>sdskyle - You may already be doing this, but be sure to apply to the Honors College at Texas Tech. The Honors College has approximately 1,000 students and has a heavy liberal arts orientation. My son just finished his freshman year in the Honors College and is also a poly sci major. He had a superb experience in his first year with several interdisciplinary classes of 20-25 students in Humnaities, astronomy, and history. Tech is very committed to having a high quality honors college environment which includes (unlike most Honors Programs) faculty members whose only appointment is in the Honors College; a new classic liberal arts degree only offered in the Honors College; plus the usual goodies of an Honors dorm (Gordon Hall); early registration, etc. Also, the caliber of the Honors College entrance class is quite high with many vals/saluts and average SATs of 1330-1350 (in 2003 the SAT average was 1347). Finally, the First Year Experience classes for the freshmen give an excellent introduction to the Honors College environment. Take a look at the Tech Honors College website and the wide variety of FYE classes (including one taught by Dean Bell) and you will see what I mean.</p>
<p>If you are too late in applying as a freshman, you just need a 3.4 at Tech to then apply (I believe) after your first semester. From what I can tell, the Honors College advising is also excellent. If you are considering Tech, give the Honors College a serious look.</p>
<p>BTW, I may have misread your original post and thought you had been accepted to TT. I agree, do not say anything to Oberlin until you hear from TT and you've decided to go there. The waitlist is an on going process. There are many people who've been accepted at schools, sent in their deposit and are waiting to hear from a waitlist school. They will not get their money back from the first school. This is one place where you should think of yourself first.</p>
<p>dave72,
We are on the same page concerning the benefits of going to a school like Oberlin when we are talking about the experience of going there. This thread started with a discussion of whether or not it was worth going very deeply in debt in order to attend Oberlin. My comments were oriented towards whether or not attending Oberlin was worth the money in that sense and that led to whether or not a person's income increases significantly if they attend a prestigious undergraduate school. I agree that going to Oberlin would probably be a better experience and that therefore the educational experience would be better. The OP has said that he would rather go to Oberlin except for the debt. In this case, there is a real concern about the money and I think that the OP will get just as good an education at TT as Oberlin.</p>
<p>lonestardad, I'm definitely looking into the Honors College. I think I'm too late to get into it next semester, but it's good to know that I can apply to get into the honors college after the first semester. It offers a bit better of an education and probably helps with job/grad school placement.</p>
<p>I'm also aware of Oberlin's excellence in producing Phds. They have one of the highest phd productivity ratings in the country for just about every major. I know it's an excellent school. It's just that when I do a cost/benefit analysis, I just can't see it being worth going into debt. I mean, I care about getting into a good graduate school, but getting a Ph.d takes a lot of time and won't give me much time to make money while I'm getting it. I don't want to be paying off student loans until I'm 30 and not being able to raise a family. With my AP credit (Tech accepts 3s), I might be able to graduate earlier and get my schooling over with sooner so I can move on with life.</p>
<p>P.S. I'm not dumb enough to withdraw admission from Oberlin before I get accepted to Texas Tech. Maybe it came out like that because it was late and I typed in a hurry, but yeah. That would not be a smart thing to do.</p>
<p>You should remember that the "benefits of going to a school like Oberlin" are only valuable if you fit that mold. There are many who would never choose Oberlin or any similar institution. Also, I agree with lonestardad about investigating the honors program because those I have seen looked quite good.</p>
<p>sdskyle - One other possibility is to go to Tech and then transfer in a year or two to Oberlin having saved some big bucks. Last year I recall reading on CC where a student transferred from Tech's Honors College to Penn. </p>
<p>On the other hand, as with lots of students who go to a college/university that initially was not their first choice, you may enjoy your experience so much at Tech that you wouldn't think of transferring.</p>
<p>It is hard to say that going to an Ivy League school will not give the student an advantage in income or career status. That perception is very strong, and people basically believe what they want to believe anyway. If anyone is seriously considering going into heavy debt in order to attend an Ivy instead of a school where they can save money, they need to read the first chapter of "Harvard Schmarvard" by Jay Mathews. In it, the author presents anecdotal evidence such as what schools that the top 10 Fortune 500 CEO's graduated from, or the most influential newspaper editors, or the governors, or the senators. More importantly, he presents the statistical evidence that was obtained by a database of seventy-five thousand students who enrolled in thirty-four colleges in the years 1951, 1976, and 1989 that is available at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Research Center.</p>
<p>You need to sit down and have a long talk with your parents, and look at what it is going to take financially to go to Oberlin vs your other alternatives. Though you may have done this before, it is often a whole other story when that check needs to be cut. It seems to me that it is an awfully big jump from Oberlin to Texas Tech as to the type of school and environment. I strongly suggest you visit Tech and see what your options are there and if you can get any large grants. At this late date, the difference may not be as big as you would think. I would procede with the Oberlin option and work at getting as much money put away this summer to pay the bills. It might be a good idea to actually go there a year, take a year to go to Tech (instead of Junior year abroad, it would be sophomore at local tech) and then decide whether it is worth it to finish up at Oberlin or continue at Tech. I know many kids who had done thing that way and saved $20K on their overall college tuition.</p>
<p>Well, it looks like I got into Texas Tech. Now I've just got to finally decide if this is really what I want to do. I'm looking at like 35k debt versus like 85k debt. Hypothetically speaking here, if I go to Texas Tech and then get my Phd at someplace like Stanford, would that somehow give me a disadvantage when compared to someone that went to Oberlin before going to a school like Stanford to get a Phd? I'd probably become a professor. I'm not sure how things work. I don't think an education really works out as a commodity.</p>
<p>It just seems like it would suck to go through all that school and have to pay off that debt for a long time after I get my degree. I mean, what if I want to get married, buy a house and start a family? I wouldn't want to be close to thirty, paying a house payment, student loans, and paying for kids, too. Plus, professors get paid pretty crappy anyways (with a few exceptions, of course). </p>
<p>I might be kind of rambling here, but as much as I like Oberlin, I can't get it through my head why I'd pay that much more money to go there.</p>