<p>I’m assuming you can afford Chapel Hill, and that the money from Greensboro is more tempting than it is necessity.</p>
<p>Don’t be a sellout, go to Chapel Hill. You might think saving the money will be good for law school, but I think your chances for the best law schools will be much higher coming from Chapel Hill. You’ll be surrounded by stronger peers who will better prepare you for what comes next. A huge portion of college learning takes place outside the classroom.</p>
<p>Can you work a deal with your parents that they will commit to apply the $80k they’re saving at the free ride school toward Law or MBA school? If they aren’t willing to do that, than it’s not really a free ride, is it? Free to them, nothing to you.</p>
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<p>What schools?</p>
<p>I’d assume the schools referred to would be Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, UPenn, Northwestern, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, MIT, CalTech, etc. Look at the US News rankings, those are what most people look at when considering prestige and such, however biased or sketchy it may be.</p>
<p>There are only five or six schools in this country that give you the “wow” factor from coast to coast. This has been discussed over and over again on CC.</p>
<p>Don’t go to UNCG. Don’t don’t don’t. I’m from NC, and even with a scholarship, I would seriously question the brains of someone going to UNCG over Carolina! What is your financial situation? UNC is really cheap as far as colleges of its caliber go, and I would think is definitely worth the money over going free at UNCG.
UNC would definitely give you an edge in applying to law school. Have you considered the social aspects of both the schools? I don’t know about you, but would you really consider living in Greensboro for the next for years over Chapel Hill? CH is the quintessential college town, it’s perfect. Greensboro is just blah in my opinion, but maybe that’s just because I’m from Winston…</p>
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<p>That may be closer to accurate. Here in Georgia, the person on the street may not be familiar with Brown, would think Cal Tech was a two-year technical college, and would respond to Northwestern with “Northwestern what?” I personally think that Williams may offer the best undergraduate college experience in America, but where I live, I doubt that one in ten people has ever heard of it.</p>
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<p>I used to work at UNCG and I got a graduate degree there; I’d agree with Caltanner’s assessment above.</p>
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well, maybe, maybe not. Some people are entrepreneurs, self-directed, and aren’t really influenced much by those around them. The peer effects are small. Others, it is true, are more affiliative, group-directed, and are greatly influenced, for good or ill, by those around them.</p>
<p>Since we don’t know where OP fits on this continuum of inward vs. outward orientation, we can’t say whether UNC’s superior peer group will be relevant.</p>
<p>And I still don’t know if the “savings” at Greensboro go into OP’s pocket, or his/her parents’ pockets.</p>
<p>did you get any FA from Chapel hill?? if you are not paying for it, i would definitely got there</p>
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<p>I think the true answer lies somewhere in between all these comments. Based on my experience, there are 7 universities that are nationally recognized and will hold at least have a certain threshold of institutional prestige regardless of your location in the country.</p>
<p>These are:</p>
<p>Harvard (best school in the world)
Yale (top Ivy, presidential connections, etc.)
Princeton (top Ivy, Einstein, Rawls, most famous undergraduate program, etc.)
Stanford (most prestigious West Coast university)
MIT (most recognizable name in technology and engineering)
Duke (most prestigious Southern university, unique name that is not confused with other schools, nationally prominent basketball program, etc.)
Notre Dame (most prestigious Catholic university, nationally prominent football program, etc.)</p>
<p>Does that sound accurate to you gadad based on your experiences?</p>
<p>Basically, my parents will give me 15 grand a year, regardless. I can spend that on either college or grad school (or just spending cash). Honestly, I’m questioning which I would be happier with. UNC-CH seems like it would be good and fun, but too big and elite. I feel that I would have a hard time getting into the theater program there, as well as be the top of my class. At UNC-G, I would get the smaller school, which has pros and cons. </p>
<p>I’m honestly just extremely confused.</p>
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<p>I think you are confusing “wow” factor with name recognition… those two are more known for their sports programs (basketball and football, respectively) than anything else…</p>
<p>“Basically, my parents will give me 15 grand a year, regardless.”</p>
<p>With 15 grand each year from your parents, what you can take out in Stafford Loans, and what you can earn from summer jobs and during the school year, can you pay for all of your expenses at UNC-CH?</p>
<p>It sounds to me like you prefer UNC-G. If you do, it is perfectly fine for you to choose it over UNC-CH. Most of what you get out of college is up to you. You can get a good education there if you are willing to put in the work for it.</p>
<p>Theater is a very special major. If you haven’t visited the departments, you should try to do that so you can learn more about what is available for your specialization. If you can’t visit, take the time to read through the course descriptions for each department. Happykid is a techie. We’ve visited two programs at public Us in our state recently, and one is clearly much better for a techie even though both are good for a performer. Without looking at the courses offered and visiting, we never would have known how big a difference there was. As luck would have it, the cheaper less famous of the two, is the university that is best for her!</p>
<p>I’ve got the same sort of question. 120K at St. Lawrence University (ranked 47 in LAC’s) or no money at Carleton (ranked 8in LAC’s), or Vassar or Wesleyan (both ranked 12 in LAC)? Have visited Vassar and Wesleyan and will visit SLU and Carleton in 2 wks to get a feel for things. How much do you have to hate SLU and/or love one of the others to say no to 120K? We are fortunate to be able to afford any of them (we have saved a very very long time) but could certainly appreciate saving 120K. Bottom line is that we want our D to be happy (she doesn’t care about rankings). She is unclear about what she wants to study so we can’t really choose one based on good their xyz program is. Any kind words of advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Would you give your daughter the $120k savings for either downpayment on a future home or grad school?</p>
<p>Hmmm…no, I would not give her the 120K for a house. I will do what I can to make sure she gets a good education. If she decides to go to grad school we will help her if we can and if she needs it (and if she worked hard in her undergrad). If she goes for the school with the scholarship we still have to pay about 20K a year (so, 80K) which we have saved already. It would mean we could start saving in earnest for our retirement or a rainy day or a job loss etc…If not, we will continue to save every penny over the next 4 years to pay the bill every semester. The money we have saved only pays for the first 2 years of school (and everything we make in the next 2 years goes towards paying for the last 2 years of college).</p>
<p>For undergraduate take the schoolarship and save for grad school.</p>
<p>I don’t see why you wouldn’t go to UNC-CH if you’re instate…it’s cheap enough already. And it seems like your parents can afford it w/o you going into debt.</p>
<p>something my Mom always said, “Never spend money on something you don’t really want.” The nightmare scenario is that if DD decides to transfer or drop-out, that 20k no longer seems “cheap”. But, these things are highly subjective and I would be the last one to advise any family how they should spend their money, especially in these times.</p>