Decisions Help!-- full ride Vanderbilt vs. Columbia?

absweetmarie
Sat, 14 Apr 2012 07:33:23 +0000

I have the same question churchmusicmom has. The difference in these two paths (both very specific and valuable) is so vast it makes me wonder how certain you are about your academic direction. If you’re not certain, I’d recommend going with Vanderbilt. If you are certain of the ORFE direction, then maybe the debt makes sense. In this day and age, I’d be hesitant to PLAN on being able to comfortably pay back $80K in debt but I’m debt-averse. I do know that people’s notions of what they want to study can change; getting a Vandy education at such a good price is a hedge against that uncertainty (which you must have a bit of, else you’d not have such different paths in mind depending on which school you attend).