My D is deciding between Tufts, Haverford, and Clark. She wants to major in education or psychology. Clark gave her a scholarship and sophomore status. Haverford gave 15k in financial aid and Tufts nothing. Trying to decide if the girls latter two are worth the price. She is a good student but can be intimidated by competitive students.
Sophomore status is great but does not mean you’ll be done in 3 years. Depends on the course sequence. My son started with Soph standing but will take four years…albeit he’s in engineering.
All 3 are wonderful. Obviously Clark is more regional.
What is the desired outcome with the degree ? Psych often leads to grad study or low wages.
What did your daughter think after visiting all three ?
What is her preference?
Obviously money is a concern for you. Both Tufts and Haverford meet need but don’t necessarily calculate it the same way. I’d follow up with Tufts to find out why it’s so dissimilar from Haverford. It’s likely in how they calculate…home equity or something but wouldn’t hurt to ask.
How much $$ difference per year between Haverford and Clark after all aid and can u afford all three ? Two ? Or just one ??
Thanks. Good point about sophomore status not necessarily leading to graduation in three years.
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Clark is known for its strength in psychology, so it might make sense to include it in the final two choices. However, these three schools vary substantially by their general attributes. This will be important to consider as well.
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I would give Clark very serious consideration. Psychology is the field it’s most known for, and its education programs are strong too, with the potential to do the additional year required for an MA and teaching credential for free. That could be a huge perk, combined with the lower cost of the undergrad degree itself. Tufts and Haverford have MA/post-bacc programs but those will cost yet more $$$.
Even when sophomore status doesn’t mean graduating in three years, it can still mean registration priority which is a big deal as well. Look into the policy in that regard.
If she wants the option to pursue rewarding but not-extremely-lucrative career paths like teaching, it could be very smart to follow the money and take the great deal Clark is offering. In addition, she might really like the slightly more practical/pre-professional bent there, without in any way compromising on the option to take the more scholarly/intellectual/research-oriented path toward a PhD program if that’s how her interests unfold. But coming out of college debt-free (or even with leftover college savings) could give her a lot more freedom to choose her career path with a minimum of financial pressure.
And Clark offers a great student experience - it’s not as if she’d be giving up Tufts/Haverford for some sort of compromised commuter-school experience, just to save money. Also, as you note, she finds excessive competition intimidating, so being potentially a top student at Clark could end up propelling her forward in a way that being middle-of-the-pack at Tufts or Haverford might not. It could be a win-win.
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Thanks for your thoughtful response.