Please, help chose! NY resident considering these options:
University of Delaware Honors - [$0 DuPont scholarship (Honors/DiShco)] - no loans
University of Virginia (Honors) - [~77K Full cost out of state] - some loans (there’s a 529K plan and parents are willing to contribute some savings, but don’t have the full amount, so willing to take loans for the rest).
Applied to UD as a safety, never expecting it to actually be a contender, but the DuPont scholarship changed that. Now it’s one of the top choices. It looks like the chemistry department is pretty strong with good premed acceptance rates. I liked the special advising and other benefits they offer to the scholars. But I’m not actually sure if I’ll stay in chemistry or will go the pre-med route. I’m not sure how good the other departments are compared to UVA. Visited on admitted students day and liked the campus/vibe well enough.
UVA has always been one of the top choices and checks every box. It seems to be the strongest academically and socially, and I love everything about it besides the price and the distance from home.
Since I’m not completely sure what I want to major in, on the one hand UVA makes sense as it seems strong in all areas. On the other hand, UD at no cost is very, very difficult to pass up, as there’s no risk as literally anything is a good ROI if the original investment is $0.
I’m looking for feedback whether the quality of education at UVA, the strength of the alumni network, etc make it worth it the full OOS tuition?
Has anyone chosen UD as a DuPont scholar? What has been your experience? Have you been able to take advantage of everything the program seems to advertise?
Maybe if you want a niche major like investment banking but even then, there’s no assurance.
You, not your college, will make your name.
And if you’re thinking med school today - hello, if your parents can afford $300K, you have most of med school or all of another grad school licked.
And yes, UD is known for chemical anything.
Let’s look at:
Quality of education - why do you think it’s better at UVA? Now it’s a more selective school but you don’t know that it’s better.
Alumni - most are not using alumni - that’s reality. And career center that show the “how” kids are getting job show this - and it makes sense.
Personally, I see zero reason you could consider UVA here. Zero.
And there’s more.
This is the premier scholarship offered by UD. Eugene du Pont Scholars receive a yearly scholarship that covers full tuition, standard on-campus room and board, and comprehensive health and student center fees. Students may also use the funds towards UD study abroad. They also receive $500 each fall and spring semester to be used toward textbooks and a one-time grant of $2,500 to be used toward an approved enrichment activity.
Sorry - just a no brainer here - IMHO of course.
Congrats.
Your parents should give you a big hug!!!
btw - let’s say you go to UVA and major in Chem. The most recent reporting from 2023 - $44K average salary. Sciences - not a good major per se.
My kid is in a program like yours - not free tuition and room and board (she has tuition) but it’s the enrichment, she’s given first access to things and more - that make these things really really special.
UVA at the OOS sticker price - well over $300K for an undergrad degree, which will require debt - vs. a prestigious, named full-ride scholarship to UDel? For chem, when chem and chemE are what Delaware is best known for?
I’m not seeing the argument for UVA. In terms of impressing people in the future, having the DuPont scholarship on your resume would more than trump any perceived prestige differential. Plus you get all of the special perks.
Where is the six-figure value-added to UVA? I’m not seeing it. That’s a huge amount of money. And you’re considering med school, which is very expensive. Give yourself the gift of debt-free undergrad, and your parents the gift of hanging on to their savings and potentially being able to help you with med school instead. (Also, depending on how those savings have been invested, the next few years could be a terrible time to be depleting them.)
Big congrats on the scholarship; IMHO you’d be foolish to turn it down.
ETA one more point:
Even if you think that the quality of teaching is better on average at UVA (a differential most likely doesn’t exist, especially in chemistry, but let’s presume for the sake of argument that it does)… that’s just on average. At any school, no matter how prestigious, there are better and worse instructors. At UDel Honors, you get priority registration, so your ability to research which classes and instructors are best, and then actually get into those desired classes and sections, is much better than if you’re in the “general population” at any large school. You will be skimming the cream at Delaware, and that alone will elevate your experience.
One option is chemistry. Graduate school is likely. A two year master’s degree is likely to cost over $200,000 by the time that you get there. Even if you go directly from a bachelor’s degree to a fully funded PhD program, some parent financial help can make it easier to get through the multi-year marathon (including allowing the financial room to fund an IRA – a roughly six or seven year delay in retirement savings will eventually matter quite a bit).
Another option is medical school. This is likely to cost over $400,000 by the time that you get there, and could easily cost $500,000.
I do not think that you want to take out loans for your bachelor’s degree when you have such a good option that is fully funded.
Do you also have any in-state public options to consider?
I would choose UDel- congrats on the impressive scholarship!!
It looks like med school or some type of grad school is in your future. This will be very expensive, and it seems (based on what you wrote) that if you choose UVA not only will you have undergrad loans, but also loans for grad/med school. If you attend UDel these graduate loans may be less.
Also keep in mind that there are likely big changes coming to student loans, and this will impact medical school as well.
Congrats again on your very, very impressive scholarship! I have no doubt that you will be successful!
I am a proud UVA grad with a Chemistry degree and now physician. If presented with your two options, I would choose UDel every time. You will have amazing experiences wherever you go. Attend the free option as a DuPont scholar. Save your money. Congratulations!
