<p>I say send him to Dartmouth if he’s an only child. EKU if there are more kids.</p>
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<p>*May be its was the friends you ran around with or the enemies acquired? * 
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<p>couldn’t miss the opportunity, especially when it is such an easy hit. :)</p>
<p>$250K Debt for Dartmouth for which the school has no real grad school? If DS is going into politics or a professional school, perhaps but the pay back has to be more real and tangible, else you could end up like, mini. :)</p>
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<p>I don’t understand this. Dartmouth certainly does have a “real” business school and a “real” medical school, just to name a couple. </p>
<p>Or did you mean “$250K debt without paying for grad school”?</p>
<p>"May be its was the friends you ran around with or the enemies acquired?</p>
<p>couldn’t miss the opportunity, especially when it is such an easy hit."</p>
<p>If you are going to make the hit, at least make sure it’s grammatical. (Or maybe it is your lack of prestige education showing…:rolleyes:)</p>
<p>P.S. I had no debt from ANY of them - they paid ME.</p>
<p>And who cares if they have grad schools, to me the beauty of Dartmouth is it’s undergrad focus.</p>
<p>Mini, if I remember correctly, you work in a government job in the PNW. I would have to agree your Williams degree would not be of much help in that arena! When we talk about advantages of networks it really is important to specify that it’s pretty much limited to ‘traditional’ jobs sought by grads of these schools. My friend who is a massage therapist that graduated from Harvard keeps telling me how worthless his degree is!</p>
<p>I have taught at the college level, founded a very successful publishing business with offices on both coasts and Canada, worked for human rights/human relations agencies, worked in public health, and at my current job. I have lived in major cities on the east coast, in Chicago, and on the west coast. In 35 years, I have not had a single prospective employer - not one - who knew what Williams was. The closest I got was one who said “ah, William and Mary. My wife and I took a trip down to Williamsburg.” Where I live now, when I say “Williams”, some people hear “Whitman”, and I don’t disabuse them of that idea, as Whitman has a very good reputation. And I doubt very many of them could even pronounce Dartmouth correctly.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t matter if they did, though. The alumni network is not all it’s cracked up to be, and mostly schools are worth about 20 seconds in an employment conversation, and then it is on to “what you can do for me”. Our last three hires - in which, by the way we had applicants from Dartmouth, Princeton, and Reed - were graduates of Evergreen (2) and Western Washington (1). </p>
<p>However, being a graduate of UW or WSU, and, very especially, of BYU will help one signficantly in employment.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong - I think Dartmouth is a fine school. But, FOR ME, Dartmouth v. FSU Honors Colleges +$250k (or +125k) as an educational matter isn’t even a conversation worth having. Of course, if you have that kind of extra money to throw around, it doesn’t make a difference, does it? I mean, some folks buy Jaguars, even if they spend half the year in the shop. (The value of playing football for Dartmouth is not something I can assess or quantify.)</p>
<p>If med school is a serious consideration, I don’t think being a recruited foofball player is a wise choice.</p>
<p>I live in the northwest as well, mini, and I agree with your assessment that especially in our neck of the woods, there is little name recognition for eastern LACs. </p>
<p>Your post gives wonderful, rational reasons for not choosing Dartmouth. As I read the OPs responses to posts, I’m sensing an irrational (and forgivable) love for Dartmouth. I get it. My D chose Yale, and she’s an athlete. There is something intangible and irrational about wanting to represent one of these schools on the field. </p>
<p>She had lots of great college choices, much like the the OPs son, but when it came down to it, the chance to wear the Yale uniform was irresistable. She’s just a freshman, and has no regrets; the team is her family, her social life, and her passion. Her classes have exceeded her expectations, and she’s able to handle the mix of academics and athletics, just like in high school. And as an earlier poster noted, although D1, the Ivy League makes academics a priority. That’s not saying that other D1 programs don’t also value academics, but the Ivies certainly do. And it should be noted that no Ivy athletes are on scholarship, so all students participate because they wish to, not because they are being paid. My daughter was told by her coach that her classes, labs and tests must come first, and accomodations to her practice schedule were made as needed. Many Ivy coaches attended the schools where they coach, and know first hand the requirement to balance academics, athletics and social lives of students, or they can’t field a team!</p>
<p>Best wishes on this decision. It’s not easy, but your son’s choices are enviable!</p>
<p>If you son really wants to play football (beyond college), AND he really has potential to be a professional football player, then it should be his choice if he accepts the athletic scholarship. This is his one opportunity to realize that dream.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I would minimize the cost of college, as long as FSU provides a decent education. I tell my kids: Do something you enjoy for college so you get good grades. That will open the door to doing something pratical in grad school.</p>
