<p>I think the OP understands that many schools in the category her son is considering has economics as the major closest to business. Of the ivies, Cornell and Penn have strong business programs, and graduates from there do have opportunities in the business world. </p>
<p>As to which schools are worth what they are asking in cost, they get what the market will bear. What any of us individually consider is worth paying any amounts is truly a private opinion.</p>
<p>What sort of stats does your son have right now? Is he qualified for any National Merit awards? Is he in the top of his class, in a school that sends a lot of kids to top schools, and taking the most difficult course load there? Does he have any special “hooks”, such as legacy, URM status, first generation to college, recruited athlete, national recognition in an activity? An excellent book to read for those with ivy type aspirations is “What it Takes to Get into an Ivy League School”. Not new but still relevant, even more so these days with the competition even more keen. Written by a former admissions director at Princeton, I believe.</p>
<p>menloparkmom - congratulations on your son’s incredible accomplishments; and to think that he’s not dragging any college loans… good for him!</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the NMF scholarship thread tip. I just took a quick look, and it seems amazing that students are being offered an automatic full/half scholarship at so many colleges. I’ll make sure to review all the options mentioned.</p>
<p>I must say, however, that given our location (NJ) and our son’s wish to stay within driving distance from home (4 hours or so), I foresee some difficulties as most institutions on the list are not located within the aforementioned perimeter…</p>
<p>I understand wanting your child to be rewarded for their hard work in high school but that does not mean they get to set all the terms and you get to pick up the tab. Your child has to be willing to stretch themselves to make this work. You have three more children to usher through this process, you cannot max out your ability to take on debt with the first child. </p>
<p>My son applied to two Ivy League schools and was not accepted. He was accepted to a few highly ranked colleges. He just finished his freshman year at the college ranked, I believe, 70th on the USNEWs and World Report list. It was a school we had not heard of until checking out the National Merit schools here at College Confidential. He is going on a full tuition scholarship, we’re taking on no debt and we’re going to be able to help him with grad school. He’s happy, we’re happy. If we’d stuck to all his “wishes”, we’d not be in the fantastic position we are in today.</p>
<p>'Then enlarge the perimeter."
I totally agree!! this is not just about what he wants but also what you as a family can afford!! </p>
<p>And just remember that if your son decides to apply to USC[# 25 on USNWR and they do a have a great UG business school] he needs to complete his application by DEC 1 , and interview there if invited in early spring, in order to be considered for the Full tuition scholarship. If he is NMF and chooses USC as his first choice after acceptance, his 1/2 tuition is automatic. USC offers about 150 full tuition scholarships and 400 1/2 tuition scholarships each year.
He can still apply SCEA to other U’s as well as apply early to USC. DS’s house mate and good friend is from NJ and is there on a 1/2 tuition scholarship.He is going to Cambridge [ England] on a Churchill Fellowship[ only 14 are chosen in the US each year] and after that is studying for his PHD at Columbia</p>
<p>Many of our neighbors and folks in our community feel the same way you do. Those who can possibly do it are paying somehow for their kids’ educations at top price. Many are taking out loans so it is possible for their kids to do so. As to where one draws the line on the list of schools as to what is worth paying close to $60K a year, it varies greatly. </p>
<p>In the OP’s case, cost is not gong to the primary issue, and that is fine if all are on board with this. The reputation, selectivity and stats of the students are going to be prime determinants on what makes the college list. If the student is truly top flight academically, there is a good chance he will be accepted to a school that meets those criteria; it’s just a matter of how far down the list he will have to go on his choices. </p>
<p>My neighbor feels the same way, and has kids currently at Lehigh and Colgate, both excellent schools, and they are paying full freight for them. They are happy and the kids are doing very well.</p>
<p>Are you sure you won’t receive aid? Some of the ivies are extremely generous with “need based aid”–even if your income is in the $100-200K range. (One example: look at the Princeton website. . .I did their FA calculator and was very pleasantly surprised.)</p>
<p>The distance between the education to be had at the top privates and the honors colleges at the better state u’s is just not that great. Statistically, the students are virtually the same in SAT scores and GPAs. The main difference is in the average wealth of the student bodies. The opportunities offered to students at the honors colleges are fantastic, and a top student at a good state u. will get fantastic internships, mentoring, etc., often as good or better than the middling student (the SAME student) at a top private.</p>
<p>I think if the target is to get into Investment banking and if your DS get into the following in the order of preference then it’s worth the loan with in a reasonable limit.</p>
<p>I love it when a certain poster talks up their D’s school, over and over and over again. Maybe said poster has had a career change to IB? Nah…didn’t think so. </p>
<p>How is it being on the cheerleading squad? Are you a base or a mount?</p>
<p>^^^:What’s the purpose of the forum? To Know from fellow parent or students about the colleges their children or the student attend.</p>
<p>OP asked a question whether or not it’s worth taking loan for top colleges if the DS target is to get into I-Banking.</p>
<p>How come providing a detailed reasoning about why I think it’s worth taking some loan to get the advantages of MIT with regard to career in I-Banking is Cheerleading or talking up?</p>
<p>Did I made up anything? According to US News
MIT is #1
MIT is #2
MIT is #2
Check out the MIT base curriculum.
