Yay or Nay?

[Purplescarves]

Like many others on this thread, I'm not sure what to do.

 

School A (Smith College)

- Leads the field in clinical social work (which is exactly what I want to do) although they are ranked in the top 30

- Course offerings are superb and rigorous, the content will likely be new

- Students earn more experience hours here than any other school

- No summers off

- No funding provided, I'll have loans of $40,000 or more

- To sum it up: great education, really high cost

 

School B (UC Berkeley)

- Ranked in the top 10 in the field

- Received a fellowship that covers the majority of the cost. I can even get a car which I may need for my internship.

- Course selection is really lacking, they have a more generalist approach

- Option for summers off

- Opportunity to network with grad students across disciplines

- To sum it up: okay education, practically free

 

It's just a Master's, so it's only about two years. Any thoughts? Should I just take out the loans and consider it a major investment? I know the answer lies with me, but I'd like some insights.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Purplescarves

[msocean]

How deep are your personal pockets?  How much can you reasonably expect to earn once you have graduated?  How long would it take to re-pay the loans?  How much debt do you already have?

[Purplescarves]

Average earnings upon graduation are $50,000. I don't have much that I could contribute now. Fortunately, I only have undergrad debt and that's not much. It would probably take me about 8-10 years to fully re-pay.

[LMac]

Unless you think your future options (PhD or job market) will be really limited by option B, I'd recommend avoiding serious debt. I don't know about your program in particular, but option B isn't exactly a low tier school (insert sarcasm here). Take advantage of everything they offer, work your butt off and shine. Then move on to whatever is next and save your $50k/yr for a house, travel, etc...

[pears]

my mind is kind of blown by cal being boiled down to "okay," but more importantly: i would go with the funding, especially at the master's level. (i wish i had any funded options for what i'm studying! especially now that i've written the MPN for my 2013-2014 loan... oof.) the bay area is full of lots of great schools and students and labs and research facilities; i can pretty much guarantee that there will be plenty of ways for you to make up for a lack of coursework with a for-credit internship, a "winternship" in the bay area, or something similar, so you can focus more on your specific interests. just make the most of your large blocks of free time  

 

also, depending on what your commute is like, you may be able to get away without a car, too. i'm living in SF sans-car, and i'm totally fine. gas is pretty expensive here these days anyway, and i can't imagine it'd drop off that much before you'd be starting.

[ghijklmn]

I'd go with B. If A costed less (maybe in the realm of $10-20k), then I would consider it... but $40k is something you'll be paying off for 20 years on a social work salary.

[NanoTech]

Money talks. Besides Berkeley is an awesome school to pursuit your ph.d.

[mrmolecularbiology]

Berkeley all the way. 

[Purplescarves]

Thank you for the thoughtful responses. Keep in mind I'm not judging all of UCB to be okay, just this particular program given what I would like to do. I have no doubt in my mind that the school is awesome in general, but I also won't doubt the students and alumni I've spoken with who have stated in no uncertain terms that this specific department is lacking. Given that, I'm seriously doubting whether to attend.

[compiler_guy]

Berkeley all the way. 

Agreed. No reason to get into debt for graduate school.