<p>My son has a similar problem: Full ride at a “safety” school that is “good” in his major; or $20k/yr to attend a top school for undergrad in his major. My advice to him: Excel at the safety school, and save your $'s to pay for a top grad school.</p>
<p>I have a slightly different take on this interesting dilemma.</p>
<p>The kid in question has one option that’s close to perfect, academically, athletically, socially. And it’s very expensive. He has another option that is meaninfully less expensive, and meaningfully less attractive in all three dimensions, although to different degrees (with the academic difference probably being the least). And he has a third option that is apparently dirt cheap but extremely risky in every respect.</p>
<p>The risky option – Eastern Ky – really should be a nonstarter. Your undergraduate label may not matter so much at medical schools – although I question that to some extent – but what you achieve as an undergraduate surely does, and what Dartmouth offers most of all (and FSU maybe only a little less) is a culture of achievement and challenge. How many Eastern Kentucky grads are at “IVY grad schools”? What?, you say that’s because the Dartmouth etc. students were better testers going in? Exactly, one’s fellow students make up an important part of the college educational experience.</p>
<p>What it boils down to is how much more the OP is willing to pay for (a) a chance to keep playing football (and in a context where that is likely to remain enjoyable and not to detract much from education), (b) a culture of ambition and achievement without limits, and where high academic ability and interest is universal, (c) getting out of Florida for college, and (d) a label that does have some prestige in Establishment circles. If the cost were equal, Dartmouth would be a no-brainer. Based on the first post, I’m not certain what the cost difference between Dartmouth and FSU really is. If it’s a lot, then one really has to think about how much one values Dartmouth’s fine qualities, how much the differences are, and what they are worth. If it’s not a lot, I’m back with no-brainer.</p>
<p>JHS</p>
<p>Thanks for the input.</p>
<p>Cost differential between FSU and Dartmouth is 47,000 per year.</p>
<p>(S has merit scholarships that defray 80% of the FSU costs)</p>
<p>nngmm</p>
<p>not understanding you…it is not his “choice” that he is a recruited football player, but
rather…his “honor”.</p>
<p>perhaps you meant that it would be unwise to play football and be pre-med…on this we may agree to disagree.</p>
<p>I consider the Tuck School of Business to be one of the best in the world.</p>
<p>Not sure where you are coming from LongPrime.</p>
<p>jdjaguar,
I also feel for you and your dilemma. S was accepted at Dartmouth and qualified for about 1/2 tuition in FA. I personally, absolutely fell in love with D when we both went during the accepted student weekend. It is the ulimate “picture perfect” college! He liked it as well, but had too many reservations regarding both financial costs, location [ very isolated, over 2 hrs from any city including Boston, no car allowed freshman year and 10 hrs travel time from home] and the school “atmosphere” [frat oriented, with a reputation of nothing to do but drink on weekends, and S was not into drinking for “fun”] that in the end he made the decision to go to another college [USC] where he had been offered a full tuition scholarship. If grad school is definitely in the future,as it is with our S, you should think more than twice about spending 250,000 for an UG degree, when it will cost another 250,000 for 4 years of med school, plus more years of low-paying residency programs before he starts to earn anything.</p>
<p>This may all be moot; what are the odds that your son gets into Dartmouth - 1 in 6 or 7? Is the coach using one of his tips on him? If not, this decision may turn out to be much easier than it seemed. </p>
<p>$47k per year can buy an awful lot of education in addition, or supplementary to, a four-year degree, if one chooses to spend it that way. Including, by the way, a “fifth” pre-med year, which makes doing football AND being pre-med not a particularly difficult thing to do. This has become rather common, for athletes and non-athletes alike.</p>
<p>I’m not sure which came first, mini, the poor grammar or lack of a training at a prestigious school.</p>
<p>Consolidated student loan at today’s rates: $200,000, 8.25%, 30 years payback = $1502/mn.
[Student</a> Aid on the Web](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/consolidation.jsp]Student”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/consolidation.jsp)</p>
<p>Now try it in 10 years, which is the standard period of student loan payback (and this assumes no costs for med.school/etc. at 8.25% with a 1% origination fee (this all presumes you can get it), would require, at 10% of gross income, a salary of $299.339.60 for the first 10 years out of school; at 15%, $196,226 at 15%.</p>
<p>But try it your way: would require an income (from the day one left school) of $182,125/year at 10% of income, or $121,000 at 15% of income.</p>
<p>He said they wouldn’t have to borrow $200k, probably more like $100k.</p>
<p>So try it at $100k, at 10 years: a salary of $159,700 from the day one left school (at 10% of gross), or $98,113 at 15%. </p>
<p>But the cost “differential” is actually $188k (plus the growing differential between Dartmouth and FSU costs). So one requires a salary as above, and foregoes the educational advantages that $88k can buy. (a year and half of med school, etc.)</p>
<p>To me, educationally as well as financially, this is a no-brainer. But I don’t have that kind of money, so it would also be a non-issue. Others might choose differently.</p>