<p>Hi, I currently live in Santa Barbara CA going to community college and will be transfering next year. I’ve lived in California almost my entire life and the thing that has always bothered me about living here is rent. Right now, I’m renting a single tiny room for 850 dollars a month. For a long time I thought that was normal, until I found out that you can pretty much get a full 2 bedroom apartment with that kind of money somewhere else. This is why I’m eyeing University of Washington as prospective Engineering college to transfer to fall of 2015l because it seems like the place for me. I went there last month and I love the green scenery and especially the apartment rental prices. My cousin lives there and her rent is 650 a month a full on beautiful 1 br apartment all for herself. I thought ■■■!! So lately I’ve been thinking of finishing my degree there mainly because I can afford to live on my own place comfortably while going to college. My problem is University of Washington’s College of Engineering is ranked only #26 while places like UC Berkeley #3, UCSD #14, UCSB #19. I’m not sure if I should sacrifice the opportunity to get an engineering degree from a top 10 engineering school, just so I can have my own place. </p>
<p>I don’t have to pay out of state tuition either since I am elligible for out-of-state tuition waver. I will just have to pay resident tuition</p>
<p>UW is fine as long as you don’t mind cold, drizzly weather.</p>
<p>Most people would probably argue that there is a reasonable difference between Berkeley and Washington. On the other hand, there isn’t a substantial difference between Washington and UCSB or UCSD. Shoot, even though Berkeley is a very good school, there are still plenty of legitimate reasons to pick Washington over it, as Washington is a very good school as well. If you think you will be that much happier there, I honestly don’t see why you shouldn’t seriously consider it.</p>
<p>What you do while you’re there will matter a lot more than the relative rank of the engineering school. Rank really doesn’t matter as much as most people think it does.</p>
<p>UDub is a very good school. It is expensive for non-residents. Seattle is not cheap, either; if you want low cost-of-living you should look at the South or Midwest.</p>