OP, I am late to this party, but I completely understand your dilemma. I am an Auburn alum, and I also had the stats to go to a lot more schools. But the decider for me was that I had never run into an Auburn student or Auburn alum who didn’t love it. OF COURSE there are some, but that was my experience decades ago, and I still find it to be true generally. People really love Auburn, and you already do. It’s a perfectly acceptable school academically–it’s not as if you are choosing between UNC-CH and a third-tier juco. You will be able to do exactly what you want with a degree from Auburn, you will love your time there, and you’ll stand out a bit more than you would at UNC-CH. As for how to convince your mom, all you can do is tell that you love it and want to spend the next four years somewhere that you love. College can be a grind, which is something no one really tells you in advance, so anything you can do to make it less so deserves serious consideration.