Am I stupid for turning these schools down?

Applying to College
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I got accepted to emory and got off nyu waitlist, but I think im going to end up going to my t50 state school. Im staying in state because of insane out of state tuition, and plus this is only undergrad and im planning on going to med school. I feel like im making the right decision so why do i feel like such a failure?

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1). Emory and NYU are private so residency does not matter.

2). Many thousands of kids, my daughter included, are going to ‘cheaper’ schools, in her case OOS but with $31k in scholarships vs. $32k tuition.

  1. Many state schools have Honors colleges or interest groups or other ways to get involved.

  2. Med schools care about GPA and MCAT and will cost you a ton.

  3. You didn’t say which school and how much the savings were but I’m going to guess that you made a very wise choice. Besides you made it so it’s over. Embrace it and have a FANTASTIC four years.

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Oh. Why do you feel like a failure ? Because you don’t know how to handle success.

Had you chosen Emory, you’d be second guessing the expense.

When you are a successful student as you clearly are, you will get choices. When you have choices and can only choose one, it’s natural to feel empty when you tell another no.

It happens to many kids. It stinks to say no. But you need to focus on the yes. This will happen in life whether it’s related to job offers, cars you may want to buy or even where to go to dinner.

Make a decision and embrace it. It’s likely right for your needs. If you always focus on the, maybe I should have
life is going to be stressful.

You will get a great education at name the school and not put your folks into a huge level of financial stress. Sounds like victory to me.

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I think your decision shows maturity and wisdom beyond your years. Good luck!

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The answer is no, you’re not stupid for turning down emory and nyu in favor of your T50 in-state flagship. IMHO, unless you’re choosing between a flagship public and a NESCAC or a Swarthmore or some other stand-alone, small college, you’re not missing anything in terms of uniqueness in the college experience.

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This is exactly my reaction also.

You are planning on medical school. This means that you are very wise to save some $$ for medical school and avoid debt for undergrad.

Also, any “top 50” public / state university in the US is going to have a very good premed program. You are going to find tough classes, very strong classmates, and professors who know their stuff in your premed classes. Maintaining a high GPA in these classes will help you to reach your dream of medical school. Of course, if you change your mind about medical school, any “top 50” public university will have quite a few very good alternatives and avoiding debt will still be a good idea.

If you got accepted to NYU and Emory, this implies that you worked hard in high school and got very good grades. This will help you quite a bit to be well prepared to do well in your premed classes.

To me this all sounds like you are doing exactly the right thing. Best of luck and plan to keep working hard when you are in university.

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Even then, I’d choose to go to a T50 public even if I was out of state over the “bottom” NESCACs–I doubt that Trinity or Conn College would provide a better education/experience.

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Because you’re letting rankings with somewhat arbitrary criteria set by people you don’t know determine your self-worth.

When you think about it that way, it seems rather silly, doesn’t it?

That said, it’s common to lack self-confidence at your age. But keep on achieving and both confidence will come and future you will thank present you.

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BTW, for what it’s worth, Top 50 public UIUC bio majors earn about as much as NYU bio majors and outearn Emory bio majors straight out of undergrad.
Top 50 public UGa bio majors earn about as much or a little more than UIUC/NYU bio majors (and obviously Emory bio majors )straight out of undergrad.
Top 50 publics UT-Austin and UW-Madison bio majors outearn all of the schools above straight out of undergrad.

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You feel you’re making the right decision, which outweighs anything other people might say. You are not a failure. You are a very intelligent person who is making a decision based on reality and logic. That’s success!

If the issue is perhaps that you are at a competitive high school where people are obsessed with prestige, then rest assured that in just a month, you won’t have to concern yourself with most of those people ever again. You’ve done the best thing for yourself and that’s what matters.

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