<p>There is a good case to be made for both schools. If you have the means to absorb a $10,000 difference comfortably, then you have a real dilemma.</p>
<p>Pro FIT
FIT-her “dream”
Highly respected in her chosen field
Great intern opportunities
Offers a unique and exciting “NY style” college experience (especially if she dorms)</p>
<p>Pro Udel
Beautiful campus
Well respected
Large variety for choice of major (not necessarily a plus for your daughter)
Traditional college experience complete with football team and school spirit</p>
<p>I suggest you first decide how much of a burden the additional cost would be. Do you plan to take on the entire additional cost for her? Will you or she be taking on large loans? If so - make sure are comfortable with what it will mean in the long term.</p>
<p>If you can work out the finances to your satisfaction- and still can’t decide- take a second look at both schools - and if she is still undecided make a Pro/Con list for both schools with your daughter…make a decision…and hope for the best…</p>
<p>DD is a freshman at UD - she was also accepted at American, UConn, 2 SUNY schools (which she never wanted to go to plus waitlisted at a 3rd), URI, Towson and UMDCP (Freshman Connection). </p>
<p>UMDCP, American and UD were her top choices - UD was the first school she saw that she loved. If she had gotten into UMDCP regular for fall, she would have gone there. But she totally did not want to do Freshman Connection. So it came down to UD and American - very different schools. It would have been a harder decision if the American pricetag was closer to UD. Being in DC seemed awesome to her, even though she’s not interested in politics! In any case, she liked so many things better about UD: the surbuban location (and Main St), the student vibe (happy!), the size, the spirit, the interesting majors. It’s a great fit for her academically.</p>
<p>K1K2…you are very kind. I hope the whole debacle wasn’t too much of a killjoy. UD wasn’t ever very high on son’s list so the whole thing is a non issue but I LOVED the idea of him going there…alas kids don’t care. i should have said “I want you to go anywhere BUT Princeton…he probably worked his ass off just to spite me”</p>
<p>Daughters 2nd choice, which she got in in Oct that year was WISCONSIN! She LOVED Madison and the whole vibe, and it DID have a great journalism school. We were taking her out to dinner one school night in the city and she was wearing 5" purple suede stilletos a vintage patent leather skirt and some kind of shredded tights. Her eyes were lined and she was wearing bright red lipstick…I said “Lord what would you have done if you sent to Wisconsin? The girls wear flannel pants to class” She said “I wouldda rocked me some flannel pants with purple heels and red lipstick. Ironicallly, she’s spending the entire year at NYU London and has “toned it down” quite a bit! It’ll be interesting to see what she’ll be sporting next year” I think she’s living with a couple FIT friends off campus…there is a lot of social exchange and the FIT kids hang in the village college hot spots (actually more Williamsburg) that the NYU kids do. NYU is HUGE tens of thousands of kids…they are everywhere!</p>
<p>Thanks collmomof2. That is exactly our plan. We cannot absorb the cost difference, so that amount would be added to whatever loans we or she would need. We were hoping for her accomplishments to be rewarded with a scholarship, but sadly, that didn’t happen. One thing I can trust is that my daughter has quite a good head for money and realizes how this affects her student loan totals and the monthly amount she would owe upon graduation. </p>
<p>It’s difficult as a parent to admit that after all the years of saving and sacrifice, we still come up short. But this is our reality and one that I think many parents are facing. I get chills when I think of the enormous loans so many kids will have upon graduation. </p>
<p>In our situation, I think the choice is clear based upon costs/loans amounts. I’m just waiting for my daughter to reach the same conclusion. It saddens me to have to make such a big decision based upon money, but when comparing what seems to be apples to apples, there has to be some delineating factor. And this is a big one for us and for her.</p>
<p>IMANI, you made me laugh when describing your daughter’s outfit. In fact I was thinking that very thing as we toured other schools throughout the year! My daughter took a part time job in high school to save for the wardrobe she would need IF she got into FIT, so there you go. That’s fine, their vice could be worse for sure! It’s great to hear your daughter made friends with FIT students enough to consider dorming together, I will relay that to my daughter as it is something we never even considered. Best of luck to your S and D and thanks again for all the advice.</p>
My D had to chose among those two schools, as well as Muhlenberg. I can’t fully articulate to you how much she loathed Binghamton (the school and the town). She said it had nothing to feed the soul and in our area, people are known to be very unhappy there. Of course, my D is picky, snotty and snarky, so your mileage may vary, but the two institutions couldn’t be more different. Have you visited both?</p>
<p>k1k2k3
Isn’t it ironic that financially you are able to send your daughter to her “dream” school - AND she was accepted - but you are still faced with a dilemma…</p>
