<p>So, basically, I just sold my college to my state school (University of Florida) over ivy league/ivylike schools that I know I could get in. I started a realization that I got a full ride to the state school plus i get paid from the scholarship, my parents let me bring up the car, and they'll buy me a condo my sophomore year. I chose this over 200,000 bucks of loans for an ivy (we get no financial aid and my parents wont pay for college). My brother has basically said that my parents brainwashed me for choosing this school over ivy. He goes to Brown and wants me to go to ivy. I'm just wondering what u guys think about my decision. Please put your input!!</p>
<p>Do you know what you want to major in? And if your parents will pay for a condo, why on earth won’t they contribute that money to an education?</p>
<p>I want to double major in math and music. They wont pay because we have a prepaid college account tht gets interest if i go to a state school. condo is about 80,000 total, ivy education is 200,000. Plus, I’m gonna rent the room for mortgage and income. Once I sell the condo again, hopefully, the economy will be back and the condo will be worth twice as much.</p>
<p>If you’re happy with a state school, it’s fine. You’ll get a lot out of your education if you work at it, regardless of where you are. It might be harder to find opportunities at a school if it doesn’t have as many resources, but they’re there.</p>
<p>I chose Brown not because it’s an Ivy, but because the Open Curriculum was perfect for my needs (and the similar schools I checked out were not my style).</p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck.</p>
<p>I have no doubt that in ten years you will reflect on your choice and be pleased. Both school options will meet your academic needs, but the choice you made will let you graduate debt free, something you can only fully appreciate in hindsight.</p>
<p>well having been to both a top school and a state school,
i can assure you you’ll be missing out on a lot,
but i guess if it lets you graduate debt-free and with better grades,
it may be worth it</p>
<p>why don’t you just apply to both in the meantime,
who knows, you may change your mind</p>
<p>Caltech =/= Ivy, FAU =/= UF</p>
<p>Where you go to undergrad doesn’t make all that much of a difference. I understand that Ivy’s are supposed to be top schools with great professors and awesome research opportunities, but grad students are the ones who usually take advantage of those things. If you want to go to an Ivy, do it for Grad school. I might end up doing that. I say you made a good choice (come on, how can you beat a full-ride).</p>
<p>Of course there’s absolutely no guarantee you can get into an Ivy for grad school. It’s also true that some of the Ivy’s don’t have great grad schools in every area. Some lesser known school might have the one very good program or professor.</p>
<p>ThisCouldBeHeavn is right, just because it’s an ivy doesn’t automatically mean it’s great in every area. Harvard is certainly not in the ranks of schools like Illinois, GT, or Michigan (which are all state schools) in engineering. But, if you want to major in business, HBS is the the cream of the crop.</p>
<p>No school is worth $200k in debt. No education is worth $200k in debt. I have a degree in Math from a state school, one which unfortunately gets spanked by UF in football quite frequently. I have done very well for myself, having among others, Ivy League grads report to me. It is up to the individual, not the school, to determine your future. Pass on the condo in Florida, which might be hard to resell, and invest the money in undervalued stocks. What I have observed over the last 25 years of working: if you want to work for McKinsey, Bain, or other top consulting company, go Ivy League (although the companies where you are placed will laugh and laugh at you for your high-glossed reproductions of what they already know). If you want to go into investment banking, go Ivy League. Other than that, don’t waste your money, especially if you want to go to grad school. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Don’t go to a school for the name, go to the school for the program. Yes, an Ivy is good and all, but as thiscouldbeheavn and redsox2002 said, they are not the best in every department. Look at the programs the schools offer and how well it fits your criteria. A small school might provide just as good of a program as an Ivy league school in a certain department. Gook luck.</p>
<p>thanks. this helped a lot. I was just scared because I felt that going to a state school could jeopardize my chance to go to ivy/ivylike grad. I would LOVE to go to Columbia grad to get my PhD in math (my current hope) and thought that UF might put reject on my paper. My mom pointed out to me that, on Newsweek, Brown(where I wanted to go) is ranked 16th and UF is ranked 49th. In retrospect to all the colleges in the country, it’s a pretty small difference.</p>
<p>the deans at caltech were telling me i should go to uf next year,
and one of their rationalizations was,
you can theoretically go to a good grad school from it
(but you have to be really good,
which you probably are)</p>
<p>also, about math phds,
be careful what you make into your life goal,
because from personal experience most people who want to be math majors
love math until they get to a real math class,
like real analysis or abstract algebra,
and then they see proofs and they hate it
and that’s basically ALL you’d be doing in a phd program,
so basically you should take more math and decide then
just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I think you’re the brain and your brother’s the idiot. He’ll be struggling to pay off his loans while you’re sitting in your condo purusing your portfolio.</p>