Help with My College Decision for Fall 2020

College Search & Selection
1

Hello all! After narrowing down my list based on what my family can afford, I was hoping to get some advice on my list of potential colleges that I could end up attending this Fall 2020. They are the following (not ranked)

Florida State University -$32,000
University of Arizona - $22,000 (somewhere around here give or take a few thousand in both directions)
Arizona State University - $26,000 w/ Barrett
University of South Florida - $12,000
University of Minnesota - TC - $22,000
University of Central Florida - $32,000
(Hopefully) University of Wisconsin -Madison (Waitlisted) - $27,000

As for what I am interested in, right now I’m going out for something Business related, but I’m not 100% on that’s what I want to do in life. If business doesn’t work out for me, I’m also interested in Sports Journalism, Marine Bio, and being a Pilot.

Any feedback or comments would be greatly appreciated!

Moderator’s Note:
Merged two identical threads
ED

2

For your interests, it really is OK to choose the cheapest one. Especially if you get serious about flight school. That will ramp up the cost quite a bit.

3

My two votes would be Wisconsin and ASU Barrett. I know Wisconsin well and everyone that attends it loves the school. However, it looks like you’re from Florida and it would be a BIG change for you. It gets cold, and I mean cold in the winter. I went to Minnesota -TC for grad school and I liked it a lot, but prefer a college town for undergrad.

As for Barrett, my daughter is attending there too in the fall. I’m so impressed with the school, the attention they give you, the dorms, and the classes like The Human Event. I think you could really get a good job or grad school coming out of there, and ASU’s business school is really good too. To me, of the 15 schools we toured and she applied to, it was one of the best that really stood out. Not a place for Marine Bio, but they have Sports Journalism and Polytechnic has a pilot training program.

4

Dod you get into the Honors college anywhere before Barrett?

If not, go for Asu+ Barrett (best value) or USF (cheapest but less strong overall than ASU+Barrett).

5

I would choose ASU Barrett over USF- the extra attention should be worth the extra $.
IF you get into UW then that’s your choice- I would prob choose UW if your goal is to work on the east coast- I think it has a strong rep out here.

6

@sbdad12 thanks for the reply. Believe it or not, I actually live in Minnesota and still don’t like the cold, even after growing up here. And my mom and dad both went to U of MN for their undergrad as well, so I’m definitely feeling the notion from them towards going to the U of M, but their still open towards my other options as well. Would you be able to provide some more specific reasons why you liked the U so much?

7

@MYOS1634 I think this is what you meant, but besides Barrett, I also got into the Honors college at USF as well. But for the rest of the schools, I did not get into their honors programs and was admitted regularly.

8

@joecollege44 Just curious/wondering but why do you think ASU Barrett has so much more value than the other schools? Also, is it really that recognized in the United States, cause it seems like generally either employers either don’t care that you went to an honors college or they don’t know about Barrett?

9

Then go for ASU Barrett if it’s affordable… And if it’s not, USF honors. (Barrett is top 5 nationally that’s why it’s a great value for you).
If you dont like the cold, you have two superb choices.

10

I tend to agree that I wouldn’t be overly influenced by honors Colleges since it’s likely that grad schools and employers won’t. But Barrett is one that I have heard of and they prob do “honors college” the right way, with housing and advising that add a lot to your experience.

I would still choose Wisconsin because it’s a more respected name out East.

11

@MYOS1634 would you put the honors experience at Barrett and USF ahead of the other non-honors experiences, even over two top Big 10 schools?

12

@joecollege44 what if I don’t end up living/working out East though? Then would you still choose Madison for the experience/education/recognition?

13

@wmanning11 , I liked the U because I met great people there. The education was very good too, but it was for my MBA program. (I went to Michigan undergraduate)

Granted this was 25 years ago, but I was a Grad Assistant at the U for a class, and I wasn’t super impressed with the level of instruction or the writing skills of the class. I know the caliber of the students has improved though.

I love Madison. Think it’s a very good school, and the town is ideal. It would make my Top 3 if I were going today.

