<p>I have a nice list of colleges I'm applying to: Pepperdine, SCU, Berkeley, UC Irvine, Stanford, Harvard (my mom's making me), Syracuse, UT, Carnegie Mellon, and SJSU. I'm from San Jose, so that's why SJSU is on my list. I want to major in advertising (marketing for the schools that don't offer an advertising major). However, I have an important decision to make...</p>
<p>I'm not sure if I should just go to SJSU, assuming they accept me, to save money on getting a bachelors, and then spending the money on a more reputable graduate program for my masters. In this case, I'd forgo all the other universities and go to SJSU, especially since I'd live at home and I'd be comfortable. However, I'm not sure if I should go that path, or go to any of the other colleges that accept me. I think I have a good chance into getting into more than just SJSU with my 4.0 unweighted GPA and 1920 (retook it on Saturday so still waiting for second score) SAT grade, but I don't know if I should even bother...</p>
<p>College is all about being comfortable in the uncomfortable. If you think moving away will help you get out of your comfort zone, then do it. It’s not as scary as you think. When I started my college search I had NO intention of going far…less than 2 years later I’m 5.5 hours away from home and loving it. Don’t rule anything out because you don’t think you’ll be comfortable. Sometimes doing things that we fear is the only solution to overcoming them.</p>
<p>Apply, see where you get in and what happens with FA and/or merit aid. Then, decide.
Why are you trying to decide now when you don’t even know what your options are?
Between now and when you hear back from colleges you have many more months to think about what matters to you and to learn more about the colleges in question.</p>
<p>I agree 100% with BeanTownGirl. But it’s good to at least consider the options - you might want to, in the spring after you’ve applied to the undergrad colleges, make a cursory check of how difficult it is to get into the “more reputable graduate program[s]”. Good luck, and way to go for thinking of alternatives!</p>