Carnegie Mellon vs UVA where would you go?
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Anonymous
+1 Doesn't matter for undergrad, save money |
Anonymous
DP. Huh? |
Anonymous
| UVA. This isn’t a difficult decision. |
Anonymous
| I had never even heard of Carnegie Mellon till I started reading dcum. Cue the name calling... |
Anonymous
That's okay. I had never heard of UVA being a good school until we moved to the DMV. |
Anonymous
The point being made is to go to UVA and bank the money and use it for grad school: 1) your student may change their mind, as mine did, and shift from engineering, math, or whatever to another major; UVA is a better institution, offering more options and flexibility than CMU, should your student change majors. We have to remember they are really children at this point and while they think they might want to major in X, many many change their minds. 2) UVA for our in-state student is only 8K a term (we locked in four years ago). She lives off campus with three other women, doesn't have a car, doesn't participate in anything expensive (Greek), and cooks for herself. 3) We put the difference of 16K a year (plus expenses) and 75K a year (my SLAC, Ivy) into a Vanguard index fund and fortunately pulled it out when DC got into Oxford at the beginning of March so we have enough for grad school plus some. That's a lot of ride-up. For example, my SLAC is now at 80K. UVA all in for a first-year student will be higher, of course, next year, but most top SLACs and Ivies will be 75-80K for 2020-2021. Subtracting say $25K (including room and board and maybe you get some financial aid) from 80K gives you $55. If you have no savings, that 55K is in after-tax dollars to the parent so you have to make 100K to get the 55K. Put the 55K away (especially now when the market has dropped) in a large-cap index fund to be used for grad school. That's $220 - $300K saved in four years, depending upon return. 4) UVA is doing very well in the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright and other competitions. https://news.virginia.edu/content/first-time-uva-breaks-top-10-schools-granted-fulbright-student-awards, It's a top 10 school for Fulbrights. My DD will be going with a Marshall to Oxford. Remember other institutions want to have diversity in their own grad school classes, so it's probably easier to get into a Harvard grad program from UVA than from Harvard. 5) UVA has its own great reputation for placing into its own grad schools. You can look the stats up easily online. UVA Law has become a real contender in the T10 market. https://www.law.virginia.edu/facts-and-stats/overview. For math, here's the application admissions information for math grad work. https://math.virginia.edu/graduate/admission/ 6) UVA places well for its students into other grad programs. Google them by the school. This page provides some information regarding graduate school admission for the various schools at UVA. https://www.virginia.edu/apply/gradadmission 7) Of all of my DDs friends, only one does not yet have admission into a top grad program. I've actually been surprised how many have gotten into Oxford (Cambridge applications are due at end of March so I can't compare). She has UVA friends ahead of her already over there finishing M.Phils and D.Phils. That's the argument, but YRMV |
Anonymous
| CMU is $76,784 for 2020-2021, BTW. |
Anonymous
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CMU is generally leagues ahead of UVA in Engineering, and is probably better in Math as well.
To give an idea, CMU's peers in engineering and computer science are MIT, Cal Tech, Berkeley, Stanford. UVA's engineering problem is possibly less rigorous than Virginia Tech's However I doubt its worth $160k more, unless your child is a brilliant technical mind and would enjoy CMU. |
Anonymous
CMU is better in all of the sciences. Really it would only be a question if your child was looking into some soft science that they aren't hoping to parlay into finance, consulting, law, etc. In other words, if your kid wants to be a teacher, a physical therapist, etc I'm not sure CMU would be worth the cost. |
Anonymous
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Most universities would not be worth $160k more over a college like Berkeley/Michigan/UVA, especially if those are in loans, for Finance/Consulting type jobs.
Harvard, for example, is an example of a college that would be worth it simply because of how well its known world wide and its prestige in the US. Possibly Princeton as well. But if the student is brilliant technically, a CMU degree could help a lot in terms of start-ups and funding if he/she goes that route. |
Anonymous
+1! |
Anonymous
| CMU is a quant school. UVA is not a quant school. They tend to attract very different types of students. I'd be mindful of the difference in cost, though. |
Anonymous
Don't know much about UVA other than by reputation. I do know about CMU from personal experience. It's strong in science and engineering and finance on the one hand, and it has a conservatory-level theater program on the other. But there's little in between. My impression is that it's a rather joyless environment, with lots of children of tiger moms striving and grinding away. In short, not your typical college experience. You likely won't be returning year after year for reunions. Save your money. Send the kid to UVA. |
Anonymous
My husband is a CMU grad, we are now in our 40s. His friends might not go to reunions - but they do go on annual trips, one is the executor of our will, one family just left after a "social-distanced" backyard dinner, etc. I think it probably isn't a school for kids of tiger parents, they are usually about status, CMU is more about intelligence and working hard. It definitely is not a school that the hardest part is getting in, students have to work - isn't that what parents pay 75k a year for? |
Anonymous
"Isn't that what parents pay 75k a year for?" Not exactly. Parents pay about half that amount for their own kid; if they are willing to pay the other half, it's to subsidize someone else's kid. |