VERY uninformed student seeking advice from experienced CCers!

College Search & Selection
1

Hi!

High school senior here–I know it probably seems very early for me to be on this thread, however, I know I want to go to grad school, thus making my choice of undergrad very important!!

Here is my situation

I’ll have a variety of colleges to choose from for my undergrad.

Here are my options: paying only room and board for my in state honors college (merit scholarships), attend UT Dallas full ride (not my top choice at all though, I want to go to the East Coast), and hopefully by the end of the college app season, a few good colleges to choose from (LIKELIES: USC, Williams, Tufts, UChicago) and I’m applying to some ivies as well.

However, here’s my problem: which should I attend and why? My top choice is one of the likelies that I mentioned, however, as a middle class family, we will be paying close to full tuition anywhere OOS. This is my absolute dream school–I’ve researched in depth and I know that it is the school for me. I only have one “undergraduate experience” so: is it worth it to go to this school? (very good post-graduation career opportunities in pretty much all fields).

On the other hand, I could get a decent education in-state, however, I’d probably be miserable for a variety of reasons–I truly want to leave my state.

I am very much planning to attend grad school (hopefully a very good one) and so is it better to save the money now, and use it towards grad school later? Or is it better to attend the ostensibly better college paying close to full tuition for four years, having one of the most formative life experiences and making personal connections with well known professors. I feel that at this college, I would graduate having better grad school options and career opportunities and truthfully a much better sense of self and growth that I wouldn’t be able to at my state school

Would it be a good investment to go to the better college for undergrad? Why would it be a bad idea?

For some personal information: I’m not planning on studying STEM (that could change), I want to get at least a masters and maybe a PhD (are there funded PhD programs at Ivy league schools?) , I have a sibling who will also be attending after me, my parents and I may need to take out loans or sell to fund my education

Any and all advice (especially from those with experience, with daughters/sons in undergrad/grad and anyone who is knowledgeable in this field please. Thank you so much, I really do appreciate it!

2

What would your parents be selling to fund your education? Mutual funds where they parked college savings? Their house? Plasma?

How much have they agreed to pay? What schools on your list do you actually want to go to, that would have a price after guaranteed / mostly noncompetitive merit that’s affordable?

3

  1. In STEM, you should expect to have full funding wherever you go for a PhD. If you aren’t good enough to be funded, you won’t get admitted in the first place. This means you don’t need to worry about saving money for a PhD program.

  2. By the time you get to that stage of your education, you will want to study with the best individual or research group for your specific sub-field. Ivy or No-Name-U won’t matter at all. What will matter is that you are studying with Dr. Biggest-Name. Lots of the Dr. Biggest-Names out there are at places you haven’t even heard of yet.

  3. In STEM, you might or might not get funding for an MS from the grad program itself - there is a lot of variability. If you study part-time while working, and the MS is job-related, good STEM employers are likely to help you pay for your studies. It may make sense for you to not burn up your entire education fund if it looks like you could be just headed for an MS.

  4. Lots of fun reading on student debt in the Financial Aid Forum. Stroll over there with your parents, and read up on what others have to say about it.

4

Have your parents told you how much they can contribute to your college costs, without taking parent loans or cosigning loans, without limiting your sibling to an inflation-adjusted budget lower than yours, and without compromising their retirement savings?

You can take $5,500 in loans first year without a cosigner, increasing slightly in later years.

5

What is your basis for listing Williams and UChicago as likelies?

6

@allyphoe “plasma LOL” likely assets however parents have been very vague with me about finances and how much they’re willing to shell out. In their words, it depends on the school, we will pay if you get into a very good school but not for other ones. Very, very frustrating for me

7

@happymomof1 I must have misspoke! Sorry, I meant non-STEM (as of now) but I definitely have an interest in both STEM and non-STEM.

Thinking about student debt is sobering–I will check out the Fin Aid section.

  1. In STEM, you might or might not get funding for an MS from the grad program itself - there is a lot of variability. If you study part-time while working, and the MS is job-related, good STEM employers are likely to help you pay for your studies. It may make sense for you to not burn up your entire education fund if it looks like you could be just headed for an MS.

Coming back to your third point, is this the same for the humanities/business? Will employers fund an MBA for example or in any other social science field?

8

Sometimes, this is because they do not really have the money, but do not want to disappoint you now. However, waiting until April to break that news tends to be worse than giving it before you finalize your applications.

It also means that you or anyone else cannot answer the question you posed now, since you need more information from them (i.e. how much they are willing to contribute without parent or cosigned loans and without compromising your sibling’s college funding or their retirement) to be able to answer it.

Be prepared to choose a low cost option in case of the likely scenario where they reveal in April that there is no or very little money.

9

It is what it is, but it seems that they are willing to pay for the right school. You are more fortunate than many.

There are two approaches;

  1. Sit down with your parents, and go through each school on your list with the school’s net price calculator and ask them if they will pay that amount for that school. Note the yeses and nos. The risk is that they will be more conservative now then with option two and you will forgo applying to a school that you want.

  2. Risk disappointment and apply wherever you want, and after you are admitted, go visit the school again with your parents. At that point, they will either be willing to pay or not. Schools are very good at selling themselves to parents. Your parents may surprise you - or you will right back at the full ride.

10

I am guessing your stats are pretty high if you have a full-ride to UTD. Its a great school but you won’t get the “classic undergraduate experience.” I think UTD is making strides in becoming a different kind of school but I feel like it still has a commuter-campus feel. (I live in the area and my daughter attended a high school that is right across the street)

That said, it is time to have an honest conversation with your parents. Better to find out now than in April. Have you considered other Texas schools where you could get a good education, have a better “undergraduate experience” and pay in-state tuition? (UT or A&M? - I am guessing with a full-ride to UTD that Tech might not be a great fit) If you were my child, I would suggest getting a free-or-less-expensive undergraduate degree.

