SLU (Full-Ride) vs. W&L (Half) Forum

[Birdlaw]

Alright, I'm from St. Louis so SLU seems like the obvious choice. I have no money so avoiding as much debt as possible would make a lot of sense. I've pretty much decided on St. Louis, but I'm at the stage where you flip a coin on something, get your result and then say best 2 out of 3. W&L's offer is incredible for how well regarded they are and their facilities are top notch. Am I crazy for passing an opportunity for a solid scholarship to a tier 1 school or should I just play it smart and take the full ride to avoid insane 100K debt.

I've got no real preference on where I want to work or study at. Lexington is gorgeous and St. Louis is home. Someone play devil's advocate please.

[mettasutta]

You should put up a poll!

[Birdlaw]

Ah right. Alright got one up.

[ndirish2010]

I would probably choose the full ride at SLU here. You're from St. Louis and thus the St. Louis firms will like you if you finish in the top 20 or so percent of SLU. W&L's placement lags behind several schools in its home market. W&L is definitely a solid school, and I agree with you about Lexington, but I think in your situation SLU debt free makes a lot of sense.

[mettasutta]

Does the SLU scholarship have any GPA/class rank stipulations? If it's something ridiculous like like top 15% or something, then W&L would be the obvious choice. You wouldn't want to be in the position of worrying about the possibility of paying sticker 2L and 3L years at SLU if you don't make the cut.

It won't hurt to try leveraging the SLU full-ride to squeeze more money out of W&L, although they're certainly not peer schools.

[BarbellDreams]

If the fullride at SLU doesnt have any crazy stips I think its absolutely the smarter choice.

[Birdlaw]

This is the crazy thing about the full ride at SLU. 2.0 GPA stipulation. The one at W&L is 3.15. I asked W&L for more money but they really don't have any obligation to match or come near SLU's offer.

[ndirish2010]

Given those stips, definitely SLU.