UW Madison (OOS [$60k, economics]) vs UC Riverside (In State [$45k]) for Business

Compare College Acceptances
,
1

I just got off the waitlist for UW Madison (Economics major) and have been accepted + committed to UC Riverside for Pre-Business. UW Madison has been my dream school since I visited the campus in February, and I have a lot of family in Wisconsin so it’s not like I’m moving to a completely new place. UCR costs $45k a year, while UW Madison costs $60k a year.

UW is much more highly ranked than UCR and I can definitely envision myself having an amazing experience at UW, but when I visited UCR I didn’t enjoy the campus at all and I can see myself not enjoying UCR.

I am somewhat interested in obtaining my MBA in the future, although it’s not something that I am 100% committed to doing.

Obviously the $20k additional cost is a big factor that I and my parents are considering when choosing between UW and UCR. My parents can afford UW but it will cause some financial strain.

2

In addition to the “financial strain”, if you prefer business as your major, then economics is different even though there is some overlap.

3

Only you and your parents can decide whether this is worth it. Personally, it would make a difference to me if the financial strain could be addressed with short term budget changes (cheaper vacation, use the old car longer, put off remodeling the kitchen), or if it had longer term consequences (big loans, less money towards retirement).

1 Like
4

If your intention is to major in Business, why pay $80K more for a major you don’t like? Only 5 UCs has undergraduate Business major, UCR is one of them. Good Luck.

5

What happens at Riverside if you don’t get into Business?
What do you want to do with an Economics major?
Where would the 15-20k difference come from (cutting or delaying expenses, loans, equity..?)