@jym626 so, me going to Tulane wouldn’t put me in debt or anything for grad school and it wouldn’t dramatically affect my parents either and I can absolutely go to Tulane I’m just not sure if it’s worth it to A, have my parents spend all that money when they “don’t need to” and B, have them spend that money on undergrad over grad even though Tulane is absolutely where I would rather be.
OP: Why do you feel so strongly about Tulane ?
It’s pretty clear that you greatly prefer Tulane over USC, and-generally-students do a lot better in their classes when they are comfortable with their surroundings. Since every professional/graduate program requires a good GPA, that’s a pretty good reason for attending Tulane.
Can’t say it’s worth it-the cost of law school is amazing(all professional schools are extremely expensive). But there’s no point in attending a school you don’t want to attend if the school you want to attend is a possibility-and in this case it is.
@oldlaw well I definitely prefer Tulane but I did also like USC as well, Tulane more, but usc also nonetheless. I do think I could be happy at USC even though it wasn’t necessarily where I thought I would end up.
@Publisher I believe I included my explanation in my original post. I like the prestige, the size, the reputation, the weather, the location, and how much the school cares about it’s students, especially in this crisis that fact is very apparent.
In that case, go to USC. The money you save will come in very handy later.
@oldlaw even if the money isn’t affecting me anyway and rather my parents? My parents have said if they don’t need to help with undergrad they can give me money towards law school but it don’t be an entire year’s worth. Maybe around 30,000 which I understand is still a lot but when the top law schools can cost 70,000 a year for three years it doesn’t seem like that much.
Top 14 law schools tuition is about $70,000 per school year, but room & board is extra.
@Publisher yes I had seen that and it’s so far down the road to think about if I would live on or off right now, especially having no idea what law school I will be at.
First, I still think you ought to attend the school you like best. If it’s a close call, save the money.
Second, you are correct that law school is insanely expensive. And while 30K appears to be not much money, look at it this way: how long will it take you to repay 30K in loans? Or…how long will it take you to earn the 30K plus interest to pay it back? 30K is still a lot of money to owe.
Third, right now you’re planning on law school. But college is an opportunity to explore new areas of intellectual interest; many a person attends college with one plan, and then decides to do another thing entirely. Engineering becomes accounting; pre-law becomes foreign service; etc etc.
So go to a college at which you feel comfortable-and addressing your current plan, USC honors will position you just as well as Tulane for a top law school. It will be up to you to do well in your classes and LSAT.
But right now, who knows? You may well be taking the foreign service exam in four years…
Its all about value. If your parents can comfortably pay for your undergrad without it putting a strain on their finances, savings, not touching their retirement $, etc. Fine. You have the luxury of choice. And you are quite fortunate. $40k/yr for private school undergraduate is not unreasonable.
But if your parents can’t comfortably pay $15k/year more for undergrad and still have plenty left to help you with grad/law school, then you have to decide if the value of the Tulane experience/education is worth the extra $15K/year. That said, who knows if you will still plan to attend law school in 4 years. So many things change. Both my s’s changed their majors in college. The one that went to Tulane thought he wanted to go into medicine. Took all the prereqs and then when he took the anatomy and physiology course and lab (yes there are cadavers in the lab, under the Reily Student Rec. center!) he changed his mind. He is an engineer. So things change.
For us, we told the kids that we’d pay for undergrad but that any grad/professional school was their expense. Thats not uncommon. That said, we did think of value (would the school be “worth” $$$$). Fortunately for us, our son got a full tuition and NMF scholarship, so Tulane was very affordable. So we put the extra $ away that we’d earmarked for college in anticipation of med school expenses. But he didn’t end up chooseing medicine. As I said, things change.
Remember too you can get a job either during the school year or in the summer and make some $ to help cover some of the expenses. Good luck. The other unknown in all this is whether both campuses will be full open for business in the fall, or if either will still need to do online classes.
Oh and FWIW, our s loved Tulane! All their friends came in from all over the globe (literally) for their wedding. Good luck with your decision. You will be happy wherever you are planted.
I don’t know. He’ll probably go back and forth on that one. He was waitlisted at UVA (his #1 choice), but was accepted to U of Miami (his #2 choice), GWU, U of Richmond, Clemson, among others. We thought he’d receive more merit aid than was offered, especially from Miami and GWU. He’s always been mature, very good with finances, saving his own money. He tends to see the big picture, even if it includes times of disappointment in the short term. He knows he’ll get to attend private or public for graduate school so hopefully that holds him over for the next four years! We’ll see! We haven’t even been able to visit U of SC or FSU. So he’s going in blind for now.
I agree, there are a lot of smart young kids making hard decisions right now. He, too, will probably look at D.C. and the Northeast for law school.
I just don’t want to go to USC to save money for law school and then change my mind about law school and have regrets about not going to Tulane
What ethnicity are you? Asking for a reason.
Also, have you ever felt like you have no friends during high school? As a whole, Tulane students are extremely cliquey many people there complain about not having enough friends. Just something to think about. I know I’m going to get attacked for this post but I wanted to mention it that it is not the school for those who have a difficult time making friends
Does Tulane have a law school? If so, why not just flip flop it? U of SC for undergrad, Tulane for law?
I went to a very boring undergraduate school in MI, then attended U of Miami for graduate school and had a blast. It was truly such a fun, special time in my life while in graduate school at Miami. The same could happen for you. However, U of SC would be MUCH more fun than where I went for undergraduate decades ago!
Both Tulane and South Carolina have law schools. Tulane’s is higher ranked than SC’s. But hard to say where the OP’s thoughts, plans and goals may take her for professional/grad school.
@sunshuttle I am white. I know there is a stereotype of white rich kids at Tulane and although I am middle class, I am by no means rich. The cliquey thing is something I had not heard prior and is good to know and how have you heard that yourself, did you go to Tulane? I am hoping ,fingers crossed, to attend an Ivy Law school or a law school at that same level in the top fifteen or twenty. Of course we will have to see how that goes and I definitely know that is easier said then done.
Sounds like you have enough money for Tulane and really want to go there.
So, I’d say, enjoy attending your dream school and go to Tulane.
(I’m not I’d make the same choice but we’re all different and have different priorities.)
You know that law school or grad school will be on you, but hopefully the recession will be short and you’ll find a job right away after college. Working and saving money should be relatively easy since you’ll be in the enviable position of not having loans - you’ll probably be able to save $200-300 each month for a couple years.
Yes I have the money but I honestly feel a little guilty making my parents pay it. They work so hard and it’s 80,000 dollars that they don’t even see as worth it and would simply be spending because it would send me where I want to go, which I am very grateful for, but am definitely feeling guilty over.