USC v. Yale v. Stanford

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>My S got into Yale with no financial aid and Stanford with 6k of aid. He is also admitted to USC with a Mork Family Scholarship (Full Tuition + 5k stipend/yr) and University Scholarship ($2K/yr). He wants to be an East Asian Studies major and plans on getting a Ph.D. With the Ph.D, he is considering being a professor or working abroad in East Asia for the government or an NGO.</p>

<p>Yale or Stanford would require $35K-40K per year of loans for a possible total 4 year debt of $140K+. USC would still require costs of room and board of approximately $15k per year, but no debt would be required. Yale or Stanford would require S to work during the school year and would require family sacrifices to meet the non-loaned portions. </p>

<p>Yale is my S's dream school and seems like a perfect fit. He knows less about Stanford because we only briefly toured a few years ago, but knows its great reputation. He was impressed with USC, but has some concern with the overall academic seriousness of students (partially based on students he met at Explore USC). He is a very serious and driven student that wants to take advantage of every available opportunity.</p>

<p>From our perspective, Yale and Stanford, as two of the top universities in the world academically, are a notch above USC's academics. USC is an excellent academic school, but it is not Yale or Stanford. If money was not the issue, he would go to Yale.</p>

<p>Our income has only recently risen to a range at or near the income cutoff for financial aid (some calculators showed a decent amount of aid, some no aid) and because of prior financial obligations for various business ventures, savings has been depleted to eliminate any savings for college. In essence, we would need to find the $60K per year for Yale or Stanford through decreases in expenses, increases in income, and loans. We also have another child that will be starting college in 2015.</p>

<p>We would like some input on the following issues:</p>

<p>-Is the difference in the Yale/Stanford education v. USC education worth the financial impact of loans, etc.?
-What will be the impact of a Yale/Stanford degree over a USC degree be, if any, for getting into a top grad school?
-Will the contacts gained at Yale/Stanford be substantially better than at USC, if at all?
-Does being a scholarship recipient at USC counter some of our perceived advantages of a Yale/Stanford degree?
-Is there any way to decrease the cost of the going to Yale or Stanford?</p>

<p>Any other input would be appreciated. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Congratulations to your son on his accomplishments.</p>

<p>USC is a fine school, and with the Mork Scholarship plus a University Scholarship it seems to me there is no question. If money was no object this would be a debate, but you state that the costs will be a burden for your family.</p>

<p>Grad school will be expensive. Save your financial sacrifice for that period of time.</p>

3

<p>please visit usc again. in one of my major classes, 1/2 teh kids dont even show up or do readings. you do NOT see this at yale. the students at USC care more about just getting by with decent grades than really enriching themselves with knowledge.</p>

<p>with an education from yale, your son may not even need a pHD. an 18 year old should NOT determine the next 10+ years of his life right now…a yale degree will open more doors no doubt.</p>

<p>yale is an elite school. usc is not. its that simple…unless you have an extremely liberal definition of "elite " lol. furthermore, the east asian studies major here is extremely shallow. you need to look throguh the courses offered and by whom they are taught. USC has no superstar faculty in that department to the very best PHD program.</p>

4

<p>I understand where you are coming from completely. You sound like us, people squeezed in the middle. Not poor enough for aid, or rich enough to afford it. While I don’t want to advise you what to do I can tell you what we looked into. For S to go to his dream school would require a total of $87k in loans over the 4 years. If that is the route we choose, we will use student loans from our bank. If they are taken in his name, we have to cosign and payback does not begin till 6 months after graduation from undergrad. Our feeling is if we can pay it off for him at that time, we will. We have 2 additional kids to go in 2015 and 2017. If we can’t it is his loan to deal with. We feel he has 40 years of working to pay it off and would expect that not to be an issue in his field (engineering). If you take the loans out in your name, you start paying them back immediately. Some people express it is silly to borrow, but accepting “plan B” doesn’t seem good either. Others easily see it being worth the investment, so you just have to decide for yourself. Great things can come from taking a risk, but so can debt…it is a struggle to decide which way to go.</p>

<p>It is hard for a parent to deny a child their dream if it is at all possible. Especially for one that is hard working and devoted to their studies. I get that. My son also said he wants to be around brilliant minds, so I understand what your S is looking for. You have great choices, good luck. Hope you find peace in your decision. That is worth something too.</p>

5

<p>(@brojan) -My D has not had this experience at USC at all. </p>

<p>She also had multiple HYPS acceptances as a full pay student and decided to go to USC with the Pres scholarship. She knows many other students who made the same decision (lived in Birnkrant as a freshman with T/P/M/S scholars). She doesn’t regret her choice— doesn’t know anyone who does, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. As a STEM major, she certainly cares about every class she takes and there are very few slackers in her classes. </p>

