Wake Forest v. Dartmouth

College Search & Selection
1

Hello to anyone reading this!

As of yesterday, I’ve found myself in a pretty favorable dilemma. I was accepted to Dartmouth with a generous fin. aid package where I would pay about 6k a year. About a month ago, I was also very grateful to have received a full merit scholarship to WFU. I’ve visited WFU and love the campus/environment (just wish there was a bit more diversity, but that’s slowly coming). The scholarship is very generous and also provides research stipends.

The biggest pros for WFU are the scholarship and proximity to home. My main pros for Dartmouth are essentially the diversity, opportunities, and prestige (which may be blinding me). The 6k a year is not the most ideal, but my parents have said that it will not be a burden. The traveling/expenses may be, though. They are both great schools, and I will be visiting Dartmouth in two weeks. I am very interested in both medicine and anthropology, and both schools offer flexibility with interdisciplinary studies.

Any comments/advice are appreciated!

2

I think that if your parents are comfortable making Dartmouth work financially, and if you like Dartmouth (make sure the D Plan would work for you), I think Dartmouth is too good to pass up.

You could always get a summer job to help with travel expenses.

On the other hand, what a heck of a fallback Wake Forest is! If Dartmouth is going to make budgets too tight, go and have a ball at Wake.

(you’ll have a ball at either…)

3

Congrats! You can’t go wrong. I think in the long run though, you should have no issues paying back the 24K COA with a Dartmouth degree and (depending on your goals) Dartmouth may open a few more doors due to its alumni network.