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Scholarship advice for high schoolers?


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#21 SportsGuy

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Posted 24 January 2015 - 12:01 AM

This is completely off topic, but does anyone else find it disheartening that we almost always discuss going to college in terms of what job we can get afterwards?  Instead of, you know, going to learn?
 
Its part of the reason I walked away from UMCP and came to the job I have now, is that it felt like an internship that I was paying (a lot) to do, and I had no clue at all if I even wanted the career path I randomly chose for myself.
 
I guess if I had to do it over, I'd try harder (or at all) to figure out what was important to me, and go after it that way.  Instead of picking a job first.
 
Sammy, has your daughter done any volunteering as a student nurse, to see if that's something she is really passionate about?


You learned stuff in college?
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#22 SportsGuy

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Posted 24 January 2015 - 12:05 AM

Btw..go to Yale for the reasons Pedro said.

Otoh, you can go to community college and get a good nursing education.

My sister got her degree from Towson, never did anything with it and went to nursing school.

At the time, Catonsville Community College had an excellent nursing program...even better than some of the major 4 year colleges in the area.

My sister can do circles around 95% of the nrurses out there, no matter where they went to school.

So, if you are "only" going to be a nurse, why spend that Yale money to do so?

Btw...I don't mean "only a nurse" as a bad thing...it's kind of like just being an elementary school teacher. Takes a special person to do that but you can be great at it without spending 50k+ a year on your education.

#23 RShack

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Posted 24 January 2015 - 12:08 AM

This is completely off topic, but does anyone else find it disheartening that we almost always discuss going to college in terms of what job we can get afterwards?  Instead of, you know, going to learn?

 

Its part of the reason I walked away from UMCP and came to the job I have now, is that it felt like an internship that I was paying (a lot) to do, and I had no clue at all if I even wanted the career path I randomly chose for myself.

 

I guess if I had to do it over, I'd try harder (or at all) to figure out what was important to me, and go after it that way.  Instead of picking a job first.

 

Sammy, has your daughter done any volunteering as a student nurse, to see if that's something she is really passionate about?

 

Absolutely.  The idea of paying for an internship is a crime.  All this crap started with the Reaganites convincing everybody that it's good to be selfish.  It used to be that all internships were at least free, and most of them paid you a stipend... the idea was that everybody was helping the next generation for the good of everybody.  Now, it's all about everybody squeezing a buck from anybody they can.  It's a sickness.

 

As for actually knowing what to major in, the only way for most folks to do that is to wait and go to college when they're 27.... but that's hard to do unless maybe you did some years in the service first...


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#24 McNulty

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Posted 24 January 2015 - 12:15 AM

You learned stuff in college?

 

I learned that I have zero discipline, and I can beat the original Legend of Zelda in under 2 hours.  That's all I've retained.

 

Oh, and the guy living next door, who Stoner knows, doesn't like it when you break into his room at 3am and take pictures with your bare ass 2 inches from his face.


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#25 SportsGuy

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Posted 24 January 2015 - 12:17 AM

I learned that I have zero discipline, and I can beat the original Legend of Zelda in under 2 hours.  That's all I've retained.
 
Oh, and the guy living next door, who Stoner knows, doesn't like it when you break into his room at 3am and take pictures with your bare ass 2 inches from his face.


Well that's 3 more things than I did! :)

In all seriousness...college was a joke when I went.

Admittingly, part of that was the effort I put into it...but a lot of it was just shit teachers and a terrible curriculum.

#26 Matt_P

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Posted 26 January 2015 - 10:17 AM

I would focus on the criteria necessary for her to keep her scholarships. At UMD, I know (at least when I was there) that many of the majors like Biology, Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, etc gave students bad grades to try and weed out the weaker students. I had plenty of friends that did survive but ended up with a GPA under 3.0. If her scholarship requires her to have a GPA higher than 3.0 and she decides to major in biology than you want to make sure that more than 20% of students actually get Bs in those classes.

 

It sounds like your daughter didn't get any need-based financial aid. You may want to look into that. I can't imagine that they'd expect people making less than $200k a year to pay full tuition. Make sure to fill out the FAFSA.

 

Take a look at Yale for example. They charge $64k a year. But what they do is determine how much money parents are expected to pay and then pay everything else. Outside scholarship money goes towards Yales contribution and not towards what you will pay. So, if Yale decides you can only pay $10k per year and your daughter gets $30k in outside scholarships than you're still on the hook for $10k per year. Look, if you're a millionaire or you're making $300k a year than focus on scholarships because you'll be expected to pay a lot of the tuition. But otherwise need-based loans and internal scholarships are probably the way to go.

 

People have said this already but it's important to look at total cost rather than how much you get. I do suggest looking at total cost some though because scholarships can go away. If prices are equal than it may make more sense to go to Penn State because if things go belly-up you're relying less on aid.

 

I don't think it matters whether she majors in biology or pre-med. I have a good friend that majored in biology undergrad and then went to medical school. It might be better to major in biology because it gives her more options if she doesn't get into medical school. I have smart friends that struggled to get into med school and it might make sense to leave options open.

 

I agree that people won't care where she goes to undergrad once she gets her MD. But the med schools will sure care whether she goes to Yale or Elizabethtown.


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#27 SammyBirdland

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Posted 26 January 2015 - 04:09 PM

You learned stuff in college?
I learned that I have zero discipline, and I can beat the original Legend of Zelda in under 2 hours. That's all I've retained. Oh, and the guy living next door, who Stoner knows, doesn't like it when you break into his room at 3am and take pictures with your bare ass 2 inches from his face.
I learned that Stefano DiMera was a real douche and all he wanted to do with his life was break up Bo and Hope.
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¡Hasta la vista, pelota!

#28 McNulty

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Posted 26 January 2015 - 08:04 PM

I learned that Stefano DiMera was a real douche and all he wanted to do with his life was break up Bo and Hope.

 

I am glad that Sammy and Mucus broke up though.  Their kid, Will, is one ugly mofo.

 

Marlena, well into her 60s, is still the hottest woman on the show.  And John Black can be Roman one day and then he just magically becomes John Black?  What in the....

 

Whoa I blacked out for a second.  


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#29 DJ MC

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Posted 27 January 2015 - 12:08 AM

I am glad that Sammy and Mucus broke up though.  Their kid, Will, is one ugly mofo.

 

Marlena, well into her 60s, is still the hottest woman on the show.  And John Black can be Roman one day and then he just magically becomes John Black?  What in the....

 

Whoa I blacked out for a second.  

 

It really depresses me that I know what you guys are talking about.


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