<p>My son’s “dream school” is University of Michigan…so far he has been deferred with a promise of a decision by mid-April. If by some miracle he gets in- sadly we can’t afford it. This will be my second child in college, the first is in a SUNY (happy and doing well). Although we have been able to set aside a nest egg for each child…it is not nearly enough to pay for SUNY or out of state or privates for both kids for 4 years. I really wanted to give them the gift of higher education, but its just not something we can do without loans. For us, even SUNY requires small loans each year. But we REALLY wanted them to get the “college experience” as they could have attended a commuter school without the need for loans. Still, I kinda feel like a failure.</p>
<p>Anyway, his next two choices were Penn State UP- (got in but no scholarship-so no longer an option), and Syracuse- Big Scholarship- but not enough -so its off the table for him too.</p>
<p>He received scholarship for Stony Brook that he might consider (he will be a science major), but he is more likely to choose between SUNY Bing and Udel (with scholarship) offering more of the “College experience” They are all good schools I am told.</p>
<p>I feel I should have been better educated as to which other “good schools” would have been likely to offer him scholarship $$$ so he would have more to choose from right now (at first he had Uconn and Umass on his list) but I was told that they did not offer good merit scholarship. That doesn’t seem to be true, hindsight is 20-20.</p>
<p>So it seems we have our work cut out for us!</p>
<p>Imani…so sorry you had to ride the emotional glitch roller coaster. Fortunately your son will be able to attend Syracuse- a GREAT school with a super reputation and tons of school spirit. My son has a friend there now, and he couldn’t be happier.</p>
<p>PS you’re a HOOT! "i should have said “I want you to go anywhere BUT Princeton…he probably worked his ass off just to spite me” Hahahah…lmao</p>
<p>We are down to Penn State-UP or Delaware. Penn State didn’t give any merit money so being in-state, the cost is very close to what Delaware will be with the scholarship money. We are heading to Penn State next week to take another look and then to Delaware the following weekend. Hopefully after these visits, one will be THE school for him. </p>
<p>Penn State obviously has the big draw of the sports and he knows lots of people currently there and others starting in the fall as freshmen. He loved Delaware when we were there over the summer and we stopped again the other weekend to take another look after waiting so long for a decision. I think there’s about 5 weeks left until decision time - he needs to do his research and talk to current students at both schools. </p>
<p>This is probably the hardest decision that our 18 year olds have had to make.<br>
Good Luck to all.</p>
<p>My D is choosing primarily between UDel and Elon. UMDCP and Miami of Ohio are also still in the mix. She was accepted at a few SUNYs and others but they don’t interest her much at this point. The UMDCP acceptance was also Freshman Connection but I think it’s more the size and other factors that have lately lessened its appeal. She enjoyed an overnight at Miami of Ohio, but it is kind of far and mostly Ohio and Midwest kids with a different culture in many ways. She loved UDel from our first visit last year, but Elon is also very attractive in its own, very different way. We’ll be visiting both over the next three weeks so that she can make a final decision.</p>
<p>collmomof2, you are right, life is full of ironies that’s for sure. </p>
<p>Don’t think of yourself as a failure, I think that what is failing US is higher education and it’s outrageous costs, which in no way parallels the employment opportunites these kids will face upon graduation. To add fuel to the fire is those of us (the majority?) who cannot afford the astronomical tuitions, yet fail to qualify for financial aid. The middle class conundrum. </p>
<p>University of Michigan is a great school, I don’t want to make you crazy but my nephew was offered a full ride as a recruited athlete. He is an excellent tennis player and many schools wanted him. I’m happy for him, but believe me, my brother did not need any tuition assistance… yet more irony in life. Good luck, I hope your son gets an acceptance, but either way he can’t lose, those are all good choices!</p>
<p>My d is between UMD, PSU, and UDel. We are out of state for all. She got in to Rutgers in state but won’t even consider it. Her overwhelming first choice is UMD but they offered her no money. UDel gave her a scholarship so we are going to admitted students day 4/9. PSU is the most expensive and gave her no money so that is probably out.</p>
<p>We have visited both Bing and Udel. Son liked them both- but boys are different. “Beautiful campus” means little to him, and I’m not sure I disagree. Bing is in-state for us but the cost is comparable after the Udel scholarship (although I wish it were a little more). He has friends who attend Bing and are happy, and another close friend who wants to request him as a roommate. </p>
<p>Udel offered Honors program + scholarship, and has an active football program with the "rah rah " feel. This is definetely a major plus in my sons eyes.</p>
<p>Both schools seem strong academically - which is the main issue- so we will be re-visiting both…and let him choose.</p>
<p>Dalm65- You have 2 great options …if we were in-state for Penn State - my son would have chosen to go there I’m sure. But then again you’re in a win-win- situation.
