<p>My D just got off the Smith's wait list and has also been offered some grant aid which made the sum of actual out-of-pocket money after 4 years (including loans) about 25k less if she chooses Smith over U of Wisconsin-Madison (honors program, OOS) after 4 years. She is interested in a major in psychology for the time being. Smaller class sizes at Smith is one of the pluses but she also find being in the honors progam of U Wis-Madison equally attractive not to mention the undergraduate research opportunities available at such a big university. Is it a reasonable move to follow the money to attend Smith? Would those factors such as smaller classess, better access to professors at Smith outweigh the possible disadvantage (if I assume that undergraduate research activity is less rigorous at Smith) during grad school placement for psychology programs? D has considered all other issues such as climate, location and social life but getting academically and intellectually nourished remains her top priority. Only one day left for her final decision. Input of anykind would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I think two big factors to take into consideration are the facts that Smith is an all girls school and that it is located in Northampton. Madison is one of the, if not the best college towns in the country and your daughter would have a great social life. There is a work hard, play hard mentality at UW, and they are two very different schools, so it will be up to your daughter to decide. IMO, $25K over 4 years is not a large sum</p>
<p>You have two great choices and cannot go wrong either way. If the $25 over 4 years would create any type of hardship for your family, I would follow the money to Smith and save the $25 for grad school. If after a year, she decides she does’t like Smith can she still transfer to the Honors program at UW? I don’t know, but I would think that Smith is the kind of school that would have strong alumni connections which could be beneficial for future employment. </p>
<p>My HS junior will be applying to a couple of Ivies and the U of Mn honors program. I keep going back and forth on how I feel about his choices and once I tossed out the ego factor (mine), I am very content that he would get a top notch education at the U of MN and that he would have more flexibility to change majors. </p>
<p>Good luck with your day!</p>
<p>I would pick Smith College. In this age of state budget cuts, public universities have had to find new ways to educate and often that includes larger classes, more fees and decreased resources. I’m not sure if that is true for Wisconsin but it certainly is true at many state colleges. Besides, Smith College is an excellent school and you can take classes at 4 other colleges in the area (Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Amherst and UMass-Amherst).</p>
<p>Currently UW is adding profs and more class section in popular areas as well as putting more into student services. Of course this could be harmed in the next budget cycle. </p>
<p>[Chancellor</a> announces second round of Madison Initiative awards Madison Initiative for Undergraduates](<a href=“http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu/2010/03/chancellor-announces-second-round-of-madison-initiative-awards/]Chancellor”>http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu/2010/03/chancellor-announces-second-round-of-madison-initiative-awards/)</p>
<p>Academically, both are great, but the differences in environment between them are so big (co-ed vs. single-sex, huge public vs. small private, midwest vs. northeast, top 10 party school vs. …not, etc.), that I imagine your daughter would be MUCH happier at one of them than the other. That’s something that only she can decide. I honestly wouldn’t consider the money - if Wisconsin is a better fit, it’s worth the 25k.</p>
<p>I’d pick Smith. She can always go to Huge U for graduate school. I would also not assume that research opportunities would be better at Madison, where she would be competing with graduate students for those opportunities.</p>
<p>That said, both are good schools, with very different environments. I don’t think she would go wrong in either case, although Smith at $25K less seems awfully hard to pass up.</p>
<p>another thing to note is that she is taking out loans already to attend Smith, and would need to take 25K more in loans to attend UW.</p>
<p>Have you seen the movie Mrs. Washington goes to Smith? It’s a great mom/daughter flick.</p>
<p>Perhaps one thing to keep in mind is that she can always go to grad school at Madison - not necessarily so for Smith. Smith has extremely limited graduate programs, so her chance to attend would be now, while Madison would still be there for grad school.</p>
<p>“…she is taking out loans already to attend Smith, and would need to take 25K more in loans to attend UW.”</p>
<p>In which case, I say follow the money. Reducing her loan burden from X to X - 25k may be life-saving. 25k is not chump change.</p>
<p>Thanks to you all for the input. </p>
<p>Actually as I’ve posted in another thread, her initial dilemma was between Wisconsin Honors and Bryn Mawr College(BMC). The grant aid from BMC still leave a cost differential(including loans) of approx. 25k over Wisconsin. We started about two weeks before May 1st to make an appeal for our FA package. but during those multiple phone calls, D had never been able to reach the lady in charge of her case (who was apparently very busy on the line talking to other parents) until one day only to learn that there was no document relating to her appeal in her file (D had checked with the FA office on the phone after she faxed every piece of document). D faxed the necessary documents the third time but had never heard from them since.</p>
<p>Shortly after May1st, D was off the Brandeis wait list, but due to the small sum of scholarship she was only able to receive, the actual out-of-pocket money over 4 years would sum up to 47K more(as compared to that for Wisconsun). The Smiths FA package did not catch up with Brandeis’s deadline, but the more generous aid eventually from Smith makes D feel a bit easier not having placed the deposit for Brandeis(she consider Brandeis is of right size and a location near Boston a big plus).</p>
<p>She can go to Smith for LESS than Wisconsin? That’s a no brainer! Smith is a fantastic college and she will get a great education in a wonderful college area. IF it saved a bunch of money to go to UWis, I’d say go there, but if she can get the quality LAC education that Smith offers, it would be crazy to miss out on it!</p>
<p>
This is one of those myths that float around CC-land. Why would you be competing with graduate students for research … unless you want to be paid?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.provost.wisc.edu/undergradresearch/[/url]”>http://www.provost.wisc.edu/undergradresearch/</a>
<a href=“http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/urs/[/url]”>http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/urs/</a></p>
<p>If Smith is less than Wisconsin (and I agree that 25k is not a small difference), then I’m with Endicott - Smith all the way! UW is a great school, but I think the small class sizes and personal attention at Smith will just be phenomenal. I turned down Smith for Carnegie Mellon engineering, which was an extremely difficult decision. I looked into the research opportunities at Smith pretty carefully, and I really don’t think she would be losing out by going to Smith. Northampton is a great place to spend 4 years, and Smith is a wonderful school. If Smith had been 25k cheaper than my other top choices, I would have gone to Smith, no question about it.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the thoughts and efforts. Those are really helpful.</p>
<p>“Have you seen the movie Mrs. Washington goes to Smith? It’s a great mom/daughter flick.”</p>
<p>I’ll check that online, Kajon</p>