quote: I was told by a girl who attended Harvard that no one is kept out based on an inability to pay. They're Harvard, after all, they know how to work the system.
My husband got in as an undergrad and they gave him some aid. Later he or his family told him it wasn't enough & they came up with more. It was enough that it made his decision lots harder, but he ended up saving his parents a ton of $$ and went where he'd gotten a full scholarship.
Similarly, when I was deciding between two colleges and one of them called me, I mentioned that I'd gotten room & board & books at the other place. Sure enough, the college that called me came up with another few thousand a year . . . not enough to cover all of room and board, but enough to make a nice dent.
So two more anecdotes about colleges "working the system" to persuade kids to choose them.
Incidentally, I'm really glad we both made the decisions we did, since we met as undergrads on the first day of freshman year. Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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fugu, yer right that I was oversimplifying in my last post. I was trying to emphasize that the quality of the book-learning education isn't proportional to the cost of that education.
on the other hand, you get what you pay for.
the idea that you can get just as good an education (and direct exposure to progress in your field of study... and contact with the people immersed in that progress, including your fellow students) is romantic, but naive.
That's my viewpoint from a tech/science background.
Personally, based on my experience as a student and researcher/teacher at a few universities, I think the best choice for science/tech is a reputable and well-funded state school. You're not going to benefit much more from the "pedigree" of one of the up-scale private universities, but you'll get much more exposure, training, and worthwhile lecture time than you will at Podunk U.
(added after further persual: I see I'm seconding Mrs. M's thoughts)
Posts: 551 | Registered: Mar 2005
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