<p>Hi, everyone! I've been lurking on this site for awhile, and decided to post right now. When I applied to schools, as a financial aid applicant, I got denied to three, waitlisted at one, and accepted at another. I was all set and ready to go to the school that accepted me (let's call this School A). </p>
<p>However, recently, I was told that I got off the waitlist for another school (School B). Now the thing is, I genuinely like School A. One month of getting assimilated to the culture affected my perspective of the school.</p>
<p>On the other hand, School B is offering more financial aid. This grant also covers many secondary fees, like music lessons and books. I've spent a long time thinking, and honestly, it's come down to the money or happiness (I'm at a loss for a better term to describe it). I am so bewildered right now...what would you say? :)</p>
<p>Is the choice really that stark? It’s hard to give advice without some idea of the difference in happiness and the difference in money. Presumably you like school B also or you wouldn’t have applied. Did you always like school A more than school B, or did that change after you got your initial decisions? Is there any chance that your view of school B will improve after some reflection on its merits?</p>
<p>If at all possible, follow your heart. As is often said here: love the school that loves you. The school that accepted you first loved you enough to find a place for you. </p>
<p>If, however, it is impossible for your family to fund school A then you should happily embrace school B.</p>
<p>I’d offer two things for you to think about. First, I think that for most people there isn’t just one perfect school that is the only school you’d be happy with (just like I don’t believe everyone only has one true love out there somewhere in the world). There are certainly schools that you’d be unhappy at, and you shouldn’t go to one of those even if it was totally free. But once you’re in the universe of schools that you’d likely be happy at, I don’t think you can really know ahead of time which will end up making you happiest, because it’s going to be dependent on things you can’t know in advance (like will you get an English teacher you turn out not to like or is there some kid in the dorm room next to you who drives you nuts).<br>
Second, how would you have felt if you’d gotten into both Schools A and B on March 10, and B had a better financial aid package? In other words, how much of your feeling about School A is because you’ve now had a month to imagine yourself going there. Try to take that out of the equation by imagining you had this choice to make on March 10.</p>
<p>I agree with soxmom. I think it also depends on the difference in aid and how well off your family is. I’d say go with whichever you would’ve originally taken.</p>
<p>I’m going to guess that that secondary aid offered means that your family is far from financially well off. As someone said above, it’s hard to advise you without knowing what the difference in aid is between A and B. Will going to A cause financial stress on your family/parents? That can affect your/their happiness. </p>
<p>You’ve received a lot of good advice but don’t underestimate the stress of financial difficulty.</p>