<p>So my options are University of Chicago, which provided some aid, but not all.
I would have to take out some loans on top of being a pretty good burden on my parents.</p>
<p>or Purdue gave me a full ride.</p>
<p>I'm going for biology science, but if I end up at Purdue, i'm gonna switch over to biomedical engineering. </p>
<p>Will having those nobel prize winning professors and other overachieving children friends and the name be worth giving up a full ride?
Any advice please???</p>
<p>(By the way, I’m not going to UChicago next year) </p>
<p>My friend is in the UChicago group, have you joined it? If you haven’t… do it. If you have… I don’t know why you’d ever consider another school after being in it! </p>
<p>Anyways, I’d advise you to post this on the UChicago forum (listed under colleges in Top Forums) for a better answer. </p>
<p>Personally, and I was waitlisted at UChicago, I would go there because it’s a lifetime opportunity that you’d be passing up- not to mention that it’s a very prestigious degree that could pay off in the long run.</p>
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<p>The Nobel prize winning professors? No. You may not ever be taught by any of them.</p>
<p>The name? Probably not.</p>
<p>The other overachieving children? Maybe. It depends on how much you’d thrive on their influence.</p>
<p>Have you visited both schools? I recommend you dig a little deeper before deciding whether Chicago is worth the extra cost for you.</p>
<p>Take the full ride at Purdue.</p>
<p>Full ride, if your smart you will excel at both and get a great job after, save the money, dont be in debt</p>
<p>It’s not worth the cost. Don’t underestimate Purdue; I’d strongly suggest choosing it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice guys,</p>
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<p>tk21769 - I apologize, for the sake of simplicity I didn’t really explain about my position on both schools. I’ve visited both schools many times. My brother went to Purdue, so I went to go see him like every weekend for his freshman year, and I live 40 min from Chicago, and since it has been my dream school since sophomore year, I’ve both made visits officially and on my own with my parents. </p>
<p>I do think I like the nerdy/intellectual atmosphere of University of Chicago a lot and also its location in Hyde Park (even though a lot of people are cautious about it). But honestly, I think I can see myself fitting in to both schools and being happy at both of them - at chicago, I think I’ll be constantly challenged in terms of intellectual conversations just with classmates (because even on the class of 2016 fb page, the amount of debate/argument is incredible and soo interesting) whereas Purdue… the atmosphere is obviously different, but it’s not like I won’t be able to find other really intelligent people. (sorry for the double negative) </p>
<p>At chicago, I’ll love it because i’ll be able to let my nerdy side loose without restraint, and at purdue, I’ll experience the big ten public school experience and have fun, especially with a lot of my high school mates going, I’ll definitely have a comfortable start. </p>
<p>So that’s where I’m at, but I do see myself leaning more towards Purdue the more logically I think about it, but further advice(s) are welcomed.</p>
<p>It all depends on where the money would have to come from for Chicago. If you will end up with no more debt that the Stafford loans, and if your parents can pay their share without serious struggle and are willing to pay, then Chicago is doable. If not, then not.</p>
<p>Purdue with no college debt for you will give you a number of options. For example, you can more easily take an unpaid internship that you really want.</p>
<p>My decision would depend on how big a financial burden the U. of C. decision would create for your family. If you’re asking, it makes me think your parents are letting you decide. Are they? You have a couple of great choices. I’m debt averse so I would have a hard time myself turning down a free ride. But if U. of C. has been your dream school forever, I can understand your dilemma.</p>
<p>With regard to your concerns about school culture, though: I can assure you that even at a Big Ten school, you will be able to let your “nerdy side loose” and will have plenty of opportunities to free any other aspect of your personality you care to liberate. You can be an intellectual. A cinephile. A political activist. A whatever you want to be. Really. I went to the University of Nebraska, never once went to a football game, ran a foreign films program, enjoyed many fine arts performances (dance, chamber music, etc.), learned to love the blues hanging out at a bar where I was within spitting distance of greats like Koko Taylor … Sound like a stereotypical Big Ten experience to you? My point is that the dominant culture at a given school is rarely monolithic. If I had to do it over again, I’d not have been such a stick-in-the-mud and would have taken the 50-yard-line tickets offered to members of my honor society, but I never felt out of step because I was not a football lover. </p>
