<p>I am in need of insights on whether or not I should take the Ivy plunge given my circumstances. Financial concerns are driving my indecision. </p>
<p>There is one Ivy that I would consider applying ED to. I attracted to it because of the smaller atmosphere and specific opportunities in my area of interest. Over the course of four years, I would accumulate about 50k in loans (excluding all school-provided financial aid). </p>
<p>My alternative is attending University of Texas for free. </p>
<p>I plan to major in the humanities with the intention of becoming a professor. </p>
<p>My financial aid situation is complicated. I have a deceptively high EFC. My parents' combined income is high; however, they are divorced, and only one of them will be contributing to my college expenses. If I were to factor only the income of the contributing parent, I would receive nearly a full-ride on tuition. My family also has high medical costs to cover. </p>
<p>All things considered, I am left wondering: should I go Ivy? Is it worth it? Is applying ED advisable?</p>
<p>Your top choice college should the best fit for you, based on a dozen variables including financial ability. I’d think twice about accruing 50K in debt for undergrad, especially if planning a career as a humanities professor. If you do hard, targeted work at UT, you can get into a graduate dept. that matches your interests, possibly get a fellowship, and be on the road to your career dreams, debt-free.</p>
<p>PhD programs in the humanities are horrifically competitive, far more so than most other fields. This is especially the case since it’s often the very best programs or bust if you want an academic job afterwards. It’s common for even excellent applicants from top colleges to be rejected everywhere during their first or even second try. Close relationships with distinguished/well-known faculty members and access to resources and research opportunities are key. </p>
<p>UT Austin is a terrific school with strengths across the board. Although some humanities programs like English enroll well over 1000 majors (plus minors and many others taking courses), other majors like Russian and religion are far smaller and offer the best of both worlds – a small, tight-knit department and excellent resources. You can get a good experience either way; you’d just have to work a lot harder to get yourself noticed in a huge department.</p>
<p>I agree with Wordworker; unless Texas has no form of the program you’re interested in, it seems the prudent way to go. That said, I would still apply RD to the Ivy you’re interested in; it can’t hurt and could help prevent regret. </p>
<p>Out of curiosity, why only those two colleges? Many good, small colleges offer merit scholarships to Ivy-caliber applicants if you prefer a smaller environment.</p>
<p>In regard to why I am considering only these two colleges, there is a specific program at this particular ivy that would be a very good fit for me. That ivy gives pretty generous financial aid, so I’m not sure that I could do better anywhere else. The tuition/room and board is equivalent at all of the schools that I am applying to other than UT.</p>
Bear in mind that many undergrads change their minds about what they want to study once they are in college and are exposed to more areas than they know about from their experiences thru HS. So there is at least a chance that while this program may be perfect for you today, it might not be what you end up pursuing. Post again in 3 years and tell us if you changed your direction </p>
<p>Also I’d strongly advise against taking on 50K in debt. Assuming you do end up pursuing your plan, humanities professor, the starting jobs are most likely going to be postdocs or assistant teaching positions. Neither reknowned for high pay. Having a $50K weight around your neck is going to limit your choices. Many prestigious places know they can pay less since having them on your resume will open doors in the future, and you will find it difficult to take those positions with the student loans to pay off.</p>
<p>My advice: go to UT, do Plan II honors, excel in your classes, get to know some profs well, and then off to grad school debt-free.</p>
<p>So do thousands of other humanities majors annually, myself included (at least originally.)</p>
<p>I have three friends that are going to graduate school (for philosophy.) Only one of them has some understanding of academia (probably much less than me.) That friend compared getting a job in academia to being selected for the NBA draft, which i find to be a good analogy.</p>
<p>I agree that you should only go to graduate school in the humanities if you fall into one of theses categories:</p>
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</p>
<p>Of the friends i have that are going into academia, Friend A falls into the second category, and may eventually fall into the first (if you take away the independant part); Friend B falls into the third; and Friend C might eventually fall into the first, but currently doesn’t belong to any of them. Unfortunately for me, i don’t fall into any of them, and probably won’t.</p>
<p>The whole article, however, is an amazing read. I highly recommend reading it if you’re seriously considering going to graduate school. You can find it here:</p>
<p>I’m often confused by this kind of question. Almost all the ivies (all?) meet 100% of demonstrated need. That means if you truly can’t pay, the college will cover it. I have friends in Ivies who are attending completely free (they have to earn like 5k a year in work study, then the college pays for everything else).</p>
