<p>Keep an eye on the strings attached to the full ride. Some academic superstars have gone into an emotional tailspin first year of college and dropped below the magic 3.5 or whatever GPA required to maintain the full ride. Other than that, if the full-ride school is really compatible and money is an issue, it would be hard to pass up. </p>
<p>No need to restate the positives of going to a top school. Be prepared for ego-deflating average grades in comparison to lower-ranked high school peers who matriculate at lower-ranked schools and earn all A's.</p>
<p>I will turn the question around. How much was it worth to choose MIT over RPI? We chose the former at considerable cost. DD is still smiling like a kid in a candy shop, even in the midst of finals. In our case it was an easy choice even though there will be long term costs for us all.</p>
<p>It's a myth that higher ranked schools lead to lower grades and lower ranked schools lead to higher grades. Princeton and a few others have recently addressed this grade-inflation issue.</p>
<p>See, I would love to have a response to my (not yet resolved) problem. Can anybody help me? :P</p>
<p>I just got into my "dream school" - the dream school of dream schools, I guess - Harvard. And obviously, everyone is telling me to go. My optometrist told me to go. My friend's mom told me to go. My GC told me to go. My parents are telling me to go. But being upper middle class (parents make between 100k-150k, but we live in a very high cost of living area) and an only child, financial aid situation looks very bleak. I'm not expecting to get much, and outside scholarships are going to take a lot of effort to get and probably won't make much difference in the 46k tag.</p>
<p>Having read all of these responses, I feel silly to want to go to Harvard because I really don't have much of an idea of what I want to do. I'm most likely not going to get a prestigious i-banking job where undergrad degree would matter. Have no idea if I'm going to grad school, though I guess I will because it seems almost compulsory. I'm planning on majoring in something in the humanities. Very vague.</p>
<p>I will have to wait until April to see what other offers roll in, but I'm so worried that another school that I like and feel is a nice fit for me (say, Brandeis) will offer me a big merit scholarship and make the choice to choose Harvard that much harder. Harvard has an undeniable je ne sais quoi, and I feel it's a great fit for me, has boundless resources, amazing students, and a prime location. </p>
<p>So, when is Harvard worth it? I figure if my parents are to pay so much for my education, they might as well pay for the top brand name in education where I think I'd be happy. And at the same time, it feels like the Harvard undergrad experience is a winning lottery ticket to a once in a lifetime opportunity. But them telling me they're going to have to borrow 80k over four years really, really makes me want to cry.</p>
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But them telling me they're going to have to borrow 80k over four years really, really makes me want to cry.
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<p>I don't know anything about the specifics of your family situation of course. And I'm sure people will criticize me. But if it were me, I wouldn't worry about the cost of Harvard if your parents are willing to pay. They know what their financial situation is, better than you do. Plus, you're an only child. I would go to Harvard if it's a good fit.</p>
<p>Somehow, families figure out how to make things work out. I'd try my best to see if you can apply for outside scholarships (especially small local ones that tend not to have as many applicants) that you could use at any school & find a good job to work part-time during this year & full-time over the summer to help defray expenses.
As was said, your folks know their finances better than you and would not have Harvard as an option if they cannot pay for it. Things will work out one way or another.</p>
<p>We had the same situation last year. Acceptance to first choice CMU at cost of $42K+ per year or nice scholarship at Pitt down the road. In order to save the $100K+ over four years, he/we reluctantly chose Pitt. (We needed to consider the cost of graduate school plus a younger sibling.) Now, after three semesters, I can honestly say that we feel we made the right decision for my son. He has found some really nice, motivated and smart friends. His departments are great. He has 4.0 in a double major. He is having fun. </p>
<p>Sure, we could have re-mortgaged our home, used our retirement savings, taken out huge personal loans, or saddled our son with massive debt upon graduation...all in order to attend CMU undergrad. But this was not the right decision for us. Maybe your folks can handle the bill better! </p>
<p>I think "fit" is highly overrated. "Fit" is the catch-all reason to justify whatever choice you make. There is no single perfect college for a student. So much of the college experience is what you make of it. It may seem like the expense is worth it now, but will getting your first choice be worth the debt it in four years? Who knows. Having chosen a path, you can never really make an accurate evaluation. Everyone here, myself included, tends to justify their past decisions. But, I can say this for sure: chances are that you will find opportunities and like-minded people anywhere you go. Good luck!</p>
<p>Lingo, I'll join the chorus--go to Harvard. I know I'll get flamed, but here goes. Peer group is everything IMO, I saw this when I went from a good public school to the Harvard of prep schools. My whole world changed being with such smart kids from all over the world. What I learned in that environment enhanced my life in so many ways I don't know where to begin. My whole frame of reference changed. The phenomenal achievers I met will always be in my life. And while many will disagree, I firmly believe the contacts you will make there will greatly benefit your future. When I needed a high paying job to help pay for my dream school, I turned to alumni of my high school and landed a job few recent high school grads would have access to. Consider deferring for a year to make some money.</p>
