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<p>I see you didn’t list athletics. For many people, this is a huge deciding factor, and UNC easily has the best athletic tradition of the four listed. </p>
<p>To me, ranking overall undergraduate quality of life, balancing academics, athletics, and social scene, would result in UNC>>UVa>>Emory>>WashU.</p>
<p>^ I think we have just demonstrated a little thing known as subjectivity.</p>
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<p>Indeed. For someone who wants to go to a school with a strong athletic tradition, my list makes more sense. For someone who just wants to go to a great school and doesn’t place much importance on the whole college sports scene, your rankings are better. That’s the beauty of CC-plenty of educated opinions to go off of.</p>
<p>Alright, this is a bigtime bump, along with an update.</p>
<p>I’ve more or less narrowed my choices down to three: Washington U in St. Louis, UNC Chapel Hill, and Baylor University, my financial safety. Respectively, they would cost roughly $50,000, $30,000, and $2,000 for my 2010-2011 academic year when I factor in all external scholarships – none of the schools offered me need-based grants. My parents are capable of paying the full amount over time – meaning some major long-term loans for them – but I’m really hesitant to put that much stress on them. In an ideal world, I would love to go to WashU – I visited for an all-expenses-paid trip in the fall and really enjoyed my experience there. If my parents and I work it out that they’re willing to pay a significant amount of money, but not the entire amount WashU would cost, I’d also love to go to UNC – I visited on a school-sponsored college trip and enjoyed my tour then, too. And, for that matter, I’d also enjoy going to my safety school (after all, that was why I chose it as my safety), and I’d also have opportunities from being in the Baylor Honors College (priority registration, more interaction with profs, etc.). I’m having a tough time weighing these options… I feel like ultimately Baylor is the best choice, because I am more or less confident that I want to go to graduate/professional school and that would be the cheapest route.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Hmm, I have no clue why you ditched Emory… but I would choose Wash U.</p>
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<p>In short, it costs roughly the same as WashU, but I would rather go to WashU for an overall better college experience, in my opinion. I definitely think Atlanta trumps St. Louis, but a college is worth more than its home city.</p>
<p>Interesting… what makes you say that Wash U. offers a vetter overall college experience… surely you have other reasons for the simple fact that its ranked couple of spots higher than Emory… I am assuming you are not using that reasoning because Emory is ranked ahead of UNC but you are still considering UNC. Anyways, good luck.</p>
<p>“surely you have other reasons for the simple fact that its ranked couple of spots higher than Emory…”</p>
<p>He doesn’t–which is why he refers to himself as an “Ivy League reject.” Not even a Harvard/Yale/Princeton/etc. reject, but a reject of this one grand and mysterious entity of utmost prestige.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d go for UVA.</p>
<p>A good bit of my rationale is actually irrational – it’s gut instinct. Again, I had a chance to visit WashU as part of a weekend event for prospective students, and I really enjoyed my time there. The facilities were fantastic, the students were friendly, and the teachers seemed engaged. I’ll confess that I didn’t have the same opportunity to experience life at Emory, but I didn’t get the same vibe on my tour as I did with WashU. In addition, I’m not particularly interested in the frat scene, and the drinking that goes with it, at Emory. So, ultimately, when I keep in mind that both the tuition and the level of academics at the two are comparable, I’d rather go to WashU. And for what it’s worth, in my opinion Emory has more name recognition than does WashU, even if WashU is “ranked higher.”</p>
<p>As for UNC, my “irrational logic” is similar to that I used above. Something clicked when I walked on campus - there just seemed to be an energy on campus that really attracted me to the school. Also, for what it’s worth, I had considered UVA for a long time, but even though the two are comparable on SO many levels (size, diversity, selectivity for OOS students, sports scene, etc.), I just had a better feeling driving away from UNC than I did from UVA. I wish I could be more articulate and more specific, but that’s just the way I felt. And, in my opinion, UVA is better ranked than UNC and has more name recognition, and for that matter probably even has better academics, but I feel like I could still earn a great education at UNC and enjoy it more than if I were at UVA anyway. Lol, and it’s even harder to say that about UVA because I got a likely letter from them! It hurts to turn that down…</p>
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<p>Thank you so very much for offering such constructive advice for me as I handle my dilemma. I’m glad you feel comfortable making uninformed assumptions about the factors involved in my college application process.</p>
