<p>I can go to UF and everything will be paid for. Or I can go to MIT and graduate with anywhere from 80k to 100k in loans. I want to do something in brain and cognitive sciences. MIT has a graduate program where the students go for free and take on a job. </p>
<p>What do you think I should do? And yes I do realize how much debt that is, even though I’m a student. My parents have shown me all their bills and their paychecks, so I have a pretty good idea how much money that is and that I’ll probably pay off these loans by the time I’m 38 or 40. Any advice is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Except the closest thing UF offers to BRain and cognitive sciences is neurobiological sciences, which is much closer to neurons then the actual brain…</p>
<p>Here are my options:
Harvard: offers same package as MIT if I even get in
FSU: full ride
Fordham: full tuition, but apparently I can’t go bc it doesn’t have bs degrees, says mom
BC: no aid…
BU: depends on merit scholarship (If I get it, I will go; but they might do away with this program)
Yale: no aid</p>
<p>Lots of people who are pursuing post graduate studies in Brain and Cognitive Science didn’t start out there, so don’t fret about whether a neuroscience degree is good enough for your undergraduate work. Sit down with the course catalogues for both universities, and read them very carefully. Try to get your hands on some of the actual course syllabi - googling the professors can pull these up. This way you will have a better notion of how dissimilar the two programs are. They might not be.</p>
<p>If you are not eligible for need based aid at Harvard, your family’s income must exceed $180,000 a year (I think that is the amount). Harvard’s generous financial aid policy would have you paying 10% of your parent’s income if their income is less than $180,000 (I think that is the amount) or $18,000 a year. Theirs is a much more generous financial aid program than MIT.</p>
<p>But of course…you’d have to get accepted at Harvard…no easy task.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure what this means. Fordham offers undergraduate bachelors degrees. Is your mom concerned that a BA is not as valuable as a BS? If so, that’s not true (in my opinion).</p>
<p>Yeah that’s what my mom thinks, and I have not been successful in convincing her otherwise… We make under 180k but we have atypical assets bc my family spends very little, owns our home and the cars, and we keep everything we make basically for the college funds for me and my bro. My dad has a medical condition that will probably make him prematurely retire within 5 years (he’s not even 50 yet…). That’s why we won’t get aid on paper…</p>
<p>Whether a college or university calls its undergraduate degree a B.A. or a B.S. is entirely up to that institution. There are no national standards for determining what the diploma would read. SO if Fordham calls all of its undergrad degrees B.A., then there is nothing to worry about. Every single graduate program in the nation will be fully aware of this.</p>
<p>Tell your mom that this isn’t anything to worry about.</p>