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

Denzera
Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:08:36 +0000

Yeah, well, he wasn’t the only one to whom that post came off like sour grapes. It’s not the #4-ranked institution because people hate the place. Across the 4 years I attended, I met exactly one fellow student who legitimately didn’t like it there. He really wanted to be back home, closer to his brother, taking care of his parents, in the woods of western massachusetts. Every other one of the hundreds of people there seemed to be on a spectrum from “like” to “love”.

I won’t dispute your “too expensive” routine. Going to Columbia would, on average, be a better experience for metalpawn than Vandy I believe, but that is a HUGE difference in price tag. He has a couple of options, and the first is, fax Columbia the financial aid offer letter from Vandy and ask them to work with you on it. The fact that they offered you a CP Davis scholarship is no small thing, these are the people they “Really want”. I can get you in touch with the dean who runs the Scholars program if you want to hear what it’s all about, unfiltered.

Lots of people arrive at college believing that they are hell-bent on, say, Pre-Med or Pre-Law (or pre-Wall Street in your case), and after a few years find that their passion for it wasn’t all that deep to begin with. It sounds like metalpawn believes it’s a better fit for him for other reasons, but $41k difference per year * 4 years = $164,000. That is a boatload of cash. You can buy a pretty decent house in many parts of the country, free-and-clear, for that kind of money. I’m pro-Columbia in just about all things, but I couldn’t tell you with a straight face to have your parents make that kind of sacrifice for you. I’d sooner tell you that they ought to pay for some awesome accommodations and vacations while you’re at Vandy, because you’re saving them a ****-ton of cash and deserve a share of it :)