If you turned down a top liberal arts school for a cheaper state school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me say that I think UMD is a fantastic school and anyone who gets in - which is a much tougher admit than it used to be - can get a great education. And in general, smart, ambitious, determined kids can go anywhere from any school.

Still for us, my immigrant husband who won't spend a dime on anything other than education felt VERY strongly about ensuring that our kids could go to the best possible school that they could get into. His argument was that their horizons will be exponentially wider if they are at a competitive school with peers from all over the country and all over the world.

That is true in my own experience - I lucked into an Ivy back when an ordinary smart kid could do that. It exposed me to ideas and people whom I would have never met at my state flagship, even though it is/was a fine school.

At UMD you will meet "peers from all over the country and all over the world". There is a large cohort of kids at UMD (or any big flagship) who had the intelligence and academic chops to succeed at a T20 school but didn't get in or didn't go for a variety of reasons - including money - but the simple fact is that every elite school rejects a dozen or more qualified kids for every kid they accept. They have to, they don't have room for all the qualified kids. And those qualified kids go somewhere... like UMD.

Yes, as I said in my post, there are tons of smart kids at UMD and there are people from all over the country and the world as well. But attending a state flagship that draws 3/4 of its undergraduates from in-state is not an identical experience to going to a highly competitive private school like Emory. If the OP's kid is going to turn down Emory just to keep the money in the bank in case it's needed for grad school, they should know what they're missing. There's no way I would be doing what I'm doing today if I had gone to my state flagship.

UMD won't be an "identical" experience to Emory, but it won't be a worse experience either. The OP would be paying four times as much for Emory as for UMD, and I certainly wouldn't consider Emory four times better than UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't consider Emory to be a "top liberal arts school". A top school, I think arguably. I think the point is that if you were talking about a true to liberal arts school like Amherst or Swarthmore, I can see the issue. I just don't think Emory has enough going for it to pick it over UMD given the facts you outline.

Emory is better than those both schools. And for Op it depends on the major. Some majors prestige doesn't matter, for others like finance UMD will not get you far.

Really? This is anecdotal, but if you compared the 4 students from DC's graduating class who are at Emory v the 4 at their top NESCAC,- hands down the latter are by far the "better" students by grades and rigor. I know three of the Emory kids in addition to DC and the other NESCAC kids and they wouldn't even contest that.

I know Emory has high stats but the kids I’m aware of who have gone to Emory past couple years would have not been good candidates for top Nescac type schools

I don't think the Emory kids would be happy at a NESCAC either but on paper the four at the NESCAC are by far stronger much students in grades and rigor. No contest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which major? I can't see any reason to choose Emory unless they have something UMD doesn't have

+1 major matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in this position when I was your DD's age. I wound up going to the state school and have mixed feelings about it. My parents did not have as much money saved as you do, but we did not qualify for financial aid. So attending the SLAC would have required loans and that is the primary reason I attended the state school. I am really, really glad I did not incur undergrad loans. However, I did feel overwhelmed and a bit lost at my huge state school, never really fit in with the culture, and didn't enjoy my college experience very much. Now, it's been decades and I don't often sit around thinking about how I didn't enjoy college that much -- it was a long time ago and I have a great life.

However, from a career standpoint, I do sometimes wish I had a stronger network from undergrad, or really any network from undergrad, because I can see how that is really beneficial. I also envy people with close friends from college -- I have a couple friends I've stayed in touch with but no one I'm close to because I was honestly never that close to people in college. In retrospect, I was almost certainly depressed and struggling, but I think it was hard for people to recognize that (and I wonder if the large school environment contributed to that as well).

I don't think it was the "wrong" choice to go to a state school. I did in fact wind up going to grad school (though would I have done that if I'd had a better undergrad experience and felt less adrift? hard to say). Again, no debt is huge. But you have the money to send your DD to Emory without incurring debt. There's no guarantee she'll go to grad school, and there are ways to do grad school affordably (do a fully funded program, don't do law or business school unless it's a top program and you are fully committed to working in a high-pay job until loans are paid off).

