Stanford vs CU Boulder

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

Hey guys;

The title of this post is somewhat deceiving, as my dilemma is not simply a consideration of the merits of each university, as Stanford is the unequivocal winner.

It’s finances. Essentially, I’ve been admitted to both, under REA and EA respectively, but my family’s financial situation is what has kept me from committing to Stanford.

My parents won’t (and to a certain extent, can’t) contribute to my college education, and so I am left in the unfortunate circumstance of swallowing the bitter pill of the sticker price for both universities. We qualify for no financial aid.

Here are my options:

If I wanted to attend Stanford, I could either assume the entire cost of attendance as a loan, or I can go through ROTC. The ROTC route entails that I am forced into a technical major (in my case, chemistry) and a four year service commitment upon graduation. It should be obvious why I’m hesitant to commit to the second option, as while my interests right now are in the premedical track, that could completely change. And I’m concerned about hinging my future happiness on my interests in high school, which could drastically change, especially in light of my diverse academic interests.

For Boulder, I have two options. Firstly, I have almost a full ride just in merit, and I would have the complete freedom to pursue whatever major I wanted. Secondly, I am a semifinalist for the Boettcher scholarship, which awards a full ride to any university in Colorado, including the promise of research grants and networking benefits. I’m not planning on winning the scholarship (so as to not put the cart in front of the horse), but it’s something to consider.

As a final thought, many have told me that it is preferable to be a large fish in a small pond (Boulder) than to be an average fish in a large pond (Stanford). They may be right, but my happiness, from my perspective, isn’t at all predicated on my being at the top of my class.

So, I welcome any and all input you can offer. In particular, I’d love to hear the perspective of someone that elected the expensive option, and whether it has resulted in a good return on investment.

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Unfortunately, if you’re hesitant to go the ROTC route, then I think the reality is you only have one option - CU.
Even if you could qualify for the loans to cover the full cost of Stanford, upwards of a quarter million dollars in debt for an undergrad degree isn’t advisable for any college, under any circumstances.

You mentioned a premed track as well. If medical school is a possibility in your future, I think you’re better served taking the full ride at CU. My two cents. Best of luck.

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Thanks, RandRDad. My hesitation, at this point, might be alleviated depending on the type of job I could secure in the military after graduation. I might be able to buckle down for four years in a job that gives me technical specialties and enter the civilian world as soon as my commitment reaches its end.

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Your “happiness” may not be dependent upon being top of your class, but for Medical School it will be important.

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no financial aid from Stanford?

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If you haven’t already done this, you might want to contact the financial aid office at Stanford and see if there’s any possibility that they can offer aid based on a more detailed explanation of your circumstances. I think it would be worth checking out just so you know for sure.

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You should also ask to talk to someone who is in the ROTC program at Stanford and hear about their experience.

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@Gumbymom I think that being towards the top at Stanford and being the top at Boulder are comparable. But I see your point!

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@lostaccount Nope :confused:

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@bluewater2015 That’s a really good idea!

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@whatthewhat Another good idea! I’m trying to coordinate with a cadette right now, actually.

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I hope the financial aid office is able to revise its analysis. Best of luck in that and in making your decision.

If you have also applied to private schools that offer merit (not need) based money to students outside the scholarship athlete group, you may end up with other offers from places that can offer experiences roughly comparable to Stanford but at a lower or zero cost. Duke for example offers a handful of full rides on a merit basis.

For what it’s worth, a generation ago it wasn’t that uncommon for people to be admitted to Stanford but go somewhere else for financial reasons. I know several people who went this route and things turned out fine for them. It’s less common now with the more generous financial aid but it still happens, probably most often with families that make too much money to qualify for aid, but not so much that 65k/year is inconsequential.

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What branches of ROTC are you applying? If you are applying Navy ROTC, you can try it for 1 year without obligation. You can leave the program before sophomore year starts if you think Navy is not for you. Do you have any interested field other than Pre Med? If so, it may worth trying NROTC for a year to see. If you are pretty set for Premed, it is better not to take ROTC scholarship for undergraduate so that after graduation you can apply for Military Health Professions Scholarship Program.

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How did you get a full ride from Boulder, from what I see on their website the largest merit scholarship is $5000?

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OP, are you instate in CO? I would also like to know about the full ride? If you are instate, is it that you want out of CO? If that’s not the answer, CU is a great school. My husband graduated from there. We also lived in CO for a while. Having the option of an “almost” free ride to paying full price I would go with the free ride. Especially with you wanting to continue on to medical school.

Mind you, we are in a similar boat with our D. She was accepted to both schools but CU didn’t offer close to a full ride. We are out of state now. Therefore, in our situation, the difference between the 2, financially, isn’t much.
Back to you, my bad.
It’s a huge accomplishment to be accepted to Stanford. But you need to consider how many years it will take YOU to get rid of that school debt should you chose to.

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@cardinal2020mom @nw2this In addition to the maximum merit scholarship of $5K, there’s also an engineering specific scholarship that’s awarded merely for being a Boettcher semifinalist. Just to be clear, when I said full ride I was only referring to tuition. That’s my mistake. Also, it’s wonderful that your daughter was accepted to Stanford also! It certainly seems that, especially for Stanford, college admissions are becoming a shot in the dark. Last year’s valedictorian at my school was rejected from Stanford, and believe me when I say that she was my academic superior, and certainly competitive in the realm of extracurriculars.

Yes, I am an in-state CO student. And I value your insight, cardinal2020mom. The thing is, as I posted: while my interests right now are pre-med, that could very easily change. And if I were to major in something where the Stanford name is far more valuable (e.g. economics, business, political science, etc) I might lose out on several opportunities related to those fields. I’m trying to plan not just for pre-med, but for every aspect of the college experience.

@bluewater2015 Thanks! I’m hoping that they will, after we send in the rest of our tax documents. I applied for Vanderbilt’s full merit scholarship, but I won’t kid myself into believing that I have much of a chance. And yeah! Going to Boulder wouldn’t be the end of me; I’ve worked this hard in high school and I’d achieve a similar amount of success at Boulder if I keep my priorities straight (lol).

@sakurasaku Yes; that’s another thing I’m considering! I applied for both Navy and Army and I believe I can disenroll from both after the 1st year without financial penalty. The only problem with that (of course) is that I’d have to come up with a way to shoulder the other three years in tuition. Maybe I can leverage the entrepreneurial spirit of Stanford and pursue a start-up…?

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Thanks for the information on the engineering scholarships, I didn’t know about those, very helpful!

Boettcher requires a lot of community service doesn’t it? How many CS hours did you have?

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@nw2this I actually didn’t advance to the finalist stage lol. But I didn’t have any enormous amount. On average I do 1-2 hours a week and my service involves tutoring.

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I thought Stanford gave great FA. Is your household income >200K/year?