<p>I was lucky enough to get into Wharton RD and into Ross as a Preferred Admit. UMich is nuts and is giving me a full ride on merit scholarships, complete with room and board for four years at the Telluride House (awesome people, food, lodgings, and totally free) and extra money for whatever fun stuff I'd like to do (travel, etc). The Ross building is pretty damn incredible.</p>
<p>Wharton is Wharton, and I loved my visit. If money were no object I'd be there in a heartbeat, but they're giving me NO financial aid. Some have said that the career I'll have after Wharton will easily make up for that...except that I'm not going into iBanking or hardcore finance stuff. I'd like to retain a little bit of my soul. </p>
<p>What do you think? Thanks in advance for your help. =)</p>
<p>I don’t have experience with either school myself, but I couldn’t help but give my opinion…</p>
<p>I recently visited Goldman Sachs for a school field trip, and a lot of the people with multimillion dollar salaries said that they had gone to Ross. I know that’s only a small sampling of the population, and that the name Wharton is almost priceless (trust me, I know… many of my relatives are Wharton graduates), but it has just never felt to me like Ross graduates are at any large disadvantage, especially if they graduate debt-free.</p>
<p>A full ride at such a remarkable institution sounds like a dream come true, imo, but I’ll let someone with more experience with the two schools answer this for you I guess. Congrats on both acceptances; you sound like a beast.</p>
<p>I think you should choose UMich. It may not be as prestigious at Wharton, but it is very prestigious. I don’t think you’d be much better off going to Wharton spending a fortune.</p>
<p>If your dream school is Wharton you should go there. As you said Wharton is Wharton. But if financial aid is a big issue Ross is also an amazing school and it also has a great reputation. It was ranked 3th after Wharton and MIT. University of Michigan is also ranked 4th in national public universities. Their facilieties as you said are very cool and they are always investing in more.</p>
<p>If I were you I would go to UMich. A four year scholarship is amazing. You will get just as good an education as you would get at Wharton and without spending anything. Ross also has an amazing reputation.</p>
<p>Sugar Magnolia - I’m no beast, but thanks, and congrats on your acceptance to UPenn as well =) I’m glad that someone with Wharton graduates as relatives feels that Ross wouldn’t be too far behind. I always thought that I wouldn’t pay for a brand name, but in the end, brand names are SO alluring…networking and resources at Wharton would open a lot of doors. Plus, I mean, Wharton is far more than a brand name…or is it…</p>
<p>illuminar - damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t find this thread =/ Some big scholarship for UMich came yesterday and made things really difficult…so please, please give me a solid argument for Wharton that I can use with my brown parents. Come on, debate champ, help me. =P</p>
<p>xSteven and sofiml2 - Consensus on UMich, then. =] I know the four year scholarship is awesome, and money is definitely an issue, I just don’t know if I want it to be THE issue. UMich is in-state for me, and although it’s a great institution…I really want out. There’s a whole host of intangible reasons for why I’d like to not attend UMich, but ultimately, I guess money trumps intangible reasons. Thanks, both of you.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t really have any arguments. Our total expected contribution is about half the cost and my parents almost tried to convince me to go to McGill instead (which isn’t even free). </p>
<p>I don’t think the difference coming out of Ross instead of Wharton will be that significant, and I doubt that any potential Wharton advantage is worth the 200k difference. Plus there’s the Telluride House. Only you can weigh the intangibles though.</p>
<p>i got into Ross pre admit and was waitlisted at Wharton. And i have said to my parents that if i do end up getting into wharton i will still go to ross. I am instate for michigan, but my parents can pay for ether so money is not really the issue for me. I feel that the education at the #3 school cannot be too much worse than the #1. I think that at Michigan i will have a better college experience, Ann Arbor is frequently ranked the best college town and the atmosphere is so great at Michigan. I have heard that the students at wharton are very competitive and would do anything to get ahead. While i know students at Ross who are all very competitive but are willing to help classmates out. Wharton is Wharton and has great name recognition, Ross is a great school and has a lot of name recognition too. I think that which ever school you end up choosing, if you work hard are part of the top of the class, you will end up having a lot of great job opportunities. With which ever school you end up choosing you will get an amazing education. Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Also, try to picture yourself in four years… what if the economy is still in the gutter? Graduating from a highly-regarded school debt-free in your home state, where a Ross diploma is most likely considered gold so you could probably land a starter job that’s near home without as much ridiculous difficulty, is a very enviable position to be in. Graduating from Wharton, but in tons of debt? You’d probably end up with a great job eventually, but how stressful would that be? That might still be worth it to you, though, but it’s something to think about.</p>
