Getting into college is a tough task. There are applications to complete, fees to pay, and finally a decision to be made once acceptance letters are received. This year, eight high school seniors received acceptance letters to all eight Ivy League schools. According to Business Insider, the acceptance rates for the Ivy League ranged from 5.33% (Harvard University) to 14.9% (Cornell University). There is no doubt that these individuals are intelligent.
Yet of the eight students, one student stands out to me from the rest of the group – Ronald Nelson. It’s not because of his GPA (4.58), his 15 Advanced Placement classes, or his 2260 out of 2400 SAT score. It’s not that he rejected the Ivy Leagues, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, New York University, Vanderbilt, and Washington University in St. Louis. It’s not that he choose the University of Alabama – remember, I’m a Tar Heel where basketball is more important than football.
No, Ronald stands out because of why he made the decision to say no to the Ivy Leagues and yes to Alabama. While he would have received financial aid from all of the Ivy League schools, the aid package would shrink after the first year increasing the cost born by Ronald and his family. Alabama waived his out-of-state fees and covered his tuition costs. According to CollegeData.com, the cost of attendance for out-of-state students at Alabama is currently $39,199 per year. Over a four-year collegiate career, that’s quite a savings for Ronald and his family.
Ronald plans on attending medical school after his undergraduate studies. While graduating from an Ivy League school would carry weight in medical school applications, he believes that his decision will not impact his chances of getting into a top program. I agree with his analysis. Alabama is a great school and being in the Fellows Experience honors program can only help his appeal to graduate programs. And without the burden of undergraduate debt, Ronald and his family can focus on the costs of graduate school – assuming he doesn’t receive another scholarship or grant.
As a financial adviser, I applaud Ronald’s decision. He identified his goals, gathered information, analyzed his options, and implemented a strategy to achieve his objective based upon his analysis. Could he have chosen an Ivy League school, taken on the debt, and still continued on to medical school? Sure. But the fact that he didn’t make a short-term decision that could potentially have a long-term impact speaks to his real intelligence.