Is a top school worth it?

tetrishead
Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:12:44 +0000

Undergraduate debt is worth it if you know what you want to do when you leave school. I’d generally say you’re better off for two years at a school giving you a fair amount of aid (either merit or it’s a state school with reduced tuition), assuming it’s a high-quality school and you can keep your GPA up, then transferring into the ‘elite’ of your choice for your junior and senior years.

I’m in a different situation than you are, and because of that I think Malishka’s advice is a little better for your situation than mine would be. If you’re a little ambivalent about the job or the quality of job you want out of school, then you should absolutely do everything you can to minimize debt and maximize the quality of education- even if that doesn’t mean a brand name (the Ivies are known for grade inflation, and you’d be surprised how stupid some people are at the big three).

I think there’s a question you kind of have to ask yourself. Looking at the schools on your list, whatever they may be, and looking at your academic capabilities, whatever they may be, do you believe that you are (1) good enough academically and that (2) the school you’d attend has enough merit money for you to get close to a full-ride in your second year? It’s dependent on a lot of factors. Plenty of schools won’t give you merit money even if you come out of your first year with a 3.8, and some will give you plenty for a 3.4. If you think, for one reason or another, that you’re capable of going to ‘top school’ and that you are capable of excelling and the top school is willing to provide you with merit aid coming into your second year, then it might be worth the hit in the first year.

In general, though, I think there are too many unknown variables to really say what you should do. In response to Malishka, a large amount of employers will pay for an MBA- especially in banking and consulting. There are also certain fields where it’s fairly easy to get a masters/doctorate + stipend that ends up giving you a solid yearly salary because they’re fields that are underpopulated or fields that schools are willing to spend money on to get the best candidates (cs is a good example).

There aren’t a lot of schools that are going to cost 50k a year. If you’re looking at Ivies/top schools, the aid packages might be better than you’re expecting, especially with the recent push to slash tuition by Harvard that’s resulted in responses by Yale, Tufts, Chicago, etc. All in all I’d say keep your options open and wait until you get aid packages before you make any decisions.