I think if I were in your position, given my own experience, I would let her decide and a major factor would be personality and whether that state flagship would be the right fit for this particular student. She's obviously worked hard in school to gain admission to a school like Emory, I think there is an argument that pushing her towards the state school to save money, especially if attending a huge school might not work for her, could be a mistake.

I think we need a new thread on students at highly selective schools who turned down full tuition scholarships at state universities. I bet there will be few takers because highly selective students/parents usually don't come to DCUM. They are probably too busy.

Amazing self own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MY DD has been accepted to Emory University and total costs will be close to $85,000. We received no merit. She was also accepted to UMD - College Park and we are in state.

If she goes to Emory, she will use her entire 529 College Fund leaving nothing for graduate school.

Of course, if she goes to UMD, she will have $ left.

I am rather sad for her but it doesn't seem like a wise move financially to go with Emory and we are leaning towards UMD College Park.

Anyone else in this situation? Accepted to competitive college or top 20 college and cannot justify such a high cost?

Mine was accepted at a much higher ranked T5 super expensive college with $0 aid eligibility and they don't offer merit scholarships either while he had full free ride merit scholarship at state school. It was a tough decision but thankfully won a merit scholarship at a T20 college, we went with that.

[Anonymous]

*won a half tuition merit scholarship

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MY DD has been accepted to Emory University and total costs will be close to $85,000. We received no merit. She was also accepted to UMD - College Park and we are in state.

If she goes to Emory, she will use her entire 529 College Fund leaving nothing for graduate school.

Of course, if she goes to UMD, she will have $ left.

I am rather sad for her but it doesn't seem like a wise move financially to go with Emory and we are leaning towards UMD College Park.

Anyone else in this situation? Accepted to competitive college or top 20 college and cannot justify such a high cost?

We were last year. For us, we looked at the quality of the program at the state college (actually higher ranked than the same program at the private) and weighed that against the potentially higher prospects/prestige of the private discounted by the likelihood that our kid would change majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(Emory isn't a liberal arts school.)

Emory does have liberal arts. The largest part of UVA is liberal arts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't consider Emory to be a "top liberal arts school". A top school, I think arguably. I think the point is that if you were talking about a true to liberal arts school like Amherst or Swarthmore, I can see the issue. I just don't think Emory has enough going for it to pick it over UMD given the facts you outline.

Emory is better than those both schools. And for Op it depends on the major. Some majors prestige doesn't matter, for others like finance UMD will not get you far.

Really? This is anecdotal, but if you compared the 4 students from DC's graduating class who are at Emory v the 4 at their top NESCAC,- hands down the latter are by far the "better" students by grades and rigor. I know three of the Emory kids in addition to DC and the other NESCAC kids and they wouldn't even contest that.

I know Emory has high stats but the kids I’m aware of who have gone to Emory past couple years would have not been good candidates for top Nescac type schools

These are just anecdotes, I know a few Amherst, and Swarthmore students rejected by Emory. I also know a Emory students that turned down a full ride at Williams to go to Emory. All these schools are the same level, no reason to nit pick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me say that I think UMD is a fantastic school and anyone who gets in - which is a much tougher admit than it used to be - can get a great education. And in general, smart, ambitious, determined kids can go anywhere from any school.

Still for us, my immigrant husband who won't spend a dime on anything other than education felt VERY strongly about ensuring that our kids could go to the best possible school that they could get into. His argument was that their horizons will be exponentially wider if they are at a competitive school with peers from all over the country and all over the world.

That is true in my own experience - I lucked into an Ivy back when an ordinary smart kid could do that. It exposed me to ideas and people whom I would have never met at my state flagship, even though it is/was a fine school.

I don't mean to imply that the OP is necessarily wrong to steer her DD toward UMD instead of Emory. It's a really tough choice, especially if the funds are there in the 529 to pay for Emory. But I did want to make the point that paying full price for a private undergraduate education can be worth it.

I’m not sure Emory is worth that, though? Harvard or Yale etc yes. But Emory? Is it really “better” than UMD? I wouldn’t have thought so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't consider Emory to be a "top liberal arts school". A top school, I think arguably. I think the point is that if you were talking about a true to liberal arts school like Amherst or Swarthmore, I can see the issue. I just don't think Emory has enough going for it to pick it over UMD given the facts you outline.