<p>well, WashU is absolutely an equal education to any of the best educations you can get, however, you will get out of college what you put into it…and 200000 in loans sounds like an awful lot of debt, sad to say. :(</p>
<p>I stopped at this thread because we have a great number of tarheels in our family and UNC is just a fantastic all-around education. It is really the American college experience, incredible culture, alumni never stop loving that school for a reason, fantastic professors and when you get TA’s, top notch, as well…but, again, as much as I don’t want to say this, 120000 in debt for your parents seems steep…do you have siblings?</p>
<p>So, to Baylor…have you been offered the honors college? What other things are going on in that school for you? Tell me what you could love about being there? Make me a list of the pros to Baylor…be thorough and see what you can dig up…I think this would be helpful. Good luck to you. Also, love the screenname. :)</p>
<p>If you feel comfortable that your parents can afford it, UNC seems like a great choice. It yields little or nothing to Wash U/Emory in terms of quality, and is considerably less expensive. Baylor also looks like a good option, all things considered. If you do well at Baylor or UNC, there is no reason why you cannot gain admission to top-notch graduate schools, and save your parents a great deal of money in the process.</p>
<p>Based on costs, the academics of the schools and other factors, and what I have been reading here, the following should be the priorities:</p>
<ol>
<li>Baylor</li>
<li>Wash U</li>
<li>UNC</li>
</ol>
<p>Final bump, or so I would hope.</p>
<p>I’ve narrowed it down to Baylor and WashU.</p>
<p>Baylor:
COA (freshman year) = <$3,000 *
University Scholars / Honors College programs
Priority class registration, housing registration, etc.
Fantastic advising
“Big fish in a small pond”</p>
<p>WashU:
COA (freshman year) = >$50,000 *
St. Louis
World-renowned faculty
Superior graduate/professional school placement
Academically motivated peers</p>
<ul>
<li>For WashU, my parents tell me that we are eligible for a loan deferring all COA payments until after I graduate, which would leave ~$250,000-$300,000 in debt. The thing is that my parents’ income is >$300,000/year, so they claim they could (and would) be able to pay off that much in affordable chunks over time after I graduate. They can’t make the normal montly/yearly payments along the way because of current financial issues, but by the time I graduate they would be able to sort those problems out. The downside is that 1) they are currently 55 and 61 years old, so I hesitate to put them through that much of a burden, and 2) I think I may want to attend graduate or medical school (most likely immediately after I graduate from UG, and I would hope that I wouldn’t have to pay for that alone).</li>
</ul>
<p>Any more words of advice?</p>
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<p>Not to lend credence or anything, lol.</p>
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<p>Whoa. This changes the game. The debt you would have to incur at WashU is already sizable…add on top of that med school debt and you’re going to have a yoke of debt for quite some time. Baylor for sure–you can stand out as a star in the honors program, get first dibs on research opportunities, and attend WashU for med school, assuming you do well on your MCATs (though, honestly, I think state med school is a much smarter option).</p>
<p>All things considered, Emory, UNC, UVa and WUSTL are virtually identical in terms of quality and reputation. They each have their own little quirks and campus environment/culture, but they are equal. </p>
<p>As such, I would recommend you go for the option that meets your financial needs the most…and the school where you feel the most at home in. UNC seems to be the winner here.</p>
<p>This may not make you feel better, but back in my day, I applied to 11 universities in the US. I was admitted into 10 of them, 4 of which were members of Ivy League. My one and only rejection came from UNC. </p>
<p>PS: Should you know for a fact that you intend on going to Medical school, Baylor would probably be your best option.</p>
<p>I have to say Baylor hands down. A full ride is too much to pass up, you will excel there with maybe a bit less competition (although realistically pre med is competitive everywhere) and you will save that debt for Med School! </p>
<p>Plus it is less stress for everyone involved, especially the parents. You have a full ride to Baylor congrats! That is a tremendous accomplishment. Take it!</p>
<p>Choose baylor,
the full tuition is a huge advantage. The honors college is good, and I am sure you will excell there. Then you will be able to get into a very good grad school, and be able to pay for it.</p>
<p>If you went to washU, although it is a great school, then you would be heavily in debt for grad school.</p>
<p>This is a tough decision–but I have to say that if you really liked Baylor, the financial difference here is huge. One question: are there other kids in your family who will also need college educations/graduate school/help buying a house? If you’re an only child, then it might be more rational for your parents to invest in WashU if they choose to do so.</p>