<p>Which is better, Emory with a full merit ride or Yale with 2/3 financial aid?</p>
<p>Too close to call. </p>
<p>How much will the extra ~15K at Yale hurt your family, and how much more does your kid want Yale? Planning on Grad school? Special opportunities at Emory? Either decision could be right.</p>
<p>Great choice!!</p>
<p>60k more for Yale? Depends on your family. What else came with the Emory full ride? 60k is a year of medical school, a year learning to paint on the south coast of France (with money left over), four trips to Europe, and one around the world. Downpayment on a good-size house. Of course, if you’ve got money for all those things, it doesn’t matter in the least.</p>
<p>mini, I love your “practical equivalents” examples whenever these cost tradeoff discussions come up. I’ve noticed that you vary the examples quite a bit, although they have at least one common theme among them - arts expeditions in Europe. </p>
<p>“Make it real, compared to what!” (Chambers Brothers) That’s what I’m talkin’ about! (Dogma)</p>
<p>How about an entomology expedition off the coast of Madagascar? ;)</p>
<p>Unless you want to be a lawyer go to Emory. Being an Emory Scholar (w/ full tuition) is just as prestigious as Yale, especially since it means you’ll be in the top of your class, which is less of a given at Yale.</p>
<p>It really depends on your family’s financial situation.</p>
<p>You won’t be the first, val at large public high school here took the Emory Scholar a couple of years ago, over Harvard or Yale, can’t remember which.
Much was made of this in the local and, actually national media, long story, but much of her family’s situation was made public. Her parents combined income was around $100K, and the full ride tuition was just too good of a deal.
A tough, but good choice to have.</p>
<p>jkh411 is right about the Emory Scholars being well regarded - 3 of the 5 winners of post-grad years abroad last year at Emory were from the Emory Scholars program. Even though the Scholars blend in with everyone else, it still provides recognition and an automatic acceptance from faculty members. Emory also emphasizes research and there are more opportunities offered for Emory Scholars.</p>
<p>My son liked Emory and was favorably impressed by the Scholars Program. He thought that the students were very friendly and it was reasonably diverse, but that the campus feel was a bit too laid back for his taste. As long as your S/D is fine with the Emory atmosphere, he/she would probably have a wonderful four years and benefit from starting at the top of the heap. </p>
<p>You can also compare the relative merits of the departments within his/her area of interest for depth, ranking, and special opportunities.</p>
<p>Did you send in two deposits? Just curious.</p>
<p>What about USC School of Cinema-Television (Highly selective) over a highly-ranked LAC in the northeast? One with a major scholarship (USC) the other without. D thinks she wants to be in film eventually but not sure. Money not an object but is a consideration. I don’t know what these scholarships mean down the road - applying for grad schools, etc - as we are not from the States.</p>
<p>LACs are fine - many wonderful places. But if your d. really thinks there is a career in film, and has a scholarship to one of the best film programs in the U.S. (which shows she was already one of the most highly sought-after students), I don’t think that is even a close call (even without the money.) The only reason I can think of to turn it down is if she is pretty convinced that cinema/film is not a future direction.</p>
<p>Son had exactly the same choice this year- USC with Trustees scholarship vrs Dartmouth with much smaller financial package. He chose USC for many reasons- wasn’t really a good fit with the frat party/ drinking scene, depth of the particular programs he was interested at USC [not film but other programs USC is noted for on the west coast], small class sizes in Thematic Options program, better weather all year round & Scholarship $$$ which was just too good to pass up.</p>
<p>Meant to say the frat party scene at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>A friend’s daughter recently graduated from the film program at USC and it seems to have opened many many doors to her immediately after graduation. Sounds like a wonderful program.</p>
<p>Who knew that strangers could provide such great advice? Thanks to all who replied. There is a calmness in the house now that the final decision was reached at the end of last week. My d is going to USC after realizing that it really is an amazing opportunity to get into the film school and to get a scholarship. Well, she wasn’t really certain but in the end she viewed it as objectively as a 17 year old could. We explained that the LAC would be there if she wasn’t happy after the first year but it might not work the other way around. And then there is the surfing!</p>