Comfort vs. Academics

latestnostalgia
Sun, 07 Sep 2014 17:45:11 +0000

My top two schools currently are University of Southern Indiana and Indiana University Bloomington. I’m really torn between these two because I felt more comfortable at USI, but I preferred IU’s academic programs.

When I visited USI, I could definitely see myself attending. They don’t offer my first choice major (Music Business), but they do offer my second and third choices, both of which I would be okay with. Their average SAT is 1462 (mine is 1950) and their average GPA is 3.02 (mine is 3.99), so I could easily get into a better school academically. My friend who is a student at USI loves it, even though it wasn’t her first choice when she was choosing a college. The tuition is also a pro at only $6325, and I’ve been offered $4000 in scholarships.

IU has all three of my major choices and after looking into their Arts Management program, I think that might be a good fit for me. Their Arts Management program is one of the few I’ve found that don’t require an audition of some sort; since I’m not advanced enough on any instrument, no required audition is a must. Their average SAT and GPA is a lot closer to mine as well. Though their academics are superior, I didn’t feel as comfortable on campus as I did at USI. I couldn’t really see myself living there. I attend a small high school, so the size of IU is very daunting to me and I don’t know if I could handle such an extensive campus.

So, should I choose the school where I felt the most comfortable, or the one with the better academic programs?