How important is the social environment of a college?

College Search & Selection
1

I am currently choosing between:

Syracuse- a university with a really awesome & prestigious program for my major (design-specifically industrial) but its overall social environment is not what I want (don’t care too much about sports or greek life)

WUSTL- a prestigious university overall with a decent program for my major but would allow me to branch out into other academic fields (i.e. business, comp sci, etc.) and has a much more suitable social environment

I am pretty set on wustl but am having a difficult time convincing my father because he believes that St. Louis’ location is bad (lack of opportunities & far from home) and would also cost 27k more per year. I hate to be selfish but I really feel that I would be a lot happier going to wustl, for the reasons listed above and many others…and I think that would impact my learning a lot.

I’m rambling a lot but essentially, the main things I like about Syracuse are its design program & its closeness to nyc (more than st. louis anyway) but wustl wins in most other categories. Am I justified in my choice? If anyone has any suggestions/opinions I would love to hear them.

2

It’s not like Syracuse, NY is some dynamic place with a robust economy, right? I would think St. Louis would have more going for it as a location.

On the other hand, an extra $27K per year is a lot of money. That’ll be about $110K for the 4 years which could go to a lot of other things including a master’s degree down the road.

3

@doschicos yeah the $110k part is what I feel the most guilty about. The professional degree (it’s a 5 year program) I could get at Syracuse would also allow me to basically skip graduate school. However I’ve discussed with my parents and money isn’t THE biggest issue based on our savings and income, and no matter what I would have a good amount of costs to cover (205k vs. 272k-shudders) since I’m getting basically no aid (only loans) and only a scholarship from Cuse