<p>Yale (10 char.)</p>
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<p>Of course. There are nice people everywhere and jerks everywhere. There are people with no integrity everywhere and people with high integrity everywhere.</p>
<p>You seem to be assuming, however, parent57 - that those personal characteristics and qualities are more lacking at Yale compared to USD. I have no dog in the USD fight (indeed, I have a friend whose D just got a full ride there – good for her!) but there’s certainly enough distance between Yale and USD that it isn’t six of one, half a dozen of the other.</p>
<p>I am currently at the spring open campus at my D’s top 10 LAC, which is Consolation’s alma mater. To say that I am impressed with the caliber of the faculty, program and D’s future fellow students is an understatement. This place is amazing as a place that prepares young women to be anything they can. It’s a real inspiration. That’s part of what the (not inconsiderable) price tag is all about. There is a difference between a college that offers a perfectly fine, good classroom education and some close memories and friendships – and a place that is transformational. I have no dog in Yale, either, but I have no reason to assume it’s not of the transformational sort. And that really is part of what you’re “buying” when you buy a Yale education.</p>
<p>‘Here’s a thought. Yale may be a once in a lifetime chance. Why not have son try it for a year and then reevaluate the financial situation.’</p>
<p>By then the USD full ride will be off the table.</p>
<p>Yale, my sis is a USD grad. Son is a p’ton grad. HUGE , and I do mean huge difference. Son will also be starting med school in 3-4 months. </p>
<p>Yale. with the understanding that your EFC is 30K of the 65K COA and the loan would be 16K to cover part of your EFC.</p>
<p>Yale. </p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>The fact that you have to pay so much for Yale is a factor, however Yale is very generous with financial aid so they must feel you can afford it. The fact that they admitted your son means they want him, so if your need was really greater they would have given it to him. My son was given a free ride at Yale not because he was a better candidate but because they saw we couldn’t afford it.
Another factor worth considering is the numerous opportunities your son will have at Yale…summers abroad, money for research etc. Being a rich school Yale is very generous in helping their students follow their dreams and a lot of money is forthcoming whether through the university itself, your residential college or department.These are experiences which he won’t get at USD and are a vital part of the development of a young mind whichever field he eventually pursues.</p>
<p>USD should be a no-brainer in this case.</p>
<p>In general, I would say Yale if you can readily afford it, but the OP says</p>
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<p>And also, USD is in USAWR’s top 100 national universities, so it is reasonable to think that USD is much better than “average”. Medical schools, I am pretty sure, accept students from above average, average, and below average colleges. I don’t think the MCAT gives you any extra points for coming from Yale.</p>
<p>Financial problems (loss of job, health, investment loss) can pop up at any time. Your child might go off the pre-med track for any number of reasons. USD is a good college and puts you in far better shape to handle any financial issues in the future. Thinking that everything is going to go smoothly is simply stupid.</p>
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I’m sure there are some very bright students at USD. But the average student at USD is far weaker academically than the average student at Yale. Even if you’re in an honors program, that makes a big difference in your undergraduate experience–depending somewhat on whether the honors program students have classes separate from the other students.</p>
<p>People always seem to get a bit confused when terms like “better” are thrown around. I don’t consider it an insult if somebody says that Tiger Woods is a better golfer than me. That doesn’t make him a better person. Yale students aren’t better human beings than USD students. But they are better academically, and that’s pretty important when choosing a college, in my opinion.</p>
<p>The students in the Honors Program at USD statistically look like Yale students, other than in the wealth (probably more Catholics too). And they may get more personal attention.</p>
<p>(This should be pretty obvious: the OP’s son will be at one or the other, and will be the same person in either case.)</p>
<p>He will be the same person at the beginning, but will be somewhat different at the end. That’s what makes the decision important.</p>
<p>Again, it’s important to know what it actually means to be in an Honors Program at a school. Does it mean separate classes? Separate housing? Special advising? Special access to limited classes? Relaxation of distributional or other requirements?</p>
<p>Edited to add: Here’s some info about the USD Honors Program: <a href=“http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/documents/cas/AllyouneedtoknowRev082410.pdf[/url]”>http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/documents/cas/AllyouneedtoknowRev082410.pdf</a>
and: <a href=“http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/honors/[/url]”>http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/honors/</a>
It has some special courses and requirements (looks like about one course per semester) and a required senior thesis. It’s separate from whatever major the student chooses, and I don’t see anything about special housing. So it’s got some good features, but it appears that the majority of the student’s classes will be with non-honors USD students.</p>