<p>P.S. It is my understanding from talking with friends who are U. of C. grads that people really do manage to have fun there.</p>
<p>I would imagine myself graduating witdowny where from $45k to $60 k in debt by the time I graduate if I were to choose Uchicago factoring in possible rises in tuition and things like that. </p>
<p>My parents are letting me decide, but both would prefer purdue, even though if they had easy money, they would choose Chicago.</p>
<p>Is it worth that?</p>
<p>Chicago is easily worth $60K in debt over Purdue if your parents can afford in any way without bankrupting themselves. I would go to Purdue only if the cost differential was $100K or more.</p>
<p>In my opinion, U. of C. is not worth that.</p>
<p>I don’t think U of Chicago is worth it. $60,000 debt ends up about $80,000 when interest is paid. That makes a loan payment about $650 each month for 10 years. Do you really want to drive an older car, forgo vacations, put off buying a house, etc for 10 years? </p>
<p>Since there is a glut of biology majors with limited job prospects in the market right now, I am assuming you are imagining grad or professional school in your future. If you have the gift of graduating without debt you will have more options for postgraduate study. </p>
<p>Sincer your brother went there, I hope you feel confident that the school has a lot of very smart students. While you can still enjoy the Big 10 experience, this is not the school with the party reputation in Indiana. Bio-engineering is tops at Purdue as well.</p>
<p>You can’t borrow 60k on your own. You will need a cosigner for everything beyond the Stafford limits. That means that you and your potential cofounder should trot into your bank or credit union and find out what this involves. While you are there, do your best to get a guarantee that your cosigners will indeed be able to qualify in all four years. All too often their credit runs out in year two or three or four, and the student suddenly learns that transferring to a cheaper school is the only option.</p>
<p>60k is too much debt for almost all students. Very few can justify that level of debt for an undergrad degree. Before you commit yoursel and your cosigners to that path, spend some time at [Project</a> on Student Debt: Home](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org%5DProject”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org)</p>
<p>I honestly don’t think Chicago is what you’re looking for academically. There’s a reason UofC only got an engineering programme last year (by my cursory search of Google): its emphasis is very much on the theoretical as opposed to the practical. It seems like you’re looking for training to enter medicine/a bio profession, whereas UofC is geared more towards training you to be a scientist. If ‘when am I going to use this?’ is a question you often ask yourself, you should think seriously about whether UofC is the kind of place for you.</p>
<p>Purdue has fantastic engineering. Moreover, with a full ride, you’ll have much more flexibility as to what you want to do after graduation. Having student loan payments can mean having to seek the most money you can, regardless of whether you enjoy the work. Not having student loans gives you more flexibility in that regard, and puts you in an even better position to handle grad school.</p>
<p>And I say this as someone who almost went to Chicago :)</p>
<p>$60,000 is a lot of debt if you graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biology that leads to relatively low paying lab technician type of jobs on average.</p>
<p>Purdue is a better option for you. You do not want the weight of this kind of debt on your shoulders in the first 5-10 years of entering the workforce. Imagine when you actually get a job, you’d start with almost nothing anyways…but as you’d want to enjoy a better quality of life, you’d probably take a loan at some point to get a house, then a car. Point is, 60k is a lot…and with the additional loans that might or might not come later, you’d be in trouble.</p>
<p>And Purdue’s engineering is top notch, and from what I’ve read it is pretty clear that the engineers who come out of there have the same starting salary as those coming out of more exclusive/selective schools, and the employers hold them in high regard. Only difference is that the engineers from those more exclusive unis are quicker at leaving the engineering industry and joining the finance industry than kids from Purdue and similar unis. (last bit is from personal experience)</p>
<p>FYI, (in response to an ealier poster), I was undergrad at UChicago. Three of my professors (1 in physics, 2 in economics) were Nobel laureates.</p>
<p>Go with Purdue. UC is not worth the debt. You will be able to accomplish the same goals by going to either school…</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I ended up deciding on going to Purdue!
$60,000 is worth a lot of money, and I always have grad school, which is more important anyways. </p>
<p>And thank you especially IBfootballer,
. thinking about it, you really do have a good point there. Thanks :)</p>