<p>I have been accepted to nine schools, and right now, I am torn between the University of Virginia, Princeton, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie Mellon. Vanderbilt and the University of Virginia have offered me full tuition scholarships. I am planning on studying electrical engineering.
My dilemma is whether or not going to a school like Princeton is worth the extra cost, loans, and financial aid headache that would ensue, just for a name on my diploma. I love all of the schools I have been accepted to, and would be happy at any of them.</p>
<p>Does the name of the school matter that much?</p>
<p>Only you can answer how much the “name” of the school matters to you. In terms of future employment – yes, having a Princeton degree will open doors for you, but I believe there have been studies done showing that it’s where you applied to college – not even where you got accepted, or enrolled – that best predicts your future success. Talented people are talented.</p>
<p>Also, only you / your family can determine how much of a financial burden Princeton would be, unfortunately. (Theoretically you shouldn’t need loans, but I know that if you fall near that awkward line close to the cutoff it can be difficult.) </p>
<p>I mean, I love Princeton, but it’s not some sort of divine place that’s infinitely better than anywhere else. And yes to some (unknowable) degree it will help with your future employment prospects – but your other choices are also great schools. (I think Carnegie Melon in particular is really strong job-placement-wise if you’re worried about that.) If you really like the other schools and don’t have a compelling reason to choose Princeton…then you’ll probably be fine wherever you go.</p>
<p>Do not select a university based on the name. Select a university based on the education you will receive, the professors that will teach your courses, the interaction you will have with other students, and the facilities to teach science and engineering. </p>
<p>While UVa and Vanderbilt are quality universities I would personally select between CMU and Princeton for EE. One example of the quality of the Princeton EE department is Daniel C. Tsui, Professor of Electrical Engineering Emeritus winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize. There are about one dozen other members of the faculty that have recently won a Nobel prize. </p>
<p>Princeton is a very diverse university. 47 percent of the admitted students have self-identified as people of color, including biracial or multiracial students. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education recently ranked Princeton third among leading universities for African-American students. Princeton was also ranked by Hispanic Magazine (March 2008) as the best school for Hispanics in the group of 25 leading national universities surveyed. Princeton is committed to attracting a diverse student body. The publicity of Sonia Sotomayor ’76 [Sotomayor</a> ?76 speaks on personal history - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2011/05/02/28491/]Sotomayor”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2011/05/02/28491/) and Michelle Obama '85 may has increased minority student interest in Princeton. Princeton has several programs such as PSURE [PSURE</a> -*The Graduate School - Princeton University](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/gradschool/diversity/prospective_students/summer/]PSURE”>http://www.princeton.edu/gradschool/diversity/prospective_students/summer/) and the Princeton Prize [Princeton</a> Prize in Race Relations - Princeton Prize in Race Relations](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/pprize/]Princeton”>Princeton Prize in Race Relations) that demonstrate an ongoing commitment to a diverse university where there is mutual respect among all the students.</p>
<p>For the accepted engineering class 44.4 percent of those students are women. Many women STEM majors find that Princeton’s strength in the liberal arts and the creative arts makes the university a great place to receive a STEM education. Shirley Tilghman, the president of Princeton, a molecular biologist is committed to supporting women studying STEM. </p>
<p>The Electrical Engineering program, started in 1889 as one of the first in the United States has research programs in the basic physics of semiconductors; electronic and optical devices; the design of computers; and algorithms and structures for information and biological technologies. Princeton is one of seven universities designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research. This program provides funding, internships, and jobs in cybersecurity research.</p>
<p>Visit during Princeton Preview and decide for yourself.</p>
<p>If you post your key concerns or priorities we may be better able to answer your questions.</p>
<p>I’m a Princeton graduate, but can’t see passing up a full tuition offer from a school with a reputation as strong as Vanderbilt’s if you have to pay the full boat at Princeton (you didn’t post if Princeton is offering you any financial aid, so I’m assuming that you have been offered no aid). I haven’t looked up Vanderbilt’s costs, but I’m guessing that it will cost you only about $10,000 per year to go go there. That’s an incredible savings, and the school you’ll be attending has a strong national reputation.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your comments and advice. Here’s a little more about me. I’m female and AA. We live in a high cost area and my parents are mid. income making less than 190k gross. Princ. offered some aid but my parents EFC is around 40K. My contribution is around 3K (which I’m happy to do along with working every summer). Also, I would need to take out a loan each year (max is 5.5k) and my parents will need to take out loans also. I have some college money saved but not nearly enough for Princeton. With Vandy, no FA hassle every year, all scholarship money earned is applied towrds Rm and Board without reducing award for tuition for 4 years. Vandy is a good distance away so transport costs is high. </p>
<p>Love both schools, but Vandy kids are more conservative even though the school seems to be trying to set a more inclusive tone. Love the friendly people. Princeton is closer, people are nice – but just a different type of environment altogether.</p>
<p>Princeton will give your parents a loan for up to your total EFC over a 14 year term. They can choose the fixed rate or the variable. The variable has been less than 2% for several years.</p>
<p>The Vandy and UVA scholarships would be hard to pass up, but the Princeton parent loan deal can’t be beat.</p>
<p>This doesn’t sound right. So anyone at all who applies to HYP (even if it’s an extreme long shot) will be as successful as someone who attended HYP? I think you meant if you’re capable of getting in (for instance, if you had a 2300 and other qualifications but decided to attend a “lesser” school) if won’t affect your success later in life.</p>
