Basically, I’m torn right now between what were originally my two safety schools and ended up being the only schools I got into - UCONN and Fordham at Rose Hill. Though I’m still pondering (because I’m bad at making life choices), political science is my current intent for my major. I haven’t heard anything specific about the program at either school, so I’m not sure if that will affect this much.
There are pros and cons to both sides for me. I got into the UCONN Honors Program which is a bit more selective, but I’m not sure how large the benefits of being an honors program student are in actuality. If anyone knows more about that, I’d be happy to learn more. At the same time, as a kid from Connecticut, it seems like UCONN is everybody’s target school and it just seemed bland when I visited, like every other state school out there. To add to that, it’s in the middle of nowhere and it’s actually further from my home than Fordham There was very little I really disliked about it, but nothing really stuck out to me either.
On the other hand, Fordham, from what I’ve heard, is less academically impressive than UCONN, at leas than the Honors program. As someone who took 10 college courses, got a 1470 on the SAT’s (with no superscoring), and had at least a competitive GPA at just about 3.9 unweighted, it’s still very important to me that I put in all that work for something, so academic credentials are important to me after missing out on all my other schools. On the contrary, when I visited Fordham, it really impressed me. The campus was kind of just what I wanted. It is it’s own entity, but still has a lot to do outside of it. And of course, it was stunningly beautiful. You would think that at UCONN, since it’s in a rural area, greens and other areas like that would not be hard to come by, but there were way more trees and green areas all around, which I liked a lot. It just had a better feeling to it and it felt more like it had an identity.
The confounding variable in all of this is money. Based on the fact that I’m in state and got the honors program scholarship, UCONN. Even with need based financial aid and a Loyola scholarship, Fordham will be much more expensive. We’re looking at like a 10-15k difference here if I hammer out the math. My parents are helping me, but my sister is in college already, and they can only do so much. Still, they’ve assured me that they don’t want finances to determine my decision over my own preference.
Does anyone have any experience here at either college which could help me make my decision? It’s getting dangerously close to the end of the month, and I’m the last of my friends to commit. If you guys think any more information about me or my thoughts would help, I’ll gladly give it to you. Thanks.