<p>My daughter is a freshman in a midwest state school and has a double major in economics and international relations. She now wants to change to a more “elite” school. She had a 32 ACT score and was in the top 10% of her high school class. She has a generous merit scholarship. Is it worth going to a more expensive private school for undergrad? She will eventually go to grad school.</p>
<p>If grad school is definite, then an expensive, “elite” school now is not worth it. Save up for an “elite” grad school, if that is so important.</p>
<p>How unhappy is she?</p>
<p>She thinks her educational experience is not as good as her high school classmates who have gone to the private schools. She has spoken to her advisor who has suggested that she try sitting in on advanced classes. Her perception is that most of her college classmates are just passing time.</p>
<p>Assuming price is not a factor, she should go to whichever school she likes better and would feel happier attending.</p>
<p>I think “elite” weighs too heavily in college discussions. It’s easy to say “elite is better” but that ignores many other facets of college. </p>
<p>My son is at Penn State, and could have gone to a more “elite” school, but they did not have NROTC and other key factors. He’s quite happy, and I found the $40-$50K ticket to “elite” a bit absurd anyway. </p>
<p>Here is my suggestion: Assuming she is not truly miserable, which defeats the entire issue, think about using the cost savings from the state school to leverage the college experience, as in spending one or more semesters abroad, traveling during the summers, interning at interesting jobs instead of slaving away at a low pay summer job, etc. </p>
<p>My son will be “on cruise” with NROTC this summer for 3 weeks in Europe, and then will spend 6 weeks in Ecquador teaching English and honing his near-fluent Spanish. If we were spending $45K at a private school, I assure you he would be working for $8/hour and not hanging around in S. America this summer.</p>
<p>Life is about tradeoffs. COnsider taking the benefits of being at a state school to expand the college experience in ways that’ll make “elite” students jeolous when they see all the great stuff she does over the next several years. </p>
<p>I spent a semester in London in grad school and, frankly, learned more about the world in those 3 months than 4 years at “elite” Lehigh. My only regret is that I did not spend time abroad during my undergrad experience. Seeing the world and other cultures is where REAL learning takes place. IMHO of course.</p>
<p>Does the school have an Honors Program, and is she in it?</p>
<p>The intro classes at many schools are pretty slow. I was bored out of my mind in the intro physics classes at a top 10 engineering school, even though it was one of the weed out classes.</p>
<p>See if she can skip to the advanced classes (bypass the intermediate) once she is done with the intro classes. If the State School has a graduate program, she may be able to take the graduate level version of the classes she needs.</p>
<p>If she does change schools, get ready for sticker shock.</p>
<p>I think transferring solely to go to a school with a gilded name is not the best reason. Just because HYPSM sounds great to say, doesn’t mean it’s a fit for your daughter.</p>
<p>And I doubt writing “I want to go to an elite school.” on her transfer essay will win over any adcoms. She should really rethink her reasons, in my opinion. </p>
<p>If there’s something else about the school that she finds that she loves, then by all means, go for it.</p>