<p>...Forget UVA. Being able to say "My alma mater is Yale College" is INVALUABLE. You make back that $140,000 10x over.</p>
<p>^ That takes the award for the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. ...... Go read the princeton paper that found no median salary differences between study groups of ppl who went to the Ivies vs. people that got in but decided to attend elsewhere for financial/other reasons. Conclusion??? It's all about PERSONAL DRIVE/ACHIEVEMENT. If you are smart enough to get into Yale, you will do fine anywhere. And THE VAST MAJORITY OF YALIES (and other top ivies) are certainly not making "140,000 x10" ...</p>
<p>I'd say UVA is absolutely the right choice. Is UVA as prestigious as Yale? Of course not, I don't think anyone could argue otherwise. But being a Jefferson Scholar is a whole 'nother story. The only difference is that you might get a response like this at some cocktail party,</p>
<p>"Forget UVA. Being able to say "My alma mater is Yale College" is INVALUABLE. You make back that $140,000 10x over."</p>
<p>And believe me, people who make comments like that will not be in a position to hire you at any of the jobs you'll be looking for after graduating UVA with a Jefferson Scholarship on your application. And the money doesn't hurt either. I'd pick UVA in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>jegan3--My father told me once that given a choice between two products, buy the more expensive one if that is what you really want and you can afford it. As time passes, the extra cost will become less significant and you'll be happier with the product you wanted. If you choose the cheaper and less desirable choice, you'll never be completely happy with the choice despite the fact you tell yourself everyday that you saved money. My two cents.</p>
<p>I know I said earlier that I was pretty sure I'd end up at UVA, but I visited Yale this past week for Bulldog Days and I know it's where I need to be, regardless of cost. I know this might be financially irresposible or whatever, but I really feel like it's what I need to do.</p>
<p>Good choice. I know several people who turned down full rides to attend the "best in the world" (HYP or MIT), and do not have any regrets. Actually, I also am friends with a couple of people who turned down HYP for a random "top 50" school and they ended up being pretty bitter about it, at least for the first 6 or 7 years while they were in college and then grad school. Anyways, life is about more than money.</p>
<p>I would say New Haven is a much nicer and more interesting town - more stores, unimaginably large numbers of ethnic restaurants, things to do, and things to get involved with. It is a very walkable city, and the center of college life for all of the 50,000 students in the immediate area besides Yalies. It also has endless ocean beaches and parks with hundreds of miles of hiking trails just a five or ten minute bus or bicycle ride from the city center. It's also a more historic city, and there are more than 90 trains per day to and from New York City, so you can go anytime but not have to live there (great place to visit, horrible place to live).</p>
<p>Charlottesville is nice in many ways, especially the outdoor mall-like area that runs through town, but it is much more isolated, and smaller. It isn't near anything, except some rather overrated mountain areas.</p>
<p>The Long Island sound is not an ocean, nor does it resemble anything as nice as an ocean. Plus the water doesn't even get remotely warm* until June, which after the school year ends.
*(unless you are an Eskimo)</p>
<p>Forgive me if I'm wrong, but are you an admissions officer for Yale? After reading your posts for over a month in this forum, I finally decided to create an account to voice my concern with what you've been saying. You seem to be no more than a spurting fountain of complements for Yale, embellishing the truth and sometimes even saying things that aren't true just to push your agenda, which appears to be encouraging people to go to Yale. Most of your points are valid and some others I even agree with, but speaking mistruths to kids does them harm. Perhaps you think Yale is the greatest place in the world, but sometimes it appears you're trying to con people into going to Yale because its what you want, not what might be best for them.</p>
<p>PS- Your statements about New York City proves my point. What you said is pure opinion, but you throw it at the end of a paragraph made up of mostly true statements, and it gets passed off as a fact, in effect adding support to your argument, but under false pretenses.</p>
<p>Don't take this as a personal attack, but just as my concern for the well-being of students who have been accepted to Yale and those who are prospective candidates for admission.</p>
<p>The sound is part of the Atlantic, but in many ways it is nicer. The water is calmer, making it easier to swim in, and sections of the landscape are rockier and more beautiful (kind of like the coast of Maine). They have been featured in National Geographic many times - just google the Thimble Islands, which are a short bicycle ride to the east of downtown New Haven, and you will see. Even if you don't swim there until June, which is true for most people of anywhere north of Virginia (and if you go to R.I. or Mass., you can't swim until July), you can still sit by it in the sunshine and read on the sand, have a picnic, have a seafood dinner at any of hundreds of little restaurants or seafood shacks that line it, or run along miles of boardwalks or trails and listen to the waves. Greenwich, Connecticut, the most expensive town in the United States, sits right on the sound and most of the homes there take advantage of that fact. The ocean is nice no matter what time of year. And your other question, no, I do not work for Yale.</p>
<p>ARE YOU KIDDING? UVA ALL THE WAY! AND A JEFFERSON SCHOLAR? i must be missing something that there is even a question! but, to each his or her own!</p>
<p>***... are you seriously asking this question? i can't believe you would even compare yale with uva... before last year i didn't even know what uva was. Go to yale. Money shouldn't be a factor in any decision. Take a loan do ANYTHING! you won't regret it... its yale nuff said.</p>
<p>go to yale wow... forget what people are saying... nobody cares about uva. honestly. Maybe it's personal opinion, but isn't uva a public school? WOW... email me if u have to, but don't go to uva...</p>
<p>yeah, money is nice but it's not everything... i think the college you go to is important, and in my opinion, if you're a student who loves to learn and takes advantage of opportunities, it is worth it to go to yale. uva seriously can't be compared to yale, as firebird said. it's often overrated, i think, because it's hard to get into out of state... but all the average/grad grubbing students in state pretty much get in. and it is 70% in state. obviously you feel more at home at yale and that is priceless.</p>
<p>Firstly... UVa =/= Community College. Secondly, setting aside that UVA is perenially one of the top public schools in the nation along with Berkeley, the OP is a Jefferson Scholar. Thirdly, if you think you'll have more "opportunities" coming down the line after shelling out $150,000-$200,000 at Yale than a full ride at UVa, you guys have something else coming.</p>
<p>A friend of mine turned down Yale for the Jefferson Scholarship at UVA, and personally I think it was the right choice. I consider Yale and UVA to be peer institutions, so a full ride at one of the top schools in the country would have been a much better choice</p>
<p>i definitely don't consider yale and uva to be peer institutions, but that's just my opinion. yale=ivy league, accepts 9%; uva=public school, made up of 70% in state students.... plus people who get into uva from virginia are not near the caliber of the kids who go to yale. trust me, i know tons of average grade grubbing students who are not intellectually curious at all who get into uva. on the other hand, the only person i know who got into yale is incredibly talented and intelligent. but hey to each his own. i feel like if the money burden of going to yale is not going to result in a huge change in lifestyle for your parents/whoever's paying for it, then the experience is worth it, especially since it's your dream school. i understand that a free education at a good school is tempting and obviously either choice is going to work out, but sometimes it's not all about the money.
lol i don't know why i keep posting here though... i believe jegan has chosen :D</p>
<p>I'm a she, actually.
And I don't mind that people still comment - it's nice to read what people thing. And I totally agree that UVA is an excellent school. It just ultimately wasn't for me.</p>