Yale vs Penn State - Your Honest Opinion Please

[Anonymous]

Is this a real question? Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First of all, I just want to acknowledge how lucky my DS is to have these two choices, but, as a family we are very much torn between the two.

We are in a very fortunate position to be able to afford both schools BUT Yale would be an additional ~35k/year. Now, my husband is in favor of Penn State purely from a financial perspective - his thinking is that, if the education is exactly the same, why pay 35k more? His thinking is that if he goes to Penn State, that 35k could be then put towards either graduate school (if DS decides to go or for a house down payment). DS loves Yale, and wants to go there.

I am in the middle, I can see the financial argument but I am concerned that my son might miss out on a unique opportunity....so we are stuck.

I am posting here because I'd very much appreciate your perspective - if the education he will receive is pretty much the same at Yale and Penn State, then what other non-academic factors should we be weighing and thinking about?

hard to believe and actually I don't believe this. kid who is good enough to get yale acceptance will certainly get a full tuition/ride at Penn State.

[Anonymous]

I am a HYP grad. It changed my life. Send the kid to Yale - hands down.

[Anonymous]

Why doesn't your DH think he should go to a school that gives him a full ride or, if that is not an option, go to a community college first and then transfer the community college credits to a local college/university so that he can live at home and save on dorm fees?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yale could open such large career doors that 35k/yr could be a blip in 5yrs. What if ds made $120k coming out of Yale?

Well, he's not going to share it with the parents who paid, so I fail to see how this is relevant.

Lol. The only time this argument is relevant is when Yale comes knocking on the door asking for a donation. It's not the parents who are getting the Yale degree. Go ask the kid for the money.

My point is, the parents are paying for college. What do they care that the difference is just a blip? They won't see a financial benefit.

Well, then, why pay for any college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The opinion of any poster saying choose Penn State over Yale is worthless, because none of them would ever choose that for their own kid.

Pfft. I'm sure it's happened many times.

I've seen it happen for a free ride or close to free ride at schools ranker lower than Penn State, so yes, it does happen.

I've also seen it happen for athletes offered athletic scholarships elsewhere or perhaps have a chance to play for a more successful/established team. This might actually be a tough choice if OP's son was playing football or basketball at Penn State and had dreams of playing after college, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The opinion of any poster saying choose Penn State over Yale is worthless, because none of them would ever choose that for their own kid.

Pfft. I'm sure it's happened many times.

I've seen it happen for a free ride or close to free ride at schools ranker lower than Penn State, so yes, it does happen.

I've also seen it happen for athletes offered athletic scholarships elsewhere or perhaps have a chance to play for a more successful/established team. This might actually be a tough choice if OP's son was playing football or basketball at Penn State and had dreams of playing after college, for example.

I know someone who turned down Yale for W&M instate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First of all, I just want to acknowledge how lucky my DS is to have these two choices, but, as a family we are very much torn between the two.

We are in a very fortunate position to be able to afford both schools BUT Yale would be an additional ~35k/year. Now, my husband is in favor of Penn State purely from a financial perspective - his thinking is that, if the education is exactly the same, why pay 35k more? His thinking is that if he goes to Penn State, that 35k could be then put towards either graduate school (if DS decides to go or for a house down payment). DS loves Yale, and wants to go there.

I am in the middle, I can see the financial argument but I am concerned that my son might miss out on a unique opportunity....so we are stuck.

I am posting here because I'd very much appreciate your perspective - if the education he will receive is pretty much the same at Yale and Penn State, then what other non-academic factors should we be weighing and thinking about?

hard to believe and actually I don't believe this. kid who is good enough to get yale acceptance will certainly get a full tuition/ride at Penn State.

Penn State gives about $5k/year merit scholarships to students who get into their honors college, which requires 10 short-answer essays. No full tuition or full ride there unless you’re a D1 athlete. They also do not give need-based financial aid to anyone, instate or OOS. Has one of the highest average student debt figures in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First of all, I just want to acknowledge how lucky my DS is to have these two choices, but, as a family we are very much torn between the two.

We are in a very fortunate position to be able to afford both schools BUT Yale would be an additional ~35k/year. Now, my husband is in favor of Penn State purely from a financial perspective - his thinking is that, if the education is exactly the same, why pay 35k more? His thinking is that if he goes to Penn State, that 35k could be then put towards either graduate school (if DS decides to go or for a house down payment). DS loves Yale, and wants to go there.

I am in the middle, I can see the financial argument but I am concerned that my son might miss out on a unique opportunity....so we are stuck.

I am posting here because I'd very much appreciate your perspective - if the education he will receive is pretty much the same at Yale and Penn State, then what other non-academic factors should we be weighing and thinking about?

It depends on what MAJOR. If he’s admitted to liberal arts or social science majors, definitely YALE hands down. Cost does not matter. A Yale degree is worth the cost no matter what.

But if he will study engineering, that’s a completely different story. Look at US News engineering rankings and rankings by engineering departments and specialties. I can’t speak for all engineering, but in EE, Yale is less than impressive. Believe me, tech companies know that. A degree in EE from many state schools are regarded more highly than a Yale EE degree.

I saw an NYT article. See readers’ comments in the link below (if you have NYT subscription or maybe you can read it for free.) A teacher of 28 years at LAUSD and lecturer at UCLA School of Education said well: It’s about the major, not the school. From an income perspective, a degree in gender studies from Harvard is unlikely to result higher income than a CS degree from Univ. of Mississippi. I have a friend who graduated from H Kennedy School of Govt in the late 80’s. His first job was with BofA. He said at least back then banks were willing to train Ivy graduates regardless of major. He told me that it’s no longer true, unless that Ivy grad with a liberal arts/social science degree is also strong in math. He said nowadays they would rather hire a math or physics graduate from a state school.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/15/opinion/letters/college-choices.html

[Anonymous]

Yale hands down. Penn State is HUGE and your kid will not have the access to professors that s/he will at Yale. Your kid will also be rubbing shoulders with a LOT of smart people at Yale -- there are a lot at Penn State too, no doubt, but the whole smaller class of high achievers at Yale is not to be discounted. Plus the alumni network.

[Anonymous]

I think this has to be fake. Unless Yale is going to drive your family into unmanageable debt, Yale it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people would say Yale. But another way to think about it is if you put that money saved in a diversified ETF it would be worth over $750k by the time they are 55 with a 4.5% growth rate. It would be like a retirement insurance policy/top-up that could provide confidence to take risks and try new things earlier in life. At the end of the day Yale and Penn State will both provide entry to most jobs.

This is how I think about it and what I have told my kids.

I would go with Penn State, but if money is no object for you and you can easily do the extra $35K, then your decision would rightfully be different. I would just take that extra money and set it aside for DC. Even after graduation, that is a good sum of money to use to start a business or do something else with.

[Anonymous]

I got into both Yale and Penn State and I went to Yale. My parents didn't give me a hard time about it but helped me pay and supported me taking out loans. I met people at Yale I wouldn't have met at Penn State. Even now, the Yale name on my resume means more on job applications than the Penn State name would. I would make the same choice again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all live in a world I don't understand. As an engineering major, of course I'd choose Penn State over Yale.

I would think OP would have mentioned that if that were the case. Not sure why someone set on studying engineering would even apply to Yale.

[Anonymous]

Yale. I'm not even about prestige but name recognition alone is worth it.