<p>My son is truly stuck in his decision over these three schools. </p>
<p>His choices more specifically are Tulane (honors, 22K scholarship), Chapel Hill (in state),
and Emory (full pay). Probably no loans needed, but I'm gasping at the price of Emory, (56K). His intended area of study is biology, and grad school plans haven't been discussed.</p>
<p>My older son goes to Tulane, so I know a lot about it, but they are two different kids.</p>
<p>I know it seems trivial, but I am curious. What year will your older son be in at Tulane when this one is a freshman? And if he will be a junior, will he be going abroad? I am assuming neither has an issue with going to the same school, since it is being considered.</p>
<p>My older son will be a senior. They have no problem going to the same school, and I don’t really think it is influencing my younger ones decision at all.</p>
<p>OK, that’s good to know. Even if there were lingering doubts along those lines, that’s only one year overlap and they would most likely hardly see each other unless they arranged to. Anyway, it is a moot point.</p>
<p>So it seems to me that it breaks down to looking at it through the lens of money and then through a different lens of school characteristics. Since it doesn’t sound like almost $100,000 difference is trivial to you, even if you can afford it, Tulane makes more sense than Emory. The schools are very similar. Although Emory is a bit more selective than Tulane, I would have a hard time saying it is almost $100,000 better. So if one accepts that line of reasoning, it comes down to UNC vs. Tulane. Staying on money for a bit, it looks like UNC instate is $21,000 vs. Tulane @ $55,000-$22,000=$33,000 or a $12,000 per year difference. Is Tulane worth about $50,000 more than UNC? Again, it depends on how much that money means to you. It doesn’t sound like you would have to borrow it (because no school is worth going into that much debt undergrad) or even any portion of it, but obviously it is still money that could be put to other uses.</p>
<p>So if you feel comfortable with the cost of either school, it really depends on how important the very significant differences in the atmospheres of these two schools are. Tulane has a freshman class of 1500 or so, UNC about 5,000. UNC has profs that are more accessible than many large schools, but Tulane wins easily in that regard. The profs are really there for the undergrads at Tulane.</p>
<p>Then there is New Orleans vs. Chapel Hill. Both great as far as I am concerned, but they couldn’t be more different. UNC has more competitive sports teams, especially basketball if that is important to him. Well, I think you know pretty much all the differences. So it is really impossible to give any single or number of factors that would make the decision easier, because we don’t know your son.</p>
<p>I would only say that unless the money is not that important to you (because even though we have convinced ourselves otherwise in this country, college is a value proposition just like most things), it should be Tulane vs. UNC and he should pick based on which school he feels he would best fit him. They both have fine academics, great students, and many interesting things to do outside the classroom. Between those two hopefully he has a feeling which type of school he prefers.</p>
<p>All great schools, and the same choices my s looked at (he was wl at Vandy, to give you an idea of the 4 schools he applied to, if its at all similar to your s). I agree that as much as I like Emory, its really hard to justify full pay when you don’t have to (ie you have good options). If Emory is a top choice for your son, ask the FA office to do a reconsideration in light of the merit money Tulane gave you. Warning, it got us nowhere when we tried 4 yrs ago (Emory gave DS 6K in merit $ and didnt reconsider a dime even though Tulane gave DS the DHS and NMS). And for us, Emory was local and DS wanted to get away (though he subsequently spent a summer at Ga Tech, which was a great experience but reinforced his love of Tulane).</p>
<p>For my DS, UNC would have been OOS, and its a different choice as an OOSer than instater in terms of feeling a bit in the minority. Its a wonderful school in a charming town. But I have to underscore what FC said (btw happy birthday FC!) That the faculty are so available at Tulane. My DS just surprised us for the weekend and showed up this morning for the holiday weekend. We took a walk to breakfast and he was relaying several stories about experiences with several different professors. They were great stories that reinforced how accessible the professors are. That is , IMO, a really important advantage of a smaller school who care a lot about their undergrads. </p>
<p>Then there were his great Mardi Gras stories (went to the Baccus Ball hosted by Will Farrell) and final 4 stories, and jazz festival plans.</p>
<p>Good luck with a tough choice.</p>