Thank you to anyone who decides to read my post and help me!
It has reached the point where I’ve heard back from pretty much all of my schools (except for a couple of reaches that I most likely wouldn’t get in or attend anyway,) and I’ve hit a wall.
Before I heard back from University of Florida, I was almost sure that I wanted to go there- great academics, nice weather (REALLY a plus for me, sunshine puts me in the best mood,) fun scene. I have a tour booked for March 15, and I’m going down with my mom for 2 nights so that will help me decide if it is a good fit or not.
Honestly I haven’t really looked into anything until recently because I wanted to make sure I knew what my exact options were before I started digging deep. From the start, Florida, PSU and Binghamton were my top picks so I’m really blessed that I got in- but now that I’m in, making a decision is as hard as ever.
My thoughts have lately been drifting more towards staying close to home, because of many factors~
I would be more comfortable attending a school where I don’t have to purchase plane tickets to come home and the whole process isn’t such a hassle. I plan on coming home during any longer weekends if possible to see my SO.
I have a boyfriend of 2 and a half years and we are very much in love. Leaving him will be especially hard for me and we have talked about our future plans and we are really emotionally invested in staying together through college so we can spend our lives together (which may sound dumb to you all but I really want to make things work.)
Coincidentally enough, all the farther schools I applied for are my most expensive. So far, I’ve received a 10k/yr scholarship at Delaware (bringing annual cost down to 34k which is great.) But I haven’t heard about my financial opportunity at the other schools and I didn’t put Bing on my FAFSA list (it’s cheap enough) My family only makes about 80-90k a year and I hate to put this toll on them.
I also would like to get some perspectives on what nightlife is like at each school- I’ve heard great things about State College and Main Street but I don’t know what particularly goes on in Binghamton or Gainesville (many say both are in the middle of nowhere so it’s a little more difficult to find things to do.)
The real dealbreaker for me is going to be how I fit at these schools, the feel of the campus and location (if there is a lot of fun things to do, Close to city or not etc)
If anyone could give me any information on what student life is like at any of these schools, their surrounding cities or what things there are to do in free time, and a better description of what party life is like at each one, ANYTHING is welcomed! If you took the time to read my post I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is all so new to me and my nerves are racking up by the day to make a decision!!!
EDIT: Also, if anyone could give me their point of view on how I would spend my free time attending a school like Florida where it’s warm vs. any of my other schools, that would be appreciated as well! I’m from NY so I’m used to the cold winters, I just can’t tell if I’m letting climate influence my decision too much (probably 40% of the reason I’m looking into FL so much). I believe I would be happier where it’s warm but I can’t tell if it would make much of a difference.
Binghamton- the kids are smart and the 30-40 kids I have spoken to (I realize this is a relatively small sample) love their school. Have you visited the campus? Being in upstate NY, the weather is cold and it is often quite dreary. This is not the fault of the school, of course. The dorms at Bing are gorgeous but the rest of the campus needs a lot of work (my opinion). For some reason the campus and academic buildings at Binghamton have not gotten the updates that some of the smaller SUNY colleges have gotten. The school is located on a main strip typical of the upstate suburbs. There are hotels, restaurants, etc, but it is not a college town. It is more like a main road with hotels and restaurants. I recently asked a current student about the party scene. She said there are a lot of parties, but there are also kids who do not party and if you want to avoid it, you can. There are kids who do not party and are very active in clubs, etc. My daughter recently visited her friend at Bing and she said there were a lot of parties going on. You should know that every school has parties. Some kids who have been recently accepted have been invited to participate in research during their freshman year, so the opportunity exists. I know several kids who recently graduated and are either working in Manhattan or are in grad school. They were all happy with their college experience.
Delaware- the campus is beautiful (my opinion) and there is a very nice college town right on campus. The kids I know love it. I know one girl in the honors program, and several who are not in honors. There are a lot of parties, but like most schools, my guess is that they can be avoided. I know kids who joined Greek life and kids who chose not to, and are very involved in sports. My friends son is graduating UDel soon and has gotten scholarships to some excellent grad schools.
I have not seen PS or UF, but my guess is that the campuses are very pretty. Both schools have an active Greek life and party scene, but of course they can be avoided. I have been told by 3 parents that the Greek scene at UF is very dominant.
