Tulane vs. Vandy vs. Rice?

Scottca1028
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 23:00:12 +0000

Hi, I’m a HS senior. I’m really interested in Tulane because of various reasons – I just visited and absolutely adore the campus, especially the size, the rec activities, and social life, which is one of my main factors in deciding a school. I want a school that has difficult and respectable academics, but also a social life (it’s not everyone just sitting in the library 24/7, I want to have fun too. But I also want a good education.) It’s also 2 hours from home, which is pretty convenient. The social scene is unbeatable. I am also extremely competitive for Dean’s Honor Scholarship, with a 35 ACT, 4.4 GPA (3.99 something UW, only b in high school was AP Euro, hard teacher but got a 5), hardest curriculum you can take at my school with 7 AP’s and all else honors, president of 3 clubs and leadership committee member on 3, 4.0 college GPA for 2 classes taken at Brown, 2 varsity sports, concertmaster of youth orchestra, 12 years piano (numerous awards), 100+ hours community service, et cetera, et cetera. And a very good idea for DHS project. Anyways. I am very very competitive for DHS full tuition (or Paul Tulane, either way). This is helpful because my family will get essentially 0 financial aid (my dad is a doctor, $200-$250k salary, etc.) but my parents also have 3 other children all in private, $15k a year school, mom is a small business owner so money is going to that, dad still paying med school loans, we just built a house, etc. and so it would be impossible for them to spend $60k per year for 4 years on an education. That’s why I like DHS and amazing merit aid Tulane offers, as well as how much I adore the school, and even more after visiting. However, my mom doesn’t consider it “worthwhile to spend [her/my dad’s] money on Tulane.” Which is why I like that I’ll get at least a handy scholarship even if not DHS. She thinks that Vandy and Rice are extremely better schools, worlds above Tulane, and will only “pay” for them. However, I know they can’t pay the $60k a year. So I will have to take out loans I am sure. Also I will for Tulane as there will be ~$20k left over from DHS. Is paying in full for Vandy or Rice worth it? And if not, how can I convince my parents to let me to go Tulane and pay the $20k per year? Because that, they can manage, I know. We have discussed it.
I am also interested in pre-med which is a good thing with tulane’s early acceptance to med school program, and preference to Tulane undergrads. Is it better to skip it altogether and go to state school for free? I am also interested in other fields(pre-med is just one option.)