Save the money and make sure your parents save it wisely on your behalf - if the planned law on graduate student loans passes, your lifetime limit will be 135k including undergrad, keeping in mind med school is likely to cost 100k/year. (Yes it means lots of people admitted to med school who can’t afford to go.)
Anyway, DuPont Scholar - anyone in Chem will know what that means. Much more significant than simply admission to UVA.
With the opportunities that status offers you, you can pivot to a job in chemistry, to med school, or to anything.
Congratulations! My daughter graduated from UD honors college, highest scholarship outside DuPont. They did accept her 30 AP credits so she graduated in 3 years, saving a bundle. You will find other very bright hard working students there, and at the honors graduation I was very impressed with where these students were heading. My daughter was exercise science, and was admitted to every DPT program she applied to (she’s finishing up her last clinical at BU). It’s a great school.
Just want to share an anecdote about taking a full-ride scholarship. My daughter had gotten into her number 1 reach school, but took a full ride that required she stay in state. It was prestigious and tons of extra mentoring, benefits. She attended a mid-range private in our state and constantly had opportunities as a result of being a Boettcher Scholar. As a pre-med, leaving undergrad debt free, getting access to special advising, etc., seems like a no-brainer.
My daughter graduated in May and is now living in NYC, debt free with a dream job. Grad school is not likely in her future, so we gave her a portion of what we had intended to spend on school and she has a nice nest egg that she’ll be able to use as a downpayment on a house, travel, etc.
And premed requires more: 2 General Chemistry with labs, 2 Organic Chem, 1 Biochem vs. 2 General Biology with lab!
Note that UDel offers all these courses which would count toward Gen Ed’s AND be very useful to your Med School application. Beside this, which is a given
PHIL 241 - Ethical Issues in Healthcare
They also offer
PHIL 444 - Medical Ethics
HIST 382 - History of Medicine
SOCI 343 - Society, Politics and Healthcare
WOMS 389 - Topics: Women and Health Issues
And a couple others - keeping in mind that your first year you’ll take freshman sociology and freshmen psychology as part of your premed pre-reqs.
Thanks for all of the replies. I meant that I’m not sure if I’ll stay in pre-med/chemistry. I do realize that they are not mutually exclusive. I meant that I might go into a completely different field. UVA, being a higher ranked/more recognized school overall, might be a better fit for someone not fully committed to a path. On the other hand, the DuPont scholarship is so difficult to pass up.
But even then, the odds are small at UVA and not zero at Delaware.
There’s truly no reason to consider UVA unless your last name is Gates, Bezos, or Buffett.
And you’ll find many UVA level kids and acceptees at Delaware.
Imagine you played the lottery and were awarded $300k plus for winning.
That’s what just happened.
Both my kids turned down nice names for safeties - not for financial reasons but it gave me that as a parent. Both are doing just fine. In life, many UD grads will outperform UV.
That’s just a reality.
Why not you ? And whatever grad school you do for, you’ll not have to stress about loans like others will.
Unless there is a specific niche field that you become interested in that is offered at UVA that is not offered at UDel, then I don’t think that attending UVA will be more beneficial than attending UDel, particularly as a DuPont scholar.
For 95% of people, University of Delaware vs. University of Maryland (which I know is not an option you’re considering) vs. University of Virginia…not much of a difference. Of the 5% of people who might distinguish between UVA and UDel, 98% of them will recognize the significance of being a DuPont Scholar.
But the number of people who care about Scholars and Honors and the name of undergrad institutions is remarkably less than I would have conceived of five years ago. I’ve been on a lot of interviewing committees over the last five years, and people on the interviewing committees have cared about how knowledgeable a person is about a field, what skills/talent they have, how well they communicate, what kind of a problem-solver they are, and how they will fit in with the existing team. I’ve been surprised to see that the name on the diploma has received pretty much no attention.
So no matter what field you want to end up in, focus on building your experiences and skills. Use your professors and contacts through the scholarship program to get internships or research opportunities. If a UVA Jefferson Scholar with a degree in sociology with no experience was competing against a UDel grad with a degree in sociology who had a couple of summers of experience and some work during the school year, my money would be on the UDel grad getting the offer before the UVA Jefferson Scholar.
Additionally, the fact that you’re undecided means it’s an even better time to save your pennies. You may become interested in a field that tends to have low pay (like many nonprofit areas) or that expects a few years of very low pay to test one’s determination to stay in the field (like many politically-aligned positions). Not having loans will give you the flexibility to select one of those fields, whereas having significant loans might prevent you from choosing a career of interest due to the need to earn sufficient money to repay those loans.
Add me to the chorus of those saying, University of Delaware for the win.
Yes, it’s not being called “DuPont Scholar” or having it on your resume - it’s all the opportunities that unlocks. They choose students who will best take advantage of the opportunities and then the student has to take it from there. When the student does what they were empowered to do, it can be amazing and impressive - in fine it rests on the student, not the name of the college.
I wanted to add that since my original response a few days ago, my daughter has gotten into grad school at UD. It is a “4+1” program, meaning she can start grad classes now and graduate with both degrees in 5 years! So with the DuPont Scholarship she will only have to pay for one additional year. Definitely a huge opportunity and savings.
I wish you the best!
- keeping in mind that your first year you’ll take freshman sociology and freshmen psychology as part of your premed pre-reqs.