My son received admission to both WashU and USC and is kind of split between which school to attend. He has been accepted to the College of Letters and Sciences at both the schools and plans to transfer to the business school.
The cost of attendance is same at both the schools with the difference being he will be receiving scholarship at USC because of being national merit finalist (approx. $30K/year)
Will the AO will be willing to bridge the gap from cost perspective? Do they even entertain these ideas?
We are on east coast so distance is not a factor. Any guidance or opinion would be appreciated.
Congrats on the acceptances. WashU is highly unlikely to match USC’s NMF grant. Your S can ask, but if WashU wanted to fund NMFs, they would.
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Congrats! He will have to consider many factors before making his final decision.
- Business major. How easy is it to transfer? Some schools literally have a lottery system or extremely low transfer rate. For non-business majors, WashU might be a better option for investment banking, for example.
- Costs. You should ask if you have a better number from peer or higher ranked schools.
- Career and location. Both schools obviously have great alumni networks but does he have a preference for west coast or east cost cities after graduation?
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It’s really hard for students to transfer into the business school at top colleges. He should think about where he will be happiest should he not be able to transfer in, which is quite likely, being honest. He will need top grades in order to do that, and as a freshman, it will be even harder to transfer in.
Which school is more aligned with his goals? Who has better career connections and an alumni network for his interests? Which college offers more to him and his interests in terms of campus activities and the local community? Did he prefer the vibe of one place to the other?
You’re not likely to get more money out of WUSTL, though it doesn’t hurt to contact the FA office and explain the situation. All they can say is no.
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No direct admit schools? I mean NMF u can have direct admit, no tuition and four years free housing.
One needs a 3.5 at USC to transfer in.
WUSTL a 3.5 and Calc 2.
He worked hard to get NMF. If he wants to study business, why risk not being able to ??
The schools are very different size wise. Vibe wise and now $ wise. One will be more Greek, party and sports. One will have access to the beach and skiing etc.
Neither will promise the area of study your son wants. USC has a minor as does WUSTL. Will that be enough ? Obviously both are great schools but so what.
Just curious other than prestige, why choose one of these ?
Go where you can 100% study what you want. Neither affords that.
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This is huge. If you have changes in income over the time your kid is in college, that USC merit scholarship won’t change. But need based aid likely will.
Agree with @Mwfan1921 that schools don’t match need based aid based on another school awarding merit aid. Apples and oranges.
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I have a current student at WashU. The options here include: transferring into the BSBA business school program as a sophomore OR another great option is that the business school offers several second majors for non BSBA candidates. These can be combined with any other major. Within the second majors the options are to major in: accounting, economics and strategy, entrepreneurship, finance, healthcare management, marketing, operations and supply chain management or organization and strategic management. There are also 16 different business minors offered to non BSBA candidates. Finally, there is the option to major in economics through the college of Arts & Sciences. So there is no need to worry about being able to transfer into the business school at WashU unless you no longer want to pursue an A&S degree as well.
As far as cost, if your income was less in 2021 than in 2020, or there were any other “change of circumstances” that would lower your EFC, or that would have made your CSS look different, you can fill out a change of circumstance form and the financial aid office (in my experience) will be very generous. Otherwise, the cost difference does seem huge.
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