5 and 6. Check out the following link.</p>
<p>MIT is a fabulous school. The word on the “streets” is that it is best known for its initial mission “technology”. Certainly if the student wishes to include MIT on the list for IB, that is up to the student.</p>
<p>Reality check…MIT is NOT the school for every student or for EVERY major. It’s is an excellent place of higher education but is not the be all end all for every major it offers. And believe it or not, some students who visit the school actually do NOT like it. </p>
<p>If you are interested in IB, I suggest the student take the time to shadow someone IN that field and query them on school choices. Those working in the IB field would be very well suited to giving advice and information on how they recruit and potential school choices. </p>
<p>Any advice you get from someone outside of the field of IB should be taken with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I’m glad you mentioned you were in NJ. I think one of the most important things he should look into is the strength of the alumni connections for Wall St and related fields. Let’s face it - at a certain point, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Although my kids don’t attend these school, I have come to learn that the smaller Catholic schools like Fairfield, Holy Cross and Providence have extremely supportive alumni connections for internships and job placement in finance, etc. From what I understand from students who attend these schools it is a much more collegial atmosphere than, say Wharton. (Again, from a student who attends.) On the other hand, YMMV.</p>
<p>It is getting old about MIT. POIH is spamming around the IB forum about MIT. If his daughter wanted to go into IB, she would have been better off in going to Princeton.</p>
<p>This thread is about virtue of Ivy (which has been discussed to death), not about going into IB, or which school is better for IB. Not everyone wants to go into IB, but if anyone should ever wannt to, MIT would not be the school of choice.</p>
<p>If your son has the stats to be considered for Ivies/MIT/Stanford, he has the stats to be considered for very prestigious merit awards – UVA Jeff Scholars, UNC Robertson (think that is the name), Rutgers a fullride (including room/board) Presidential scholar, Carnegie Mellon, USC…etc. While Finance firms recruit heavily as indicated earlier, an applicant from other schools with one of these prestigious merit awards would also be a strong candidate. You have many options, do the research and good luck.</p>
<p>This thread has taken a turn to nastiness. I think the OP is mulling over the value of taking substantial debt to send son to a top school. The title of the thread is really a misnomer, because this is not a dilemma s/he has yet. </p>
<p>With family finances that make financial aid not happening, the OP’s family is in a decent position to take out loans, I’m sure. Where I get a bit of a sick feeling is when families with very low EFCs are seriously contemplating taking out huge debts to send their children to college. In many cases, the family already has a slew of financial issues that need to be addressed, and adding a 6 figure debt for going away to a private school is not a wise move, to put it lightly. That isn’t the case here.</p>
<p>I think the family is in the position to supporting where ever the young man is accepted for college. It will likely come down to the list of his acceptances and whether certain schools are worth the debt and investment if they turn out not to be as stellar as the OP is dreaming for her son. I know many families who are in that financial situation who would jump at the chance to pay for an ivy or other top name school even if it means debt up the whazooie in an already precarious budget, but if the choices become schools that are not so well known,…well, that’s when the dilemma and discussion comes. Is Havendale College worth the $60K sticker price with its great program and the fact that the kid really likes it and it is a pretty good school with a 40% accept rate, or would Rutgers for free be a better choice then, even if the kid hates it? When the ivies and other “name” selective schools are off the table due to rejection and wait list, and the choices come down to that, many families like the OP’s then start having to make the hard choices. I think the choice has long been made for this family that if Cornell or UPenn accept the kid, they are going to do what it takes financially to make it happen. Havendale College…mmmm… vs Rutgers, that is where the decision starts getting tough.</p>
<p>Pugmadkate is absolutely right. Enlarge the perimeter beyond 4 hours from home. For a very smart student, I’d make my first cut looking at schools that are (generally speaking) ranked 50 or higher in either the LAC or university list. It’s easy to build a college list that includes Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford. It’s a lot harder to be thoughtful and really explore all the choices out there.</p>
<p>There are plenty of careers in business beyond IB. You want an excellent place that will be able to accommodate any changes in the student’s interests.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the real issue underlying the OP’s son’s dilemma is the 4-hr. driving distance. There are very good schools that offer a few competitive merit scholarships to top applicants–those with records that would make applications to Ivy schools reasonable. They aren’t in the northeast, though; think Chicago, Houston, Nashville, St. Louis…</p>
<p>If the real goal is a a very good school but little debt, or no debt, this can more easily be accomplished with a national search.</p>
<p>I guess this is easier for me to say, given that my oldest had no objection whatever to getting out of the neighborhood when it came time to go to college. He wanted a merit scholarship because he is extremely (excessively?) independent. He found a few, and chose the full-tuition plus additional cash offered at Vanderbilt. Like menloparkmom’s son, he is graduating this spring with zero debt, a lot of money in the bank and a great job that was lined up my last August. If he decides to continue with school, his record is stellar and his options will be excellent (so says his advisor, anyway).</p>
<p>However, everyone has her/his own set of requirements, and if location is at the top, then you deal with the choice-set that develops as a result of that limiting factor. There are a lot of schools in the geographical range the OP’s son has set that I, personally, would not pay a lot of money for, and definitely would not go into debt for.</p>