I am debating on whether to attend University of Rochester, Penn State- Schreyer Honors College, or Binghamton.
So far this is what I have on each…
University of Rochester:
Dean Scholarship: $9,000/yr
Total Cost (NOT including financial aid+scholarships): $69,926/yr
Pros
most selective college out of the three
research college (pro bc I want to go into STEM field)
nice college town (many things to do around)
Campus VERY pretty
Cons
most expensive college out of the three
not well known by most people (so is the price really worth it?)
Penn State- Schreyer Honors College:
Academic Excellence Scholarship: $4,500/yr (contingent on me keeping a 3.4< GPA)
Total Cost (NOT including financial aid+scholarships): $50,870/yr
Pros
selective program
benefits from being in honors college (priority registration and housing, money easily available for research)
fun college so Ill never get bored (D1 sports, party college, college town)
well known school (connections)
pretty campus
large school
school pride
activities
Cons
not a very selective school (Penn State in general)
even though I am taking separate rigorous courses (honors level) away from the rest of the college, im afraid that employers won’t value the prestige of the program bc they will just look at the name of the college
Binghamton:
Total Cost (NOT including financial aid+scholarships): $24,861/yr
Pros
price of school
dorms are the best out of the 3 schools
somewhat a selective school
Cons
many people I don’t like are going to be going there next year
What is the total cost INCLUDING financial aid and scholarships? What can your family comfortably afford (without hardship/loans)? What do you want to study? Would saving money for undergrad help for any grad school you think you want?
“How well known” the average person on the street thinks the school is is irrelevant. U Rochester is an excellent school and anybody whose opinion actually matters in the future will either know that or be able to figure it out if it matters to them. What matters – assuming you can afford it in the first place – is what opportunities it offers you.
And whether those opportunities offset the price differential. Or not. Which they might not.
And yes, look at FULL cost of attendance, including room, board and transportation.
And most employers care about you can DO, not the name of the school you attended.
URochester offers the attributes you listed, and offers the most diverse student body. By selectivity, UR appears to be up there (http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9). As to its name recognition, that will be a function of several factors, and may depend on whether someone knows of colleges primarily through sports or academics.
Im under the impression that undergrad doesn’t matter when applying to jobs bc all they care about is where u went to grad school. Soooo wouldn’t it make more sense to just go to the cheapest option (Penn State Honors) for under grad? What do you guys think???
The name of your undergraduate college may not always matter in the above scenario, but the education and other opportunities you experienced there could – particularly since your next four years will constitute an especially impressionable period of your early adulthood.
If you TRULY have no budget * then instead say either UR or Penn state Schreyer.
BTW, Schreyer is considered extremely prestigious (top 10 honors college nationally) and Penn State itself has an excellent reputation with employers and grad schools. So don’t pick based on reputation.
UR is going to be more academic all-around. The students will be homogeneously stronger and you won’t find any ‘easy’ class. Some of the classes you’d take in Schreyer would be larger at UR but classes outside Schreyer would be larger at PSU. At UR you’ll have 100% challenging classes, at Penn state you’ll be able to dose/balance your schedule 60-40 or 80-20, so it depends on the level of intensity you’re looking for. Penn State will be bigger on football obviously so if cheering matters to you it’s a plus, if you don’t want to ever hear about football it’s a minus.
“No budget” is not the same thing as “price difference doesn’t matter.”
If the most expensive school is going to cost over $100,000 more than the cheapest school over the course of four years, you might want to carefully assess the value of that difference. Because that money’s not going to be available for something else down the line (take a quick look at the cost of elder care, for example).
But fit/suitability does matter for how the next four years go, so look at ALL the factors. If it were me, and I had reasonable confidence that the cost difference was not going to cause serious pain to my family down the line I might well choose UR over the other two, because of the overall more academic feel of the place, and the fact that a big school with a big sports culture is a poor fit for me.
But it might not be a poor fit for you, which might argue for Schreyer.
Lots of stats and info available on each school. Take a look at the things that matter to YOU.
Agree completely with above two posts. You need to assess with your parents the difference in price as well as what you are looking for in a school. If money was a total non-issue then the decision moves to finding the best fit. Fit is a personal decision – people could very reasonably choose different schools given the same fact situation. I would probably choose URochester for its size and academics. SUNY Binghamton is a good option at a lower price. But if you are looking for an honors program within that big-college experience, big time sports, Greek Life etc. then Penn State may be the best fit for you.
When I say that we don’t have a budget, I mean that if the school is really worth it in the long run we are willing to pay the extra cost. But, if there is a small difference then there is really no point in paying the 40K extra. Which one do you think is the most “worth it” for the price? @happy1@porcupine98@MYOS1634
Im leaning towards Penn State because it has everything I want in a school, but I don’t know if I want to pass up the opportunity to go to a better overall school like University of Rochester. Will the academic level of University Rochester be better for me than Penn State honors? Idk man…
First, make sure your parents can afford Rochester and Penn State without taking on debt for you.
Second, only you can decide which environment is the best for you.
Are you invited to Admitted Student Day? Can you organize a trip after contacting admissions at Rochester and Schreyer at Penn State, so that our can attend a first year English class at both and one class in your favorite subject, meet with current students, visit the dorms, science labs, and the library …? This way you’d have objective elements of comparison and you could seize on the more subjective elements.
BTW try to organize that asap as many students would be in finals mode from mid April.
@cooollegebound - My best GUESS for you is Schreyer. Reading between the lines, it seems to be where your instincts are taking you, and that you just think you SHOULD want UR more. But there’s no "should* so long as the financials work and you’ll get the education you seek.
@MYOS1634’s advice is good. Either you’ll learn that you do, in fact, actively prefer UR (no should, just want), or you’ll make your decision for Schreyer with increased confidence. Or you’ll decide, Bing is a worthy bargain.
OP, there is no answer as to “most worth it” for the price.
You can have a splendid career and education from all your choices. Its hard to chose but don’t get in to the mindset that there is an absolute right answer.