Congrats! :)</p>
<p>abmnj1- we had to take PSU off the table for the same reason-didn’t apply to UMD-
You have some great options for your daughter. Our kids each have some tough but HAPPY choices that they have worked very hard for! </p>
<p>I guess we all have to stop and take a breath long enough to give our kids great big hugs, and remind them how proud we are that they worked hard enough to earn such great choices…and then hope for the best!</p>
<p>abmnj1, that UDel scholarship may be slightly deceptive. I gather that UDel gave out lots of small to medium merit scholarships. My D got a small $4k scholarship. At first, even though it was small, I was thrilled. However I’ve since learned here that Winter Term which many students wind up attending, is an extra cost. Tuition, room and board for Winter Term at over $5k exceeds the amount of my D’s small scholarship. Even if your D’s award is greater you may want to deduct about $5k in your figures which may narrow the gap between UDel and UMd or PSU which don’t t have Winter Terms.</p>
<p>By contrast, Elon which is also on a 4-1-4 term offers the Winter term at no extra cost. For us, the two schools wind up coming out about the same cost. So would UMd where she was also accepted with no money.</p>
<p>mhc48, the tri-semester is one of the things we don’t like about UDel. My d probably won’t do the winter session but I am not happy with the long break.</p>
<p>You’re wise to be wary of the Winter Term, abmnj. My S goes to UMich which doesn’t have a Winter Term but has a Winter break between terms almost as long as most 4-1-4 schools. The long break isn’t long enough to get a job or internship but with most of his friends still away at school, translates into boredom, a desire to go away on vacation or spend money at home other ways.</p>
<p>Your D may not plan to attend Winter Term if she goes to UDel, but she’ll have to do something to fill the time.</p>
<p>My DD chose UD over UConn because she liked the campus better, liked he suburban feel rather than campus without anything around it, would rather go to the mid Atlantic than new england. Plus, UD is ranked higher in general. She really felt like she would really fit better at UD. She didn’t get any merit aid at either so cost was about the same. </p>
<p>My S (from MD) applied for engineering. Since the acceptance criteria for engineering tends to be more selective than the general acceptance stats, he decided to apply to a wide variety of schools (10 total) in order to be sure he’d have a few choices.</p>
<p>Accepted for engineering:
U South Carolina, Scranton, WVU, JMU, Clemson, and U Del. Also accepted to PSU in 2-2 Program (he’s not interested in taking that route)</p>
<p>Accepted, but not for engineering:
UMD-CP - waitlisted for fall, but accepted for spring semester with Freshman Connection option (he’d start as Letters and Sciences major and would have to apply for transfer to engineering his soph year)
Va Tech - accepted for University Studies and would have to take summer course and apply for engineering soph year</p>
<p>He’s still waiting to hear from Lafayette, but that’s a reach so I doubt he’ll be accepted. All the decisions were pretty much what we expected (although I’m a little annoyed with UMD since we’re in-state).</p>
<p>Decision:
Lucky for him he was accepted to two of his favorites… U Del and Clemson. He’s going to revisit both schools to take a closer look at their engineering programs and facilities. U Del offered him a small scholarship, but we haven’t gotten anything from Clemson yet (he was also offered some generous $$ from a few of the other schools). I think he may be leaning towards Clemson because he seems to prefer the South and being “in the middle of no where” and he enjoys the ACC sports teams. Also, he’s considering playing club lacrosse and Clemson has a good very MCLA team. As for U Del, it’s popular with students in our area. He liked the feel of the campus and appreciates its excellent academic reputation.</p>
<p>I’m eagerly looking forward to his making a decision. I’ll be very happy with either choice. Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>Linymom
Thank you for your input. I do like the idea that there is opportunity for lively campus life and college town. I did not know Uconn was isolated. But I think you’re mistaken about the reputations. I’ve read Uconn is ranked higher in USNWR listings, but Udel is noted to be more selective (princeton review). But I’m not sure what this kind of stuff means???</p>
<p>UConn is in Storrs, which is 25+ miles east of Hartford. There is no actual town of Storrs, it’s all the university. And while there is a lot to do on campus, there’s almost nothing in the immediate surrounding area. For some kids that might not be a problem, but S thought he’d go stir-crazy.</p>
<p>As for USNWR rankings, UConn is #69 and UD is #75, but frankly that difference is meaningless.</p>
<p>My son was acceppted to Lehigh, Villanova, Fordham, and University of DE (honors proram)He is still waiting on a few other schools before making his decision but Univ of DE is top of the list because of the scholarship he was given. We don’t qualify for aid so the scholarship money is a big part of the decision. We are still waiting to see if Villanova or Lehigh are giving him any merit money but the tuition is so high it would be hard to beat what Univ of DE is offering and he likes DE and I feel good about the campus. He is attending the honors breakfast on April 16th.</p>