Boston U full scholarship vs. Yale full price

[Anonymous]

Yale without question. There's no way a kid that worked their ass off for Yale is going to be happy about BU. And if you're full pay at Yale you're rich. Stop being stingy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale. Prestige will matter when student applies to medical school.

I am a doctor and this is patently false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale without question. There's no way a kid that worked their ass off for Yale is going to be happy about BU. And if you're full pay at Yale you're rich. Stop being stingy.

That is not necessarily true at all. I don't think anyone gets financial aid at ivies with a family income of over about $220,000 or so -- at least I read that somewhere. Do the math --that would be a huge sacrifice -- and what if there is another kid in route?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yale without question. There's no way a kid that worked their ass off for Yale is going to be happy about BU. And if you're full pay at Yale you're rich. Stop being stingy.

That is not necessarily true at all. I don't think anyone gets financial aid at ivies with a family income of over about $220,000 or so -- at least I read that somewhere. Do the math --that would be a huge sacrifice -- and what if there is another kid in route?

Thank you. Yes, we will have another heading to college in 2 years so we need to account for that as well.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar choice years ago. Princeton vs Uva (virtually full ride). I chose Uva because of no loans and my parents could not afford to pay much for my college. After Uva, I ended up at at Harvard medical school and top residencies afterwards. So going to Uva did not hurt my career and I had no debt until medical school.
However:
1. At least 80 percent of my medical school class came from top 15 universities and top 5 LACs. So undergraduate prestige is not essential, but certainly helps at top medical schools.
2. Over the years, even though I have had a successful medical career, I still wish we had the money to make Princeton work.

IMO, if you can make it work financially, I would choose Yale for my child. Congratulations and best wishes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a similar choice years ago. Princeton vs Uva (virtually full ride). I chose Uva because of no loans and my parents could not afford to pay much for my college. After Uva, I ended up at at Harvard medical school and top residencies afterwards. So going to Uva did not hurt my career and I had no debt until medical school.
However:
1. At least 80 percent of my medical school class came from top 15 universities and top 5 LACs. So undergraduate prestige is not essential, but certainly helps at top medical schools.
2. Over the years, even though I have had a successful medical career, I still wish we had the money to make Princeton work.

IMO, if you can make it work financially, I would choose Yale for my child. Congratulations and best wishes.

Just imagine if you had undergrad debt on top of your medical school debt and could not afford anything into your mid thirties. How much more will be the regret be? My spouse and I lived in a tiny apartment for a very long time to pay off loans. One day a plumber came to fix our sink and he asked us why we were living there. We did not fit the "rich doctor" myth...from OP's financial details she's not going to able to help with medical school at all if DD goes to Yale. DD will be in debt for a very very long time impeding big milestones such as marriage, kids and house purchase. BU is a good school that would be considered by medical schools.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from UT-Austin and saw no discernible difference between my Ivy League graduate classmates and me in medical school. They just paid way more for their education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and I'm a previous poster about Princeton and I'm applying to med school, it helps a lot as well to be premed and have the name of Princeton (and I'm sure this works for Yale), I actually decided later in life to go and the Princeton name is really the only reason it has worked out for me. Going to Ivy League gives you wiggle room in case orgo doesn't work out or if you want to go at it later.

You are young and clueless my fellow Tiger. Once you have a serious job -- or a Ph.D or JD or MA -- it is all about your performance.

Nobody will care where you went undergrad. 98% of my professional colleagues don't know where I went undergrad -- but they all know where I went to law school.

-signed (older) Princeton grad

Another tiger here. The Princeton name does give you some insurance in case your career performance falters (I had to deal with some serious health and family issues early in career and had a large period of fallow work performance and employment gap). I think having that prestige university has meant my resume always gets a second glance. Not everyone gets to live to their potentional, so if OP son has any chance he might go through a punk rock phase after bombing orgo, when comes to and pivots to a new career Yale will be a jib to his mainsail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a similar choice years ago. Princeton vs Uva (virtually full ride). I chose Uva because of no loans and my parents could not afford to pay much for my college. After Uva, I ended up at at Harvard medical school and top residencies afterwards. So going to Uva did not hurt my career and I had no debt until medical school.
However:
1. At least 80 percent of my medical school class came from top 15 universities and top 5 LACs. So undergraduate prestige is not essential, but certainly helps at top medical schools.
2. Over the years, even though I have had a successful medical career, I still wish we had the money to make Princeton work.

IMO, if you can make it work financially, I would choose Yale for my child. Congratulations and best wishes.

So what exactly do you think would be different had you gone to Princeton?

[Anonymous]

Ten years ago I might have picked Yale - no longer with the crazy p.c. nonsense going on there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all. Thanks for your input. We have $120K saved in a 529/other savings vehicles, are comfortable paying $25K out of pocket, and the rest would need to be made up elsewhere- so about $15K/year. We are in that donut hole of no aid received, but can't pay full price. IF she goes to Yale, med school would obviously not be covered. BU, some of it would be covered.

She has took organic chemistry at Northwestern and liked it and is very certain pre-Med is the way she wants to go, but you're right...there is a chance that could change.

So DC is DD? My impression from pre Med classmates is that they are very cutthroat and a little misogynistic (ok my buds all gunning to be surgeons)

Your DD clearly has the smarts but would she thrive with that kind of pressure and when her classmates stack deck against her bc she doesn't swing it like them?

[Anonymous]

The only thing that matters in competitive grad or professional school admissions - the ONLY thing - is where you went to undergrad, as long as your graduate admissions scores are good enough. Yale will help your DC throughout life. BU will be greeted privately with "I bet that kid didn't get into Yale."

It will matter somewhat less once your DC is through med school. The national internship and residency hiring system is centrally administered, contains an element of randomness, and is somewhat objective.

But the longer, life curve says, Yale over BU, any day, for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a similar choice years ago. Princeton vs Uva (virtually full ride). I chose Uva because of no loans and my parents could not afford to pay much for my college. After Uva, I ended up at at Harvard medical school and top residencies afterwards. So going to Uva did not hurt my career and I had no debt until medical school.
However:
1. At least 80 percent of my medical school class came from top 15 universities and top 5 LACs. So undergraduate prestige is not essential, but certainly helps at top medical schools.
2. Over the years, even though I have had a successful medical career, I still wish we had the money to make Princeton work.

IMO, if you can make it work financially, I would choose Yale for my child. Congratulations and best wishes.

So what exactly do you think would be different had you gone to Princeton?

It's obvious. He would have become an investment banker and making mad money and living on a private island like 45% of their class

[Anonymous]

I think she should pick Yale. She'll have a great undergraduate experience (the journey is important too; it's not all about the destination). Plus, she will have a lifetime to benefit from some amazing undergraduate friends from all over the world.

For a gap of only $60k I'd try to make it work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all. Thanks for your input. We have $120K saved in a 529/other savings vehicles, are comfortable paying $25K out of pocket, and the rest would need to be made up elsewhere- so about $15K/year. We are in that donut hole of no aid received, but can't pay full price. IF she goes to Yale, med school would obviously not be covered. BU, some of it would be covered.

She has took organic chemistry at Northwestern and liked it and is very certain pre-Med is the way she wants to go, but you're right...there is a chance that could change.

So DC is DD? My impression from pre Med classmates is that they are very cutthroat and a little misogynistic (ok my buds all gunning to be surgeons)

Your DD clearly has the smarts but would she thrive with that kind of pressure and when her classmates stack deck against her bc she doesn't swing it like them?

More than half of med school grads are women, so clearly women can "thrive with that kind of pressure." Perhaps you need new buds.