Wellesley vs. Smith vs. The Elliott School

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
1

<p>I've applied to Wellesley, Smith, GWU, American U, Northwestern and Wash U, and I was waitlisted to Wash U and rejected from Northwestern (oh well!).</p>

<p>But essentially my dilemma is this:</p>

<p>Wellesley, Smith and GWU have all given me some really really amazing fin aid packages. Smith covers practically my entire cost of attendance (pretty big, since I live in Central Illinois, and you have to count on campus expenses and travel and all that), and Wellesley covers all but ~$1300 of the cost of attendance. </p>

<p>Wellesley and Smith have also offered to fly me out to their Spring Open House and Discovery Weekend, respectively, so it seems like they're both rather eager to have me.</p>

<p>Although I think I'm leaning a little bit more heavily towards Wellesley, there's a little hitch in my final decision, which is that I was also accepted to GWU's Elliott School of International Affairs. GWU gave me a Presidential Scholarship, which covers half my tuition, and the need-based finaid from them covers all but $5000 a year of my cost of attendance. But GWU seems to me to have made far less of a personal effort that Wellesley and Smith. It may just be because GW is a bigger school or something, but I recieved a viewbook, an application, and the final letter of admission from them, and that's it. Whereas I've recieved all sorts of little packages and personal emails and such from Wellesley. W and S are also waiving my three hundred dollar deposit. </p>

<p>BUT, GW has admitted me to their super super amazing Elliott School, and my major is International Studies. Elliott is amazingly competative: I think maybe only about 2,500 people are accepted out of 19,000 who apply? </p>

<p>Any advice as to where I should go? Is GW worth the extra $5,000? Do you think they would be as excited to have me as W and S seem to be? </p>

<p>-B</p>

2

<p>If you or your family can afford it i say go to GW.
For international studies there no place better to be than in DC.</p>

<p>And $5000 extra per year is not much at all.</p>

<p>As far as all the extra mail and being excited to have you. Anytime you have a big school, especially ones where there are grad students, the admisssion process will be less personal. But it GW is giving you a Presidential Scholarship I think they want you.
Congrats
Good luck making your decision</p>

3

<p>I received a trustees scholarship from WPI which covered full tuition for four years, but need-based finaid added a loan and workstudy on top of that. In fact, the need based aid at the other need-only aid schools I got accepted to made the packages from every school more or less equivalent. This gave me the luxury of picking Wellesley because there were things that I didn't quite like about WPI (food made me sick, frats, no french, 75+% male). A lot of rich kids I know have to go to their second or third choice schools because they got merit money there, but "poor" smart kids have the luxury of picking whatever school they like.</p>

<p>It seems to me a lot of the reason you like Elliott is because it is tough to get into and you did. What is Elliott, Harvard? Wellesley and Smith are also trying to bribe you into coming. Most of the stuff, while personalized, is nothing personal. </p>

<p>As for the thrilled to have you part, they are thrilled to have you as a statistic, and admissions officers love cool kids. Whether or not someone will be personally disspointed you didn't come is a matter of anyone's guessing. That actually was the case with another school I got into, College of the Holy Cross, where my older sister goes. Every time my sister goes by admissions, Kevin, who interviewed both of us, asks about me, and whines about why I didn't go there. I can only go to one college. </p>

<p>There's one opinion that does matter- yours. I would try not to focus on what goodies colleges send (despite the fact that bribes are fun), but rather on what has what you want to do (which does sound like GW to a certain degree). </p>

<p>I realized about after a year of being at Wellesley is that most of the things that I do here don't exist at my other top choice schools. I don't think the other colleges have an Astrophysics major or a strong Astronomy department, Campus Girl Scouts, Wintersession, the summer research programs I'm doing, or the types of personalities that thrive at an all-girls campus. I honestly don't know what my life would be like if I were somewhere else. </p>

<p>Oh yeah, the money. Given the amounts of money you are describing, I'm going to peg your family's income at $60,000 or perhaps much lower. Talk to the parent involved with the family's finances. You'll find that your family can easily afford the $5000 a year for GWU if you truly want to go there, but $5000 isn't something your family would spend lightly at all. Keep in mind that $20,000, a four year education at GWU, is the cost of the education at any one of these schools for only a semester.</p>

<p>So fly out to Wellesley and Smith's weekends and try to see GWU, it isn't costing you too much to make a informed decision. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Bea,</p>

<p>The campus visits are the best way to make your decision. I know that Wellesley will let you use any outside scholarships to reduce or eliminate the self help portion of your fin aid package. Also, study abroad during winter term and junior year are prorated to the % of tuition & Fees you pay on campus. Additionally, your loans will be minimal, probably no more than $13K for all four years combined if you do not have outside scholarships to reduce the loan. Personally I'd go to Wellesley undergrad and GWU for graduate school.</p>

<p>I do think that $5,000 is doable on $60K income depending on your family's level of debt. It will stress them a bit, I know from personal experience. I also attended Wellesley back in the day and loved it.</p>

5

<p>I also got into Wellesley and GW. Like your situation, I got a lot of money from Wellesley. I also got a Presidential Scholarship at GW, but that seemed to be about it. Basically, I'd have to pay more than twice as much as my Wellesley tuition to go to GW (which would be absolutely impossible). </p>

<p>I know what you mean about Wellesley seeming to want you. They send me handwritten letters, called my house to encourage me to go there, and are also flying me out to the Spring Open Campus. Of course I realize they're doing those same things to a ton of people, but I think it just emphasizes the fact that a small school like Wellesley is able to contact everyone admitted.</p>

<p>Basically it comes down to what you're really looking for in a school. Would you enjoy the faced-paced environment and large classes at GW, or would you rather have a small school? As a polisci major, I was also looking into DC, but there are plenty of internships in and around Boston, not to mention Wellesley students get into some of the best grad schools in the country.</p>

<p>If you're really set on GW, then it's worth the $5,000 to go there. It sounds like your family's finances are similar to mine. Personally, I'm taking out loans myself to pay the EFC, so I was ecstatic that Wellesley gave me a good amount of money, especially since I want to go to grad school. If you decide on GW and your parents really can't afford it, then take out loans. I guess in the end it comes down to following your heart. :) Good luck!</p>