“Sounds like Hopkins is really out of the picture.”
Probably. Disappointing. It's the best combination of engineering and classics, and he really loves the campus, the vibe, etc. But nearly a hundred grand is out of the question when free is available, and he can do Harvard for 2/3 the price.
“So between Maryland and Harvard, it’s a no brainer. Look, Maryland might be a good school and all, but it’s not Harvard. At Harvard, his classmates will be future Senators, CEOs, and Supreme Court Justices. At Maryland, his classmates will be future middle managers.”
That's one side, and it carries a lot of water. Swimming pools-full.
“It’s an absolute no brainer. Harvard. Yes, it costs some money, but this is why you saved.”
To maximize financial aid packages, I intentionally put all my savings over the years into retirement accounts, which are not counted when looking at college financed. Which has had the desired effect of maximizing financial aid.
But which means that I have to fund this all from current income, loans, or dipping into retirement accounts.
However, if I gotta borrow a chunk of $65K for my kid to graduate from Harvard - if that's what he wants - then that's what I'll do.
There are some nice advantages popping up at Maryland though. He's been offered a scholarship that is offered at about two dozen leading schools - including Harvard - and the goal of the scholarship's sponsor is to encourage networking between these “best and brightest of the best and brightest” around the country. He'd be introduced and given opportunities to network with the very most top students from places like CalTech, Georgia Tech, Penn... and... HARVARD.
So, at least for us, it's not quite a no-brainer.
sitetest
Interesting about the scholarship, but it’s a club at these schools. You’re either part of the club or you’re not (not just metaphorically, but literally, too; it’s a club: see the Harvard Club of NYC, for instance). And if you went to Maryland, you’re not in the club.
For what it’s worth, I went to a state school for undergrad and an elite private university for graduate school.
This post did it for me - Maryland - but not because it is free. The scholarship is the key and not just for your son. One missing ingredient for home schooled children is their ability to influence others for the best. What makes them so wonderful is that they’re partly isolated from a lot of junk education.
I’m involved in a small part of the AP program for US Government and US History. The AP targets the “best and brightest”. Every day I see teachers more ignorant and less smart than my own home schooled children try to teach government schooled kids. These teachers are both liberal and for the most part anti-American. I believe that “to educate a man in mind and not morals is to create a menace to society (TR)”.
The reason you should encourage your son to go to Maryland is the influence he’ll have on those “best and brightest” that he’ll be mingling with. How much of our nations present catastrophe is a direct result of ignorant, anti-American liberals filling the minds of our “best and brightest” with their load of drivel? Your son and other home schooled students just like him can, on a peer-to-peer basis, undo much of that damage.
America needs a strong, patriotic and wise Generation Y. Your son can both fulfill his grand ambition and serve his nation, perhaps in ways he’ll never know, by attending this program through Maryland.
That’s my two cents and a dollar. ;-]