<p>As a Yale alum, I have to say it’s a pretty wonderful place. I’d go into debt to go there, and my son would love to get in off the wait list… perhaps your son SHOULD choose USD, come to think of it…</p>
<p>As I said, I really don’t know anything about USD, or its honors program - except that they are in the middle of a huge basketball/drug scandal. (I actually don’t know much about Yale either, although I do know that, purely as a statistical matter, the percentage of Yale students who go to medical school has dropped 65% in 30 years - probably because they’ve chosen something else!) But I do know that students in the USD honors program “look like” Yale students (except in wealth and probably religion). Likely more west coasters too, and likely fewer international students. And certainly more Pell Grant students. </p>
<p>Where do they come out? Well, in this case, if they go to medical school, about $120k ahead. It’s not much, if you have it. It’s huge, if you don’t, and may heavily impact one’s future career trajectory. </p>
<p>If it were my kid, and pre-med wasn’t in the picture, I’m sure I’d work to scrape the funds together for Yale. (Although we were significantly poorer than the OP, so these numbers wouldn’t have worked for us - the kid would definitely be at USD, and not by choice.) The pre-med gives me signficant pause, and I think we can all agree that the internship opportunities in the medical hub of San Diego are vast.</p>
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I actually do generally check to see where a doc got their medical training before selecting the doc. I don’t care about the UG but I like to see the doc went to a med school in the USA and preferably at someplace I’ve heard of although it doesn’t need to be Harvard, etc. I don’t care if the person’s from another country - just that they received their training in this country.</p>
<p>I don’t care about where they received their UG since I don’t think it’s relevant. It doesn’t matter to me if they went to HYPS and received a history degree for example or went to their local state school because the family couldn’t afford to go elsewhere since it means little to me, the patient, in comparison with their med training.</p>
<p>Although med schools accept students from a diverse array of colleges, I don’t know if the admission rate for HYPS into med schools is much higher due to the name of the school, i.e. that the name gives a bump, or, assuming the rate is higher, it’s because of the selectivity HYPS has which results in a higher percentage of the high achieving students along with those who score highly on the MCAT who’d be high achieving regardless of where they went (but are in higher numbers at Yale vs Podunk State U).</p>
<p>OP, as a parent to your son, what is YOUR hunch: will he pursue med school or not? </p>
<p>Because the consensus here, I think, is that medical school may change this equation. Yale is a world-class experience and most of us would agree that it’s worth the sacrifice. But Yale will also affect his financial future significantly if he will need to pay med school costs PLUS his undergrad loans. (Remember, doctors’ earnings aren’t what they used to be, and they keep declining.)</p>
<p>I have seen graduates from Ivy League schools flounder in life and have seen graduates of so-called average schools do spectacularly. There is so much more than from which school you went to that determines how well you do after graduating. If you have poor interpersonal skills, no common sense, lack ambition and/or integrity, etc., the stature of you school will not compensate for these deficiencies. And there are plenty of graduates from Ivy league schools that fall into this category. People here who think an education from these schools can magically transform someone are fooling themselves. In addition, the longer you are in the workforce, the less it matters which school you went to. What a lot of posters really like are being able to tell their neighbors and friends my kid goes to HYP college.</p>
<p>I completely agree with Hunt’s points in posts #67 and 69.</p>
<p>parent57, your assumptions are unwarranted. What is your motivation for reiterating that people are driven by name and ego alone, despite being told by many that it is not the case? Are you simply unable to IMAGINE a student who would truly flourish in a large company of intellectual peers? Do you really think that college amounts to job training for everyone?</p>
<p>D2 went to a top notch secondary private school in the States, and now she is at a good international school. There is no comparison when it comes to quality of education between those 2 schools. It has a lot to do with D2’s peers. Teachers will teach to the lowest denominator. It’s much harder to have a high level discussion when most kids in class don’t get it.</p>
<p>No, we don’t send our kids to top tier schools just so we could tell our neighbors, we do it to give them best education possible. But if some people can’t recognize the difference in quality, then so be it.</p>
<p>Say what you will, most people ( maybe not on CC) know what I am talking about.</p>
<p>By the way, my kid goes to a top ten liberal arts school and it doesn’t change my thinking.</p>
<p>You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not going to convince me that the education one would get at USD would be the same as Yale. There is a reason why some schools are better known than others (or higher ranking).</p>
<p>I don’t mean to make this a black and white issue. Sure there are benefits going to a highly ranked school (getting first job at Investment Bank), but I don’t buy that an education there will transform an ugly duck into a beautiful swan.</p>
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You have to be a swan to get into Yale in the first place. And, just like in the story you referred to, if you are a swan, you may find yourself to be quite unhappy among the ducks. You are likely to be much better off in the company of other swans…</p>