Congratulations! Those are excellent schools from which to receive admission offers. Kudos to your son and your family. Be mindful that what he has in mind today for his major/career path is likely to change in the next 2 years. A whole new world is opening for him.
Very few schools will alter their initial financial aid offer, so expect Hopkins to stay where it is. That leaves you out $22K/year. Throw in his minor loans to pay off, add tuition/cost increases, it’s more like $100K+ over the four years of undergrad. Unless he were to remain enamored by Hopkins, I’d pass on it in a NY minute, given the alternatives.
It is hard to beat Harvard for prestige on a resume, and that may well be worth $16K/year to you and to your son over the course of his career. Actually, it would be a bargain. While Harvard is more on the liberal side (name a ‘prestige’ University that isn’t!), they have conservative faculty, students and alumni. They’re out there.
The $ aspect makes MD look mighty attractive. IIRC, USN&WR did a lengthy article some years ago about MD’s honors program, featuring a student who’d turned down Princeton to attend. In fairness, that was before the Ivies adopted the policy of eliminating student loans, so that could have been a factor for that student. After 4 years, you and your son would be way ahead financially.
You have obviously put a lot of time, energy and love into your son and his education. The rewards are now before him and you. Do let us know his final decision.
Hopkins - Yeah, we know. We went to the financial aid folks yesterday. Nothin’ doin’. I'm gonna try the same at Harvard next week. I betcha the brush-off I receive will be classier. LOL.
I don't know that my son will change majors. He's a pretty flexible guy on most things, but usually, once he makes up his mind, that's it.
But that's a big advantage to Harvard, as it's really great, and has a peerless reputation in a wide variety of fields, even though Maryland is superior, head-to-head, in engineering.
Maryland's Honors College really is an outstanding opportunity. It's much more than just a designation and getting to live in a special dorm.
Thank you for the complimentary words. I will post the final decision to this thread and try to ping those who seem interested.
Thanks again,
sitetest