<p>And agreed with the post above me… while both schools are what you make of them, Michigan is definitely not going to be less fun than Penn. And I get how it kind of feels sucky to stay in-state, but remember that Michigan has national/international prestige… you will meet people that you didn’t go to high school with or that you don’t have mutual friends with, trust me. It might actually be kind of neat, seeing how many people came from all around the country/world to study in your home state for four years. Can’t necessarily say the same thing about New Jersey, lol.</p>
<p>Not to push you too forcefully towards choosing Michigan, though. This is clearly a somewhat stressful decision, but just don’t let yourself forget that this is quite the decision to be making… you should feel really proud of yourself and stop denying that you are a freaking beast! Because you are.</p>
<p>Honestly, it’s not about how good an education the #1 school has over the #3, because how much you learn depends on you, not the school. I could learn as much accounting taking online classes as I could at Wharton, and I would do just as good a job as a CPA. </p>
<p>It really comes down to the intangibles. What college you attended will be with you for the rest of your life. From my point of view, if your parents can afford it, there is no reason not to go to Wharton. Agree to pay them back if it’s so important–200k is an insignificant amount of money over the course of your lifetime.</p>
<p>I’m in a similar (but not nearly as great) situation as you. My total 4 year cost for UT McCombs Business Honors would be about 50k (instate + scholarships), I was accepted to Wharton, and I have no FA from Penn. Estimating Penn COA ends up being about 220k, is Wharton really worth an extra 170 out of pocket?</p>
<p>My main reason for not really wanting to go to UT: I don’t want to stay in Texas and Wharton is Wharton. And is there less of a Wharton difference if you don’t go into ibanking or similar finance jobs?</p>
<p>This is really no help to you, but at least I’m not alone in this sort of good in state vs. top program decisions. Congrats, best of luck in your decision, and I hope you choose the what’s best!</p>
<p>Don’t ask people who don’t know the value of $200K or how difficult it would be in the wrong circumstances to pay that money back. I am not saying anybody here necessarily fits that description, but I do think it’s easy to look a supposed relative prestige factors without considering the huge cost side of the equation. You will be locked into choosing professions/careers almost for sure if you saddle yourself with such heavy debt, but you don’t seem to necessarily want to do certain things. And there is another whole question: what are you suited to doing? A lot of people want to do investment banking, but it’s not necessarily a good fit for them.</p>
<p>I would go to Ross in your circumstances in a heartbeat. Wharton is a top-notch school, but if you do well at Ross, you’ll be more than just fine.</p>
<p>
This is so dependent on what you end up doing. I can tell you that a good friend who went to Harvard and other places in top programs doesn’t feel that her $100K+ in loans are insignificant as she continues to struggle to pay them off. This question is highly dependent on what you end up doing. If you decide to become a fireman, $200K would break your back.</p>
<p>^ AstonMartin couldn’t have put it any better. </p>
<p>Simply, its not where you go that matters, its what you do. Think of it this way, you were extremely gifted to recieve a full ride to Ross, which by all means is an amazing achievement given the fierce competition seniors faced this year. Congratulations! Understand that you will most likely excel whether its at wharton or at ross. In that case, choose Michigan. I think academic factors should not be considered in this decision. Your full ride is already a huge plus. Think about where you’ll be happy the most, as well as the ambiance at both institutions. Are you into tradition and sports? How about the weather, is that a factor? Or location, philly vs ann arbor. </p>
<p>Take this story. My friend goes to penn and he got into M&T (class of 2010). He told me that a couple years ago about 40-50 students were getting into the top banking firms and landing great summer internships. This year because of the economy, he said it dropped to around 10. With that said, all business programs are getting affected due to this time, but in the end its still very competitive. I would think that Wharton is more competitive than Ross and its probably tougher to get a higher GPA. At Ross you might be able to be a big fish in a small pond, where as at Wharton everyone is in the same boat. </p>
<p>If though you don’t see yourself going anywhere else and wharton is where you’ll be happier, go there. Happiness has no price.</p>
<p>Take the full ride. $200k+ of loans upon graduation actually isn’t anything petty, as been described in former posts. Especially for just your undergrad. Save money for when it counts: grad school.</p>
<p>you can’t put a price on happiness or education</p>
<p>the right thing to do is to go to wharton. if not, you will regret it and honestly, you’ll be able to clear out those 200k as soon as you start working</p>
<p>If your parents can afford it, go to Wharton.</p>
<p>My son was accepted to UC Berkeley (in state tuition) but we sent him to Wharton (no FA) without any regrets. He had access to amazing career opportunities and he doesn’t see any need for an MBA. That alone will save more than $200k factoring in opportunity costs. I don’t think an undergraduate degree from Ross has the same cachet as Ross MBA. However, if you are not going in finance or banking, then Ross is fine.</p>