<p>So today I decided that I'm going to attend Ohio State University instead of University of Michigan, despite Michigan being the better, more accredited and more selective school. The big issue was that UM was $20,000 more a year, a whopping $80,000 total, and I wanted to put that money towards studying abroad and graduate school instead. Still, I can't help but feel depressed about my decision. OSU lacks the prestige of UM and I really wanted to go out of state. My dream school was California Berkeley but I got rejected. I'm having a difficult time overcoming my disappointment about attending an "average" school, as snooty as that is to say. I know that I'll be happy at OSU yet at the same time, I also know that I'll always feel like a failure in some way...</p>
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How can it be more accredited? Both are accredited universities…</p>
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Why? You got in, that’s the accomplishment. Not being able to afford it or putting the money to better use doesn’t make it less of an accomplishment.</p>
<p>OSU is in no way “average.” It is a great, great school that is well regarded and highly respected. There are thousands and thousands of undergraduate programs in the U.S., and OSU is consistently ranked in the top 50-100. Be happy with your decision, slight differences in arbitrary rankings make no real impact on the quality of your education (I mean, quality as it is generally determined by the student).</p>
<p>The same thing happened to me. I really wanted to attend Duke, and I couldn’t get over my rejection for a while (by a while, I mean I spent literally all of Wednesday-Sunday thinking about it), but then I realized that I had great choices, and prestige isn’t everything. As cliche as it is, it’s about what you make of it. A kid could go to a state school or lesser known school and do very well; similarly, a kid could go to Duke, an Ivy League school, or any other top school with great prestige and screw up. OSU is a great school, and even if you are worried about the prestige, just focus on taking advantage of the opportunities you are given. Hope you have fun next year!</p>
<p>I bet you completely forget about Michigan as soon as you step foot on OSU’s campus. In fact, you’ll probably start hating them. Few people who don’t get into their dream school end up miserable, or even just unhappy, especially at a place as happening as Ohio State.</p>
<p>win at academics at OSU
get a fully funded fellowship at a prestigious university
???
profit</p>
<p>Be like DiNozzo and go to OSU, then get famous catching bad guys.</p>
<p>Before you do anything else: close the door, hands on the floor, everyone walk like a dinosaur.</p>
<p>billy - i don’t appreciate you criticizing the OP over his use of accredited - we both know what he is meaning.</p>
<p>hm but it turns out that not only do I randomly defend the OP, but coincidentally, I am also feeling similar to him/her - I am having a slightly troublesome time of accepting the fact that I am going to go an ‘average’ school. </p>
<p>I don’t know, I just want to be in an environment that is nice. And I just don’t think that kids with an average SAT of 1700 can provide that. I think you are making the right decision though - a decision that saves as much money as the one you are making is probably a wise one. So many people use money in such odd ways. And money is precious, or it is to me. We can only have so much of it in our lives, and so on. I think you making a commendable decision.</p>
<p>Prestige was #1 on my criteria for college. Everyone has their criteria from campus to student life. Mine was prestige. I’m sure you will thrive @ OSU</p>
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<p>this does not negate the fact that some criteria are better - some are more noble and nicer than others. You can’t just defend the criteria you have by saying they are yours and everyone has criteria. Everyone has problems too - but some are more real and pressing than other’s. This is the kind of simplifying statement that doesn’t actually simplify - it only appears to simplify, and by appearing to simplify, but not actually doing so, it ends up doing the opposite, it ends up confusing.</p>
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Actually, I don’t. S/He already said “better” and “more selective.” I don’t really see what’s left, so accredited can’t mean much more than it actually does.</p>
<p>Also, OP, I think you’re exaggerating the differences here. They’re both large state schools where you can receive as good an education as you’re willing to work for. Michigan isn’t worth that much debt.</p>
<p>prestige was a huge factor for me… until I started reading other forums. The school might matter if you’re want to go to grad school (but then again, it’d be a lot harder to get a high GPA at a prestigious school). </p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think the extra work is worth if it I’m going to end up in the same place afterwards. </p>
<p>Try going off CC for half a year and you might not be so obsessed. CC changed me and it made me too pessimistic and ambitious… obviously, there’s a lot more to life than trying to get into a certain college. Life is short and do what you like now (and not leave it until after you get acceptances). If you keep obsessing over these goals, you’ll never get to do what you actually want to do.</p>