<p>IF offered Full 4 yr scholarship to a top 5 program versus paying $45K plus annually to attend top program in world (at an Ivy)…what would you do?</p>
<p>It depends, if I could comfortably afford to pay the $45k, not go into debt and not whine about it, then I would let kid attend wherever s/he wants.</p>
<p>If money is an issue, go with the free money and save the leftovers for grad school, travel, car, first home, etc.</p>
<p>Remember its going to be 180,000…or more…</p>
<p>What else would you spend the $200k on? (With 6% increases over four years, the last year will be well over $50k.) If you or your d. or s. had an additional $200k to spend on educational opportunities in addition the college studies, what would you spend it on?</p>
<p>If you decide on Ivy, just be clear about what you are buying for the additional $200k that you wouldn’t have preferred to spend in some other way.</p>
<p>Put it another way: what added value does the Ivy have over the other school (quantified) that couldn’t be made up for, educationally speaking, with $200k in cash?</p>
<p>(To me, or my kids, it would have been a non-starter - we don’t have $200k or anything close to it.)</p>
<p>Adding on to sybbie’s post, there’s other factors to think about. If someone’s headed to medical or law school, the money is best if saved. If someone has siblings headed to college, the money is best if saved.</p>
<p>considering it is a top 5 program, i would choose the scholarship, no question. that much student debt will be a horrible thing to deal with when you step out into the real world</p>
<p>If I’m correct about the two schools you’re looking at, they would offer very different college experiences. If money isn’t a big issue, I think you need to consider the fit. (It’s only going to be $200K if you won’t qualify for any need-based aid.)</p>
<p>Are we talking a top 5 program at a top 50 school, or a school in generalm that will offer something near an ivy experience?</p>
<p>Top 5 program but at a lower tiered school. What do you think an Ivy experience is?</p>
<p>Some of it has to do with the coursework outside of one’s major. DS is a freshman at an ivy. He is a math major, but has taken classes in Chinese, virgil and neurobiology. All of his classes have been outstanding; you can’t expect that at a lower tier school. More important to him, I think, are the other students. He is surrounded by students who are fully engaged, both in and out of class.</p>
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<p>Also included may be the 4 year residential dorm life experience.</p>
<p>elle…is that a “good thing” or a “bad thing”?</p>
<p>If the program offering the scholarship is a top 5 program, then the clear answer here is to go there. </p>
<p>What field is this? What schools are we talking about?</p>
<p>Hotel Management</p>
<p>So you’re deciding between one of the land grant colleges at Cornell and some other program that is supposedly top 5?</p>
<p>To be honest, Cornell is a great school and all, but I wouldn’t hold it in any kind of special regard because it’s an <em>IVY</em>. There are many schools as good or better than Cornell, and the prestige factor of attending an <em>IVY</em> would be somewhat diminished by studying hotel management. This isn’t like deciding between Princeton (which is most definitely <em>IVY</em>) and, say, UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>To me the ivy experience is about the peer group. Some low rated schools have programs rated at the top, usually in obscure majors ( entrepreneurship anyone), but you’re going to school with a very different peer group at the top 15 or so schools. If they money is available, I’d go to Cornell. For the rest of your life everyone you seek a job with anywhere in the world will know it as the top US hotel school. My mom’s friend has worked at the best hotels in NYC, Paris and London. What’s the liklihood the manager at the Savoy in London knows that low ranked U whatever has a top 5 program?</p>
<p>It’s not about the Ivy label. Cornell’s program is the one by which all others are measured. Beyond the program, school B can’t begin to compete. SAT scores of incoming freshman are 300 points (M+V) below those at Cornell; the quality of the courses will reflect that. Only 25% percent of freshman live on campus; 7% of all students. There’s no way to compare the two.</p>
<p>Actually, relative to other schools, Cornell’s school of hotel management is BETTER than the rest of the University. It is by far #1 in its field, unlike the rest of the school. Ivy has nothing to do with it. In hotel management, Cornell is reputed to be the best in the world.</p>
<p>mini, Cornell’s Hotel School is not better than the rest of the university. It may be better relative to its own field, but it’s not “better” than the school of engineering or arts and sciences, which has such prestigious majors as physics and math.</p>
<p>1moremom, if the difference is really that big, then maybe Cornell is the way to go. I go to UVA, and I really couldn’t fathom going anywhere much lower in the academic food chain.</p>
<p>“mini, Cornell’s Hotel School is not better than the rest of the university.”</p>
<p>Actually, as I said, tt is is better (actually, much better) RELATIVE to its competition. Cornell is head-and-shoulders above any other hotel school in the country; the same cannot be said of any other department at Cornell, as far as I am aware (all good/excellent - just not above its competition.)</p>