<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I am currently a student at Depauw University in Indiana. It is a small college of only 2,500 students and very rural, oriented toward the Greek life, not much to do. I am not a big drinker/partying kid and with about 70% of kids on campus going Greek I did not feel like I really fit in. So thus, I applied for transfer admission to Columbia University and was accepted. The problem arises now that Columbia is offering me $33,000 and asking me to pay about $22,000 a year (my parents only make about $35,000). Although they normally cover full financial need for students, their policy is different for transfer students. Also, it seems like there will be some good things at Depauw I may be giving up if I go to Columbia. I've built up a good rapport with my professors at Depauw, especially a few biology ones (I'm a biology major, interested in ecology, evolutionary biology, and conservation), I've been accepted into the Science Research Fellows which helps professors do research, and I've been accepted to the Galapagos Island winter term trip. Depauw makes its students do three winter terms and you can travel abroad on them which is what I want to be doing. Also, I have enough credits to be able to do two semesters worth of study abroad, which is really good, and Depauw is also giving me a full ride (at Columbia, there are much more requirements to studying abroad, although if I work hard, I think I'll be able to qualify for a semester). Eventually, I want to go to graduate school and earn a PhD. in ecology, evolution, and conservation. Columbia has greater prestige and I wonder if my chances of getting into a good graduate school would be better if I went there (I heard professors will give you a boost in graduate school admissions if you've done undergraduate research with them and they like you). It has a core program of Western humanities that take up approximately a third of the courses that I am not too eager to take (I am almost finished with my Depauw requirements) but it has a much more fantastic ecology, evolutionary, and conservation biology program than the simple biology program that Depauw offers. I'm having a really hard time deciding between the two, since my college and career counselor says since I'm doing well at Depauw, it might be better to be a big fish in a little pond rather than a small fish in a big pond. But I also feel like I want to take the Columbia opportunity because I'm a first generation college student and it seems like such a great opportunity and almost seems to be some value into going to the ivy leagues, but I'm worried about how it'll affect my chances of getting into graduate school, paying for it, and whether it'll be worth it overall.</p>