<p>This thread is prompted in part by the fact that I just received a $40,000 scholarship to attend the University of Michigan, my state school, which, after adding my scholarships so far together, brings my total estimated cost of attendance (ignoring room and board) to about $2,948. And word on the street is that not all scholarships have even been given out yet.</p>
<p>Now, my family can afford MIT, but understandably this has been "Wait a minute, you could be saving us HOW much?" kind of wake-up call at my house. Considering I have two younger brothers, both of whom are rather intelligent, cost is still at least a consideration, especially when we're considering this large of an amount.</p>
<p>So how much money did you turn down, or do you think you'll have to end up turning down? I can't imagine this is a unique situation for MIT students.</p>
<p>We are still waiting for merit money offers -- and hoping they arrive. Probably won't know 'til late March/early April. Same calculations at our house. Younger sib is two years behind. Our flagship is known for showing the love, and now that DS is in, they are sending mail every couple of days.</p>
<p>It is a hard decision, and it's to your credit that you are thinking beyond your immediate goals. There are a couple of parents who were around last year whose kids turned down MIT, etc. for UMich -- wonder if they will show up on this thread.</p>
<p>I had a full tuition, full room and board scholarship at Ohio State, and it came with a small stipend each quarter to buy books. I attended MIT at about half COA.</p>
<p>No, but I applied -- I remember going to the competition.</p>
<p>At the time (2002), all National Merit kids who put OSU as their first choice got full tuition + room and board + stipend. I'm not sure if they do that any longer -- at the time, obviously, they were trying really hard to recruit National Merit finalists.</p>
<p>This is an interesting thread because the Univ. of Michigan is an outstanding school with several depts. qualifying as the best in the country. Many of the posters last year had to decide between a scholarship at a good school versus paying tuition at an elite school. All of those (that I recall) selecting the scholarship money justified it on the basis of saving funds for medical, law or other graduate study. Concern for younger siblings makes the decision even more difficult, I imagine. My opinion is that it is best to go to the most academically challanging school and, if able, pay or apply for financial aid. I suspect that the decision to turn down an offer of admission to Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford or Harvard to attend a lesser known school for scholarship money will be a decision revisited throughout one's lifetime. And, possibly, throughout one's children's lifetimes due to the deprevation of legacy status. As an aside comment, it would be interesting to know what percent of students declining HYPSM did so to attend one of the other HYPSM schools. It is easy to speculate, but, I speculate, not so easy with an actual HYPSM acceptance in hand.</p>
<p>I got a $32000 engineering scholarship from Michigan (how come LSA gets more ducktape!?!? go figure). I applied for another third-party Michigan engineering scholarship. </p>
<p>Now I just need to get into MIT...</p>
<p>Btw ducktape...is that the Bentley scholarship? i wanted that one, but they only give it out to LSA :-(</p>
<p>I have no idea. I quote: "... it is our pleasure to inform you that you have been selected to receive a scholarship from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA). This award of $40,000 over four years of enrollment blah blah blah."</p>
<p>I think it's just the generic $10,000 a year prize package. Shipman would have been even more tempting.</p>
<p>To everyone else: I really appreciate the feedback so far. As I'm sure this will be a situation a lot of prefrosh are going to be experiencing this spring, the opinions of any other parents or current students are very much welcome.</p>
For the year for which I have data (class of 2010), 61% of those who turned down MIT (286/471) turned it down for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford. Only 11% of those who turned down MIT (53/471) turned it down for any state school.</p>
<p>i turned down four years of pampering from UCSD. 50 jacobs scholars selected per year from california -- 45 turn it down for HYPSM etc and 5 take it. full tuition, room and board for four years, $2000 per year stipend, and access to just about every single lab on campus.</p>
<p>I turned down a full ride to Purdue to attend MIT. The scholarship I won consisted of full tuition for a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and a doctorate, in addition to room and board, a study-abroad experience, and a "small stipend."</p>
<p>Needless to say, I am incredibly grateful that my parents didn't pressure me into taking thats cholarship, because I love MIT - and honestly, I really wanted to get out of the Midwest and experience a new kind of environment. In a sense, I needed space to come into my own - space that MIT and Boston have amply provided.</p>
<p>As previous posts have indicated, I believe I can safely say that a large number of current MIT students turned down attractive offers from state schools or other universities to attend MIT. The cost of tuition is definitely an important issue, but I definitely feel that the advantages of attending MIT are more than worth it.</p>
<p>Son turned down Rensselaer Medal scholarship good for $15K per year at RPI, as well as National Merit Finalist, good for $17K per year minimum. also U. of Rochester merit scholarship, also about $17K per year.</p>
<p>Other than small company merit scholarship, full pay at MIT....and loving it.</p>