<p>I currently go to Emory University and plan on pursuing a business degree (finance or accounting) and later on going to law school. It's costing my family a lot for me to go to Emory, so I have been considering going back home and attending my hometown state school, Florida International University. My grandparents are chipping in for Emory, but my single mom is paying the rest and at times I feel guilty for having her spend so much money. I've noticed that there are not a lot of students in my situation that come here. Most are either on a scholarship or have parents that make a six-figure salary.</p>
<p>Your thoughts/advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>I do think, for jobs purposes, your undergraduate school makes a difference. At least for the first job. Down the line, it won’t matter as much if you are going into business. It still helps to have that alumni network. </p>
<p>Now, if you’re planning on going to a decent law school, where your school matters dramatically, I think you should really consider staying at Emory. Of course, if the money thing doesn’t work out, it doesn’t.</p>
<p>emily6 are you by any chance international? If so paying full tuition w/o your family having a six-figure salary definitely isn’t worth it in my opinion or probably no even financially feasible over all four years…But then again since you’re planning on doing law from a financial standpoint paying more for your education up front may well be worth it down the line. So if you family has trouble affording emory the best option would be to get some loans (which if within reason you should be able to pay off working as a lawyer).</p>
<p>but that’s not to say that law school is very prestige-orientated so it would matter where you went for undergrad, and emory’s b-school is ranked highly in the nation with generally good job placement among its graduates. If you were pre-med i might suggest the opposite but unfortunately most lawyers in top law firms did graduate from high-ranked law schools AND undergrads (and in law it’s almost exclusively those people that have a chance of making lots of money).</p>
<p>I think the opportunities available to you at Emroy far surpass anything at FIU. I live in south Florida and trust me you would not be happy at FIU. You must be an intelligent person if you got into Emroy, and at FIU you’d be surrounded by not as motivated students, not as great professors, and you wouldn’t have the great studyabroad/volunteer/internship/pre-law advisory opportunities that you have at Emroy!</p>
<p>Try to apply for scholarships. Your university has many scholarships available to you. Research online and apply. </p>
<p>When your a lawyer and are making money, then you can pay for your moms medical bills or send her on a nice vacation as a gift to repay. You are making her proud by being at a top university.</p>
<p>To be blunt, business degrees are all about prestige. So if you want to be a lawyer/businessperson for sure, then yes. If you want to be a Sociology major or something, I’d probably just save the money.
So, yea, tough it out. If anything, it should motivate you to perform well so the money isn’t wasted.</p>
<p>I’m surprised you don’t get financial aid though (need based).</p>
<p>FWIW, I found out at about this time last year that my parents sold our house so I could afford this school (I pay like 15k a year). The reason they told me when I was applying to college was that they wanted to be closer to home (Asia). If I had known the real reason, I wouldn’t have came here. I felt pretty dang guilty about it.
Um, I ****ed over one semester (the semester I found out) pretty badly (compared to the standards I hold myself to) due to laziness coming from sub-par performance because of panic/stress of the realization… But then, last summer, I had a long talk with a friend where I pretty much poured out my fears. I think it helped me relax and I did much better last semester. And this semester should go well, hopefully.</p>
<p>So my advice… tough it out and reap the benefits if you’re sure you can do this. Also think about finding a counselor or best friend to talk to.</p>