But I also think the level of attention at Barrett is fantastic. FWIW, I called Carlson MBA Admissions at the U and asked how they look at a Barrett degree. Is it a Barrett degree, or is it an ASU degree? They told me they give a good amount of extra weight that it is an honors college, and Barrett is well known in academic circles. It’s probably in the Top 3 of Honors Colleges.

All things being equal money wise, and if I got into Barrett and WP Carey and wanted to study business, and didn’t get directly admitted to Wisconsin Business, I would pick Barrett.

14

It’s not the “honors college” label per se, but the experiences it facilitates, the unique opportunities and support it offers, and the national reputation it brings (totally different from that of ASU!!) if you want to go to professional or graduate school.
Barrett is a big deal :).
In addition, if you want to leave the cold, well, Arizona is better than Minnesota (and I say this as someone who recalls MN years fondly. Yes I hated that feeling when the frozen inside of your nostrils suddenly melts right as you walk into a well-heated building but I loved the blue skies, the crunch of the snow, etc.)

15

I’m not sure but if you went to U of MN, would that increase the chance that any job offer would also be in a colder place as well? Congrats on having such a lot to choose from! :slight_smile:

16

Totally agree, @MYOS1634 ! I was just talking with a colleague about my days of 33 below zero and a friend riding a bike in that weather. No more cold weather for me!

And Barrett seems pretty special. It is not ASU so much as “Swarthmore in the Desert”!

17

@sbdad12 @MYOS1634 thank you for that! Also, in terms of FSU and UCF, would you think it would be smart to knock those off the list, given that I’d or paying a pretty premium price for schools that aren’t ranked to good on the business side of things, and generally okay overall (Seems like outside of Florida they’re kind of unheard of in a way)? Also, would you be able to explain why you’d choose Barrett and U of WM, over the other schools, especially U of MN with the Carlson powerhouse and a similar (and cheaper) USF Honors experience?

18

@suteiki77 thank you I appreciate it! Although it seems that wherever you go to college you get recruited from that particular region, I wouldn’t doubt that because of Carlson’s high regard and reputation, that other companies around the US might recruit there more often than it may seem, but I’m not 100% on that. It may be the opposite as per some of my teachers I’ve talked too. Do you have any other comments on the other schools and their pros and cons? You can totally correct me if I’m wrong on any of them…

19

I would go to U of M , great business school and based on what you said you would get a good deal, just buy a warm coat.

20

@wmanning11 , I like the Florida schools, but neither of them have the reputation in their honors colleges that Barrett, Schreyer (Penn State), Kansas, Clemson, and MacCaulay (City Univ of NY) have. Those are regarded, from what I have seen, as the best honors colleges in the country. Arizona’s is also supposedly good, but it takes a back seat to Barrett. I would suggest you go to publicuniversityhonors dot com to read up. You can also buy the e-book on Amazon tonight and read the different schools. Barrett has 5 mortarboards out of 5. UCF also has a good honors program, just below the ones I mentioned.

I think Carlson is great, and you can’t go wrong. The price seems right. But at least when I went, and that was a while back, for an MBA, its draw was mostly regional. Lots of Twin Cities companies, a friend got recruited by Philip Morris in NY as an Assistant Brand Manager, lots went to Northwestern Airlines in Eagan (now gone), Medtronic, Conagra, etc. It’s a great school, but it’s not national.

If you want to stay in the Twin Cities, then I think it’s a good pick. If you want to leave the region, it might be more of a challenge. I left and went to Atlanta and worked for The Weather Channel, but I found the job while visiting the career center at Emory. :wink:

ASU for certain things is more regional too, I would imagine. Phoenix, LA, Silicon Valley and SF companies. That’s how recruiting tends to work, especially undergraduate unless you go to a Top 5 school. But for Supply Chain Management (#2), Marketing (#11), and General Management (#9), there likely are national firms. We met a Barrett and Carey student was going to work at Charles Schwab in Austin upon graduation. Plus I read she gets three advisors (Barrett, ASU, and Carey). That’s a ton of attention!

There is just a lot more going on which is why my daughter picked Barrett over Michigan and Wisconsin. Her suitemates are from Phoenix and another from the twin Cities. It draws lots of kids, including a bunch of NMFs. You will definitely be surrounded by smart kids, which is want you want.