Duke [40k] vs Texas A&M full ride

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I am so happy to have gotten into both these amazing schools and I did actually submit the enrollment form for duke but now I’m having a little bit of cold feet ig- (speaking of which, it is still possible to contact admissions office and back out of enrollment rn right? posts I’ve seen online seem to say so but wanted to double check)
For some background, my parents had a lot saved up for me for college (like, anticipating full pay at an ivy) and due to my unique financial situation with divorced parents I actually ended up with a lot more aid than I expected from them. I originally applied as BME but kind of have no idea what I want to do anymore

Just wanted some outside opinions on my options:

Duke:
Pros:

  • Amazing school, obviously top 10 university
  • Great weather and beautiful campus
  • Private, so smaller classes, more intimate attention
  • Freedom with majors- I can do whatever major I’d like easily, and anything I major in at Duke would have great outcomes (currently looking at bme/cs, bio/cs, or econ/cs double majors? but even that is subject to change) *This is a really big factor for me as I really want the freedom to explore my interests
  • With this aid package my parents could easily afford and the extra money could go to paying off their mortgage
  • Research Triangle is great for opportunities
  • Still potential for various merit scholarships (release in mid-may)
  • Connections will be great and will be surrounded by amazing peers

Cons:

  • We are worried we might have messed something up with financial aid since it is a lot higher than we were expecting, but most of this is attributed to the fact Duke does not consider my stepparent’s income (which basically doubles my household income); however, if financial aid somehow changes that could be really bad
  • Could be very competitive, will I fit in with wealthy private school kids?
  • Still obviously significantly more expensive than Texas A&M

Texas A&M
Pros:

  • Full ride, my mom is happy that she would probably retire if I go here
  • Brown scholars gives lots of perks and benefits, I would be the “big fish”
  • TAMU has an awesome top ranked engineering program (probably even better than duke)
  • also great weather, and proximity to Houston and Austin & Texas area jobs

Cons:

  • Pro/con, would get to go on trip to Italy, however this would greatly disrupt my summer plans to go back to China and see relatives I haven’t seen in years
  • Not as prestigious overall, and I would kind of be locked into engineering which I’m not totally sure about
  • Don’t know if I would like TAMU rah rah culture
  • Not a huge fan of College Station itself, and kind of far from other outside opportunities (also I dread driving in Texas)
  • Smaller pool of amazing peers? (Brown scholars I’ve met have all been great though)

Is Duke the right decision? Should I try to jump ship?? I’ve also thought about maybe doing Duke’s gap year program to just try and figure things out and see what I’m truly passionate about and that would be a really nice opportunity too

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Committing to a school doesn’t have to happen until their deadline - so if you enrolled at one and changed your mind, yes you can back out. But if you made a non refundable admission and /or housing deposit, you’re unlikely to recover them. But that’s a small price.

if you decide against a school you committed to, make sure that you don’t just cancel your admission but your housing contract too. Sometimes it’s two separate things - cancelling one doesn’t cancel the other.

Congrats on your acceptances.

Going away to college could be scary so it’s natural to get cold feet.

As for your Duke con, will income change - like it goes way up? If you have a feeling you did something wrong, it seems to me it’d have been caught before you got the offer. But if you’re that worried, make an appointment (have you mom) and go through your CSS with them line by line to assure accuracy. Of course, you might open up a can of worm…but it’s like you have a premonition that something is off…I wouldn’t do it but if it makes you happy.

As for A&M - if $40K is enough to allow your mom retire - well she’s your mom - so if you want to give her that - I get it!! When you say full ride you’re including room and board? And you don’t have to worry about the Duke need offer as you are.

As for engineering and rank - it’s overrated - sorry to say - if it were, for example MechE. You list other majors…but I wouldn’t worry about A&M.

Not sure about the Italy trip - is that through A&M? Otherwise why would the school choice impact your summer? And if it happens, you can always get to China later.

Also, since engineering has a 40-60% non completion rate depending on the study, there’s likely a path out of it - if you need to - but talk to the school and ask. Also note that A&M has secondary admissions - so you may not get the major you want. If you’re a Brown Scholar, it looks like you get guaranteed internships - that’s far better than any other school can offer - and where you go to school doesn’t matter (city vs. the sticks) - but in this case they are providing you employment if I read it right. Programs like this are outstanding - and it’s a huge win!!

Is Duke the right decision?

If you love mom and want her to retire - no!! But if mom wants you to go, then great.

But the reason not to go - prestige. The reason to go is that it’s the right fit.

But the full ride will allow them to save money for other things - including your grad school or helping you later in life - so that’s something to think about.

Really - you can’t go wrong - Duke or A&M but not just A&M, a prestigious cohort at A&M.

My daughter is in a like type program at a lesser school (and in a social scienc) - and she loves all the enrichment - but everyone is different.

As for a gap year - why? Why would you know in a year what you definite want? Few 18 year olds know what they want…thats’ why so many kids change majors and that’s why you take classes in many areas.

There’s no wrong decision here - but I think the A&M program, with assured internships, is a really strong opportunity.

Best of luck.

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Tough decision.

Texas A&M has a well established club for International Students (ISA = International Students Association) which you might find to be of interest whether or not you are classified as an international student.

You can attend Duke for grad school.

Duke has a top ranked program in BME.

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I am a little confused by your post. You say your parents saved enough for you to go 4 years at full pay for an expensive school, you got a better deal than expected…BUT…going to Duke would prevent your mother from retiring when she would like to retire.

If you could afford it, of course you should choose Duke, but I don’t think you can afford it without harming your family.

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no, she would be able to retire normally but just if i don’t go to duke she’d be able to retire early off of my college money if that makes sense

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she’s just been fed up with work and kind of wants to quit and if i don’t go to duke she’d be able to vs if i do she’d have to work until normal retirement age

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thanks so much!! yeah, for financial aid we are just worried that we didn’t report some of my stepdads assets as we thought they were exempt but now we are not sure if we did actually have to report them and it might have a somewhat significant effect on my aid depending on whether or not duke actually considers the assets in the calculation

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  • Full ride, my mom is happy that she would probably retire if I go here…

Enough said. Enjoy A&M. Plus your worried about “Fit” for Duke. That tells me all I need to know.

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However, be aware that secondary admission to major (ETAM) may be very competitive for some majors at Texas A&M (most notably CS, but some engineering majors like mechanical and biomedical engineering may be competitive for students who do not meet the 3.75 college GPA for automatic admission to major).

Look through the ETAM threads in the Texas A&M forum section.

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You have presented some strong academic reasons to attend Duke, partly relating to curricular flexibility. If your family ultimately endorses this choice, then it seems you would take full advantage of what is offered there. Ostensibly, this could enhance your prospects in the deeper future as well.

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Adding in the guaranteed internships…if you get all this, it seems very compelling vs. any school:

Beginning with the freshman class enrolled for fall 2020, the Brown Foundation will award additional graduate scholarships and offer unique summer internships combined with its four-year undergraduate Brown Foundation Scholarship which can include:

  • EnMed Scholarship (joint program awarding M.D./Master in Engineering degrees, four year scholarship)
  • Houston Methodist Research Institute Summer Internship (ten-week research opportunity)
  • Global Summer Internship Scholarship with Bray International, Inc.
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