<p>Great story. I am here waiting…waiting for S to choose the free ride at a “3rd tier” school (or possibly higher than that in his field.) We’ll see! </p>
<p>I would say the only possible situation where the 3rd tier might be a disapointment is where it is not strong in the major you have chosen. If you’re a fabulous musician, and the school’s department is weak, you will surely notice, and be disappointed in the level of playing of your peers. Or if you are a Philosophy major, and Podunk College just isn’t that strong in Philo. so your classmates can’t hold up their end of the conversation in seminar-style courses, that wouldn’t be very satisfying. The professors would notice you, but still…</p>
<p>So of course you have to use your common sense in choosing the free ride, to find a place where you will be happy. Not to rain on the general parade here, I hasten to add!</p>
<p>Similar story for my son. Was accepted in many top programs, but chose full ride merit scholarship.</p>
<p>He has been accepted to masters degree programs at top 3 structural engineering universities and found many of the other students invited were NOT from highly ranked engineering schools.</p>
<p>The cream will always rise to the top! Congrats to the OP!</p>
<p>Yeah…I wish I had heard more of these stories before I applied. I was a little too analytic with the stats and rankings…it wasn’t worth the stress, looking back.</p>
<p>congratulations psych!! What a great outcome for you and a story that many, including my family, need to hear at this time of year. Best of luck to you on all your future endeavors!!</p>
<p>Thanks so much, psych, for sharing your journey. Daughter is at a very respectable 2nd tier school, with a 3.9 average, yet not very happy not challenged. We were pushing her to transfer to a top school, where her sister is extremely happy. She was waitlisted in high school and with her gpa, almost a shoo-in for transfer. She surprised us by applying to a 3rd tier school that offered full merit aid out of high school. We were devasted. Felt her future was over. She’s finishing up the year now, transfering in the fall to the 3rd tier and has the head of her department anxiously waiting on her to begin research. She seems to have made the right choice. Your letter makes me more comfortable with her decision. Best wishes for your future though it doesn’t sound as if you need it!</p>
<p>I have had many tell me that my daughter could go to any elite and should. You should see the look on some of their faces when they ask where she is going and I proudly tell them Auburn and they love to reply with, “but she got into Duke”. Anyway, my daughter, my husband and I will continue to laugh all of the way to the bank! I know that if my daughter is going to do well it is up to her, not the school she attends.</p>
<p>I ended up choosing the moneyed option (again!) for grad school (in your neck of the words, actually), though it was a really difficult choice. I was swayed not only by the option to have a debt-free (hopefully!) PhD, but also by the opportunities afforded me to the particular GAship I was offered and the previously mentioned prominent journal editor/researcher. </p>
<p>As to whether or not going to a cheap undergrad allowed me to make the decision, I did, yes and no. I wouldn’t have expected my family to help with grad school (and I’m fairly sure they wouldn’t have), even a stipend subsidy, but I think going to a cheap undergrad helped me to have a bit more freedom in terms of taking summer classes, funding some research, and not having the pressure to work (I found jobs in my field the second two years, but those were of my own volition/choosing and I didn’t feel pressured to just “get a job.”). I also think it helped lessen the financial impact of grad school apps (I probably spent 2-3k on applications and 5k-6k on interview travel). Good luck to your D with her choice–any of the three schools will be lucky to have her! :)</p>
<p>Again, thanks so much for all your kind comments. I don’t begrudge people who go to “better” or more costly schools at all, but I just wanted to point out that going for third ier merit money isn’t always a bad option.</p>
<p>This is great material psych! Thanks a lot! I see so many people on here debating 100-200k debt, when they got into a “lesser” school (that’s actually not so “lesser”) for partial or full scholarships. They would do well to know that college is what you make out of it and that you always should search for opportunities.</p>
<p>Thank you for this post. I’m a high school junior and when I start to think about paying for colleges next year and the ones I get in to, I’m sure I will remember this story and maybe it will influence my college decision, I don’t know, but it has changed my perspective on things.</p>
<p>Money issues aside, there is a lot to be said for being a big fish in a small pond.</p>
<p>Careful attention and guidance is rained upon top students at every college/university because student success is rightfully seen as institutional success.</p>
<p>I have struggled with this choice more than my daughter did.</p>
<p>It’s easy to get caught up in the whole “name recognition” and “prestige” thing. Rankings (like USNWR) add to that without adding any real additional information about what makes one school better than the other for the students attending.</p>
<p>I work for a large communications company and we hire from a lot of colleges. When we bring in a new engineer, we pay them initially based on which school they attended and their grades.</p>
<p>We have tiers that we use based on the college they attended.</p>
<p>You would not disagree with any of the schools in our first tier. But you WOULD say “Where is xxx?” In the case of some so-called elite schools, we just haven’t been impressed with the “preparedness” of their graduates. We don’t actively recruit engineers from those schools. (And some of these schools are top 20 schools. We have found that their graduates just aren’t ready for the work force.)</p>
<p>Also, it makes me laugh when I read someone say “My school is so much better than school XYZ which is a 3rd tier school in my state.” They’re the same. We treat them the same. And we pay their graduates the same. Any questions? You’re not that different from each other. But we all enjoy watching your football team play on TV.</p>
<p>In the end I told my daughter “Go where you feel like you are going to be happy and make the most of it.” Bright kids will succeed wherever they are, but don’t expect that just because you are going to college X that success is somehow going to rub off on you.</p>
<p>Not my story, but a relative of mine was told he wouldn’t do well. He went from NJIT all the way to a full ride at MIT for a phd! and my mom started off at a small nursing school, and later went to Wharton. Going to a 3rd tier, or even smaller, school isn’t the end of your life, and you can do very well, enjoy it, and go on to a very good graduate’s school</p>
<p>Thanks Psych for your story & congratulations! My D has chosen a full ride over some more expensive options & while she/we have been comfortable with her decision for the past few months, there was a time back in the fall where there was some doubt in our household about whether she was shortchanging herself with her application options.</p>
<p>Stories like yours are what makes CC such a wonderful resource!</p>
<p>l know a kid just like OP who went to a OOS with a full ride and went on to a top school for a PhD. Not every kid can handle it that way I suppose.</p>
<p>Psych, congratulations! You have proved it once more that it is not the school but the student that matters. Wishing you all the luck in your future endeavors!</p>
<p>Psych, great post and one I needed to hear as my DD decided on full ride at in state U over other higher ranked private/OOS choices. I am the one who needs to get over the top school for top student mentality and trust my DD’s decision is best for her. Thanks for the reality check!</p>
<p>that is what this cc is all about…appreciate your comments so much as my dd contemplates going for the brand vs. budget
of course, you earned your success even before you set foot on the campus of that 3rd tier school.
congrats</p>