<p>So, somehow, I got accepted into some pretty awesome schools. However, after reviewing my financial aid packages, I have narrowed it down to either Harvard who gave me 20k in aid, Penn Fisher M&T Program which gave me nothing, Princeton (no finaid), or Columbia (also no finaid). To be honest, I didn’t get any financial aid from any of the mentioned universities except Harvard >.></p>
<p>So we are applying a trip to the Northeast to visit these colleges since I never have visited them yet. </p>
<p>Based on your experience with summer college trips, which route do you recommend is the best? We will be leaving probably Wednesday April 20th, and will have our road trip all the way until Monday or Tuesday, or maybe Sunday. </p>
<p>I was thinking Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, and then Penn… do you suggest another route? We’ll probably rent a car or take a train or something… in addition, what sites do you recommend that we can visit at those states?</p>
<p>Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Edit: I am not 100% yet sure what I want to study. However, I am strongly learning towards business/finance, but I’m not sure about it. Wharton is perfect for business, but I have no financial aid from Penn, and if by fluke I find out I dislike business, then I’m kind of screwed…</p>
<p>Thanks for asking! I’m interested in business/finance, but I’m not 100% sure. If I go to Harvard, I think will major in Economics with a minor in statistics or mathematical sciences. </p>
<p>Columbia gave me no finaid, but I was accepted and chosen as a Davis Scholar for SEAS.
Princeton has an awesome financial engineering program and I can take a bunch of certificate courses if I wanted to. Ugh, so hard to decide!</p>
<p>Are you flying into Boston? If you rent a car get a GPS navigator with it, it is hard to find your way around in Boston and you might need help locating the other schools also. Maybe you know this but each school has an opportunity to take part of a tour group and attend an informational interview. Do it, they are well worth the time for the information you will receive.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You are very modest. Your admission results are most likely a result of your accomplishments.</p>
<p>Perhaps I am wrong, but I thought Harvard and Princeton were typically equally generous with financial aid. If so, that might be worth looking into.</p>
<p>@Simba, yes fisher is management+engineering, but I’m so sure I want to do engineering lol</p>
<p>@Pea, for some darn reason, all the colleges have their preview days that conflict with my other plans. Therefore, I have to plan an alternate date to travel.</p>
<p>@1moremom: Princeton gave me no financial aid. However, if Princeton were to match Harvard’s aid, are they legally able to “screw me over” my sophomore year and offer me no aid once they have “locked me in”?</p>
<p>Why don’t you pose these questions over on the financial aid forum? I’m no expert, but some of the posters there are. I could be wrong about Princeton. (When my son was an undergrad Harvard matched MIT’s offer and it held steady (or improved) each year.)</p>
<p>I’m not talking about preview days, we were there on random days in the summer and tours and information sessions were available at all the schools we visited.</p>
<p>The award from Harvard is need-based so you can take that award to any of the other institutions you were admitted to and see if they’ll match it. It isn’t uncommon to do that and it isn’t uncommon for them to increase their award based on the assessment of a similar school. I can’t speak to what they’ll do your sophomore year, but these schools are not in the business of “screwing over their students once they have them locked in” (your words).</p>
<p>Given that the institution that’s arguably the most prestigious has also given you the most aid, I would definitely call the other places and ask if they are able to match Harvard’s offer. I don’t think it matters much if you make the trip N to S or vice versa. Or even fly to NY visit Princeton and Penn via train and then either fly or take the train to Boston. Harvard will give you a great entree to business and finance, but the other schools aren’t slouches in that department either. So I’d definitely see if they will cough up the money so that you can make your choices based on what you like and not just on the money.</p>
<p>The train is a good way to get from NYC to Boston. Once you get to Boston, you can use cabs/public transport. Driving in the area around Harvard (and parking) can be a big pain. It is slower than plane, but you avoid the long TSA lines.</p>
<p>Boston to Philly on the Metroliner is between 5-6 hours, so easily doable. There is a stop near Princeton where you take a “smaller” train directly to Princeton. My recollection is that NYC to Princeton was about an hour.</p>
<p>You could start in Boston, realize what a great school Harvard is, and avoid the wasted time of looking at lesser schools (jk). Or you could start at Penn and see what financial aid offers you get before ending up at Harvard. I believe that Penn and Columbia do not use the same need-based aid formulas that Harvard does, and I’m not sure if Princeton does either. FWIW, one of my son’s friends appealed for FA to Princeton and he wasn’t given anything (so he went to USC on a full tuition merit scholarship).</p>
<p>Knowing something about Harvard FA, I suspect that if Harvard gave you $20K in FA, you will not get anything from the other three.</p>
Therefore, I have to plan an alternate date to travel.</p>