I am trying to decide between these schools for computer science. Obviously Georgia Tech is the most well known for computer science, but its price and location are huge negatives. Georgia Tech would cost around 45k per year (no financial aid) and is also farther away from home than I would like. NYU would cost about 50k a year (no financial aid, and I can’t realistically pay that much, so I may be able to back out of ED), and SBU is my cheapest option at 16k per year.
The other problem with Georgia Tech is that it is a great engineering and comp sci school, but not that great for other majors, which is important to me because I am unsure about majoring in computer science and may want to change my major to something health related such as pharmacy or nursing.
Just based on the prestige of the program and price, which college should I choose?
But I do not think GaTech has nursing or pharmacy ug schools. Stonybrook just shut down it’s pharmacy school last year I believe. They do have nursing but not sure if it is a transfer eligible program.
URI which is affordable, has both. Not sure if they are still taking admissions. You could call. Perhaps they would consider you after speaking. You’re obviously a terrific student.
If CS all the way. Probably would consider GaTech for the extra money but it all depends on how much burden it is for you. If any level of financial pain beyond a little stretch, I would go to SBU.
You are obligated to back out of your ED commitment at NYU IMMEDIATELY after you go through a financial aid appeal and find the college unaffordable. Do that now.
It looks to me like Stony Brook is your only affordable option – fortunately that is a very fine school for all of your academic interests.
@happy1 it’s not that I can’t pay, its just that if I did attend, I would rack up 100k+ in loans. So right now I’m trying to decide if I should attend NYU for an extra 140k over 4 years for computer sci/ pharmacy and nursing compared to SBU. I will probably back out of ED now though since it seems like 140k in loans is not worth it.
@Syballa
NYU CS is OK from what I’ve heard, while its nursing program is very good. It’s just the question of whether I should pay 140k more to go to NYU.
$100k in undergraduate debt would require parent cosigner. In most cases, this is a bad idea for both student and parent (if you can even get the loan).
If you can only “afford” NYU with 100K in debt, you cannot afford NYU. You, yourself, can take a loan for 5.5K for freshman year. Anything else would burden your parents (and limit any borrowoing possibilities they have for themselves and any sibling).
So, that leaves Stony Brook: Did you get into their Honors College? Can you afford (without loans) to live on campus?
What’s your parents" budget? (from income and savings)?
During the first week of May there’ll be a list of colleges that miscalculated yield, called “NACAC List”. There are always 5-6 excellent colleges and if your application is ready to go you can try to get in with scholarship.
My parents can pay about 20-25k a year. I do have a sister who will be in college in 3 years, so I guess SBU would be the best option. I also got 4k from SBU per year, but am unsure about honors college.
Then, it’s SBU. Check about Honors College. If need be, contact them.
Secure a spot at SBU, and if there are universities you like on the NACAC list, try your luck - no matter what you’d have your spot at SBU.