Vanderbilt vs. OSU

<p>Ok, so I'm a freshman at OSU looking to transfer out.
I got an offer from Vanderbilt and would only have to pay about 2k per year.
Here's the kicker: at Ohio State, I get paid about 5.5k per year over the cost of tuition, room and board, etc. as part of my full scholarship.
What should I do?
Financial security is a pretty big deal for me, since I want to go to grad school and would like to be able to afford a car or something...but is this pointless to consider in the long run?</p>

<p>2k a year sounds like a great deal, and vanderbilt is an awesome school. if you are in a financial situation that absolutely requires a full scholarship to be able to be in college and eventually grad school, then don’t take it. otherwise, id be off to vanderbilt in a second.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt is hell of a lot better than OSU. Plus you’re paying next to nothing for a top-tier university.</p>

<p>Wouldn’t you rather a full-ride at the University of Scranton?</p>

<p>Go to Vanderbilt. 2K/year for Vanderbilt is nothing. That’s a great opportunity.</p>

<p>What are the conditions (if any) on the Vanderbilt offer? Is it guaranteed? </p>

<p>If those aren’t issues, I’d go Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>go to Vandy. If you are looking at competitive grad schools then you need a strong undergrad degree.</p>

<p>Sounds like an incredible opportunity, unless you can’t afford it-TAKE IT!</p>

<p>Well, one way that I’m looking at it is that this is a great opportunity to go to a very prestigious school for next to nothing.
However, it’s not guaranteed for my time there. My older brother will be graduating from college soon, so in the coming years, I’ll probably have to pay about 4k or so. And my family isn’t able to contribute anything, so I’d have to shoulder the financial burden on my own.
There are no conditions, really, as long as I don’t fail out. hahahaha
The main thing holding me back is money. I want to go to grad school and since OSU is paying me, I’d be ahead when grad school rolls around. But since my family can’t contribute financially, I’ll probably be in the hole if I go to Vandy. It’s a gamble and I’m just having trouble weighing the two.
Thanks to you all, though, as of right now I’m leaning toward Vandy.</p>

<p>Dude, that’s not much of a financial burden at all…If we were talking 20-30K a year, I’d understand, but at Vandy you’d be paying for three years, so 6K, right? That’s a joke to pay back</p>

<p>I dislike kids who lack the common sense to make vital decisions in their life without the consent of others. I also cannot believe someone who got accepted to Vandy would make a thread like this one. </p>

<p>Go to Vandy.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt!</p>

<p>schrute, I think you are smart to be concerned about having debt upon graduation. Congratulations on having a lot more sense than many of the posters on this forum.</p>

<p>However, this is not much debt being discussed here, and many graduate programs provide tuition waivers and stipends, either teaching or research, to their graduate students. (That is not true of professional programs like medicine, law, veterinary or MBA.) So, very modest indebtedness may well be worth it to attend Vanderbilt if that is where you prefer to be.</p>

<p>Have you included summer and/or school year earnings in your estimates? Even 4Kper year can be earned without a lot of trouble.</p>

<p>schrute, there must have been a reason why you wanted to transfer out of OSU. If that reason is really important to you then this is not a lot of debt to take on. If it isn’t that important to you I’m sure you can get a great education at OSU (disclaimer, my daughter refused to apply to OSU because it was way too big for her). I think it also depends on what you want to study in graduate school. In some subjects you should receive funding to cover your graduate work in other subjects you won’t.</p>

<p>I can’t believe this is a thread. </p>

<p>Vanderbilt!</p>

<p>@sharonohio, yeah, basically the reason i want to transfer out is that i want to maximize my chances at a top 20 econ grad program, so i just want to make sure my undergrad education is up to par with most other applicants’. </p>

<p>@midmo, i didn’t include summer earnings, but for good reason; the unemployment rate where i am is ridiculously high and the very very few jobs (even just summer ones) are competed for like crazy. so i’m not sure if i’ll be able to earn anything</p>

<p>and i think i’m leaning toward vanderbilt, even though my father called me and told me to stay at osu. hahahaha</p>

<p>schrute, do take your father’s opinion into consideration. At least have a serious discussion about it.</p>

<p>summer earnings: I don’t know how common it is to find paying research jobs that extend over the summer, but my son stayed in Nashville last year to do that, and is doing it again this year. Again, that might be pretty unusual, I just don’t know.</p>

<p>graduate school: unless the world has changed a lot (and it may have), a school like OSU is plenty good enough to get you into a top 20 economics graduate program if you are a top performer and you have gotten to know a prof. or two who can write a recommendation (grades, GRE scores, research record, letters of recommendation are far more important than name of school alone). If that is the ONLY reason to change schools, it is probably not necessary. (FWIW, I’m married to an economics prof.)</p>

<p>I would politely decline Vanderbilt admission, go to Ohio State and pocket the $22,000, and put that towards grad school at Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>Doesn’t matter where you go for your undergrad so long as you do go somewhere and aren’t in debt for it. Go into debt for your grad school instead. That’s what’s been pounded into my head ever since I was in high school though.</p>

<p>^^^The difference is not 22K. Vanderbilt reports a total COA that includes a lot of incidentals that are not included in most schools’ calculations. Hence, it is likely that some of the 5K over-and-above stipend at OSU is being used to pay for some of what is covered in the Vanderbilt award.</p>

<p>This student wants to go to graduate school to study economics. Assuming he does not actually mean an MBA, it is entirely likely that tuition, fees and a living stipend will be provided by the graduate program. Economics is a research field; that means professors in any department worth attending bring in external research funds which pay for graduate research and teaching assistants. This student should not have to pay big bucks for graduate school.</p>

<p>The amount of indebtedness is small, and perhaps non-existent if this student finds summer employment, or works during the school year. </p>

<p>There may be good, or personal reasons, for this student to choose to remain at OSU, but they do not include the reasons suggested in post 17.</p>

<p>Post 17 was your own post…lol.</p>

<p>By the way Midmo, every college includes incidentals such as living expenses and travel expenses in the COA. And a lot of what you said about grad research glazes over the obvious fact that TA positions are competitive and very few grad students actually get to be TAs. A lot of grad students actually have to pay for their grad study.</p>

<p>You keep asserting that this student does not have to pay big bucks for grad study. I disagree, but we’ll move on. You glaze over the obvious fact that this student does not have to pay for his undergrad study either because of his great offer from Ohio State. If there was one that I had to pay for, it would be my grad study, not my undergrad study. If you’re planning on definitely doing grad study, it is usually a bad idea to go into -any- debt for your undergrad study IF you can avoid it, which the OP definitely can.</p>

<p>You’re not helping anyone by pushing your own elitist desires for yourself on other students.</p>