<p>Would you ever turn down Stanford for a full ride at Santa Clara University? (Assume no financial aid from Stanford). Why or why not?</p>
<p>Sure, if the situation called for it. If my family was in tough times financially and received no financial aid (ex: supporting relatives abroad, multiple kids in college, etc) I would do it.</p>
<p>And, since I wish to pursue a graduate degree, I can always leave Stanford for my masters/PhD degree or my post-doc/researcher/professor position. Also, I could be a visiting student for a semester or two. </p>
<p>I would be able to go to Santa Clara University without many regrets.</p>
<p>If I was not going to pursue such a degree, then it would be a harder choice, though if my family was in a tough financial situation, I’d still probably choose (hesitantly, like 51/49) Santa Clara University.</p>
<p>If no such financial difficulty existed, Stanford for sure =p.</p>
<p>No since standford is the greatest school ever (no bias haha) and there are so many wonderi</p>
<p>Yes. Yes. Yes.</p>
<p>No, I wouldn’t turn down Stanford for a full ride at Santa Clara. This isn’t because Santa Clara isn’t a good school, since it is, but because Stanford is one of the world’s leading universities and among the very, very few that I think are worth the exorbitant tuition. If substantial loans had to be involved to attend Stanford, it would make sense to consider whether your field of study is likely to result in employment prospects that can help pay off the loans.</p>
<p>if you can’t afford stanford then they will give you financial aid</p>
<p>if you have no problem with the tuition at stanford then why would you go to santa clara</p>
<p>this post doesn’t make sense to me o.O</p>
<p>The Santa Clara presidential scholarship is valued at $163,000, and usually comes with an honors college offer. Preferential class scheduling, housing, advising. Nice…</p>
<p>I would think that most of the recipients of this award turned down more well known schools to attend SCU</p>
<p>Good question. I think it depends on who you are. There are kids who need a stanford-type set up and the peer group influence. Then there are some who would do well in any set up. If you are the latter, you would be successful no matter where you went. And if it means saving 200K in fees (parents or loans), go for it. On the other hand, if you are one of those who kind of excel only as much as your peers, you might be better off at Stanford. My D is one of those, she is motivated but not a self-starter. She functions well with like-minded motivated people. Again, not to say you won’t meet motivated people at SCU but not as much as Stanford. Though I am sure Stanford would be much more competitive as well. Are you ok being a small fish in the big pond, or a large fish in a smaller pond :)</p>
<p>Another person I know gave up CMU and a partial USC scholarship for a local state school. But she knew she would do well anywhere and did not want to take extra 100K in loans.</p>
<p>z3nith, </p>
<p>My parents earn too much money to take advantage of Stanford’s no-loans policy. So, if I went to Stanford, I would be taking out loans for the entire program. However, if I went to a less prestigious school, I would likely be able to get some sort of merit aid. I am wondering how other people view giving up a Stanford experience for a school like Santa Clara or LMU.</p>
<p>The answers thus far have been very insightful. </p>
<p>Zenkoan,</p>
<p>What do you think Stanford could provide that Santa Clara could not? Is the prestige worth $200,000?</p>
<p>
No, if Stanford determines that you can’t afford it they will give you financial aid. I can’t pay for schools like Stanford, yet they have given me no aid.</p>
<p>Have you already gotten admission to S? I presume you live in CA, why wouldn’t you consider UCB? There are many kids who opted for UCBerkeley instead of taking high loans at HYPMS (even after getting admitted). And as far as employment prospects, any of those colleges would be fine.</p>
<p>urtheman, Stanford’s prestige is really huge–even more than I realized when I first came here.(There’s kind of an “S-Bomb” effect oftentimes when you mention that you go to Stanford, which I hadn’t realized.) But that’s not the only distinguishing feature by a long shot. There are also the caliber of the students, faculty and facilities; the presumption of high capability given by employers to Stanford grads; the incredibly powerful and extensive alumni network; and probably most important to me, the sense among the student body that there is no place they’d rather be. It creates an amazing atmosphere that is extremely rare on college campuses. Personally I think it would be worth some significant degree of indebtedness to attend (assuming the academic fit and pace are right for you) and, as I said earlier, if substantial debt were involved I’d give extra thought to how my major and grad school or employment goals would facilitate the repayment of the loans. Cheers.</p>
<p>Stanford, because the $200,000 could easily be earned back.</p>
<p>This Shouldn’t even be a question, Stanford is obviously the better choice, they provide really good financial assistance and just being able to say you go to Stanford is an achievement.</p>
<p>urtheman, thank you for clarifying
I still have to say that stanford will be a worthwhile experience and is worth the investment in my opinion.</p>
<p>When my S was applying to colleges we hired a college advisor to help with the process. She was a fantastic lady. However, she was extremely frugal in her thinking. She emphasized, all the time, how undergraduate degrees weren’t worth too much debt and to save the debt for grad school. Her only exception was Stanford. Her words to me were “Mortgage the farm if you have too”. She truly believed it was the only school worth going into debt for.</p>
<p>So here we are at the farm and yes its worth it!!! (BTW my S gave up a full ride to another school for Stanford. So for us it was pay nothing or pay it all. We have no regrets)</p>
<p>^ win win win</p>
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<p>Considering you’re class of 2016, have you been given financial aid from any school?</p>
<p>I’d also add that what Stanford “determines” is extremely generous. Those who whine non-stop about what they have to pay for Stanford are doing so mostly out of reluctance to spend superfluous income.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference between stanford and scu. It really depends if you will be able to pay off the debt. Say if you plan on majoring in English then scu will be better. But if you want to do something more specialized like chemE then go to stanford.</p>
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Yes. I got a preliminary estimate from UChicago EA, which said I did not qualify for any aid. I realize that Stanford and a few of its peers are more generous, but I doubt the difference would be much in my case.</p>