Good luck (especially on the conversation with your parents)

11

-Any PhD worth doing will be funded.
-An MBA MAY be funded by an employer but it depends on the type of employer. To get into an MBA with, say, an English major, you’re better off applying from Williams or UChicago and from a 3-year stint at the type of employer who wants to hire Williams/UChic/ivy English majors.
-None of the schools you listed as ‘likelies’ are ‘likelies’. They’re ‘reach for everyone’ due to their acceptance rate.

  • If you want a close relationship with professors you may be better off at LACs (perhaps also Princeton/Yale?) but certainly not a large Texas public university, unless you got Plan II.
12

No one here can tell you what’s best for you, and what’s best for you and your whole family. There are the parents and also siblings to consider. But please do not go into debt or put your family into debt for a non-STEM degree. (Personally, I’d say not for most STEM degrees, either. Graduating debt-free is an advantage in life.) Since your parents said they can pay more for a top-ranked school, most of us would understand this as a discretionary option rather than having to sell essential assets/nest egg.
So unless EVERYONE affected by this choice is part of the decision and on board, consider the least costly option as long as it is an OKAY option. Pass on it if it is sorely inadequate even if free.

Your original question almost had the feel of a kid in a candy store, and colleges are not candies.
Whatever you do, it will be all right in the end if you understand that four years go by fast and what you do after college matters most.

13

Any funding for an MA in the humanities or social sciences is likely to be partial - e.g. a teaching assistanship that helps cover your living costs. A PHD in the humanities or social sciences that isn’t fully funded means that the department considers you a second-class student, so don’t accept that offer. Go where they do offer you full funding.

An EdD or MSW are likely to be things you have to pay for yourself. Which usually means lots and lots of debt.

Some employers will help pay for an MBA. Often they won’t particularly care where you earn it - lots of students do that online. Admission to good MBA programs expects several years of increasingly rsponsible post-college professional work experience in addition to excellent undergraduate grades.

There are surprises out there re grad funding. Happykid and her BFF are both pursuing fully funded MFA programs in technical theater. All of the programs that they looked at offered at least partial funding.

14

As it happens, Forbes tends to like your choices in terms of being worth their costs: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliesportelli/2017/04/26/10-expensive-colleges-worth-every-penny-2017/. Your circumstances could direct you differently, of course.

15

have you run the Net Price Calculator at a school like Williams, or USC or one of the Ivies? Run it two ways: 1) you as a Frosh and a sibling in HS; 2) you as a Frosh and a sibling in college. The latter will give your parents an idea if they might be eligible for need-based aid when both of you are in college.

16

Many National Merit Scholars can go to UT Dallas for free, and many do from Colorado,
but they do not all get into U of Chicago.

It seems that you may want to relax and just figure out what you want to study, and see where you get in,
then choose based on programs, and costs. with that, if you want an MBA or management consulting, Williams College is outstanding. One of my nieces got four offers in management consulting, with a history degree, and Williams is also good to get into many PhD programs. Its unusual to have an LAC that well connected to management consulting and Wall Street jobs, as well as graduate schools, if there is some chance you will go in a business direction, instead of a PhD direction.

Do you want an academic career? Are you interested in teaching? Many smart students go into college with that thought, but change their minds later. For one reason, teaching at an LAC offers lots of freedom but very little salary.

If you want a research career in STEM, then academic careers pay well, and you can also consult on the side.

So think more about what you want to study, as that really has to sustain you, if you want a PhD, you must be very engaged in the subject matter to finish a PhD. There are a LOT of “all but dissertation” folks out there!

Worry a lot less about funding a PhD and a lot more about funding your next four years. While funding for PhD programs in humanities are shrinking, when there is a will , there is a way, usually.

I would go with your in state flagship over UT Dallas, myself, if you mean UT Austin. Its just overall going to expose you to a lot of great people, and research activities. I would not go to UT Dallas myself, if I was interested in research work, but again, since you seem to have no idea what to major in, its very hard to determine which school is a fit,
and that does lead back to LAC or big state school, so you will have choices.

UT Austin is well ranked in English, and chemistry, and physics. Its got the type of people who will understand your PhD goals. Go for that school if you need to save money.

17

@Otterma Listing them as likelies probably came off as slightly presumptuous, I consider them as my low reaches

18

@ucbalumnus I hope it’s the second option compared to the first you mentioned. Aiming high but expectations are low just in case (as you mentioned, it comes down to finances). I’m very grateful to have an inexpensive in-state option even though it’s at the bottom of my list. Thank you for your advice :slight_smile:

19

@MYOS1634

Your responses are insightful, but I am (as the post title suggests) very uninformed so I don’t understand exactly what you mean. It would be very helpful if you could clarify!

Which fields are PhDs consistently funded? STEM seems like an obvious one but what about in fields like Economics, Finance (is this common?) or in interdisciplinary studies like Middle Eastern/East Asian Studies?

What types of employers want English majors? What types would be willing to fund an MBA? It seems like those naturally will be competitive spots because the company is willing to fund your education AKA expanding your skill set, and giving you opportunity for mobility within the company. Do most employers have contracts that mandate you to work for them for a certain period of time after getting the degree?

This is true—I am attracted to LACs/YPS for the close professor relationships. What do you mean by Plan II?

20

@205mom Which degrees would you say are worth going into debt for in and out of STEM?

I’ve heard if you want to go into high level politics or pre-med (but all hearsay)