<p>Some of the things that really stood out are:</p>
<p>“knowing that after graduating from SLO, you will not have such a hard time transitioning to your job. the classes are very career-oriented. really prepares you well. And the fact that there’s a big difference between being “isolated” at Cal Poly compared to the middle of a midwestern cornfield, as an example. Just the immediate area surrounding SLO is beautiful and offers everything from mountain hiking to hanging out on the beach. For those of drinking age there are the numerous wineries. And the downtown is vibrant with several stores that appeal to college kids. UC Santa Barbara is just up the highway and you can hop on AMTRAK if you want to go down to LA or up to San Francisco.”</p>
<p>I completely agree. U/C is the definition of a midwestern cornfield city, and beyond the boundaries of the UofI campus, you’re not going to find anything to do until you are on Michigan Ave in Chicago. I love the outdoors, and would thrive in an environment where there is access to hiking, kayaking, the beach, etc. That may just be a deal breaker right there.</p>
<p>One of the things that really bugs me about U of I is that, while it may be a great engineering school and be nationally ranked, etc etc, it is so big that there are a lot of less-intelligent people who attend as well. As soon as you get away from the eng or business majors, the students get really bad really fast. I went to Unofficial a couple of weekends ago, and I must say I was somewhat disgusted. I feel like with Cal Poly being smaller and having more of a focus on engineering, there will be less of a range of students academically. I go to a residential magnet high school that takes kids through the entire state, where the average senior ACT score is a 31. I have been surrounded by highly intelligent students for the last 3 years, and I’d like to keep some of that feeling when I go to college. Which school would you say is better in that way?</p>
<p>I committed to Cal Poly and have done my housing application. I guess this settles it, however I did get a call from an Aerospace professor at U of I who really wanted me to come to UIUC. Now I feel guilty, especially because Cal Poly is $10k a year more…</p>
<p>Help me feel good about this decision please!</p>
<p>As for feeling guilty about turning down UIUC because they reeeallly want you to come to their school…don’t. NOT unless you’re absolutely torn between the schools for other reasons other than just having a professor calling and wooing you. If it’s the 10K more a year, well, yeah…I might tend to feel guilty if my parents were having to sacrifice to pay it. But, if the money isn’t the big issue here and you’re just feeling bad for UIUC, well, I’m not so sure that’s reason enough to reconsider. You, yourself, said you’re not fond of the school or the surrounding environment. So, it’s not like you’re torn between the two campuses and college towns.</p>
<p>BUT, only YOU can really make that decision.</p>
<p>My daughter could say she feels bad for having to turn down the $20,000 grant that USC is offering her for 2010-11. However, when she thinks of all the student loans and $27,000+ annual parent contribution on TOP of their ‘generous’ grant…she doesn’t feel so bad anymore. I think it’s often difficult saying “no” to other schools who seem to really WANT you. It almost makes you wish you could attend one of your accepted colleges every year so you could make *everyone *happy. :)</p>
<p>You’ve still got a couple of weeks before you have to make your FINAL decision. Best wishes to you!</p>
<p>Well if you feel bad about having to pay more, what you can try to do is establish residency in california, and in a year or two, you will be able to pay in state tuition. Establishing residency can be a fairly tedious process. It will help if you have a good friend or family member who lives in california (for address purposes) and you may have to get a job in order to have a source of income (it’s some weird residency requirement). But if you really feel bad about paying more, I would definitely recommend looking into this.</p>
<p>What I said earlier about slo being “isolated”, I guess I feel this way because I am more of a big city person (I grew up just outside of chicago). But if you love the outdoors, like you say you do, then I think you made a good choice with cal poly.</p>
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