<p>This week my college decision ended up a lot harder, because I was accepted to Princeton. I love just about everything there is at Princeton, and, had it not been for other circumstances, I wouldn't have this question.</p>
<p>SMU has offered me the Presidential Scholarship (full tuition, room/board, books, fees, meals, etc), amounting to quite a bit of cash. It's also very close to home, so travel wouldn't be an expense or a consideration. Overall, I'm impartial to being too far or too close to home. </p>
<p>Considering my family is somewhat well-to-do, and my dad sold his company earlier this year, we didn't meet financial aid standards for Princeton; so for this first year, we'll be paying nearly $50,000 for college.</p>
<p>My plans for the future are to go to medical school, in Texas, which at UT-Southwestern is about $19,000 per year. Would paying full price for Princeton saddle me down too far, or should I not let the price tag keep me from going? And is SMU good enough in biological sciences to get me into the med school of my choice, since I'd have more cash to work with in choosing med school?</p>
<p>Considering you're going into medicine where it will not be difficult to find a job anywhere once you graduate, I would go for the free ride. I don't know much about SMU, but I'd say go for it. Just think about it: you could graduate with NO DEBT at all. People (me lol) would kill for that opportunity. Getting into med school is more about your GPA and what you achieved in college, not whether your college was super-prestigious.</p>
<p>I would choose SMU in your situation. It's free vs. $200,000.</p>
<p>I wouldn't go to SMU over Princeton no matter what the debt. I'm just not a big SMU fan. So many kids change their majors. Are you prepared for an insular, preppy college experience where you are at the VERY top of the heap?</p>
<p>Dad is well-to-do and just sold a company? I'd guess 200K to you isn't as critical as 200K to me, so perhaps it's not as large a consideration for you. A lot of people will tell you that $200,000 can get you farther down the road to meeting your life's goals. True for some goals, but for me, living the Princeton experience for four years (and the Princeton alum experience for a lifetime) would be as big as any other life goal.</p>
<p>Not sure I fully understand this. Your dad just sold a company, but is there a question about his willingness to pay for Princeton? Or would you be carrying part of the expense? </p>
<p>As for the actual choice, I would normally agree with those saying Princeton, but if you live in Texas and your plan is to go to med school and live and work in Texas, then you probably already know that the value of a Princeton undergrad degree ain't the same there as it would be in most other parts of the country. Most folks in Texas may be aware of Princeton and of the thing called "the Ivy League" but in their daily lives, they just don't care. You can go days of talking with folks about colleges for their talented kids from top prep schools in Dallas and Houston and not even hear once about the Ivy colleges and even more so when it comes to the non-HYP Ivies. </p>
<p>Given all of the wealth in Texas and all of the great businesses that have been created over years there by folks who went to UT or A&M or TCU or SMU or Baylor or Rice or any other Texas college, folks don’t have this crazy preoccupation with the Ivies that is so often seen on these boards. Shocking as it might sound, the connections of SMU in the Dallas business community might even be superior to what a Princeton degree could open for you.</p>
<p>But I am a big believer in undergraduate education and how important those undergraduate years can be in forming the individual. I really do think very highly of Princeton and believe that MOWC makes an excellent point about what you would likely experience at SMU. While I am not negative about the school like her, I very much agree that you want to think long and hard about being one of the very top dogs in a school that has a good student body, but no where near the depth and breadth of what you’d find at Princeton. The undergrad experience of Princeton is likely to further your personal and intellectual growth far more than could SMU, even if many of your fellow Texans will never understand or appreciate the difference.</p>
<p>My Texas-raised daughter just said that going to SMU would be a social disaster unless you are the kind of person who drives a Lexus and aspires to join the same frat or sorority as your parents belonged to.</p>
<p>I would agree that SMU's a pretty wealthy campus (and physically stunning as well). And surrounding Highland Park is about as high as the cotton gets in Dallas. But it's certainly not going to be for many folks a place where they will be comfortable. </p>
<p>Princeton also has more than its share of mega-millionaire kids, but I think that their backgrounds are likely to be far more varied (although too many Wall St types) and with greater ethnic diversity.</p>
<p>I guess we'll just disagree on the campus. I think that "the boulevard" and all the great trees leading up to Dedman Hall (looks similar to U Virginia's Rotunda) is a pretty dazzling sight. </p>
<p>I agree that traffic can be tough, but that's true of lots of places and Princeton is no picnic, especially when you get out to Route 1. Shopping in the area near SMU is very high end at nearby Highland Park Village (which reinforces the message you gave about the nature of the student body although that mall is far from a "student hangout"). By contrast, Nassau Street runs along the edge of Princeton's campus and Palmer Square and adjacent streets is just across Nassau Street from campus and has a charming feel to it with many great shops and places for college students (and their parents!) to pop into.</p>
<p>The main point is that SMU is sub-par academically compared to Princeton.</p>
<p>I lived within 5 miles of the SMU campus for 28 years. I know it well. We called it "Highland Park North" referring to the wealthy suburban high school just to the south of campus. Many Highland Park kids move out of the house and right into the SMU dorms and frat houses.</p>
<p>Hey, I agreed with you above and reinforced the point you made about the choice the OP will have to make. I'm not recommending SMU-Princeton is undoubtedly a superior academic choice. I'm just not sure that it will really matter to the folks in Texas when it comes time for the OP to go to med school and begin building his/her life.</p>
<p>Full/ride tuition???? They are paying you like $200,000 to go to a great school.
