My dream school has always been Clemson University. It has the major I want, I’m drawn to the location, as well as the whole school spirit. The problem is I am 13 hours away, so is it realistic to consider attending here.
Distance doesn’t necessarily take a school off the table if you don’t mind not going home often.
For a school to be realistic it needs to be affordable and your grades/test scores need to be competitive for admission.
13 hours driving or flying? If driving check out airlines and see what the cost to fly home is. Is that a realistic amount for your family for you to come home on the school breaks etc?
Maybe you can work this summer and during school to help make up the difference.
I love Clemson, so I totally get your interest. The distance has an impact in a couple of ways. First — assuming you’d like to see a bit of your family / dog / friends / hometown— find out what a ticket usually costs 12 / 4 / 1 week out. That will give you an idea of the number of planned and spontaneous trips you can take. Second, do your parents plan on coming to see you? That would obviously add opportunities to stay in touch. Third, find out how many of Clemson’s students live within a 4 hour drive. A few of my sons’ friends went to college fairly far away only to discover that most of the student body lived fairly close by and that campus was rather dead during holiday weekends.
But the most important thing is know yourself. You might really like keeping in touch by text and be content seeing family and home summers and 2-3 additional visits. My sons, on the other hand, knew they wanted to be close to home and they are 2.5 hours away. We see them monthly and they work their visits around hunger cravings, other friends’ visits home, concerts and events, etc. And now that one of my sons is in an improv group, I’m happy that we can easily travel to campus, see his show, do a grocery run, and buy the guys a steak. And we like to come up for Parents’ Weekend and the occasional football game, so it works great for us. But it’s really a matter of what you are looking for the next four years.