I have to make a decision by February 1st on which college I am choosing and I have no clue what to do. My top two colleges are very similar yet very different. My major, music industry/PR, isn’t very abundant amongst colleges close by. One of my top schools has a beautiful campus, amazing program, great college town, as well as choral groups and sports teams that I am interested in. However, it is 10 hours away and I am worried that being so far away will be hard on me and my family and will be expensive for my family to visit. My other top school is in state so it is a quick drive and has a great program as well for my major. However, it’s campus is small and not pretty, no college town, and doesn’t have the choral/sports groups that I am interested in. Both schools are offering basically the same amount of money tuition-wise. I don’t know which one to choose and don’t want money to be a burden on my family.
I suggest you considerably widen the list of colleges that you are applying to- because you have NO guarantee of getting into either college. Applying to only 2 colleges is very riskly.
what are your safety colleges?- colleges that you can AFFORD and where students with your GPA / and standardized test scores are admitted most of the time and that admit more than 40% of all applicants?
You’ve been accepted to both and have the FA offers in hand already?
Nobody here can or should decide for you. Talk to your parents, re-visit the schools if possible, weigh the factors, and make a decision.
There are some fields such as accounting or engineering where the degree is most of what matters. For many fields, and particularly true in areas such as the performing arts and public relations, grit and people skills are the primary driver. Waving a “music industry/PR” degree does not get you a job, far from it!!
The picture I come away with of someone willing to turn down a school that has “a beautiful campus, amazing program, great college town, as well as choral groups and sports teams that I am interested in” out of fear of being too far away from his/her family is someone that may not have the determination and confidence it takes to suceed in a career in this field. Even in college you may be at risk of being elbowed out by your classmates who are going to be chomping at the bit to take those on-campus positions and internships that help build skills and a track record needed to stand out after graduation.
I have applied to 9 schools and have been accepted/heard back from all but two(:
Erin’s Dad, I have been accepted into one of the two and have a very good chance of getting accepted into the second (:
"Both schools are offering basically the same amount of money tuition-wise. I don’t know which one to choose and don’t want money to be a burden on my family. "
then if you are accepted by both I recommend visiting the one far away. And generally for most students- it isnt your family that will be visiting after you are in college- YOU are the one who goes home to visit them. 1 plane ticket, purchased when they are on sale- is a lot less expensive than many plane tix.
^ Do you actually have your FA offers in hand? Wait until those come in. Hopefully you ran the Net Price Calculators on the school’s web sites but sometimes those can be off.
“One of my top schools has a beautiful campus, amazing program, great college town, as well as choral groups and sports teams that I am interested in. However, it is 10 hours away and I am worried that being so far away will be hard on me and my family and will be expensive for my family to visit.”
- I would go for this one (considering cost of both are the same). You might not end up visiting your family as much as you think, and being in a college that you are happy being at is a much more important consideration. Being far away from family during college is not a bad thing and in fact can be an important step towards the independence you will need to have when you graduate.