Another thing for you to consider is what it will feel like to be an out of state student at a state school. Some schools will have more kids from NY/NJ than others. Some kids have difficulty adjusting to being an outsider, while others do not. Some feel like there are large groups of kids who went to HS together and all attend the state schools, and if you are an outsider it may take some time to adjust- or maybe not. You have some great options. You need to decide how much you want to spend and which school is the right fit. Hopefully your trip to UF will bring some clarity.
@twogirls thank you for taking the time to respond to my post! I haven’t visited the campus yet but I plan on it within the next month or so, I too have heard the remarks of the campus looking “depressing” but the look of the campus isn’t really that important to me. It’s a good thing that you said the dorms are new because one of my fears is living in a too small dorm with communal bathrooms because I’m a germaphone and I like my own space. I’ve also heard remarks that Binghamton isn’t a fun school because of the location but I’m thankful that you provided me with your anecdotes and that I know that’s not true now!
I’ve also heard of how lovely the Delaware campus is, one of my friends who graduated from my HS last year attends and she is SO in love with it. I’m happy to hear of your sons success at Delaware! I’m interested in joining Greek Life so I have a way to get more involved and create a sisterhood, because at my school currently I don’t have a very strong friend group, so having a sisterhood of people to lean on would be a huge change and much more better for my well being.
But yes, my friend from HS is currently in a sorority at UF and she loves it. When I go down there she said she is going to take me out after my tour so I’m hoping that during the days I have I will get a better feel as to if UF is the right choice for me.
I’m currently very attracted to the appeal of Binghamtons great academics and low cost, I plan on attending grad school for veterinary medicine so the success of others who have went to Bing makes me more comfortable in attending there as well.
@bodangles I know … before the whole college process even began I was only looking into schools that had lower standards so I would have a greater opportunity to receive more money and make it easier for my family, but my mother was the one who ended up swaying how I felt and made me apply to more rigorous schools bc she believed in me. And to my shock I got in !!! So I will forever be grateful to her for changing my future so much without me even realizing. We are planning on taking out loans for whatever costs we cannot make up for
You got into an in-state option that will cost much less. Driving your whole family into crushing debt to go to one of the most expensive public schools in the country is N O T a good idea. I go to PSU, but if I were out of state this place wouldn’t even be on my radar. It’s not worth it.
@bodangles I was mostly looking into Penn State because of it’s academic reputation, the vibes that Happy Valley gives off and the alumni network. Do you really believe it is not worth it? My parents and I would both take out equal loans so half of the weight is taken off of them and put onto me. I know the debt isn’t good but I figured it would be worth it in the end. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you think PSU sizes up to Bing or Delaware?
Absolutely. It’s expensive, you have cheaper options, you don’t like the cold (a week ago it was 10 degrees F with a low of 2 degrees). What’s your major?
@bodangles since of course each school did not offer the same majors I just applied into whatever veterinary majors the school had… Animal Sciences for UF, Veterinary & Biological Medicine for PSU, Pre-Veterinary Medicines and Animal Biosciences for UD, and for Binghamton it doesn’t specify what I was accepted to in my admissions notification but it just states I was accepted into the Harpur College of Arts & Sciences.
Okay, so you will also need to pay for vet school later, right? Are you planning to take out tens of thousands of dollars in loans for both undergrad and vet school? Common advice to premed/prevet students is to minimize debt now to be able to take out loans for the other schooling later.
Other considerations:
Do you have any younger siblings whose college choices could be limited by your parents’ potential debt?
Do you want to be able to buy a house, a car, a dog, whatever, soon after college? Or do you want that money to have to go towards repaying your debt?
Do you want to saddle your boyfriend with the effects of your debt on his lifestyle, should you get married? (not being able to afford a house, kids if that’s your thing, etc.)
Do you need loans to attend Binghamton? How much money will you need to borrow for these other schools? My advice is to keep your undergrad costs as low as possible since you will need significant loans for grad school. I am not suggesting that you attend a school that you do not like simply because it is “cheap,” but if you like all of these schools, go with the one that is the most affordable.
Honestly, Binghamton is a good school academically, and you’re in-state. So if you’re looking just to save money, definitely go there. But if you want to expand yourself and actually have fun in college, go to UF. Gainesville isn’t a nasty area like Binghamton is.
You can only take out about $5500 a year in loans. The other loans will be your parents’ (which you could of course pay). As others have said, you will probably be making a mistake going to an out of state school. The dealbreaker for you should be the financial reality you are facing, not fit. PSU will not give you anything. Don’t know about Florida, but the $10k from Delaware is still going to leave you with having to come up with $34k a year. How are you going to do that? If you borrowed $25k a year for four years, you will be leaving undergrad with over $100k in debt. That is just insane and would essentially rule out grad school for you.
