Hi everyone,
As you all are probably aware of, the final date to commit to a college is coming up right around the corner. Unfortunately for me, I am still conflicted in deciding between two schools. Since I’ve been getting nowhere with my decision, I thought it would be a good idea to ask everyone here for their opinion!
So the two schools that I am deciding between are Mount Holyoke College and New York University. I am planning on majoring in computer science with maybe a focus on game design.
I have done a campus visit to Mount Holyoke, but not yet to NYU. As of right now, I love everything that Mount Holyoke has to offer. I fell in love with the campus and the school on my visit there and I like that Mount Holyoke is a close-knit community. It also has this cool program that offers a paid summer internship opportunity. I can’t say for sure what my feelings are with NYU because I haven’t done a campus visit yet (and I probably won’t because of financial issues), but I feel like I will find myself more at home at Mount Holyoke. I like the idea of a liberal arts college more than a research university.
The issue I have right now is that my parents are set on me going to NYU Poly (NYU’s Polytechnic School of Engineering). In their opinion, NYU is a more well-known school than Mount Holyoke and its reputation will aid me in my job search after college. I agree that more people know of NYU than Mount Holyoke, but I don’t think going to Mount Holyoke will damage my job opportunities in the future or that going to NYU will guarantee me a sweet job straight out of college. (I’m the kind of person that believes that it’s not about where you go, but it’s about what you do there and the connections that you’ll build.)
Anyways, I’m conflicted about which school I should choose. Should I follow my parents’ advice and choose NYU or should I continue to try to convince them that Mount Holyoke is where I belong? My parents and I have been arguing a lot throughout the past couple of days about this issue. If any of you can offer any insight or opinion on the matter, I would very much appreciate it.
P.S. Additionally, if I go to NYU, I will be graduating with about 68k in student loans after four years (NYU gave me a really nice scholarship) and if I go to Mount Holyoke, I will be graduation with about 54k in student loans after four years. I should also add that on the official NYU Poly website, it states that 60% of NYU Polytechnic students graduate in 6 years. That might pose an issue too because the longer I stay at NYU, the more I have to pay/ be in debt after college.
@lostintheblur It sounds to me like you think Mount Holyoke is the right place for you, and you need some data to back that up for your parents. Here are my thoughts:
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Less debt is WAY better. Your points about the years to graduate are also very valid. MHC definitely wins in that category.
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Job opportunities: Mount Holyoke has an EXCELLENT reputation, especially on the east coast. The alumni network is incredibly strong and there is a real sisterhood even among the other Seven Sisters schools, so that will be a real bonus when job hunting. You’ll be making excellent connections. In addition, MHC is part of a recruiting database with Smith College and Amherst College, so employers looking for really high-quality candidates will be searching there, and you will have access to it. Also: MHC provides funding for EVERY student to take an unpaid or low-paid internship after sophomore year. They help you find the internship and afterwards assess the experience and think about how to take it forward for your career.
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I firmly believe that “fit” is as important as almost anything else, barring finances. This is where you will spend 4 years of your life making decisions that will affect the rest of your life. If you can see yourself thriving someplace, that is really important. You are much more likely to succeed in a place you feel you belong. For what it’s worth, my D originally thought she wanted to go to college in MYC. But on a college trip we visited there, then Mount Holyoke, and she had the same reaction as you. She just fell in love with MHC. New York schools quickly fell off the list. She just couldn’t see herself there.
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Another real advantage of MHC over NYU is the opportunity to forge close relationships with professors. I’m sure it’s possible at NYU but at MHC it’s much easier. The profs are very accessible, they teach their own classes (not TAs) and they are really passionate about teaching. In my D’s experience they go out of their way to help and advise.
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The 5-college consortium. At MHC you’ll have access to all the classes at UMass, Smith, Amherst and Hampshire.Hampshire in particular has game design courses: https://www.hampshire.edu/areas-of-study/game-design-and-development
Good luck!
Lower debt at MHC is definitely better.
However you can’t take on $54k in student debt on your own. Who is co-signing those loans with you? Or are your parents taking out PLUS loans with the expectation that you will pay them off later? In either of those cases, run the loan issue by your parents’ bankers and make dead certain that they will be able to qualify for further loans each year. You don’t want to have to leave MHC or NYU-Poly after two or three years because your parents have used up their ability to borrow money. Also, if your parents will be co-signing loans, make certain that they have a life and disability insurance policy on you to cover the value of that loan in case the worst happens and you can’t pay it off. A PLUS loan can be forgiven in those cases, but a regular co-signed loan won’t be.
If you stick with your current major, 54k will be painful to pay off, but not impossible. If you change your major to something else it may become extremely painful very, very quickly. You will need about $800 more in income each month to be able to pay that off after state and federal taxes than you would if you’d graduate with no debt at all. I’m guessing that you may have a few full-tuition merit-aid offers because of the stats it takes to get into MHC and NYU-Poly. Run the numbers for those and see if you like any of those places well enough to put them back in the mix. http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml
I love NYC, I lived there for a while, I visit often…but, it’s a hard town for an undergraduate, even by big city standards. Are you from a major city (and not a suburb)?? Seriously, you’d be surprised how many starry eyed students from across the nation enroll in NYU hoping to take a bite out of the big apple and quickly transfer out when the find out how inaccessible the best of the City is to them. NYU can be great, but it is a very, very specific type of kid that enjoys it.
On the other hand, Mount Holyoke, and the 5 college region in general, is, culturally and socially, one of the best regions to be an undergraduate from anywhere. The money makes this a no-brainer.
If as a parent I am in a similar situation where I will be required to co-sign loans for my kids, I would strongly steer them to look for other options. Get a degree in computer science with no loan commitments, or less than $20K after graduation. Don’t know if there are other siblings who will be attending college later, in which case the parents have to maintain parity. They may over-extend themselves, and that is a financial risk they may not want to take. However, if your family can not afford to visit NY Poly now, how can they steer you towards it knowing it will force you & them (to co-sign) into $68K in loans?
You will have do some digging, but it is worth knowing the ratio of the number of companies that recruit on campus for IT related areas and # seniors graduating in computer science for both the colleges. I suspect that MHC may have a more favorable ratio as compared to NYU, but needs verification.
In any case, the loan commitments for both are quite burdensome.
MHC all the way. It’s super prestigious (it’s one of the Seven Sisters after all - back when girls couldn’t attend Yale or Williams with their brothers, they went to Seven Sisters colleges…), its alumna network is tight and dedicated to helping young graduates, the experience won’t compare (small interactive classes, close relationship with professors…)
Another vote for Mt Holyoke. You will have an intimate, empowering experience there, and alums will help you get internships if you seek them out and actively work with the career services. The 5 college system offers tons of opportunities if you go after them, including at UMass. Try to make your parents understand that at this point, your education will benefit from close relationships with professors, a setting where you will thrive, and… the least amount of debt possible! The amount of loans sounds very high – too high, in fact, and there may be more to your story (family business? high assets?) If you can’t make a trip to NYU bc of finances, sounds like money is an issue for your family. As a smaller school which claims to meet demonstrated need, Mt Holyoke may be more willing to work with you in subsequent years for financial aid.
If money is an issue, don’t choose NYU.
Some of the people here are saying you will find it difficult to have close relations with professors at NYU. But Poly has an average class size of around 20. It’s not like a state school in which you have 100s of students in one classroom. That won’t be a problem at Poly and the teachers are incredibly helpful from what I know.