What exactly makes better colleges...better?

Ariz0na
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 19:32:59 +0000

@eyemgh I loved the campus, the location & weather, the academics, and the name recognition it has in California to get internships and jobs.

I guess the things I didn’t like about it were the size, the housing situation, and the fact that it did not offer a major that I think I’m interested in - Systems Engineering. However, looking back on it, I think I would’ve picked UCLA because I could compromise on these aspects in order to obtain the qualities mentioned above. I think I underestimated the importance of location/geography back in April - the weather and scenery of a place can affect my mood, so St Louis isn’t winning any fights there. Plus, ucla is just an hour flight away, while Wash U is 5.5 hours with a connecting flight.

More factors that drew me to WUSTL were the housing (possibility of even getting a single) and the advising system. I was thinking that because of the strong career counselors, I could land something in California during the summers, but now I see that despite being a large impersonal school, UCLA still wins in terms of clout in SoCal.

I should probably try and accept, though, that that avenue is closed (at least, for the next two years) since they do not accept sophomore transfers. USC would’ve been a good option for me because they DO offer that major, but I was denied and did not bother to appeal because there weren’t any new developments in my academics.

@Parche And the thing is, I have no idea why I’m feeling this way about Wash U. I loved the school back when I visited in October. I know that it is a great school and that I will probably have a good experience there. I just can’t shake the feeling that something is “off” when I tell people I’m going to Wash U. Maybe it’s just a severe case of buyer’s remorse.