My son just got a full scholarship! : ) But not MIT : (

by Gamaliel 9 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Gamaliel

  Friends,

  I'm putting this in the form of a question, but it should be apparent I'm a parent - and a bit too proud to keep this to myself.

  I've been worried about college costs for my oldest son. He's just started his senior year in high school and he got invited to an MIT recruitment meeting in a couple weeks. This has me both happy and worried at the same time since MIT can cost $40,000+ a year. Now just last night he gets an offer for a full scholarship to a Catholic Jesuit college (St. Joseph's in Philly). We sent his SAT's to MIT and a couple other colleges but never contacted St Joseph. The scholarship is nearly $10,000 a year, every year, for St. Joseph. Up to this point I have been thinking about financial aid, loans, re-financing my mortgage, robbing our 401K's, etc. It never occurred to me that full scholarships really can happen.

  Of course, we'll skip the scholarship and bite the bullet and send him to MIT if he's accepted. (AlanF, if you happen upon this post, I have a question for you.) My father was an engineer, and my major was Computer Sci, my wife's major was linguistics, but his interests are not as aligned with science or engineering as they once were. So here are my questions:

  1) Has anyone here been to a Catholic college?

  2) Does MIT have the enough "bang for the buck" to a graduate who may end up majoring in a "liberal arts" subject. Not saying he won't go technical, but he truly excels at history, literature, music and social sciences. (I've heard that Noam Chomsky has done OK with a linguistics degree from MIT.)

  3) He will probably begin receiving more scholarships. Does anyone have good experiences with other colleges that offer full scholarships?

  4) Has anyone had good success with scholarships not based on any particular school? Which scholarships are most worth trying for?

  As long as I'm bragging: my daughter's time comes up next year, and I believe she will easily get into medical school or pursue a music career. (She's already sung "professionally" at a few places, including a Jazz club in NYC.) Her best subjects have been biology, chemistry and music. The biggest problem for me is that she's a junior this year; my oldest are only one year apart. My youngest son is only 10, so sooner or later we'll be looking to our children to replace our depleted retirement accounts.

  If you don't hear from me for a while, it's because I had to take on a second (or third?) job. I guess trying to give your kids a good "launch" is what raising them was all about in the first place.

  Gamaliel
• 

  StinkyPantz

  Thought about financial aid?

  Really though I don't have any advice to offer. Good luck!!
• 

  teejay

  Congrats, Gamaliel.
  
  Where'd your kids get all those smarts? Must be their mother! :D
  
  I have no advice for you, being the scholastically-challenged person that I am, but for some reason the first person I thought of when I read this was Czarofmishchief. Maybe he'll see your thread and have some help to give.
  
  40 thousand/year to MIT, eh? Dang.
• 

  Candlestick02

  Gamaliel,

  Congratulations to your son on receiving the scholarship to St. Josephs. I don't know firsthand about going to a Catholic school, as I was a 'good' JW when I was in school. Nor do I know about MIT. However, I received a full scholarship to Purdue and majored in Engineering. I also received a few other scholarships based on academic merit, funded by certain Hispanic organizations. It helped that I was a good student, a female, a "minority" and also going into a predominantly male career. I would say have your son apply to as many scholarships as he can. Also, look into the school itself. Purdue also gave me a scholarship and it had nothing to do with what I was pursuing (career-wise). It was just one of many they bestow based on high test (SAT or ACT) scores.

  Good luck!

  Cindy
• 

  maxwell

  I had a full tuition scholarship for the school I attended. But I also received the National Achievement something scholarship. I don't remember the full name, but it was related to my taking the PSAT. I got a good enough score on the PSAT and I went ahead and took the SAT and received $500 per semester on a scholarship related to that. Since the school's scholarship only covered tution, that came in handy for covering books. And what I had left after books came in handy for covering other little expenses although I did have to pay taxes on any scholarship amount that wasn't spent on tuition and books. I'm not sure whether you get to deduct housing costs since I stayed at home throughout schooling.

  But I'd like to echo what someone else said. Apply for as many scholarships as you think are appropriate or are in line with the student's interests. Sometimes you can patch together several different scholarships and maybe some financial aid to cover all the expenses.
• 

  Gamaliel

  Thanks, everyone. I'll take the advice and make sure we start applying for everything we can. I just went on a site linked from the "SAT/College Board." It looks like there are several small competitive scholarships (requiring essays and the like) that he should try. I see a lot of things like that listed and wondered how to find out the odds (ratio scholarships/applicants). But I guess it's better just to go for them and not worry about the odds.

