Is Georgetown worth it over in-state UVA?

[Anonymous]

I'm from NYC where a lot of kids went to SUNY Binghamton due to money. They all thought it was an excellent school and often chose it over NYU. Most people have heard of NYU but most people have not heard of SUNY Binghamton. Georgetown is better than NYU and UVA is better than SUNY Binghamton but national and international recognition is far stronger for Georgetown.

If you can afford it, Georgetown is worth the extra money. If you have to take out 30k loans per year, it probably is not worth it.

[Anonymous]

I used to care about the "prestige" of a name college, but that attitude disappeared when college costs surged over $50K per year.

If you can afford Georgetown without noticing that extra $35K, well, I'd send your child to Georgetown if she wants to go there. The classes will be smaller, the environment different from UVA. My kid loved Georgetown, but she didn't apply because of the cost. I'm sure she would have been very happy there. But she's happy where she is, and it costs far less than Georgetown.

Because college costs are so insane, a lot more of the top kids are choosing to attend public colleges and universities. I know a professor at a state law school who said the quality of her students has risen astronomically during the past decade. Kids who might have gone to Harvard and Yale are coming to her state U law because of the cost. She said these kids are doing extremely well and getting great jobs after graduation because they are exceptional individuals, not because they attended XXX prestigious law school.

[Anonymous]

"More than 1,000 Fairfax County students gained admission, with 630 accepting."

*EACH YEAR*

Sorry, that's high school 2.0 for Fairfax and Loudoun County kids.

[Anonymous]

School of Foreign Service, Georgetown grad here.

Answer: NO WAY, not worth it. And SFS was special/unique. Still, answer is NO, not worth it.

Also, a PP said not for undergrad. I'd add: Not for law school either. And probably not for any grad degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is considered to have a good academic reputation everywhere in the country.

I'm from NYC. Never heard of UVA. Did not know the difference between Ohio State and UVA. I know people in VA think UVA is amazing but it just isn't as well known elsewhere.

I'm from Massachusetts and we knew all about UVA and knew the difference between OSU and UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^this doesn't include transfers.

A: "My daughter's high school sends 100 to UVA every year."

B: "TJ is the only school that sends 100 to UVA per year."

A: "I was including transfers"

Stop being hyper-literal. There are dozens of schools that send 30 40 70 of kids each year to UVA. A teen in Fairfax can step on campus and know HUNDREDS of kids at UVA. Some people love that; I think that's high school 2.0.

Again, the data do not support this conclusion. Let's say it is as many as 70 a year. That means at any given time, there are 280 graduates of X High School at UVA (freshmen thru senior classes). That is 1.7 percent of the undergraduate student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^this doesn't include transfers.

A: "My daughter's high school sends 100 to UVA every year."

B: "TJ is the only school that sends 100 to UVA per year."

A: "I was including transfers"

Stop being hyper-literal. There are dozens of schools that send 30 40 70 of kids each year to UVA. A teen in Fairfax can step on campus and know HUNDREDS of kids at UVA. Some people love that; I think that's high school 2.0.

Uh no, there are not dozens of schools that send 30 40 70 kids each year to UVA. The top two schools are at 106 and 45...

Not that PP, but kids know other kids from the class above them, the class below them, various sport leagues and activities. Even if an individual HS class only has 45 kids it still might seem like a lot of people they know on campus.

They may not even know the 45 from their school though, and maybe a handful from other schools. My DC went to a big university with 18 kids from her high school class. Similar numbers in surrounding years. So about 70-80 there at any one time, plus kids from other local schools. DC was friends with some of the 18, and some of the others, but maybe sees 10 of them on any kind of regular basis. Between dorms, Greek life, specialty academic program, etc there are plenty of opportunities to meet other people and DCs friends are from all over the country.

Np. The problem with going in state is that a lot of people use college as an opportunity to reinvent themselves. It's much easier to do that if you go away to school. I won't say it's impossible but it's harder to do when you're only 2 hours from home and you occasionally come across people who have known you since elementary school or even just your dorky freshman high school phase. Someone on your floor, in your chosen sorority, in classes. It stifles individual self expression.

Now is it worth an extra $30k a year to enable your kid to recreate themselves? Depends entirely on how much money you have.

Assuming this statement is true, presumably it could apply to a NoVA student attending Georgetown almost as easily as it could apply to one attending UVA.

[Anonymous]

If you can pay the difference without noticing it, I say let DC choose. If the difference is going to pinch in any way, I would say no to G'town in a heartbeat. No hesitation whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

At least one of the arguments people are making for G'town over UVA doesn't really apply to this situation IMO. If one of my goals was to broaden my kid's horizons, I certainly wouldn't think sending him across the river to Georgetown was the way to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least one of the arguments people are making for G'town over UVA doesn't really apply to this situation IMO. If one of my goals was to broaden my kid's horizons, I certainly wouldn't think sending him across the river to Georgetown was the way to do it.

exactly. my vote would be neither. let the kids go away for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is considered to have a good academic reputation everywhere in the country.

I'm from NYC. Never heard of UVA. Did not know the difference between Ohio State and UVA. I know people in VA think UVA is amazing but it just isn't as well known elsewhere.

I'm from Massachusetts and we knew all about UVA and knew the difference between OSU and UVA.