<p>The Ivies, and all other “generous” colleges and universities, use their own formulae when calculating a potential student’s need. If one of the OP’s parents is not ready, willing, and able to chip in the amount of money that the college/university in question believes them to be able to pay, then the OP and the other parent have to come up with that additional amount of money, or OP needs to find a different place to attend.</p>
<p>A little tangential to your question, but since you asked for advice… After following this forum for a while, I’d say there are lots of kids that they’re going to be a doctor or architect or lawyer or whatever without a strong understanding of what the field involves and how one trains for it. IMHO they’d be better off saying they have an interest in that area and plan on looking into it deeply before they commit themselves.</p>
<p>For a college prof you should understand the grad school admission process, the grad school experience such as finding an advisor and quals. The types of jobs available in the field such as postdocs, research U’s, LACs, CC’s and what a day/semester is like for those working in that area. How one gets hired for those jobs and how one gets promoted and gets tenure. The competition in finding such a job (see the link posted earlier for starters).</p>
<p>I’m not saying you shouldn’t aim at being a prof, but you should develop a clear understanding of the path and potential pitfalls before you rule out other paths. You are sitting at a unique and special time in your life, when so many roads are possible. Don’t choose one road too quickly!</p>
<p>Like other posters have said, you should apply RD and see what financial aid you receive, but leave your options open to apply elsewhere. You will need to look at FAFSA only schools since you do not want to report non-custodial parent income (if they won’t be paying anything, why have their income/assets count). CSS/Profile schools will include non-custodial parent income and assets. Many “generous” 100% need private schools use the CSS/Profile. Be prepared. </p>
<p>I disagree with the above posters about ED. With the possible exception of Cornell, all of the Ivies are extremely generous. Given your special situation (high EFC, but one parent contributing, the likelihood is that you may not receive much aid, and if so, you can turn down the ED acceptance. That is exactly how it is supposed to work.</p>
<p>But the short answer is UT for free; it’s a no-brainer. </p>
<p>btw: YOU will not be able to assume $50k in loans without a parental co-signer, which means it becomes THEIR loan.</p>
<p>*My parents’ combined income is high; however, they are divorced, and only one of them will be contributing to my college expenses. If I were to factor only the income of the contributing parent, I would receive nearly a full-ride on tuition. My family also has high medical costs to cover. *</p>
<p>This will be a problem at Ivies and other top schools that look at BOTH parents’ income and assets (and the income/assets of any new spouses).</p>
<p>how will Texas be a “free ride”???</p>
<p>UTexas probably only looks at the custodial parent’s income (and new spouse), and if that is the lower income parent, then you could have a lowish EFC, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a “free ride”. UT doesn’t promise to meet need.</p>
<p>UT would not require any tuition expenditure because of a special program offered by my state that my grandfather invested in in the 90’s. He paid 10k then with the guarantee of my undergraduate tuition being completely covered at any Texas public university. </p>
<p>If I choose to go somewhere else, the fund will be applied to the school of my choice. However, obviously, Texas public tuition is far less costly than private school tuition. </p>
<p>Whether or not to become a humanities professor is its own discussion. I’m well aware of the pros and cons of going into academia because my father is a humanities professor. If I didn’t go into academia, I would likely go into another low paying and highly competitive field. </p>
<p>I’m relatively certain about the area I would like to study. I realize that I may shift focus somewhat throughout the four years, but I highly doubt I would my interests would change significantly. I consistently excel at this area of study; all other areas are secondary. </p>
<p>UT’s program in my area of interest isn’t really comparable to that of the ivy. The contacts and mentoring that the ivy’s department provides is unbelievable. </p>
<p>If I don’t apply ED, my chances of being accepted will decline significantly. This school has the best financial aid of any of the schools on my list, so I feel like I should just go for it.</p>
<p>*UT would not require any tuition expenditure because of a special program offered by my state that my grandfather invested in in the 90’s. He paid 10k then with the guarantee of my undergraduate tuition being completely covered at any Texas public university. *</p>
<p>That just means that the tuition is covered. You wouldn’t be going for “free”. You’d still have room, board, books, fees, etc.</p>
<p>you need to run the NPCs on the schools’ website. Since your parents are divorced, you may not get an accurate response.</p>
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