Hi all!
I am a senior high school student who was recently accepted to Stanford in the early action round. I have already submitted applications to USC, Vanderbilt, UCLA, and UCBerkeley. Stanford has always been my dream school and is undoubtedly my #1, but now I’m faced with a few difficult decisions:
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Should I still submit applications to the seven other schools on my list which are due from January 1st-5th? I have completed the bulk of these applications, but the application fees for each school range from $50-100, which can quickly stack up. Should I still apply to the other elite schools on my list, such as Harvard, Princeton, Brown, and Yale? Could I use the financial aid packages of these schools to leverage against Stanford and increase my aid?
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I have asked to be considered for scholarships at USC and have applied for the Ingram Scholarship, a full-ride, at Vanderbilt. If I were to qualify for a full ride or a substantial scholarship at either of these schools, would you advise that I take them over a Stanford education?
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At this point in time, my two top schools are Stanford and USC. The “name value” of Stanford is arguably superior to USC, but as a prospective Communications Major, does USC’s Annenberg School win out in terms of prestige and quality? Is a high GPA more attainable in USC’s communications program or Stanford’s communications program? If I intend to ultimately work and live in LA, will USC have a stronger alumni network than Stanford and make a good, high-paying job more accessible?
If look forward to hearing your thoughts and appreciate any feedback greatly!
Saving $50/100 when sending off the apps could potentially save you several thousand or more seems penny wise and pound foolish.
I very much doubt that Stanford would increase your fin aid, but if you get other acceptances, you may get offers to schools that cost you less.
As for Stanford vs. USC, I’m not sure how we can give advice without knowing how much aid Stanford is giving you or your personal circumstances.
Is your aid not sufficient? Why do you think another school will offer more? Did the NPC indicate more from another college and which ones? Leverage against them? Really you must be more delicate than that. And if you wanted to show another offer it needs to be from Harvard or Yale, maybe P.
Comm major, does Stanford even have that? I do not think USC is a better experience or name or alum network. Do you think people in LA have not heard of Stanford? That is too funny, where are you getting these ideas? But you should go to the one you like better and think is better for you to be the kind of person who lands a high paying job. Your school doesn’t get you a job as much as you do, don’t fool yourself.
In any case congratulations on your acceptance, you are in rare company.
I’ve already read in many different places that working the fin aid game with stanford and other top tier schools does nothing just FYI. Congrats on your acceptance.
If Stanford is your #1 choice, and its financial aid offer makes it affordable to you (i.e. it has become a safety), then you can drop applying to any other school where there is no chance of you choosing the other school over Stanford. This may mean that you are done with college applications, unless there is the possibility of some other school’s much better financial aid or scholarship offer swaying you to choose that school.
Stanford is generally considered to be one of the best schools for financial aid, unless you have a situation like divorced parents where the non-custodial parent has significant income and/or wealth but will not pay or will not cooperate on financial aid paperwork.
USC is not going to give better need based aid than Stanford. It may give him merit aid, if he applied in time but that is not assured. They have some large awards but I know many competitive students do not get those.
USC does offer full ride scholarships, not based on need, to top candidates. Perhaps pursue that? Both USC and Stanford offer at least some financial aid to a high percentage of current students. (At Stanford, it is 80-something percent.) You are correct that USC has a very strong alumni community, and the Annenberg School has a top reputation; however, Stanford is far more prestigious overall than USC, so if you were my kid, that is where I would tell you to go.
(By way of background, I am Berkeley grad and 23+ year lawyer in L.A. who does a lot of recruiting for new legal talent. I also served as a trustee of a prestigious L.A. high school for a while, so I have had a lot of access to info. And my mother is a USC grad who is extremely active in alumni matters. She goes to every home football game and donates money to the team.)
P.S. Stanford is notorious for its grade inflation, so I would not worry about having a high GPA there. I actually took a couple of summer school courses there one summer and easily earned "A"s in both. My experience was that I had to work a whole lot harder at Cal to get an A.
You can’t really pursue a full ride at USC. If you applied by the deadline for merit, you will be invited to interview if you make the shortlist.
Thread is a repeat of another. OP made the comment, “Although my savings and my mom’s savings could get me through my undergrad with little to no debt, I would be on my own for graduate school.” And grad seems to mean MBA or Law, etc. OP is aware an option (and today, a darned good one,) would be to work between UG and G.
Communications at USC is a strength, but depending on what you want from “communications,” Stanford also offers breadth and depth that can get you there. OP needs to consider what the two choices are really about at ground level, over the next four years- not just project that, maybe, one has better future networking or how the name opens doors. He/she can look at the variety of classes, options, programs, experiences, including mentoring, that would best relate to his wants. Plus sideways opps like public policy.