SMU in my opinion. It is also less stressful and tense than princeton/</p>
<p>I normally would say to take the free ride. However, if money truly truly is no object, go for Princeton. After 4 years there, you may decide you DON'T want to live and work in Texas forever. SMU is fine if you want to stay in the Dallas area. Otherwise, I don't think anyone is impressed with it. </p>
<p>How preppy/fat boy are you? You need a high tolerance for that at SMU.</p>
<p>I am familiar with LA, which is the small business capital of the world. When you say that your dad sold his business, here in Socal that usually means he has at least a couple of million dollars in the bank, probably more like $5-10M...</p>
<p>If that is the case, I would normally say Princeton. However, Texas is Texas. It may very well be the case that your SMU degree would open more career doors for you than the degree from Princeton.</p>
<p>But there is something more fundamental here than career. Have you ever lived outside the country of Texas? Which would likely open not career, but mind doors? There is so much to learn going away for college. You will be treated like royalty at SMU, but you're more likely to meet royalty at Princeton. In so many ways your approach to the world, people, problems, opportunities and the way you see yourself, in short, the way you THINK, will be shaped by the company you keep over the next four years. Keep that in mind!</p>
<p>While it is true that SMU carries some weight in Dallas, Princeton carries more. SMU has a good graduate business program and is strong in some of the arts. Otherwise, it simply is not that impressive. Even their athletic programs have slipped ever since they got hammered for recruiting violations (in the 80s???).</p>
<p>SMU??? You mean Highland Park 13th grade? That's where all those little snobby fruitcups from HP go. DO NOT go there. I've lived in Plano, a suburb of Dallas for nearly half my life. SMU is just a decent school, but by no means a great school... it has an overinflated self-importance and reputation in Dallas. Also you said that you would be paying full tuition this yearat Princeton...would you be getting financial aid the other 3 years possibly? Here's a stereotype of SMU.</p>
<p>SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY</p>
<p>We are Baylor times TCU to the third power. I have more money than you could ever dream about. Abercrombie and Fitch? I don't think so, my line is strictly custom made from Gucci. The Galleria? I think I own it, or most of it at least. My idea of a good time is traveling down Mockingbird in my 2003 BMW, Mercedes, Hummer, Range Rover, or whichever of my cars I decide to drive; either I'm on my way to my $700k condo, or to my fraternity or sorority house that has dues higher than your college's tuition. Our football team? Oh it's okay they suck, they are all real cute, and their daddies own Fortune 500 companies. A&M and UT? My family would have died if I had ever considered one of those to educate me. Don't worry, just because Baylor has more net worth than SMU doesn't mean my mom and dad don't have more net worth than Baylor. Where the girls are Barbies and the boys are Kens, there's only room for Greeks and the gorgeous. Have great fear for I am a Mustang.</p>
<p>i would normally say go to the school that is 200k cheaper than pton, regardless of how amazing pton is. but, SMU is just wayy too behind pton in prestige, academics, and pretty much everything else. so, if your parents are able to afford the tuition, go to princeton, no doubt.</p>