My daughter was lucky enough to be accepted to Stanford and Vanderbilt (as a Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholar — which will cover full-tuition and a summer experience) in Engineering. (Although she’s not 100% sure she’ll stay in engineering, she will be STEM with some sort of biomed focus).
VANDERBILT PROS:
she loved the campus
she loved the surrounding area/ restaurants etc.
saving over $225,000!
she loved the freshman housing / commons setup
VANDERBILT CONS:
too much Greek life focus/ Southern and preppy reputation
not a ton of outdoor recreation opportunities
STANFORD PROS:
it’s Stanford; she will have prestige from Stanford degree her entire life
-better Engineering & STEM programs
lots of outdoor opportunities (if she will have any time)
we have some family in Northern CA
STANFORD CONS
duck syndrome — she’s worried it will be too intense and she’d like a more balanced college experience
she’s modest/ humble — and doesn’t like telling people she got into Stanford because she feels like it’s bragging.
$$$ we are full pay; we can afford it without loans but are not gazillionaires — So we will definitely feel it — esp with 3 other younger kids. Is $300,000 for an undergrad degree worth it?? Even from Stanford?
she doesn’t want to work in Silicon Valley or a tech start-up; she wants to be successful but does not define success as getting a super high-paying job.
she doesn’t like “Stanford bubble” or lack of college town and didn’t like that it was a biking campus.
she worries she won’t seek out opportunities because she’ll feel like all the other kids are so smart (“imposter syndrome”)
From the list, you can see she has lots of cons for Stanford —- but is that just because she’s scared/ nervous? How can you say no to Stanford? Any advice? I tell her both choices are amazing.
wow … congrats … and please, please take Vandy for free.
Stanford is a unique school, for sure and with a lot of clout … but Vanderbilt is an unbelievable 2nd option (ESPECIALLY for biomed focus), and given the price difference, an easy choice. (especially given potential 2 * (300k+) future expenses on your other kids)
First off, are your other kids going to college within the next 4/5 years? If they are going to college during/directly after your daughter graduates will you have enough money to support them? 300,000 for a marginally better prestige degree isn’t worth it to me. After a few years in the workforce the employers will care less and less about which college you went to.
It also sounds like your D would prefers Vanderbilt, so I would go with that college. Giving up an Ivy sounds crazy, but pick the college that works best with your situation. Wishing you the best of luck.
Keep in mind that to get many/all of the benefits of the Stanford brand, if she keeps it up in undergrad, she could get a HYPSM masters or M7 MBA and it would cost less than 4 years of Stanford undergrad.
Now, Stanford would be chock full of the entrepreneurial spirit, people going places, as well as proximity to SV, etc. but what does “worth it” mean to you?
And can you afford being full-pay for all the young ones? You wouldn’t want to be in the position where you tell a younger one “sorry, hun, we can’t afford your top dream school because we spent it all on Stanford for your sister”.
Personally, given what you’ve written, I’d say that big scholarship from Vandy is the way to go (I’d also have the same total spending limit on education for each kid but that’s just me).
I wouldn’t worry about this. Stanford has massive grade inflation.
That said, everything you’ve typed indicates Vanderbilt is the best choice.
Some have FOMO about passing on a big name school, but my son passed on Stanford for his MS and my sister passed on MIT for undergrad. We have family that graduated from both.
I’ve written about this many times on CC, but undergraduate institutions don’t define how successful a person will be. Research bears this out over and over. That pie is baked at the time a person graduates from HS. High achieving students are successful no matter where they go, even Podunk U. If you look at where the Directors of all the NASA facilities did their undergraduate work, all but one went to a state school, mostly no name ones. One went to a private, RPI. She will thrive…ANYWHERE.
As mentioned…not an Ivy, but just as importantly, Ivy or any other school is no guarantee of anything. I have a friend who does what I do. He went to an Ivy. I went to a random midwest state school. My business is far more successful than his. I know two kids from my son’s school that both went to an Ivy. They are grossly underemployed. He went to a state school and is wildly successful for his stage of his career.
And don’t underestimate that $225,000 in savings for you. With younger kids also approaching college in the future, do you need to consider this?
I will add, different colleges, but our kid did go to the very much more expensive of her college acceptances, BUT we didn’t have younger kids to consider for college expenses.
Stanford is a very terrific elite school. Vandy is a terrific school also highly recognized.
Congratulations to her on these great acceptances.
I’ll bet she can find some outside activities in Nashville. There is biking and hiking and walking. There’s a river so I think there are boating and other water activities. There are mountains nearby (not really western mountains, but the folks in the east like them).
And it is pretty prestigious to say you had the scholarship too.
“too much Greek life focus…” is simply not true at Vanderbilt.
The vast majority, 68% of Vanderbilt undergrads are NOT Greek and Greek life continues to dwindle. Here are the numbers straight from the Office of Greek Life. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/greek_life/about-us/
I have 2 daughters at Vanderbilt and neither are Greek, yet they have lots of great friends. Put aside any concern about Vanderbilt and Greek life. It is an old myth nowadays.
Save your $300,000.00 and take Vandy for premed with full tuition scholarship. If not interested in high tech/CS in Silicon Valley, no point in going to Stanford with a huge price tag.
Is it a full ride, or full tuition? You listed the dollar amount, so I guess full ride. Full tuition on its own is amazing as it is.
Vanderbilt is a top notch, very prestigious college. A degree from Vandy is scarcely less prestigious than a degree from Stanford, and as others have said, this student is going to succeed regardless of where she attends college. I definitely cannot see any advantage to spending the money on Stanford, ESPECIALLY given that there are three other siblings to put through college. Heaven forbid your family really needs that money in the future. Her list of pros for Vandy is compelling, and the list of cons at Stanford is also compelling.
I may be biased. I got my master’s degree from Stanford and I loved it.
However, even with my bias I still question whether it is worth being full pay, particularly when the alternative is Vanderbilt with a major scholarship. If you spend $300,000 for a Stanford education for one daughter, you are pretty much committing to do this three more times for three more children. You can do the math, and do not forget to include 5% per year inflation in university costs.
For me personally Stanford was rather intense. I spent a LOT of time studying (including nearly all weekends) and very little time doing anything else. I was however rather driven – which is what you really should be to attend any university at this level. I do not think that every student is quite as driven even at Stanford.
@2021needhelp I never saw the word “premed” in your post. I do see it in someone else’s reply. If you daughter is premed, then IMHO you want to save $$ for medical school. This would make the big scholarship at Vanderbilt even more attractive.
Other than the finances, I do not think that there is a bad choice here as long as your daughter wants to work very hard in university.
