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Old 10-25-2011, 07:18 PM   #2
CalAlum
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,318
^ You really need to discuss this with your parents, who will pay the bill.

I would say that of all the students admitted to MIT whose parents are paying full tuition, 100% have turned down scholarship and full-ride offers elsewhere. This was the case with my daughter, who recently graduated from MIT.

On the other hand, UCLA is a great public school, and if you do really well there, you could go to graduate school anywhere, with more money in your family's pocket and probably zero debt.

Tough decision. Look, all you can get on the board is anecdotal evidence. Our family feels great about having paid full freight at MIT because our daughter excelled there and now is in a great graduate program, fully independent, doing what she loves. But for all we know, she could have ended up in the same place having taken a Regents Scholarship at Berkeley. We told our son he could attend anywhere he was admitted, but he surprised us by turning down a couple of universities ranked in the top 20 to attend Willamette University, a school that offered him such a large merit scholarship that it costs LESS to attend than a UC campus. He is really happy there. Before we agreed to let him go, we visited the school twice, then decided that we agreed with his choice. What is the take-away lesson in these two very different experiences? I guess it's that it all depends on the individual's fit with the school and the fit with the family finances. In the best scenario, everyone is happy with the decision.
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