<p>Just be sure it's really your dream school and you're not blinded by the Harvard name. I chose Dartmouth over Harvard and Princeton, among other things, for the peer group. Harvard has many off the chart brilliant kids, but IMO Dartmouth has the more well rounded student body. That fits me better.</p>
<p>Here's what I did (many years ago): went to a small liberal arts school and majored in math because I was good at it. There weren't many math majors but we had top-notch professors. I had a super advisor who pushed me to apply for graduate school at an Ivy league school and apply for a National Science Foundation fellowship. (He is my friend to this day.) Bottom line - I went to the Ivy League school for graduate school on an NSF fellowship and got a Ph.D. </p>
<p>What did I see at the Ivy League school? The professors didn't pay a lot of attention to undergraduates or to grad students until they passed their "A" exam (which meant they were going to keep us!) My husband and I always said we wouldn't spend the money for an Ivy League education for our children unless they were sure they were going to get a job right after undergrad. There's no denying it - the name helps - but it's not everything. If you're going on to law school, med school, or other Ph.D. program, get a great education first and then go for the Ivy League or HYPSM or whatever the top names are in your field.</p>
<p>There are plenty of non-Ivy, non-HYPSM schools out there that provide a great education, wonderful opportunities and a great start toward a satisfying career, whether or not you go to grad school or get a job right out of college.</p>
<p>Our first child didn't test our resolution about the Ivy League. She had the capabilities but no interest in Ivy or HPYSM. She had to test her own long-held bias toward NYU and New York City as her "dream school." We decided we could live with NYU, but she changed her mind after weighing all the factors and is now happy at BU in Boston in the COM school (a great choid of school and city for her).</p>
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I think "fit" is highly overrated. "Fit" is the catch-all reason to justify whatever choice you make. There is no single perfect college for a student
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<p>I don't think 'fit' means 'perfect fit' or 'perfect college'. 'Fit' means a school that meets certain criteria determined by the student and used to evaluate a college or university. A given student can potentially have dozens of schools that 'fit'. Within the set of schools that 'fit', some will be better matches than others for the given student. A student who chooses a school that does not 'fit' will generally not have his academic, intellectual, or social needs met.</p>
<p>Lurkness: You want H, your parents want H, and they are willing to pay. Go! Congrats to you. </p>
<p>I think this only becomes an issue when the family is not convinced of the value associated with the elite school's price tag. Your parents seem fine with it. I assume they have retirement planning in place & will not be put out of their home. Their decision to assume an $80G debt is VERY different than a new grad assuming that type of burden. I personally would not recommend it for a young person, but if your parents have planned it well, take advantage of that fact.</p>
<p>Obviously there are MANY paying huge bills who disagree with your reasoning, but we're each entitled to our own opinions, as long as we can pay for them. :)</p>
<p>Maybe, but you only go to college once,( most of us), and the "fit" is very important. I can speak only for myself but as a RPI graduate and long time visitor to MIT, I knew full well what we were paying "extra" for. The fact that DD felt exactly the same way sealed the deal. Money is not the only consideration for college choice, much as major and future career choice should be dictated by interest and passion not salary.</p>
<p>I think this thread just leads to the conclusion that each student and his/her family have to make the decision for themselves considering their personal, financial and family situations. There is no right answer, there is no wrong answer. What really matters is that the student can be happy and excel with the decision that is made.</p>
<p>You are being a little silly. You want to be a writer/journalist. You have talent in that area. Don't let anyone tell you that Harvard or Yale doesn't open doors in those fields. Throw out the statistics about average income of graduates, and look at the career paths of people who are officers of The Crimson or The Lampoon, compared to similar people at Brandeis or wherever.</p>
<p>It's not that going to Harvard is a guarantee, or that it's impossible to succeed from Brandeis. (I have a very good friend who went to Brandeis and is a successful journalist.) But writing or journalism is a field where Harvard makes almost as much difference as it would in investment banking.</p>
<p>I guess I'm missing where she said she wants to be a journalist. I did find where she said she wants to do something in the humanities, but isn't sure what yet.</p>
<p>It's a tough decision, and one that no one can make for you. As you can see, there are a gazillion factors that go into it. You and your parents need to sit down and figure it out.</p>
<p>And BTW, if someone was to major in journalism, Harvard isn't the #1 place to be. UMissouri, Northwestern, and even Syracuse far outrank Harvard in connections and an "in name" for journalism.</p>
<p>That's simply untrue Desp. Harvard doesn't have a journalism major (don't think any ivy or top LAC does) so of course it's not ranked. I totally agree with JHS, the Harvard kid has the better chance at top jobs than the Missouri kid.</p>