  Because my wife and I both work, financial aid of any kind seems out of the question. Also, he missed the PSATs for the Nat'l Merit Scholarship because we had to do some emergency travel at that time for a relative. (Then his high school messed up his rescheduling.) I had thought that full scholarships were only given on near-perfect SATs, which his weren't-- although he still has time to improve them with one or two more updates on his SAT score. I think competition for MIT might be a bit too high, even though his SAT scores are within MIT's acceptable ranges.

  Must be their mother! :D

  teejay: You are right, of course. lol. But I was smart enough, at least, to marry her.

  {[+]} -> {[,,]}

  Gamaliel
• 

  AlanF

  Way to go on the scholarship!

  What's your question about MIT? My information is probably a bit outdated.

  I don't know anything about Catholic colleges per se, but have the impression that a Jesuit college is pretty challenging, and therefore probably good. You'd have to figure out just what your son wants to major in, and then ask around in the field about the school's reputation.

  As for MIT, if your son isn't interested in 'drinking from a fire hose' in science or engineering, and is more interested in liberal arts, he's probably better off going somewhere else. MIT has decent liberal arts classes but, because most everything is oriented towards engineering and hard science, they tend to get 2nd billing. The Sloan School of Management is an exception. The $40,000+ price tag isn't necessarily a barrier, if he really wants to go that route. MIT's philosophy is that they will see to it that students they allow in will be able to handle it financially. That may mean a large contribution from you, but usually also means student loans and possibly, grants. It's also possible to get independent scholarships based on any number of criteria, such as race and national origin. My stepson, being part Hispanic, just got a nice scholarship (of course, he's 28 and legally independent). The only way you can find out details is for your son to get accepted and then submit all the paperwork and see what happens.

  Going to a big name school has mixed blessings. You won't necessarily get a better education than by going to a less prestigious school, but you might. My experience was that, although I was at the top of my class in the community college I went to my first year, and didn't work all that hard, I almost drowned in my 1st year at MIT. But you're surrounded by incredible people and you pick up a lot that you might not otherwise. Also, a big name school really opens a lot of doors, since people, for better or worse, do put a lot of stock in big names.

  AlanF
• 

  Gamaliel

  Alan,

  Thanks for your take. You touched on both my questions.

  My main concern is that if I'm paying for most of MIT, he better really want it, because I agree that it could be overwhelming. Medical research is his chosen career field so far, but I've seen him put so much more energy into other subjects. Your comment about "drinking from a fire hose" and the potential for "drowning" or feeling overwhelmed during acclimation are exactly the points I wanted to make with him. I just need to emphasize the point about serious preparation for a very serious level of work.

  The second point was a question about MIT's policy on taking someone who starts a year or two at another college and then transfers to MIT. I wouldn't care about how many of the credits are transferable, only if MIT has prejudices against people who start somewhere else. If people have started out at smaller colleges and then transferred in (pre B.S.) at least it tells me it's not impossible. I'll be looking for some of this info myself, but just wanted to get a feel from anyone who had actually done it this way.

  Thanks,

  Gamaliel
• 

  onacruse

  Gamaliel's son: Congrats, dude! You've done a lot of hard work to get this scholarship

  Oh sure, your Dad might've had a little to do with it...but don't blame him, he's just Dad, eh?

  Craig
• 

  Aztec

  Gamaliel, make sure your son goes to a college that has many differant sorts of degrees. I went to a private business college because of a partial scholarship. Big mistake! I would have been much better off in a community college where I had more choices. The more broad his choices are the better off he will be in the long run. I quit school because I felt so stifled. I think accounting was the last straw...LOL! There are so many scholarship programs available! There is nothing wrong with making him do some work himself. I paid for my two years of college myself with my job and student loans. It took me 6 years to pay it off but I learned a bit about fiscal responsibility. Above all else; don't let your son get a bunch of credit cards!!!! I don't think anyone under the age of 21 should have their own, independant credit cards. It's too easy to think of it as monopoly money at that age.

  ~Aztec