LOGO
General Discussion Undecided where to post - do it here.

Reply to Thread New Thread
Old 04-03-2011, 08:52 AM   #1
neonasafluni

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
365
Senior Member
Default For people who have gone to grad school
So last year I graduated from a public 4-year university. I took the year off and applied to grad school during the fall and now I'm getting responses back. I applied to 7 different schools of different academic integrity and have gotten accepted to 4 of the 7 schools (haven't heard back from the last 3 quite yet - will hear back soon).

I am going to be going into city planning, which is a respected field, but doesn't offer oodles of money. At the moment I have only a little money saved up but no debt. Today I got an acceptance letter from Cornell University, and I anticipate being accepted to Harvard as well. Tuition at Cornell will set me back about $22,000 per year, two-year program. I will have to pay my own room/board on top of this (as well as work 6 hours per week for the lowered tuition rate).

At the same time I have been accepted to some non ivy leagues (large well-known public universities) that cost more in the range of $14,000 - $18,000 per year not including any graduate assistant work. I am worried about finding a job out of school to repay my loans and I am wondering, for those who have gone to grad school or for those who have hired people before, is the extra $5000 - $7000 per year worth it to go to a school whose name everyone will recognize? I've been told it would be foolish to pass up the chance of going to Cornell or Harvard, but I am the one who will be funding my education on my own merit and I don't know whether the extra money is really worth it.
neonasafluni is offline


Old 04-03-2011, 09:41 AM   #2
HenriRow

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
480
Senior Member
Default
So last year I graduated from a public 4-year university. I took the year off and applied to grad school during the fall and now I'm getting responses back. I applied to 7 different schools of different academic integrity and have gotten accepted to 4 of the 7 schools (haven't heard back from the last 3 quite yet - will hear back soon).

I am going to be going into city planning, which is a respected field, but doesn't offer oodles of money. At the moment I have only a little money saved up but no debt. Today I got an acceptance letter from Cornell University, and I anticipate being accepted to Harvard as well. Tuition at Cornell will set me back about $22,000 per year, two-year program. I will have to pay my own room/board on top of this (as well as work 6 hours per week for the lowered tuition rate).

At the same time I have been accepted to some non ivy leagues (large well-known public universities) that cost more in the range of $14,000 - $18,000 per year not including any graduate assistant work. I am worried about finding a job out of school to repay my loans and I am wondering, for those who have gone to grad school or for those who have hired people before, is the extra $5000 - $7000 per year worth it to go to a school whose name everyone will recognize? I've been told it would be foolish to pass up the chance of going to Cornell or Harvard, but I am the one who will be funding my education on my own merit and I don't know whether the extra money is really worth it.
Even in a field where you don't expect a huge salary, a name like Harvard or Cornell will carry a lot of credit. In a hard economy, it may mean the difference between being offered a job, and being the runner-up, and that is worth a hell of a lot more than $10-14k dollars over 2 years. Furthermore, I am certain, that even when it comes to government positions, the difference in pay you will receive, will more than pay for the difference in cost, when your entire career is taken into consideration.

If the difference was $20'000/year, maybe I would at least waver, but as it stands, the difference in cost is only a small percent of your projected lifetime earnings, and as such, it seems like very wise investment.

But don't listen to me, this is my 8th year of graduate education.
HenriRow is offline



Reply to Thread New Thread

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:19 AM.
Copyright ©2000 - 2012, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
Design & Developed by Amodity.com
Copyright© Amodity