I know it is too late now, but you would have been better focusing on schools that would make financial sense for you from the beginning. Financial aid for OOS students at many state schools is not good.
I’m sorry if these seems harsh, but you need to know the reality you are facing. Four years of having the ideal college experience is not worth a crushing debt that will affect the rest of your life. The internet abounds with horror stories about students getting in over their heads because they wanted to go to a particular school that was essentially unaffordable to them. Don’t be one of them.
I had the best social time of my life at Binghamton! I, too, was nervous about going because I heard the campus was “depressing.” It isn’t. The campus is green and beautiful with flowers and trees. In the fall it is absolutely gorgeous. It can be freezing and grey in winter, but it’s like that anywhere in New York. Anyway I made my best friends at Binghamton and never lacked something to do on weekend.
Okay so HUGE EDIT, I feel like an idiot lol, but my family actually makes 150k a year (I would have never guessed because we live in a somewhat tiny apartment and my mom says we are always tight on money so I am kind of confused lol). When I asked my mom for our family income she only told me hers forgetting to account for my father, so when I pointed out that a year at UF or PSU would cost half of my familys income she instantly corrected me and apologized for telling me the wrong info… so I guess that changes a lot of things… money isn’t as much of an issue as it seemed when I first posted and I’m sorry for the mistake !!!
@bodangles Yes, I am 100% planning on going to Vet school. I really want a Doctorate degree and I plan on doing very well in school so I can attend a grad school such as Cornell’s Veterinary Medicine school or UPenns. Before I posted I wasn’t even taking grad school into account when I was picturing how much debt I would be in after college, and a year at Cornells vet school costs 50k. This makes Binghamton much much more appealing to me as it will cost half the price of attending PSU/almost half of UF… I’m not too sure on how financial aid works for grad school so if anyone could inform me I would really appreciate it…
I do have a younger sibling, but she is graduating elementary school this year so college is a long ways off for her. I’m really not too sure of my plans after college, but if I do end up getting a great paying job then I would most likely start off living in an apartment until I save up more money and am more financially stable. I do want a car and I absolutely adore dogs so I want minimum one haha… but once again this depends on my financial situation and I do not plan on getting into these things until I’m more comfortable… And I would hope that my debt would not take too much of a toll on us, but everyone gets through it so I would hope that it wouldn’t be too bad
@twogirls I will definitely need loans no matter where I go, but the cost of Binghamton is much cheaper than the rest of my schools. One year is 25k so my total cost of attendance would just top 100k, whereas Delaware would be 136k, Florida 168k and Penn State 190k. I know Binghamton has strong academics so Binghamton would hopefully look as impressive as any of my other schools… through research I’ve gotten the idea that it is not really where you attend for undergrad that matters as long as you perform very well, so I hope this is the case
@LBad96 I was really set on UF until I realized the massive toll that I have placed upon me by grad school now. Before I even posted this thread I wasn’t taking grad school into the equation but now it’s much more appealing… I’ve heard so many different things about Binghamton, I definitely want to get the full college experience but I fear being in heavy debt. Especially because I don’t want to put so much debt on my parents when my sister has to go to college too in the future… I just feel it would be selfish of me… and if undergrad school doesn’t matter as much then I wouldn’t mind attending Bing over UF
@blprof if you have the time please read my recent post #15. Does this change your perspective on what I should do? I’m sorry for the accident.
@rebeccar wow thank you for replying to me! I was secretly hoping a Binghamton student would see and take the time to post because I wanted more insight on what student life is like. So many people say the area is depressing and there is not much to do but then students chime in saying this is not the case. If you don’t mind, could you offer me some more insight on the school? What campus life is like, school spirit (not a big factor but mainly curious,) what there is to do on the weekends and free time in general? Social life is definitely a big factor and I want wherever I go to present me many opportunities to have fun. And the location, people say it’s in the middle of nowhere… but it is close to downtown? There are just many stereotypes that trouble me because I know they are most likely not true lol
before the whole college process even began I was only looking into schools that had lower standards so I would have a greater opportunity to receive more money and make it easier for my family, but my mother was the one who ended up swaying how I felt and made me apply to more rigorous schools bc she believed in me. And to my shock I got in !!! So I will forever be grateful to her for changing my future so much without me even realizing. We are planning on taking out loans for whatever costs we cannot make up for