<p>okay so i needed to make a decision by like yesterday. i have narrowed my college search down to two colleges, UMass Amherst and UVM. I am going for Pre-Vet and both places have outstanding programs, umass seems to have a better variety of animals and better facilities, but it is huge, which i didnt want, and i found the campus ugly and dorms somewhat crammed. I am in love with uvm, even though their program lacks as many animals, it also has more opportunites such as an internship program and CREAM, which vet schools look favorably on. It is also has a beautiful campus and is in an ideal town for me. My problem is i live in MA, and tuition at Umass is half of what it would be at Umass. My family can afford to put me through four years at both schools, but if i went to UVM and i go on to vet school there would be no money left for it, and vet school runs about 40,000 a year without room and board. so im stuck. should i go to the school i feel is perfect, and have no money for vet school, or the cheaper, bigger option, but be able to come out of vet school $80000 less in debt?</p>
<p>If you go on to grad school (vet school) your family is not obligated to pay for it. </p>
<p>You would be filing as an “independent”, most of your “aid” would be loans and jobs such as a graduate research assistant. Certainly if your parents want to help you pay off your loans from grad school and under grad they can do so! </p>
<p>This is a personal family decision that only you and your family can make.
It is best to start off at grad school with as little debt as possible.</p>
<p>I think you will be best off going to UMass and saving your money for Vet school. I know lots of kids who “settled” for UMass and they are all, without exception, happy there. Yes, the buildings are a bit ugly if you don’t care for brutalist architecture, but the town is great, the education quality is excellent, and the social opportunites are very good. You say that UVM has the perfect college town, but as far as college towns go, Amherst is really a great place to be. Also, don’t forget about the 5 college consortium with its opportunity to take classes at Amherst, Smith, and Mount Holyoke.</p>
<p>UVM, while a great school, is quite expensive, especially for a public school with the budget constraints that implies. Another possibility, especially if you are not receiving any financial aid from UVM, is to try starting at UMass and transferring to UVM if you are unhappy there.</p>
<p>i am recieving finacial aid at uvm, about 7000 year i believe. i am just not sure what to do because i did fall in love with uvm when i visited but i realize now it is just not the most practical choice and i am stuck because umass seems so big and i was looking for more of a close knit community where i can thrive</p>
<p>Lauren I’m in love with a Lexus SUV in which I’d thrive, but I’ll continue to drive my older minivan because that makes sense for me financially. UMass makes sense for you.</p>
<p>If you are an instate Mass resident I am sure you know kids older than you who are currently at UMass, or you at least have friends with older siblings there. I would suggest you talk to some of those kids and see what their actual experiences have been like. </p>
<p>My kids both made the decision to go to private LAC’s instead of going to UMass, however we revisit that decision all the time, as it was a close one and sometimes they question the value of picking the more expensive option. They both have many friends at UMass (some of whom “settled” or were forced to make the decision because of finances, some of whom transferred there from private schools or OOS publics) and, as I said, they are all thriving. A “close knit community” can, and will, be created when like-minded people get together. You should expect to find a subset of kids who you hang out with no matter what the size of the institution, and actually a larger college means a better chance of finding just the right kids for you, or moving on if your interests change.</p>
<p>UMass. UVM is not worth twice the price. As the poster above noted, there are ways to make a larger campus smaller. Don’t room in Southwest, pick one of the smaller dorm complexes. You’ll likely be spending a lot of time with other pre-vet students, so there’s a smaller group right there. Join a club or play a sport. Yes, I admit I’m a bit biased because my son is heading off to UMass Amherst this fall, but he was admitted at other similarly-ranked schools and we decided it just wasn’t worth the additional cost to, for example, go to UConn for engineering instead of UMass.</p>
<p>the better school is cheaper- so yeah. UMASS</p>
<p>thank you everyone this is so helpful :)</p>
<p>What did you decide? In the same boat now.</p>