I hate my safety school

[warblersrule]

It’s in my city and my brother goes there, so I’ve been on the campus plenty of times. I didn’t form a solid opinion on the environment of the school that I want to go to until I was in the middle of college applications, so I didn’t have time to look for another safety school. The school is more of a commuter school, and I want an actual community environment, so I know that I wouldn’t thrive at this school.

Having attended and taught at a commuter school where people disappeared at 4 PM, I can sympathize. There really is a world of difference between a campus and commuter school.

@MYOS1634

Second: any PhD worth pursuing will be funded. You’ll get a tuition waiver and a stipend in exchange for service (assisting, teaching, correcting, helping with research… it depends). So it’s more important you attend a college from which you can get into a funded phd program.

Exactly. In today’s job market, you shouldn’t be getting a PhD without full funding. There’s quite a few good funded master’s programs out there as well, for that matter. (I did two funded master’s before my PhD.)

Giving OP’s stats, a gap year might be best to take advantage of merit aid. I recommending reading through Andi’s thread and its follow-up.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-the-pieces-but-what-went-wrong-p1.html

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-a-year-later.html