<p>Go to Davis.</p>
<p>It’s June. How is this decision not made already?</p>
<p>Good question Lurkness…wonder if the family double deposited…a big no no.</p>
<p>UC Davis. Definitely. We have excellent savings and decent jobs, but after my son accepted at the school with the huge cholarship my stress level about job security was instantly reduced. Your family needs savings for retirement AND a safety net too.</p>
<p>Suggestion - Take the UC Davis offer and look into the possibility of doing a summer program at NYU this summer or next. Then you’ll get a fine education and a taste of the Big Apple too.</p>
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<p>I was accepted off the waitlist for NYU just last week.</p>
<p>Reach:
Congratulations on your outstanding accomplishments!
A friend who is a lawyer in a good firm (not in NY, by the way) recruits almost exclusively from NYU law school - he says that the students there have excellent preparation and he actually prefers to hire them over Ivy law school grads. I agree that you should go to UC Davis, do well, prepare for the LSATs, and then try to go to NYU or another excellent law school.</p>
<p>OK… I see the problem. </p>
<p>There’s a psychological force at work. I don’t know what to call it, but its the emotional pull of “you won a prize” - and there’s a tendency to get so excited at the prize that reason flies out the window. If they have given you a short deadline to tell them yes or no, that increases the emotional pressure. </p>
<p>So basically what is happening is that you are under emotional pressure to make a decision, and rather than rationally weighing a choice between two options (Davis, or NYU?) – it feels like you have been handed the winning ticket to the lottery (NYU) and if you say no, you will be giving up something important. So the dynamic is all wrong for a rational, even-handed choice. </p>
<p>You need to create some emotional distance.</p>
<p>Did NYU give you ANY financial aid? If so, here’s a suggestion: call their finaid office tomorrow and appeal their award. I’m familiar with their process – there is nothing special you need to do for the appeal – just say that the offer is not enough. They’ll give you an answer pretty quickly, within a couple of days – they may increase the grant by a slight amount, but not enough to make a significant difference or make it affordable.</p>
<p>But the extra time for the appeal process will change the dynamic, and give both you and your parents the space you need to make a rational - not an emotional - decision.</p>
<p>calmom,</p>
<p>NYU gave me almost the same amount of aid as UCD (actually a couple hundred more), but of course the difference in stick price causes NYU to be that much more expensive. And I did call the FA office, the guy on the phone told me decisions were final at this point, but I will try again tomorrow and hope for a different counselor.</p>
<p>I’m an NYU student - I completely understand why it’s appealing to you. But I wouldn’t have attended if they didn’t give me a merit scholarship - I would’ve gone to a SUNY school, which are not even prestigious like Davis. My total costs for 4 years is about $40k. So for someone in your position, UCDavis makes more sense. 5 pages of people are telling you so, including NYU parents and students.</p>
<p>Although my scholarship covers most of tution, living in NYC is SO expensive. The social life revolves around bar-hopping and eating out so I can’t afford to go out a lot. </p>
<p>It’s unfortunate when people say NYU is only “worth it” for Tisch and Stern. NYU has many strong programs ranked top 5 in the country (applied Math, Econ, Philosophy, etc) which aren’t in Tisch/Stern. I’m also surprised people are reccommending a $200k degree in fields like musical theatre, ceramics, etc on a post discussing practicality (Tisch is very prestigious though).</p>
<p>Enjoy the Californian sunshine! :)</p>
<p>My mom, who is a financial advisor, tells her clients, “You can take out loans for college education but you can’t take out loans for retirement.” Try that quote on your parents. Who’s going to pay for their medical and personal care needs when they’re wheelchair bound? You’re going to be the one signing off the loans, not them, which means if something happens to them, you’re responsible for finishing paying off those loans.</p>
<p>UCD is a solid choice. If you know you’re going to be happy there, go for it. If they try to threat to withdraw their support form you, it’s not that expensive for you to pay off on your own anyhow.</p>
<p>
The magic word is “appeal”. </p>
<p>It is possible that they may not even allow appeals at this point. I do feel that the NYU FA counselors are very knowledgeable and all pretty much on the same page – so whatever the counselor told you is probably correct. My experience was during the regular admissions cycle. Summer calls to waitlisted students may be different.</p>
<p>And NYU did not give you the “same” aid… even if the grant is the same dollar amount. Look at a grant as being a discount off of tuition, and calculate the percentage. </p>
<p>Another way to look at financial aid is to consider grants only – make a “you pay” and “they pay” column on a spreadsheet, with “they pay” being the grant and “you pay” being ALL THE REST. That is, you lump loans & work study right in there with the “you pay” column. (You’ll pay them in the end, in any case).</p>
<p>I’d say the respondents are unanimous in answering your original question: you are being wise if you choose UCD (as you have,apparently, before getting off the waitlist at NYU). Stick with the original (wise and frugal) decision.</p>
<p>I have convinced one of my parents. The other states that they have a college fund which will supplement their 401k so that they will still have enough money as a retirement fund if I go to NYU. When I state that I would have to take out loans for law school, “which law student doesn’t?” is the reply.</p>
<p>So they’re irrational. It’s your decision in the end, make the logical choice.</p>
<p>I agree – you have great parents. Now – are your parents willing to share specifics about how much is in that college fund? (Because maybe you are lucky – maybe there is enough money in the fund to finance both college and law school). </p>
<p>The answer to the question, “which law student doesn’t take loans?” – is that law grads without loans will have more freedom and economic flexibility after they graduate from law school. Not all law jobs are particularly high paying – and some of the jobs that are most interesting or give the chance to gain the most experience are not necessarily the highest paying. </p>
<p>Of course I don’t know what your long term aspirations are – but my point is that post-law school you might decide that you’d rather do work in the public sector or work for a non profit agency – than working for a firm that pays a top salary for new grads. </p>
<p>So I guess the next question for you to think about is – why do you want to go to law school? What kind of work do you see yourself doing after law school? </p>
<p>And most important: if your parents have a good size college fund, would you rather have it spent now to finance your undergrad experience? or would you prefer to have flexibility in law school? Keep in mind that law schools do not offer the same level of need-based aid that undergrad colleges do – so 4 years down the line your choice might be very similar – let’s say, $40K/year for dream law school, $15K/year for Pudunk Law School which has offered you a great merit scholarship. </p>
<p>I can tell you one thing: after you graduate from law school, no one will care or even ask where you went for undergrad.</p>
<p>I mean – you sound like a very mature and intelligent young person, and you are right to plan your educational costs with law school in mind. I think your parents really could help if they would be up front about the assets available for college. Also ask them what form of investment or account the college fund is in. If its in a 529 account – then that money has to be spent for college or there will be tax penalties later on in order to access the money. If its just in an ordinary bank or investment account, then your parents have more flexibility.</p>
<p>ask your parents if instead of just supporting you through NYU – if they would support you attending Davis and partly support you attending law school with the money you would save by not attending NYU.</p>
<p>I agree with the above analogy to a winning lottery ticket. Getting off the NYU waitlist is pretty exciting…BUT…you still have to pay big bucks to collect the ticket. Is it worth it? No. </p>
<p>Tell your parents thanks, but no thanks.</p>
<p>Just turn down NYU…and neglect to mention it to your folks for a while!</p>
<p>Thanks to all the parents who posted. My parents have agreed to me attending UC Davis as long as I get the grades to get into a T14. That’s the condition, wish me luck!</p>
<p>Good luck! I’m glad for you. Come back to update us once in a while.</p>