Emory is better than those both schools. And for Op it depends on the major. Some majors prestige doesn't matter, for others like finance UMD will not get you far.

Really? This is anecdotal, but if you compared the 4 students from DC's graduating class who are at Emory v the 4 at their top NESCAC,- hands down the latter are by far the "better" students by grades and rigor. I know three of the Emory kids in addition to DC and the other NESCAC kids and they wouldn't even contest that.

I know Emory has high stats but the kids I’m aware of who have gone to Emory past couple years would have not been good candidates for top Nescac type schools

These are just anecdotes, I know a few Amherst, and Swarthmore students rejected by Emory. I also know a Emory students that turned down a full ride at Williams to go to Emory. All these schools are the same level, no reason to nit pick.

I interpreted that the PP meant more about fit than qualifications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me say that I think UMD is a fantastic school and anyone who gets in - which is a much tougher admit than it used to be - can get a great education. And in general, smart, ambitious, determined kids can go anywhere from any school.

Still for us, my immigrant husband who won't spend a dime on anything other than education felt VERY strongly about ensuring that our kids could go to the best possible school that they could get into. His argument was that their horizons will be exponentially wider if they are at a competitive school with peers from all over the country and all over the world.

That is true in my own experience - I lucked into an Ivy back when an ordinary smart kid could do that. It exposed me to ideas and people whom I would have never met at my state flagship, even though it is/was a fine school.

I don't mean to imply that the OP is necessarily wrong to steer her DD toward UMD instead of Emory. It's a really tough choice, especially if the funds are there in the 529 to pay for Emory. But I did want to make the point that paying full price for a private undergraduate education can be worth it.

I’m not sure Emory is worth that, though? Harvard or Yale etc yes. But Emory? Is it really “better” than UMD? I wouldn’t have thought so.

Emory is 3 teirs above UMD. Harvard is about 4-5.

[Anonymous]

My kid was accepted to all the "Boston schools" (except for Harvard and MIT) and decided to go to UMD for biology. I left the choice up to him. We had the $$ but kid would have needed small loans if tuition rose every year. He is very happy at UMD and planning to use left over $$ for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me say that I think UMD is a fantastic school and anyone who gets in - which is a much tougher admit than it used to be - can get a great education. And in general, smart, ambitious, determined kids can go anywhere from any school.

Still for us, my immigrant husband who won't spend a dime on anything other than education felt VERY strongly about ensuring that our kids could go to the best possible school that they could get into. His argument was that their horizons will be exponentially wider if they are at a competitive school with peers from all over the country and all over the world.

That is true in my own experience - I lucked into an Ivy back when an ordinary smart kid could do that. It exposed me to ideas and people whom I would have never met at my state flagship, even though it is/was a fine school.

I don't mean to imply that the OP is necessarily wrong to steer her DD toward UMD instead of Emory. It's a really tough choice, especially if the funds are there in the 529 to pay for Emory. But I did want to make the point that paying full price for a private undergraduate education can be worth it.

I’m not sure Emory is worth that, though? Harvard or Yale etc yes. But Emory? Is it really “better” than UMD? I wouldn’t have thought so.

Compared to most objective measures and rankings Emory is quite a bit better. It’s like saying Georgetown and UMD are basically the same and on par with each other. Obviously both are very different environments and offer different experiences. Same as Emory would. Again though it depends on the student preferences because UMD isn’t a terrible choice either.

[Anonymous]

OP, congrats to both DD for her hard work and you for your hard work getting her into this enviable position. I'm one who took the full ride at my state flagship and really never had ability to consider any other options due to family finances.

In your shoes, I would make her aware of the financial considerations and then take her to both admitted students days and let her feel the vibe, let the colleges make their final pitches to her... she can then make an educated decision. When talking through the financial considerations, think also about how the choice of schools may impact your ability to provide for the extras... dinners out, sorority dues, spring break etc. Culturally, I could see that being a really big deal at a place like Emory.