Is Chicago actually affordable?

insomniac159
Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:24:14 +0000

It’s really not that I think CU is a bad school. I know it’s a great school. The problem for me is not the academics, it’s the environment. I know SO many people who are going there, and I really want to meet new friends and start life over. If I go there, it’ll just be high school all over again. I love my friends, but I really want to just get out of this place and move on. I’ve been dying to get out since I was 5 years old. And Boulder is a very large school. I don’t want to have to deal with huge classes and anonymity. I want actual relationships with my professors. I don’t want large lectures, but rather small discussions. And the city of Chicago appeals to me much more than Boulder does. And I have ALWAYS wanted to go out of state for school. My brother stayed in state (he chose CO School of Mines after being accepted by MIT because it was closer to home). I’m not like that, I really want to get out in the world and establish myself. Boulder is a 45min drive from my area that my brother and his fiance actually make quite frequently. I don’t want to be that close to home. And while I am a pre-med, I am actually VERY interested in the humanities as well (especially creative writing). I want a truly liberal arts education. I mean, I can’t guarantee that in four years, I’ll still want to go to medical school. What if I end up wanting a job right after college? I bet Chicago would give me more opportunities. All in all, I’ve just never gotten a great vibe from Boulder. Perhaps I only feel so negatively about it because I’m comparing it to the ideal Chicago education, but if I go to Boulder, I know I’m always going to wonder what my life would have been like if I’d just taken the plunge and gone to Chicago.

Trust me, I am very aware of my obvious bias here. I know that what I want most is Chicago, and I know that it’s probably clouding my judgment, but it’s very hard to avoid that.