<p>megnut, if the kid likes Pitt, I say jump on it. Good point on the scholarship. In case you didn’t know, only 7% of incoming freshmen at Pitt get merit scholarships. They’re pretty special.</p>
<p>bluejay - $25 to $50k loans is not nearly so bad as $100k. That NY state contract college thing Cornell has going makes it a bargain if you can do that. What does your student want to do? If s/he is willing to do Stafford loans and work/study, you could also look into being an RA after freshman year and get free room and board and maybe a stipend. See what Cornell offers in that regard.</p>
<p>Regrets are a no, no. Whatever you decide, there are to be no regrets. If you decide to go to Cornell, I want you to jump in with both feet firmly planted in Ithaca and never look back. (just don’t jump off those bridges at the gorges!)</p>
<p>ps - this is a video of Barry Schwartz talking about decision making. He is a professor at Swarthmore who wrote “The Paradox of Choice”, which talks about how having too many choices makes us depressed. It’s at <a href=“http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/93[/url]”>http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/93</a>. Watch it and enjoy. Maybe it will help lighten the load.</p>