<p>Hi, I have been accepted to all 8 out of 9 of the schools I have applied (haven't heard from Loyola Marymount/CA) but I think I have narrowed it down to the three in my post (U. of Oregon, Sonoma State, Chapman). I really want to go to Chapman but they offered me zero in financial aid. They said it was because I am below their average for admitted students (3.5 GPA, 25 ACT). Of course the other private schools offered me $8-10K but I don't like any of them much (U. of Redlands, Cal Lutheran, Linfield). I asked Chapman to reconsider my aid by email but based on my other offers but no response. I have about $33K per year to spend on college. U of O will be about that amount, Chapman is $48K, and Sonoma is $18K. I don't know my major yet but I am interested in writing, communications, and graphic design. I haven't visited Sonoma yet and will be doing that in about 2 weeks. </p>
<p>Any insight to how to decide would be appreciated!</p>
<p>SSU is lovely. The dorms are great and the community is small. It is under an hour from San Francisco which is cool and about 15 minutes from Santa Rosa which has some decent places too. </p>
<p>I don't know about the others but I think you should decide what qualities are important to you, make a spread sheet and see which one fits the fill best.</p>
<p>Oregon has a big stoner scene, which is a turn off, personally. And if you're from California, you may not like the weather. It's always dreary and overcast.</p>
<p>I like Sonoma's campus a lot. Don't know much about the school or people.</p>
<p>Oh and if doing undergrad at Sonoma will allow you to graduate debt free and maybe w/ money in the bank that's a huge consideration esp if you are considering grad school.</p>
<p>Sonoma was more of a commuter school years ago but in the last decade or so it has emerged as more of a residential campus. You will find a large variety of "types" of student as it pulls from suburban/rural Mendocino and Sonoma counties as well as the more chichi Marin and the very rural Lake counties.</p>
<p>OSU does have better name recognition and reputation but if you think you will miss the San Diego weather world changer makes a good point.</p>
<p>Thx for the replies so far. I really want to go to Chapman but I'd have to take out about 40-50K in loans my last year to cover everything. I thought U. of O. was very cool but we visited on 2 sunny days last month. I'd have to fly 2 1/2 hours which can get expensive. I will know more after I visit Sonoma the first part of April. Sonoma would be an hour flight or 9 hr. drive and obviously much less expensive. They only have 40 majors so that is a concern as I don't know what I want to do yet. U. of O. has 80.</p>
<p>A coworker with a D at UO was telling me he was thinking of getting her a car...because it would be cheaper to drive between Southern Cal and Eugene for break. Even with $4/gallon gas! He said flights get very pricey; for spring break, they were paying $500 r/t.</p>
<p>I know you can fly from Portland to SD very inexpensively on Southwest. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to get a ride to Portland from someone - maybe your friend can try that. Southwest flights don't show up on travel sites like Expedia so many times people don't know it's an option.
I am currently trying to figure out the least expensive way to get from Phil to Eugene so I have been digging!</p>
<p>When we went there in Feb. we got flights for about $200 on Alaska to Portland and then drove. We got a great deal though. It was non-stop too. SW has at least one connection with lay overs. The prices were about the same as Alaska but I know they have specials sometimes. Connections aren't great either to Eugene and even more expensive. I would think the drive for me would be about 15 hours from San Diego but I haven't checked. Don't want a car there as a Fr.</p>
<p>I just looked at SW site and you're right, I didn't see any non-stops! Last year we did college tours and flew from Portland to SD non stop for $92 ( I looked at my records) . That's too bad.</p>
<p>I live in Sonoma and it is perhaps the most boring place on the face of this earth. no joke.
There is basically a nonexistant social scene at Sonoma State and the parties consist of high schoolers randomnly showing up (trust me, I am in high school around here). You'll get a decent education there but if you're gonna come all the way over here, you might as well spend 15 more minutes and drive to take classes at the jc. The SRJC is basically the best one in California and it's only $13 a unit--which is perfect if you just want to get your general education stuff done because you aren't sure on a major yet. It's also a feeder for the UC system.</p>
<p>And if you come in the next two weeks, you should know it's gonna start raining within the week.</p>
<p>oh, and one of my friends was supposed to go to Chapman for film until he got into USC, but he spoke very highly of it. However, it doesn't seem worth taking out loans and going into debt.</p>
<p>oh, OH (doubles because I'm seriously absentminded). My English teacher has done several career changes and she got her teaching degree from SS. She says it's really good...but she's like 50 so I don't know how much that helps.</p>
<p>yea, and traffic around here is hell. Also, within 15 minutes on our roads you'll be cursing out elderly women for cutting you off.</p>
<p>Sorry you don't like where you live. I have spoken to about 5-10 current students and they said if you get involved in the greek life and/or clubs that you will be very busy and have a lot of fun socially. There is something going on every night of the week. Your college life is what you make of it I am told. I did hear that the CC is very good up there. We have a lot of family in Marin and Novato so know the area pretty well. Traffic's pretty bad here too so that wouldn't be anything new. Won't be there for a couple of weeks so I may miss the rain. Heck, if I go to U. of Oregon it will rain much more than there.</p>
<p>dont forget its not like you're spending money on a car or something. its your education. sometimes schools that cost more will have better fin aid than the cheaper school and will actually turn out to be less expensive compared to the cheaper school. dont worry about debts. they are very reasonable when it comes to loans. they wait till yur settled and have a good income based job. everyone has debts after grad school for example Obama is still paying off his debts from harvard and he is doing just fine so dont worry about the money worry about the best education possible and i think u of O has that available for u</p>
<p>Thx. Havent found any loans that you don't pay interest until you grad. Our EFC is 99K so I didn't qualify for any need aid or interest free loans at the private schools I want (USF, Chapman, LMU). Only got good aid at the schools I didn't like and they still were expensive. I think I will most likely go to U. of O. but I need to check out Sonoma to see what it's like before I decide. I plan to go to grad school too so I don't want to graduate with undergrad debt and grad school debt too. None of these are Harvard for sure!</p>