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

Rachrach1
Sun, 07 Apr 2024 04:46:55 +0000

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