da_mad_cow

I also second alexandre's post.

Here's an example, UNC Chapel-Hill and Amherst are very highly regarded in US, but noone's ever heard of it in my home country.

You'll think all Ivy league schools are known, but Cornell isnt, at least not back home. The same fate goes to places like Syracuse, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, and Brown to name a few.

Almost everybody back home got UCLA, Berkeley, Minnesota and UW in their brains. Plus some Ivies and Rice (which somehow starts to gain popularity there for unknown reasons).

lOngbOWmeN

^ ditto

its the same for ppl in any country, they would be familiar with most of the local unis, a sprinkle of the crem de la crem HYP oxbridge calibre schools, and an odd few which the country's dignitaries and celebs attended

so unless your future local employer is a CC "alumnus" or someone who really took the trouble to do the research, u're going face some problems when it comes to employment

just take me as an example, proud product of the nation's top HS, yet i absolutely knew nuts about US unis (0 LACs to be exact) before i plunged into CC....and there are many more ignorant ppl out there =)

montanaro

^ I second this

In my country it is thought that if you are not attending HYP you're losing time in America. And, although I know how wonderful my future school is and I love it, I get hurt when somebody says that if I'm not going to top US unis it would be better not to have wasted money on the application process (and, later, tuition/transportation) and study in my home country for a quarter of spent money. In brief, I think that to avoid problems in the future you should consider school's reputation in your country as well.

lOngbOWmeN

^ yeah and although you might convince yourself that LACs and other lesser known schools have good employment prospects and placements at top grad schools, the fact is that 4 years of college will change many things, and the latter 2 might not materialise (if you return home) so u will very likely end up with a degree from a relatively unknown college...repute does matter

da_mad_cow

I stated before: consider location carefully. If you got no plans of getting a car, unless you dont mind getting stuck at school the whole year then avoid rural campuses. Find yourself a place that isnt too far from the city, so you'll have things to do when everyone else left, like during breaks.

Of course, this leads to my next point:
Always find out the actual living costs in the school's area. Be it rural or urban it varies from one place to another. If you consider a rural school, think carefully on how you want to spend your free time. If it's entertainment you want, you wont find it in rural towns.

Schools, especially those in huge metro areas cost way more than the numbers suggested by the school estimated fees. Remember they assume prices based on on campus dining and living costs, and list all the others as "extra fees", including entertainment, fuel, transportation, etc...

Here's an example: I go to WSU Pullman, which cost less than UW Seattle, and the food is also cheaper. Their estimated living cost is also pretty decent. However if you get bored easily (like me), then you'll need to travel atleast to Seattle to find real entertainment, the same if you need real shopping. This requires a car, or at least renting one, or bus, which will raise your living cost significantly by about $500-1000 every trip.
I could only escape Pullman about twice per semester, due to money considerations, but if you want to go more often, well... you get the idea...