Full Ride versus ivy

Marian
Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:23:16 +0000

If he were to go to a Ph.D. program post graduation, that would have been a good reason to take the Banneker scholarship. I know very well that the Ph.D. route can be very successfully managed by a big State U undergrad who are motivated to take advantage of the honor program offers. If my son wanted to become a Ph.D. economist in academia rather than an “unrepentant capitalist” (law-abiding, I hope), U MD as a full ride scholar would have been an excellent choice.



In my opinion, if the student plans on a Ph.D. program, that’s a good reason why it is NOT necessary to accept the full ride from Maryland. Students in Ph.D. programs are almost always self-supporting; they have teaching or research assistantships that cover their tuition and provide a stingy but usually adequate stipend for living expenses. It’s students who plan on graduate school that they have to pay for – such as law school – who have a good reason to choose the least expensive undergraduate college in order to save up the money for later use.