<p>Background: I had to choose between my dream school Yale, Vanderbilt (with a great scholarship), and a bunch of other good schools on the basis of financial aid. The parents and posters in the Parents Forum helped me make my decision on the basis of financial sanity. I just graduated from Vanderbilt after a very happy four years.</p>
<p>I logged in here for the first time in nearly a year after seeing a bunch of posts from parents that helped me out when I was making my college decision in early 2004. I haven't updated for a long time so I thought I would post an explanation for those who still cared :).</p>
<p>So here's what happened to me: Vandy has helped me in innumerable ways. I had a great time there, made permanent friends, and already miss Nashville. Well, a little bit at least :). With the help of many supportive Vanderbilt faculty and staff, I managed to complete both my MS and BS degrees in Computer Science in 4 years. I also double majored in Math. I had internships under the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program, Vanderbilt's own undergrad research program, and NASA. I moved back home cross country to California after graduation in a tiny little Honda Civic. I took the next four months off and (thanks to the money saved from college!) was able to travel to Europe and throughout the US with my friends. I'm now in my first week of training at Google where I've been hired as a Software Engineer. I'm living in an exciting city on the West Coast, working at an awesome job, and I'm super excited about my life! So I'd say things turned out pretty well after all the heartache.</p>
<p>Anyway, I wanted to thank you guys again for helping me in a time when I was pretty distraught. I hope that any of you college hopefuls out there will take this message to heart when you guys are making your college decisions :). Money sometimes speaks louder than words! And HYPSM isn't the only acronym you should know.</p>
<p>I remember hearing your legend! Thanks for coming back and <em>huge</em> congrats on all your amazing, awe-inspiring success thus far! :) Just one question: Did you have a full tuition or full ride to Vandy? Reading past posts have confused me on this point (or was it that you had full tuition and then NMF money and outside scholarships covered the rest?).</p>
<p>Welcome back and thanks for the update, evil_robot! Google is everyone's dream job -- you've done very well for yourself. And I like hearing that I was right (since I was one of the parents posting and advocating the fiscally responsible decision at the time). ;)</p>
<p>I wasn't on CC when you were making your college decision but you tell an interesting, and important, story. There are many places students can get a great education, not just HYPS or the other Ivies, or the top LACs (not that Vandy is some sort of "lesser" institution). Students get great opportunities at a great many schools way down the USNWR rankings! I think it can be argued that for many students, they'll get even more opportunities at a lower-ranked school - it can be a good thing to be a big fish in a small pond!!!</p>
<p>There are a great many considerations that go into choosing a college and finances, for most of us, are a big consideration! In my opinion, there's no reason to go broke (or go way into debt) to get a good college education. The lack of debt will make a huge difference in the choices one has AFTER they leave college. </p>
<p>Congratulations on a wonderful (and fiscally responsible) undergraduate experience and good luck at Google. You have a very bright future!</p>
<p>wow - great story.
It's all relative though...I know a few kids that have Vanderbilt as their dream school and will likely have to come up with full freight vs going to their state school (if they even get in to Vandy of course). For those students, the decision can be just as wrenching, especially if it's a quality state school in the running.
You had the extraordinary opportunity to attend a top-flight school with a generous scholarship. That sounds like a good dream to me!<br>
All the best!</p>
<p>Hey, ER. Really nice to hear the rest of the story. Great job (and great job, too. LOL.). As you may or may not know your postings were fuel for lots of ambitious kids with sometimes surprisingly similar choices, one of whom is very close to me. Yale may not lose many to the Volunteer State but they did lose two. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks for your post. I've heard of your story from threads I've read here, and it is great to learn how well everything turned out for you. Congratulations!</p>
<p>Thanks for your post, ER. My D just transferred to Vanderbilt as a sophomore. I am excited at the prospect of her finding the kind of happiness & success you found there. CONGRATULATIONS!</p>
<p>ER - Congrats on your accomplishments! My D. has chosen her #2 and has been very happy there. In addition, this year one of her HS friends transferred to her school from college that has been my D's #1 originally. They are the same major and taking some classes together. That made my D. feel even better about her decision. Number #2 sometime works just fine!</p>
<p>hey ER! congratulations and welcome back to Calif [and my neck of the woods] Your story and especially your post in 2005 helped to convince our son to accept a full tuition scholarship at his "safety school" that many in his class considered "below him"[ it was not one of the 3 top 10 colleges he had been accepted at]. After spending a lot of his first year wondering if he made the right choice, and actually transfering to one of the elite colleges that had accepted him, he realized that he was happiest back at his safety school, in great part because of the freedom and peace of mind his scholarship gave him.</p>
<p>Life changes and so do jobs. At some point either you or company [by proxy of supervisor] will come to a parting of ways. Be sure to have a Life.</p>
<p>As the mom of a current Vandy senior who had stats similar to your daughter's, I'd say the odds of acceptance are excellent, while the odds of receiving a full scholarship are much harder to predict. Certainly your d will be considered/evaluated for merit scholarships. Unless the program has changed a great deal, there are numerous merit awards, including half and 3/4 tuition scholarships as well as the full tuition awards. Vanderbilt also offers National Merit finalists a $5K annual scholarship, unless the student also receives an additional Vanderbilt merit award; in that case, the NMF receives $2K annually.</p>
<p>There have been several threads in the Vanderbilt forum about merit scholarships in the past year - you might want to check them out. Last year was so insanely competitive that some very strong candidates were admitted without merit aid. In 2005, my d did not receive one of the top, full tuition scholarships (nor was she interviewed for one), but she did receive a 3/4 tuition Dean's Scholarship. This is a program I haven't seen mentioned on the Vandy website recently, so I don't know if it's been continued for incoming students. </p>
<p>A student like your daughter will have many options for merit aid - she doesn't have to choose between UGA and Vanderbilt (though both are great choices). I don't know how the Case Western merit aid program may have changed in the past few years, but at one time your d would automatically qualify for a full-tuition scholarship. It's a great school for medicine, too. </p>
<p>evil robot, great to read your success story! Your situation was one my daughter and I followed closely when she was thinking about colleges.</p>
<p>ER, Great to hear an update from you. Your story was one of the more inspiring here on CC. Now aren't you soooo glad you didn't graduate with massive debt?</p>