<p>So I pretty much messed up my college process badly and didn't start looking at colleges until the start of my senior year. I applies to many colleges, most of which I ended up not being interested in, and the choices I have now are this: Washington University in St. Louis or Barrett honors college at ASU (I was wait listed at u penn but I'm not holding my breath there.) I am planning on doing engineering and/or business. Wash U is a great school and I love it, but I would be paying full price and while my parents can afford it, they would be uncomfortable and under some pressure (as only my dad is working). I don't feel I can justify paying 60,000 a year at Wash U vs. 5000 at asu, in terms of job opportunities. Or I could go to Barrett, but I really just hear awful things about both ASU and Barrett, and I'm not really into the party scene, huge student body, and low standards to get in. </p>
<p>I'n starting to wish I could redo my college process and apply to more medium priced schools instead of having these two completely opposite choices. Should I take a gap year, fork over $250,000 plus for a great experience at Wash U, or bite the bullet and go to ASU with most of the underachievers from my high school and just hold my nose until graduate school?</p>
<p>On a side note, not sure if this is relevant but I has a very poor high school experience. Shallow people, uninspiring teachers who wanted to be anywhere else, increasing class sizes and a bureaucracy. I don't want asu to be a repeat of that.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for any advice. I've been tearing my hair out about this decision for months! My time Is running out (I have deposited money at both schools if you're wondering) and I know there are very eager students on the Wash U waitlist who I'm sure would love for me to pull out if I am going to.</p>
<p>What location/type/size school are you thinking about? You can check the list of schools that still have openings for fall 2012 and see if any there interest you.</p>
<p>Or, take a year off to work, volunteer, find an internship while you reapply to schools you REALLY want to attend and cost less than WashU. But…be very methodical this time so you attend the best place for you.</p>
<p>Just exactly how many of those “underachievers” from your high school would be in Barrett with you, and what, precisely, makes you believe that Barrett has “low standards to get in”?</p>
<p>If you are in engineering, you are not going to have time to party. Heck, you are going to be working so hard in your classes, you probably won’t even notice if there is a party in your room when you get back from the library at night, you will be just too tired to care. Even though Wash U costs much more than ASU, there is no guarantee that your experience there will be any better. Most of what you get out of college is up to you.</p>
<p>Spend this week planning your gap year. Think about the job/internship/volunteer work you could do. Consider how you will use your free time in the evenings and weekends since you don’t have to be studying anything. You will know pretty soon if it is a good idea for you or not by how excited you feel (or unhappy you feel) about the planning process. </p>
<p>It looks like you are in AZ. Pay a visit to Barrett, and talk with the students who are actually in that program now. See how you feel about it. You are correct, $250k is a huge amount of money to spend. Be dead certain that what you get is worth that kind of money.</p>
<p>Engineering at ASU will likely have students drawn from approximately the top 3/8 academically in math and related subjects, as that is about where an SAT math of 600 falls in the ASU freshmen students (a study at University of Oregon found that students with SAT math scores below 600 tended to be unsuccessful majoring in math or physics, and suggested that engineering may be similar – they did note no particular correlation between SAT scores and success in other majors).</p>
<p>You didn’t post this much detail over at WashU… So the difference between WashU and ASU is a whoping $200K. If you decide on engineering as a career, it’s hard to see any difference between WashU and ASU. You’ll work your butt off at either place. If you take business route, what do you want to major in business? If it’s accounting, there no difference between the two if you pass the CPA exam… WashU might have an edge in finance but probably not too big a deal. I would suggest a way out: You could go to Barret for frosh year. By the end of first semester, if you don’t really like it, you can start the transfer process. Transfer deadline is sometimes during the spring semester, much later than freshmen admission. If you make your grade at ASU (>3.8 or something), I don’t see a problem with transferring to WashU, Northwestern etc. If you plan your courses well enough, you actually save money with the transfer option.</p>
<p>I’m trying to combine business and engineering into some kind of business development in medicine career (I don’t really know what I want to do though in which case ASU’s bureaucracy might be a hindrance). And sorry about the blanket statement about low standards; I was refereeing to ASU in general and not Barrett, because I won’t be able to get honors sections of every class (like chemistry for example). But thanks all for the help. I have a lot of thinking to do.</p>
<p>Oh wow! I have to say I have somehow never seen that degree before. Thank you for pointing that out to me. Definitely adds a point in ASU’s favor!</p>
<p>Also, industrial engineering may be of interest to you, as it is more “businessy” than most other engineering majors. ASU also offers an industrial engineering major; WUStL does not, although it does have a systems engineering major that includes some of the same topics.</p>
<p><a href=“Home - School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence”>Home - School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence;
[BS</a> in Systems Science & Engineering](<a href=“http://ese.wustl.edu/undergraduateprograms/Pages/bs-in-sse.aspx]BS”>http://ese.wustl.edu/undergraduateprograms/Pages/bs-in-sse.aspx)</p>
<p>Both of the above are ABET accredited, if that matters to you.</p>
<p>Sounds like a conversation to have with your parents. If they can afford it, they may want you to attend Wash U - or they may ‘feel uncomfortable’ enough to prefer that you pick ASU. Every family has different values and wants to spend their money on what is important to them. Don’t second guess your folks - ask them what they think.</p>