Financial Aid - RPI vs. UCSD

rhandco
Sun, 01 Feb 2015 14:54:34 +0000

RPI has no disclaimer in their acceptance letter about maintaining a GPA.

RPI was not flexible with award money for my son, even though it was based solely on his SAT score in the NPC, the FA office flat out said “oh, the NPC shows both merit and loans together” which is bull based on what it says.

But to be honest, my son’s award is that listed for the Rensselaer Medal, even though he did not win it, and I’ve never heard of them giving half- or full-tuition merit. Expecting more than $15,000 per year of merit aid from RPI would not make sense.

The big difference is probably that RPI has a huge ratio of guys to girls 70%/30%, I can’t imagine it would be the same thing at UCSD.

As for UCSD not letting people transfer, there are certainly colleges that do not allow that, or at least not easily (read: parents have to pay for another year). Call them on Monday and flat out ask about an undeclared major transferring.

And you say you are accepted to both? Either you are an athlete and got an RD decision early, or you were ED2 at RPI. In that case, you really can’t quibble over a small difference, you must take RPI’s offer.