<p>Washington University (St. Louis)…VERY little financial aid
Duke (College of Arts and Sciences)…almost 1/4 covered by financial aid
New York University (Stern)…basically 1/4 covered
UPenn (College of Arts and Sciences)…mostly loans
Harvard…no financial aid whatsoever</p>
<p>This is for my older sister, seeing as she’s too busy to do it herself and…well, I’m not too busy. So, keeping in mind the fact that my sister wants to double major in international business and management, which would you pick?</p>
<p>I put Harvard at #2 because it is a more well known name internationally. So you can really market yourself in any country. It would be #1 if Duke wasn’t 1/4 the cost, which is better than nothing.</p>
<p>I would pretty much break it down between Duke and NYU. Most probably choose Duke though, but I guess it really depends on your sisters intended major and which location she likes best. Duke-South and Rural, i believe?
NYU- northeast and very urban.</p>
<p>umm…harvard. so harvard is 45k and duke is 31k a year. Harvard is worth an extra 14 grand a year. Unless you’re picking between harvard and yale/stanford/princeton, harvard always wins, imo.</p>
<p>NYU probably has the best program for her. If the main factor in her choice of school is to boost her ego, however, Harvard would be the victor. Just keep in mind she won’t get as great of an education there by a long shot for her specific program.</p>
<p>To correct what someone else said, Duke is by no means rural. It’s in a medium-sized town and about 20 minutes from Raleigh, the state capitol. It’s definitely not NYC, but I know plenty of people that go there that are satisfied with the dining/shopping/cultural options. It’s also near Chapel Hill, which is a great college town.</p>
<p>If your sister likes the energy at Harvard, it should be her first choice. Harvard is Harvard afterall. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, just like MIT is for Engineers. </p>
<p>If your sister doesn’t like the feel of Harvard’s campus (Harvard isn’t for everybody), then I would say my second and third choices would be Duke or Penn depending on “fit”. I had to pick between those two myself, so I know how tough it is to pick between them. </p>
<p>WUSTL would be my 4th choice. </p>
<p>NYU would be my last choice.</p>
<p>However, since your sister wishes to major in Business, she should probably go to Penn (assuming you got into Wharton) or NYU (assuming you got into Stern) because Harvard and Duke do not have undergraduate Business programs.</p>
<p>listen–if you don’t like harvard don’t go there. but the fact is you have the opportunity to attend the–without any shread of doubt–PREMIER institution of higher learning in the world. for the rest of your life you can say you went to harvard. Is Harvard going to make your life better over Duke? Probably not. But I think that is worth an extra 14k a year. If you, or anyone else doesn’t, thats fine. But to me, regardless of whether or not I make that extra 56k over my lifetime, I would attend because “Harvard” is a Harvard degree is honestly more than just money–its a true status symbol.</p>
<p>I disliked Harvard and didn’t apply, but it’s a great school in a great college town. I suggest visits; the cost and time is worth it to get a better idea of what they’re like. </p>
<p>Get your sister to contact the financial aid office at Harvard and bargain. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t match Duke’s offer.</p>
<p>Amazing that we’re ranking w/o knowing anthing about how she feels about any of the schools. It’s going to cost an arseload of money no matter the choice, and if schools that generally meet need offered nothing I’m guessing there isn’t a desperate need. Go where the fit is right.</p>
<p>In all honesty, my sister is VERY confused about which college she wants to attend. She knows for certain that she doesn’t want to attend WashU though…something about not wanting to go to my father’s alma mater, but anyways…</p>
<p>She likes big cities and the Northeast best and she thinks Stern has a great location for good internships. However, she feels that she should try to attend the “best” college she can get into, as the cost will be about the same in the end. She’s a bit intimidated by the fierce competition there though. We’re in a very small place in Arkansas, and we’ve heard from friends that have attended Ivies and also came from Arkansas that many of the students from the Northeast at the colleges have already taken the classes. Once the fact that they grade on curves there is added to the equation, that means my sister will wind up with at least somewhat bad grades in at least the first year. </p>
<p>Regarding financial aid need, my family’s financial situation has changed drastically recently and my parents are no longer certain if they can pay for my sister’s four years of college. I enter college the year my sister graduates, so the financial strain may be a little bit…too overwhelming. Hence, my sister will probably end up paying for at least half of the costs.</p>
<p>trojans14–from what I’ve heard, it’s almost impossible to transfer into Wharton from CAS, so if the OP’s sister is definitely interested in business undergrad, she shouldn’t risk not being able to study it by going to Penn and winding up stuck in the college.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t think your sister could go wrong with a lot of these schools academically, Hegira. She should decide based upon where she feels more comfortable (NYU is HUGE, Harvard is pretty city, Penn is very city, and Duke is suburban, with a totally different campus feel) and based upon the financial aid strain.</p>
<p>Also, if it’d interest her to know–Duke’s been offering a BS in Economics for a few years now (not sure how many), which is the same degree that students at Wharton in Penn work towards. I’m interested in business myself, and that program at Duke definitely swayed me towards being a Blue Devil after my Wharton waitlist.</p>