<p>Hey all,
Having received my admissions, I'm in a little bit of a pickle in choosing which school I should attend. My plan is to major in Material Sciences and Engineering with a Computer Science minor/joint major. My first possible option is Rutgers; I've managed to enter the Honors Academy of the Engineering Honors College at Rutgers and with a tuition of around $15k a year with my scholarship, Rutgers is the cheapest choice I have. My second possible option is at Georgia Tech with a tuition of $40k a year. My final choice is UC Berkeley at about $60k a year being the most expensive but also the better of my three schools for my area of study. My financial situation is such that my parents have $120k saved up, but they are willing to pay for all my tuition given that I reimburse them for the excess after I graduate. Given these three choices, I am open to any and all opinions/advice of what I should do. Might I mention that I do not qualify for any financial aid either. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Are you from NJ or international? I would take Rutgers, I think honors college is a great option. Berkeley is obviously more prestigious but not sure if it is worth the extra 45K/year for you. Also I have family members who in the past have graduated Rutgers. The Busch campus is very nice and if you do well, you will get all the internship opportunities as well…their career office at the time was actually good. And professors (if you reach out to them) can actually be helpful in internship placements. Also the campus has lots of opportunities as well…</p>
<p>Let’s see, using 4 year costs based on your numbers:</p>
<p>Rutgers = $60,000, covered by parents’ contribution with $60,000 to spare
Georgia Tech = $160,000, parents’ contribution is $40,000 short
Berkeley = $240,000, parents’ contribution is $120,000 short</p>
<p>Berkeley is obviously too expensive for you. Georgia Tech is at the extreme edge of affordability if you take Stafford loans and work to earn what colleges tend to assume college students can earn and contribute (and no room for error if you need to take an extra semester or costs increase significantly like college costs tend to).</p>
<p>The financially realistic choice is Rutgers.</p>