<p>As for OP, this decision should entirely be based off of which school is a better fit for you. the only way to see this is through talking to alumni, visiting, attending admitted students days/weekends, etc.</p>
<p>Winning admission to an elite school is imagined to be a golden passport to success; for bright students, failing to do so is seen as a major life setback. But what if the basis for all this stress and disappointment—the idea that getting into an elite college makes a big difference in life—is wrong? What if it turns out that going to the “highest ranked” school hardly matters at all?</p>
<p>The researchers Alan Krueger and Stacy Berg Dale began investigating this question, and in 1999 produced a study that dropped a bomb on the notion of elite-college attendance as essential to success later in life.</p>
<p>Krueger, a Princeton economist, and Dale, affiliated with the Andrew Mellon Foundation, began by comparing students who entered Ivy League and similar schools in 1976 with students who entered less prestigious colleges the same year. Krueger and Dale studied what happened to students who were accepted at an Ivy or a similar institution, but chose instead to attend a less sexy, “moderately selective” school. It turned out that such students had, on average, the same income twenty years later as graduates of the elite colleges.</p>
<p>In terms of students who went on to interesting or prominent lives, Colorado College may have done just as well in this period as Columbia or Cornell or any other Gotta-Get-In destination. </p>
<p>Fundamental to that shift has been a steady improvement in the educational quality of non-elite schools. Many college officials I interviewed said approximately the same thing: that a generation or two ago it really was a setback if a top student didn’t get admitted to an Ivy or one of a few other elite destinations, because only a small number of places were offering a truly first-rate education. But since then the non-elites have improved dramatically.</p>
<p>There is one group of students that even Krueger and Dale found benefited significantly from attending elite schools: those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Kids from poor families seem to profit from exposure to Amherst or Northwestern much more than kids from well-off families. Why? One possible answer is that they learn sociological cues and customs to which they have not been exposed before.</p>
<p>^^ That’s correct. But the study does answer the OP’s question:</p>
<p>“My dilemma is whether or not going to a school like Princeton is worth the extra cost, loans, and financial aid headache that would ensue, just for a name on my diploma.”</p>
<p>OP: No, according to the study, it doesn’t matter if you choose The University of Virginia, Princeton, Vanderbilt, or Carnegie Mellon. Pick the school that offers you the best financial aid and the one that feels like the best fit.</p>
<p>A few of my friends were able to substantially lower their EFC by going to admissions and the finaid department and saying something along the lines of “I really want to come here, but I have these offers from these places, and my family isn’t in a position to turn them down.” Princeton wants you. If you want Princeton, then she has money coming out of her ears to accommodate.</p>
<p>We did visit FA and made it clear, however, they also made it clear that they don’t match non-ivies. I did get into another great Ivy, but P is more suitable for me. It’s hard.</p>
<p>Princeton, and all the Ivies, are bound by the athletic rules of the Ivy League Conference, which stipulate that all students – athletes and non athletes – only be given need-based aid calculated on the same institutional formula. (The need-based formula can differ from one Ivy to another, but within each school, all students must be treated equally. This prevents a school from recruiting athletes by giving them gobs of money.) That’s why Princeton cannot match an offer from a non-Ivy. They cannot offer you the merit aid given by Vanderbilt and the University of Virginia.</p>
<p>Thanks Gibby. We already know those things you pointed out about the Ivies. Again, my issue is with cost for my family versus prestige. For me, it’s a matter of do I want to get the “prize” of Princeton and incur large debt for me and my family, or do I go to another great school, but not equal in culture and maybe for now not the same prize. </p>
<p>I have some soul searching to do. Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>Thinking “do I want to get the prize” is really not the best approach to selecting a college. You need to think longer term. These days an undergraduate degree will only take you so far. I don’t know the percentages, but how many electrical engineers go on to graduate school? That costs a bundle!</p>
<p>Admission to graduate school and the financing of graduate school is different from undergraduate school. Excluding law & business schools admission to grad school is often based on your research potential. PhD programs want to attract students that demonstrate that they can conduct original research. Doing an independent research project or writing a thesis is a way to show your research potential to a graduate EE department. </p>
<p>Most of the best graduate programs in engineering offer fellowships or teaching assistant-ships which will cover most of the cost. From the MIT web site: “Graduate students usually receive a fellowship or traineeship from their academic departments (an award that covers tuition, partially or fully, and provides a stipend to help defray living expenses).” </p>
<p>Research the fellowships and grants of grad schools. I think that you will find that the best EE grad programs have funding for students. If so, then the question becomes how to be admitted to the best EE grad programs.</p>
<p>It’s only “worth it” if it’s “worth it” to you! It was for me; keep in mind that a lot (or most?) kids who go to Princeton are turning down great offers or full rides elsewhere. </p>
<p>BUT there are also PLENTY of people who turn down Ivy League schools for full rides elsewhere! That’s a totally sound reason to choose a college. Princeton had my heart and soul in high school, but if I had been any less invested I would have seriously considered those other offers. There’s no right or wrong here, it’s all about what’s important to you. Good luck!</p>
And yes to some (unknowable) degree it will help with your future employment prospects – but your other choices are also great schools. (I think Carnegie Melon in particular is really strong job-placement-wise if you’re worried about that.) If you really like the other schools and don’t have a compelling reason to choose Princeton…then you’ll probably be fine wherever you go.</p>