<p>Hey guys, okay so I got into BU, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. At BU I would be majoring in Public Health with possibly a minor in physiology. My majors are bio at the ucs. Im planning on going the premed route. I love Boston, I went and visited it and I fell in love. However, I did not receive any financial aid. So its like 48000 for BU, compared to like 23000 at a UC. Im just not really sure if its worth it. Anybody have any suggestions?</p>
<p>I'm in SAR, not human physiology or public health specifically, but as someone familiar with the school I can say that I'm very happy with my choice and am really being prepared for what will be expected of me by employers when I graduate.</p>
<p>UC is the better financial choice. Who is paying your college expenses? If your parents are, do they care about the cost, or can they afford either school comfortably? If that's the case, I say go with your heart. We live in northern California and my S loves BU. There are many Californians there. There is no better college town in America than Boston. The college years are a great opportunity to live in a different part of the country and expand your horizons (trite, but true). You'll make friends from all over the world and you won't be going to college with all your high school friends.</p>
<p>My dad cann afford it, he just doesnt exactly want to. & he said that if I went to a UC, then theres more money to help with graduate. blahh, such a hard decision.</p>
<p>See, if I were your dad, I'd say take the 25k difference a year, take some percentage (say half) and invest that for you so you have money for your future. They could buy you a variable life policy, for example, and fund it so you'd build up money that you could then borrow against at low interest. They could put it in a stock fund. Whatever.</p>
<p>Do not, under any circumstance, buy life insurance as an investment vehicle. The investment choices are s**tty, and the returns even more so. An index fund is a far, far better choice for long term investment.</p>
<p>To the OP, if I were your dad and money was an issue, I would offer to throw $5k extra at you per year in allowance :D</p>
<p>I'm not selling life insurance but the cost for a person of that age is very low, which was my point. If you compare insurance strictly as an investment, you wouldn't buy it but if it's likely - which it "likely" is - that you'll buy insurance later then buying it sooner means you may never have to pay for it.</p>
<p>go to a uc especially if your staying on the west coast after college. if your dad will help with med school thats important because med school is expensive. also the education and college experience u will get is pretty similar, if not better at ucsb or uci than boston u and for 25K less</p>