<p>Grad schools will care about where you went to school, but they care much more about what you did at that school. Your GPA, GRE/MCAT/LSAT/ etc. score, your EC’s and your LOR will matter more than where you went to school. Stand out–excel–a degree from USC will not hold you back if you are a driven top student. </p>

<p>IMHO, taking on $140k in loans to pay for 1 child to go to Y or S seems burdensome to me. Is this worth it for your child to go to Y or S? I don’t know if it is for you. This is a personal family decision to make and each family should weigh the options. What was your conversation with your child about finances BEFORE he applied? Did you talk about financial decisions?</p>

6

<p>Follow the dream. It will pay off having a Yale degree in the long run!</p>

7

<p>@mmdad1965 - please let us know what you decide!</p>

8

<p>Contact financial aid office of Yale or Stanford and tell them of your dilemma. I had a cousin who got accepted to Stanford but she was originally offered no financial aid (it was also due to the fact that she was in the “middle” not poor but not rich) and they reevaluated her. In the end they gave her a moderately good financial aid package. As of now she attends Stanford. *also after that in the summer she was given a scholarship from our family association so now she has less debt to worry about.</p>

9

<p>What can you do with an East Asian Studies degree? (- asks the guy who took three years of Japanese.) If it’s like philosophy or sociology, where the payback isn’t great, I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on getting the degree.</p>

<p>Contrary to what “Fake Trojan” brojan says, USC apparently has a pretty good East Asian Studies Department. At least it’s supported and recognized as a National Resource Center for East Asian Studies by the Department of Education, along with the following schools -</p>

<p>Brigham Young University: East Asia Consortium
Columbia University: East Asian National Resource Center
Cornell University: East Asia Program
Duke University: Asian/Pacific Studies Institute
Georgetown University: Georgetown East Asia Center
Harvard University: Harvard University Asia Center
Indiana University-Bloomington: Illinois/Indiana East Asia National Resource Center Consortium
Michigan State University: Asian Studies Center
Ohio State University: East Asian Studies Center
Stanford University: Stanford East Asia Center
University of California-Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies
University of California-Los Angeles: Joint East Asian Studies Center
University of Hawaii at Manoa: East Asian Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Illinois/Indiana East Asia National Resource Center Consortium
University of Kansas: Center for East Asian Studies
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: East Asia National Resource Center
University of Oregon: University of Oregon East Asia Center
University of Pennsylvania: Center for East Asian Studies
University of Southern California: Joint East Asian Studies Center
University of Utah: East Asia Consortium
University of Virginia: Virginia East Asia Center
University of Washington: East Asia Center
University of Wisconsin-Madison: Center for East Asian Studies
Yale University: Council on East Asian Studies</p>

<p>[National</a> Resource Centers for Foreign Language, Area and International Studies](<a href=“http://www.nrcweb.org/nrcList.aspx]National”>http://www.nrcweb.org/nrcList.aspx)</p>

10

<p>As the parent of a former Trustee scholar[ admitted before there was a Mork Scholarship] who is currently at Caltech for his Phd in Geophysics, I will give you my 2 cents worth:</p>

<p>We would like some input on the following issues:</p>

<p>-Is the difference in the Yale/Stanford education v. USC education worth the financial impact of loans, etc.?</p>

<p>Absolutely NOT. You have no idea what may happen to you in the future. What if you become ill and cant afford to pay his tuition ?
It is a real blessing to be able afford to send you son to a great university on their dime! This is one gift you should NOT pass up. </p>

<p>-What will be the impact of a Yale/Stanford degree over a USC degree be, if any, for getting into a top grad school?</p>

<p>Believe me, Having Mork Scholar on his grad school application is just as good as having a Stanford or Yale degree. And as he WAS accepted already at those 2 colleges, he will have a “leg up” on applying there for Grad school. My DS was turned down at Stanford for UG, but was accepted everywhere he applied for grad school, including Stanford. </p>

<p>-Will the contacts gained at Yale/Stanford be substantially better than at USC, if at all?</p>

<p>Stanford and USC have a great West Coast alumni base, Yale has a great EC base, so the contacts he makes in college will be more helpful depending on where he wants to work eventually .</p>

<p>-Does being a scholarship recipient at USC counter some of our perceived advantages of a Yale/Stanford degree?</p>

<p>Yes. See above. </p>

<p>-Is there any way to decrease the cost of the going to Yale or Stanford?</p>

<p>You would have to contact their FA depts. If YOU make a LOT less $$ in future years you may be eligible for future FA.</p>

11

<p>Grad schools are familiar with the Mork Scholarship. Only twenty are chosen out of around 28,000. That is impressive.</p>

