<p>
</p>
<p>Really…I know a lot of accountants and engineers who would take personal offense at this comment. That’s a pretty broad generalization. OTOH, accountants and engineers are the the top of the food chain in terms of salaries for a reason. Probably because they are thinkers and doers.</p>
<p>^^^Top STARTING salaries. Many more careers pay off better in the long run. The creative thinkers cant be outsourced to India. Look at Apple vs Microsoft vs IBM.</p>
<p>lol my dad’s a thinker and probably the most cerebral person i’ve ever met haha. </p>
<p>SlitheyTove i’m liking the sound of #2 a little bit…</p>
<p>Lots of good advise above!</p>
<p>OP - Take advantage of the CC threads. You may be suprised at how tough it is to get into the very top schools. The “lottery schools” have tons of highly qualified applicants, but they can only accept a small percentage. If you have the stats and ECs to be in the running for those schools, you would likely have some good merit scholarship opportunities elsewhere too. Apply to a variety of schools, and then you will have a few months to ponder fit vs finance trade-offs.</p>
<p>yea i have my two states and an OOS public that are giving solid merit aid. then my 4 reach schools!</p>
<p>again, thanks for all your help. I’m already more practical about this whole situation just from this thread</p>
<p>vikings - That sounds like a great idea. Good luck! Perhaps also consider applying to a small or medium sized private school that offers good merit $ for high stats.</p>
<p>now, i’m a high school senior but i don’t get these parents. i love my parents, and you know why? they want me to get into the best school possible! even when i worry about expenses, they tell me not to, as they’ll find a way to deal with it, because they want the BEST FOR ME. THAT’S WHY I LOVE THEM. they love ME so much they’re willing to sacrifice a few years of money to give me the best shot at life</p>
<p>and i believe that undergrad does matter- why? CAUSE NOT EVERYONE GOES TO GRAD SCHOOL. plus, the name and reputation itself of top schools attracts both top undergrad and grad professors. the best in their field. you’ll want to learn from me.</p>
<p>“i love my parents, and you know why? they want me to get into the best school possible!”</p>
<p>thats kind of a dumb reason to love your parents. id hope for your sake there is more than that</p>
<p>I hope you aren’t insinuating my parents dont love me because they want to be smart with their money. I’d argue the opposite. They want me to start being independent and if i want to go to the tip top private school then I can take out loans for grad school or get a job for UG. </p>
<p>like you said, undergrad only really matters if you aren’t going to grad school, so im gonna guess that’s the direction you’re taking. So i wont be learning from you lol…i’ll be the one with a grad school degree. Vice-versa buddy.</p>
<p>Nervus - All parents love their kids (ok, almost all). And all kids (or almost all) love their parents too. If your caring, generous parents want to splurge on your education and can easily do so that is great. But if you really care about them, do make sure that they don’t commit to burdensome parent loans.</p>
<p>It is a bit . . . premature (sounds better than “dumb”) to argue about where a student will be attending when it is September of the high school senior year. At this point, the student needs to apply to an array of schools. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. </p>
<p>It is terrific that the parent here is frank about money. It is awful when a student marches ahead, thinking the magic tuition fairy will just appear and then is disappointed by reality. At the same time, the on line financial calculators tend to be inaccurate (in our experience). </p>
<p>Now is a great time for general discussions – and a great time to keep minds open. Apply to some of the expensive privates as well as the state schools. Then be patient until late March. Only AFTER the admissions letters role in will there be enough specific information for the student and parent to really dig into the realities of the choices. </p>
<p>We were happily surprised that an expensive private was ready to be generous (admittedly this was before the economy fell off the cliff) – but we didn’t know that until spring of the high school senior year. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, viking, I am concerned about the sloppy grammar and punctuation in your posts. Yes, I am being a curmudgeon. I know this is just an online forum. But sloppy habits have a tendency of popping up at just the wrong moment when one is working to impress a boss or Director of Admissions. If you want to compete at the highest levels, then your game needs to be as sharp as possible on as many levels as possible. Just saying . . . </p>
<p>Good luck. I hope you find the spot that brings you many challenges and much joy.</p>
<p>“Meanwhile, viking, I am concerned about the sloppy grammar and punctuation in your posts. Yes, I am being a curmudgeon. I know this is just an online forum. But sloppy habits have a tendency of popping up at just the wrong moment when one is working to impress a boss or Director of Admissions. If you want to compete at the highest levels, then your game needs to be as sharp as possible on as many levels as possible. Just saying . . .”</p>
<p>u should improve your diction. i could think of a more appropriate word than curmudgeon. </p>
<p>and sorry i cant re-read my posts, im on my cellphone and id like to use the least amount of “taps” on the touch screen to get my point across</p>
<p>Vikings: take Olymom’s advice as a bit of constructive criticism. Yes, you are minimizing taps from a cell phone, but the point is to develop good writing habits. You don’t want to lapse into sloppiness when it really matters, like on college essays or job interviews. </p>
<p>I am of the school that an education is what you make of it. My S1’s best friend turned down CMU for the honors program at a big state school. Many large state flagships offer honors programs intended to make big schools more personal, and to offer challenging courses to highly motivated students. Don’t overlook the honors programs at a state school!</p>
<p>Another thought for you: let’s say you go to a top private LAC (4 yrs - $200k+) and to graduate school (another $100k). What would this do to your parent’s retirement plans? Would they be able to realize their retirement plans, or would paying for your undergrad & grad school force them to dip into retirement and/or work additional years?</p>
<p>Finally, if you feel strongly about attending a T-20 school, then make a list of WHY you want to attend that particular school, its strengths, & its weaknesses. We told my S2 that he had to justify his decision to attend school A vs. school B- we called it the “$80,000 Question.” If you want to attend an expensive school for undergrad, then you should be prepared to answer the “$200,000 Question.”</p>
<p>fineartsmajormom, that was a wonderful post. I’m sending it to D1 as she contemplates whether or not she’ll apply ED. </p>
<p>vikings, I was stacking the deck in #2 a little bit, since it’s what your dad is thinking. 
If you are seriously considering med or law school, it’s worth it to be concerned about the total price tag. I’m no longer scared when I pay thousands of dollars, and I’m resigned when I pay tens of thosands of dollars, but hundreds of thousands of dollars, well, now we’re talking about real money :D</p>