erin85

Due to financial reasons (bigger scholarship) I changed the universities I was intending to enroll in about 3 months ago. I had already sent my deposit in at University A, but had a nice conversation with the program director and confirmed I no longer planned to enroll. This was done through phone and the official "I no longer plan to enroll" was sent though email. I even asked if I needed to contact anyone else, and was not told of anything. So now I have a nice tuition bill from the University, with financial aid/scholarships included. What do I do? Recommendations on who to contact? I left a message at the graduate student enrollment office... but any other thoughts? Thanks! -Erin

as long as school A never offered you money you are likely ok... Let them know ASAP once you decide for sure though.

For those of you familiar with DC housing: Is going to the DC area the week of July 20th (possibly extending the trip to the following week if needed), going to give me enough time to find housing that I can move into on or around August 15th? Or should I go earlier? Craigslist has a million "move in now" posts, so it seems it should, but I need some outside advice, I don't want to get stuck with either nothing, or something awful... FYI I plan to look in the ballston, rosslyn, alexandria areas, and likely a few more places...

Right now: scheduled my classes earlier today after a brief conversation with my adviser, and will hopefully fill out and submit my financial aid form by Wednesday. The program is covering my full tuition and room and board expenses my first year...but books, transportation and misc fees are all on me... So I'm likely going to take out a small amount in subsidized federal loans if I can, and at least apply for the unsubsidized ones in case I take summer courses. Upcoming: Will be in DC late next week and through the weekend. Going to look at areas where I'd like to live, although not specific apartments. Also will sit in a course at GWU, go on a tour, and meet with the program coordinator. Pretty much all the things I should have done had I gone to a visit day like a good prospective student. Mostly am curious if I can waive out of GWU's first stats/research methods course, as it looks to be almost all review from undergrad work I have done. Late july to early August I'll return to DC, with the mildly embarrassing company of my parents (first time moving out of state, so they want to make sure I get a "safe" apartment...), and find myself an apartment close to the metro. If I'm super lucky, I might even be able to finally get the kitty of my dreams from a local shelter, and life will be good... And then on my birthday in late august... I'll start orientation early in the AM at GW. Ohhh boy...

I honestly can't say anything about NYU's reputation, so no comment there... (I never applied so I thus learned very little about it). But I can say this: a 20k difference in debt is not a big issue in the long term if the reputations and programs really do vary. I initially choose Georgetown over UMaryland even with a 30-40k difference in debt. It's only when it reached the 70k difference in debt that I really thought hard about it. Sallie Mae has an interesting "repayment calculator", which lets you estimate what your repayment plans will be with various loan amounts. http://www.salliemae.com/after_graduati ... mating.htm check it out. See if that debt actually does make a big mark, or if it doesn't.

/weird/. I had the same issue with Georgetown, and University of Michigan, but GW was overall the /nicest/ I ever spoke to or emailed, throughout the application process.

Thanks everyone (including normajean, even though her reply was on a diff. board). I spoke to GW for a bit yesterday and today, and also a few people working in the non-profit sector. GW's program director and career services did a great job selling me on the program. Both schools boast similar salary and employment stats, so there is no glaring difference like there was between Gtown and UMaryland at least. The people I spoke to that work in the nonprofit field stressed the logical side of things... at least in D.C. their organizations don't see a difference between Gtown and GW... And with a lower debt load I am free to be much more selective about where I work, and the salary I am willing to take (e.g. less likelihood of having to turn down an amazing but lower paying opportunity, which in the non-profit sector is pretty common). Even the GPPI alum I spoke to said it is a "no brainer" that GW was the best option, especially as once I have a job or two on my resume the school name will lose most of its importance. *sigh* so yea, as long as the dean officially approves my scholarship, I'm off to GW... I'm going to try to travel there though within the next month to take in the physical side of the buildings and such, but my friends from around there had nothing but good things to say about it.

Will be there for my Master of Public Policy! Last minute funding offers rock

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P.S. not to point out a possibly sexist mess up on your part, but the dean is a SHE... interesting how it's immediately assumed it's a he. The he I referred to was the student speaker (one of the best I've ever seen I will say) but I'm pretty sure that was evident

nope... I went out with students from there that night, and its very much a real statistic (10 or so people, not one with a job offer). They all heard it too and all were commenting how they thought it should be more like 20%... And as I said, when combined with the student speakers speech... it was rough. I think since it was not a "public" speech it wasn't touting a statistic.

"We are proud that today 30% of our graduates have job offers" -Dean of Umich's Ford School, during the graduation ceremony "(I attended as a number of friends were graduating from there) About 50% of the student speakers speech dealt with the lack of job offers himself and most other students were receiving. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am almost 100% positive that almost all other schools have a 75% "employed upon graduation rate"...In fact the studnets I spoke to at Georgetown and Harris all had job offers... Might be a good warning for all future students considering the program.