What fantastic options to have! Congratulations!
The two schools are academic peers but I expect they have different “vibes.” I know people who have loved both schools. I think/hope one will feel like the right fit after your visits. No right or wrong choice here – just personal preference.
WoW! Congratulations, that’s awesome. I heard that only 10 to 15 Langsdorf Scholars are chosen from thousands of applicants.
I hope his interests and career goal will shape up during college. He got a likely letter from Yale and another likely letter from Columbia. But for each, there is no financial aid at all. He applied a few more and we’ll wait till all the results come out. But, these two full-tuition scholarships are too good to pass.
Yes, if you are full pay at the Ivys and other non-merit highly selective colleges and have full rides at great schools - you take the full rides not the $300,000+++ bill.
That is amazing to have those likely letters as well. Very impressive. They send those because they know there are full ride offers merit from colleges interested in him and they do not want him to commit somewhere else.
He will do great things!
Thank you very much for your kind words. The only disclaimer is that these are not full-rides - full-tuition scholarships. So they will not cover room, board, etc., etc.
Forgot that, right. Still excellent opportunities!!
From personal experience as a parent, I can say that a full tuition scholarship at such an elite school is an unbelievable opportunity. Many Ivy admits choose such opportunities because the education and support are equivalent, if not the name recognition. And saving 250k is significant. Our kid now has plenty of funding left for grad school in his 529.
My two cents worth is to focus on the amazingness of these opportunities. Plan fun visits to both to celebrate his hard work and let him decide based on fit. What a fortunate position to be in!
I had those two choices for schools back in the day when a high school 2.7 could get you into both. Very different vibes for sure - Vanderbilt definitely has a southern feel, WashU even though it’s midwestern has a much more northern feel.