<p>So im admitted at stanford under EA and i matriculated like a week after that, cause stanford is my number 1, right? well because my parents make so much money, we wont exactly be getting any aide, but its ok cause they agreed to pay for it, and it wouldnt put any kind of financial strain on our family.
well..... now every other school i applied to wants to give me a free ride. USC send me acceptance early cause im a finalist for some big scholarship, and Harvey Mudd just called me yesterday and said i qualify for another big scholarship there. and i think i would actually get it b/c im a hispanic woman pursuing math/physics. ARG! </p>
<p>everyone please tell me right now that its ridiculous that i would even think twice about going to stanford, even if it means rejecting big scholarships (like 40k a year) to go there.</p>
<p>for undergrad, you will receive pretty much the same education from either of those schools. lol, you definitely will contribute to the stanford stereotype...rich kids driving BMWs.</p>
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everyone please tell me right now that its ridiculous that i would even think twice about going to stanford, even if it means rejecting big scholarships (like 40k a year) to go there.
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I can't tell you that ... only you and your family can decide if Stanford provides extra value worth the difference in your families financial situation. I'd agree that you have other terrific choices where you can have a great college experience ... is Stanford that much better in your eyes?</p>
<p>I was in a similar situation. My family is fortunate enough that we can afford Stanford without aid, yet I will not be driving a BMW (or anything at all) until I make enough money to buy a car for myself. I got offered a partial scholarship from CMC, but with my parents' pushing, I submitted my forms to Stanford and withdrew from my other schools (including from the Corporate Scholars Program) before they made any final decisions about scholarships. That way I wouldn't feel bad about turning anything down.</p>
<p>I honestly would have waited if my parents hadn't wanted me to go to Stanford so much that they practicly forced me to withdraw my other applications. Of course, they wanted this because Stanford has been my first choice forever and they knew how much it would mean to me. No regrets about my decision!</p>
<p>My advice is to withdraw your other applications because you can't go back on Stanford (atleast not without losing $160), and it seems like you want to go there as much as I do. Good luck!</p>
<p>well im glad that you are happy with your decision, and im sorry that i came off snappy, but that whole "it doesnt matter for undergrad" is really not a valid arguement. everything you do matters, because you dont know what will happen, next year, next month, or five minutes from now. harvey mudd is undoublty a great school, and it was #2 on my list next to stanford, but stanford is more renown on an international level (which kinda finds into my vague design for life). your decision might have been to go to mudd and end up somewhere more prestigious for grad, but not everyone has graduate school in mind, so this is kinda like my carpe diem.</p>
<p>and ps: i work 25 hrs a week, and trust me, ive not been driving any BMW's, so that whole rich-kids-have-everything-handed-to-them-on-a-silver-platter stereotype is a bunch of crap.</p>
<p>"everyone please tell me right now that its ridiculous that i would even think twice about going to stanford, even if it means rejecting big scholarships (like 40k a year) to go there."</p>
<p>It is ridiculous that you would think twice about going to Stanford, even if it means rejecting big scholarships.</p>
<p>If the money does not put any strain on your family, why turn down Stanford? :)</p>
<p>Stanford was a clear #1 choice before; clearly it has something to offer you beyond the others. If money is a concern, take it into account, but otherwise, it makes no sense to cancel your enrollment.</p>
<p>hell, if you are a "hispanic woman pursuing math/physics" like you say you are...then you have about 10 billion dollars in private scholarship money waiting for you to claim it. if i were you i'd go to fastweb or something similiar and start applying to as many programs as you can....</p>
<p>She doesn't have a problem with money, dude. I think she was just wondering if it was a good idea to turn down big scholarships at good schools for no money at Stanford. I'd say Stanford is an awesome school, and it depends on what you want to do/how much you want to be there. If going to Stanford has been a dream for you for many years, then go there. If not, and you want to consider other colleges (also perfectly fine) I would wait until April or so and look deeper into other schools' offerings.</p>
<p>From what I know of Harvey Mudd, it is a top notch engineering/physics school, and you would get a ton of attention there. Great professors, great education. You could say that about Stanford as well. No one here can tell you what to do; you've got to make the decision yourself. Just think about what you want out of a college, see what Stanford and other schools offer, and go from there. Good luck on a difficult but enviable decision!</p>
<p>I think if you are worried about spending your parents' money, it can't hurt to apply for some of those scholarships. There are probably people who are willing to throw money at you so it's at least worth looking into. Once you are actually at Stanford, I think it is virtually impossible that you would ever regret your decision to come here.</p>