<p>I'm left with a choice between a very good state school and my prestigious out-of-state "dream school."</p>
<p>The cost difference is about 120k over four years.. I think i'll be HAPPIER at the state school, but unfulfilled ambition-wise. I'd be worked to death at my dream school, but i'd be living with purpose there.</p>
<p>I don't know which route to take... I'm really an average individual with high ambitions. I think i'll feel "unworthy" at my dream school with a 2.something GPA. Then again I'll feel unsatisfied with a 4.0 GPA at the "second tier" state school.</p>
<p>What would you do..?</p>
<p>How do finances come into play here? Would you be able to attend either with no debt? If not, that is definitely a factor that should be taken into account.</p>
<p>yes, i’d be able to attend the dream school without running into debt, only by liquidating a bunch of family assets (and losing a lot of money in the process). also, my parents would have to retire later than expected and lower their standard of living in retirement.</p>
<p>my parents have assured me that finances should not be the deciding factor between the two schools, but they’re heavily leaning towards me going to the “dream school” for the prestige. of course, its not exactly a good feeling knowing that i’m draining decades of hard-earned savings going to that school…</p>
<p>These are always impossible to comment on when we don’t know the schools. Are we talking Berkeley/Vanderbilt or UNH/Harvard?</p>
<p>Give your parents a break; choose State.
If you depend on outside forces to set your goals and ambitions you have much more serious issues than choosing which college to attend. There is nothing stopping you from working hard at State, for taking honors classes or more advanced (even grad level) classes if you just ask, from getting to know some profs for personal mentoring and guidance. Actually I take it back; there is. Its an inner drive to you will either show or won’t show.</p>
<p>U of I and Cal Poly for Computer Science. U of I is ranked 5th (higher than even UCLA/UCSD) while Cal Poly is nonexistant on rankings. As much as I want to believe that rankings don’t mean much, i think the gap is pretty big here… I think a lot of other CA kids in CS are also looking at U of I because the UCs were harsh this year.</p>
<p>Then again it is not like Cal Poly is an awful school to be at, I know plenty of successful people who have come out of CP. I know even more successful people out of U of I (started companies, exited, started another.) The lines blur and I don’t know where I would be happier at!</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO or Cal Poly Pomona?</p>
<p>MODERATOR NOTE: Please post all threads concerning which college to attend on the College Search & Selection forum.</p>