<p>As a Mork Scholar your son can be a part of the Thematic Option honors. There are threads here explaining this challenging opportunity. He will also be a part of a class which has some of the most talented, creative, gifted students in the fields of cinema, art, music, drama and soon…dance. The Renaissance Scholar program encourages students to double major in widely different fields. </p>

<p>At SC he can design his own major with emphasis on Asia in collaboration with an academic advisor. </p>

<p>There is a YouTube video about SC seniors and where they will be after graduation. It may be of interest. Check out “Where Do We Go from Here?”.</p>

12

<p>Congratulations. I would choose between Yale and Stanford. I think Yale is better in terms of what he is going to study because they have better teachers. I think they have a lot of Nobel Prize professor and strong foreign curriculum. If i were you, i would chose Yale over anything. Dont worry about tuition. Your son is going to do well. Yale it is.</p>

13

<p>I graduated in 2010 with East Asian Languages and Cultures being one of my majors.</p>

<p>If your son is interested in Korean studies at all, USC is one of the best places in the nation for that. Look up the Korean Studies Institute and the director, Professor David Kang.
[April</a> 2013 Events > Korean Studies Institute > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences](<a href=“http://dornsife.usc.edu/ksi/]April”>http://dornsife.usc.edu/ksi/)</p>

<p>I didn’t really take full advantage of my opportunities until my senior year, but during that last year, I went to so many seminars and workshops by prominent guest lecturers. Really awesome stuff, and as a Mork Scholar I’m sure your son would have more opportunities than what I had.</p>

14

<p>In these tough economic times, how could you turn down a full scholarship to an amazing top 25 university? My son is a Mork and turned down Harvard among other top 25 universities in order to attend USC. He has no regrets and will graduate debt free. Unlike at Harvard, he can graduate in 4 years with a double major in business and science – not possible at Harvard–and has had unique opportunities he would not have had as just another " smart kid" at Harvard( including a trip to China with other scholars) Furthermore, at USC it isn’t important that we aren’t famous or super rich or alumni. The students are diverse and accepting. We feel very lucky and are grateful. Fight on!</p>

15

<p>Just my opinion, of course, but I disagree with the responses saying “just choose Yale, you’ll be set for life,” or “It’s worth $200,000+ more than USC.”</p>

<p>I went to Yale, and although I enjoyed it there and thought it was good, it by no means guaranteed happiness and success.</p>

<p>My daughter just got into SC on a good scholarship. She’s going in as a high school junior, forgoing any chance to apply for her parent’s alma mater. But even if it were a choice of SC with the good scholarship and Yale at $200,000, we would choose SC. Who has 200,000 to spare these days?</p>

16

<p>I should put a caveat on that last statement, because as a future NMF my daughter is passing up the guarantee of free tuition at schools such as Northeastern and Fordham. If your son is dead set on Yale or Stanford and you can afford it, it’s probably best to go that route, rather than denying “the dream.” But if the dream isn’t set in his mind, what’s the harm with going with “the reality”?</p>

17

<p>^^^per above post, a friend and I were joking that it’s too bad we can’t trade scholarships on Craigslist or defer to the next child! We have 30K to a school we don’t want, someone else has a USC scholarship they don’t want, etc…everyone has to live their own life and pursue their own dreams however they deem fit I suppose. It is interesting seeing all the dilemmas people face in getting their kids to college. People with lots of money can afford anything, people with no money get aid, people in the middle get squeezed.</p>

<p>OP, I am thinking you are an east coast family since not that familiar with these west coast campuses? Just curious.</p>

18

<p>Update:
Thank you to everyone for their input. We did request a review of the FA from both Yale and Stanford. Yale reviewed their FA and offered a very small 4 figure amount and Stanford upped their FA offer by a small amount. These revisions were small enough that the overall financial picture from my initial post has not significantly changed.</p>

<p>Does anyone know much about the Light Fellowship at Yale? We are aware of it, but does anyone know how hard it is to get? Also, if S did a year abroad through Light Fellowship would he receive the equivalent of one year of Yale credits? What we wonder is if the Light Fellowship would essentially eliminate one year of Yale tuition and lower the overall cost.</p>

<p>For the location question someone asked, we are from the Midwest, and have visited USC and Yale in the last year (plus Bulldog Days that just finished). Our visit to Stanford was about 4 years ago. </p>

<p>Thanks for any additional input.</p>

19

<p>Take a look at this Youtube video showing USC students having a good time.<br>
They are all happy, attractive people. We can’t say the same about Yale students.</p>

<p>[University</a> of Southern California - September 3rd Game Day - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>

<p>if the link doesnt work, do a search in youtube using terms “USC wonderful September”</p>

20

<p>Are there any USC student-made videos that don’t involve beer?</p>