Massachusetts: another state with a third rate state university. Hence the longing for UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"More than 1,000 Fairfax County students gained admission, with 630 accepting."

*EACH YEAR*

Sorry, that's high school 2.0 for Fairfax and Loudoun County kids.

Sorry, it's not. But whatever makes you feel better.

[Anonymous]

the nutter is back...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^this doesn't include transfers.

A: "My daughter's high school sends 100 to UVA every year."

B: "TJ is the only school that sends 100 to UVA per year."

A: "I was including transfers"

Stop being hyper-literal. There are dozens of schools that send 30 40 70 of kids each year to UVA. A teen in Fairfax can step on campus and know HUNDREDS of kids at UVA. Some people love that; I think that's high school 2.0.

Uh no, there are not dozens of schools that send 30 40 70 kids each year to UVA. The top two schools are at 106 and 45...

Not that PP, but kids know other kids from the class above them, the class below them, various sport leagues and activities. Even if an individual HS class only has 45 kids it still might seem like a lot of people they know on campus.

They may not even know the 45 from their school though, and maybe a handful from other schools. My DC went to a big university with 18 kids from her high school class. Similar numbers in surrounding years. So about 70-80 there at any one time, plus kids from other local schools. DC was friends with some of the 18, and some of the others, but maybe sees 10 of them on any kind of regular basis. Between dorms, Greek life, specialty academic program, etc there are plenty of opportunities to meet other people and DCs friends are from all over the country.

Np. The problem with going in state is that a lot of people use college as an opportunity to reinvent themselves. It's much easier to do that if you go away to school. I won't say it's impossible but it's harder to do when you're only 2 hours from home and you occasionally come across people who have known you since elementary school or even just your dorky freshman high school phase. Someone on your floor, in your chosen sorority, in classes. It stifles individual self expression.

Now is it worth an extra $30k a year to enable your kid to recreate themselves? Depends entirely on how much money you have.

I'm the poster above who posted about my DCs university with lots of kids from her high school. About 20 kids from DCs high school class went to Cornell and about 10 went to Georgetown (several of them were faculty kids). How is that any different really than a group going to UVA (unless it's TJ with 100). People don't consider Cornell to be high school 2.0. My DC goes to a school of 25k+ undergrads and ended up running into a kid she went to daycare with. These kinds of things are going to happen no matter where you go. But I don't think my DC feels like it's a continuation of high school (or day care) in any respect, even if she keeps in touch with a few friends from high school on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^this doesn't include transfers.

A: "My daughter's high school sends 100 to UVA every year."

B: "TJ is the only school that sends 100 to UVA per year."

A: "I was including transfers"

Stop being hyper-literal. There are dozens of schools that send 30 40 70 of kids each year to UVA. A teen in Fairfax can step on campus and know HUNDREDS of kids at UVA. Some people love that; I think that's high school 2.0.

Uh no, there are not dozens of schools that send 30 40 70 kids each year to UVA. The top two schools are at 106 and 45...

Not that PP, but kids know other kids from the class above them, the class below them, various sport leagues and activities. Even if an individual HS class only has 45 kids it still might seem like a lot of people they know on campus.

They may not even know the 45 from their school though, and maybe a handful from other schools. My DC went to a big university with 18 kids from her high school class. Similar numbers in surrounding years. So about 70-80 there at any one time, plus kids from other local schools. DC was friends with some of the 18, and some of the others, but maybe sees 10 of them on any kind of regular basis. Between dorms, Greek life, specialty academic program, etc there are plenty of opportunities to meet other people and DCs friends are from all over the country.

Np. The problem with going in state is that a lot of people use college as an opportunity to reinvent themselves. It's much easier to do that if you go away to school. I won't say it's impossible but it's harder to do when you're only 2 hours from home and you occasionally come across people who have known you since elementary school or even just your dorky freshman high school phase. Someone on your floor, in your chosen sorority, in classes. It stifles individual self expression.

Now is it worth an extra $30k a year to enable your kid to recreate themselves? Depends entirely on how much money you have.

I'm the poster above who posted about my DCs university with lots of kids from her high school. About 20 kids from DCs high school class went to Cornell and about 10 went to Georgetown (several of them were faculty kids). How is that any different really than a group going to UVA (unless it's TJ with 100). People don't consider Cornell to be high school 2.0. My DC goes to a school of 25k+ undergrads and ended up running into a kid she went to daycare with. These kinds of things are going to happen no matter where you go. But I don't think my DC feels like it's a continuation of high school (or day care) in any respect, even if she keeps in touch with a few friends from high school on campus.

New poster here. I lived in PA and NY and went to school in Boston. Many of my friends went to Penn State, Rutgers and SUNY. When you go to a state school, your school has more students from your home state and you tend to mesh with people who are similar to you. It isn't exactly being a townie because UVA and Penn State are both excellent schools. The experience is different though than if you went away to Stanford, Boston University, Georgetown or NYU where students come from all over the country and world. I had no friends that were from my home area in college. My closest friends were from Germany, Taiwan, Canada, California and Florida. The experience is just different.

I do sometimes envy my friends who went to state schools. They seem to have some strong bonds. They live relative close to where they grew up. Their kids see grandparents often. They still see childhood friends.

I live in VA now. Parents live in NY. Best friend lives in PA. College and grad school friends scattered around the world.