<p>Now before I get any football fanboys ranting in here, please take this question seriously. I must make my decision by the end of tomorrow, and I'm really stuck in a rut.</p>
<p>This is the problem:
- I'm deciding between Notre Dame and USC.
- I'm majoring in Bio for both.
- Notre Dame would cost me $15k; USC would cost $5k. My family income is not significantly high so that $10k difference is considerably significant. But my parents would be willing to send me to Notre Dame if it is really that worth it
- I'm an Asian who grew up in California. I've always wanted that far away from home experience, which Notre Dame would be perfect for. But that only lasts for so long. And if I don't settle there comfortably, I feel like I'm going to have a miserable 4 years. In my view, if you're not comfortable there, you'll really feel demotivated, which would impact how well you would do academically. But I'll never know that until I actually go there.
- USC, on the other hand, I would feel much more comfortable, because many of my friends and many other Asians will attend there next year. I don't mean to be racist, but its just that I feel much more comfortable around my own kind of people, and I'm sure that goes for everyone.
- The majority of students at Notre Dame are Caucasian, and I'm just not sure if I would be able to immerse myself to somewhere to different from California, which is really culturally diverse.
- Educationwise, I'm liking Notre Dame better. The smaller classrooms and getting more personal time with my professors is something I look forward to.</p>
<p>Basically it all comes down to this:
- USC is the cheaper, but nonetheless good school where I would feel really comfortable.
- Notre Dame is more expensive, but I may be risking my comfort zone, which will really impact how I feel there for the next four years. The school is gorgeous, the education is great, and the far away from home experience would be good for development.</p>
<p>I'm really stuck in a rut. Anyone want to help me out? I'm open to all opinions. Thank you.</p>
<p>Your concerns have some validity as ND is hardly renowned for racial diversity. You also make a good point about how comfortability in a place makes it easier to succeed academically, socially, etc. Certainly ND would be a challenge for you not just ethnically, but also culturally and climactically. Some people can’t take that. Not to push you one way or the other, but I truly feel that we can never grow if we don’t go beyond our comfort zone. You express conflicting sentiments of wanting to leave home, but wanting to be comfortable. You can’t really have it both ways. Which is more important to you: money, sunshine, and a known commodity? Or what you seem to value as a better education and “that far away from home experience”? Good luck!</p>
<p>Unless you live within 30 minutes of USC and live at home, you can be as far away as you want. School will keep you pretty busy, even at USC, so you can act as if you’re far from home even when you aren’t.</p>
<p>When I read your post, I think you want to go to USC but feel guilty, like you should go to ND. There’s nothing to feel guilty about, and you can feel good about saving your parents all that money.</p>
<p>Personally, I see it as you want to leave the house, but you’ve lived a pretty sheltered life and so don’t know what to expect. Personally, getting away from home has been one of the best experiences. And I’m a Caucasian who, at least prior to coming to school here, felt more comfortable around East Asians, because 90% of my friends from back home were. If you want to push your comfort zone, you’ll likely have to make a conscious effort to step outside of what you’re used to at ND, but this could be the biggest life skill you learn. Brown has a different diversity from my hometown, and just by being forced to hang out with other kinds of people, be they Southern or homosexual or militantly atheist, or a different race, I’m finding it easier to make new friends, because I had to make so many in the beginning of the year.</p>
<p>EDIT:</p>
<p>Also, you’re saying that California is more culturally diverse, but that you’d hang out with Asians anyways, which means you wouldn’t actually be experiencing a different culture. I’d be gaining a far better cultural experience by taking a semester abroad in Egypt, for example, because while Egypt itself isn’t that culturally diverse (relative to, say California), it’d be such a different experience from what I’m used to that I’d gain a lot from it. You won’t get that new experience to the same degree staying in California.</p>
<p>Go to USC. Dream school. You will find your place there and make of it what you want. Try a semester abroad.</p>
<p>40K over 4 yrs for Notre Dame is way too much. USC is a fine option.</p>
<p>I don’t think ND’s academics are better than USC’s. So go to the less expensive school.</p>
<p>Notre Dame is academically superior to USC. ND is higher ranked as an undergrad institution by almost every ranking book/service I have ever seen. So the previous poster is wrong. However, if this asian population thing is such a big hangup, the OP should probably stick with USC. At some point he will learn he will have to compete in the world as a minority and possible out of his comfort zone, and he apparantly isn’t ready to take up that challenge in college.</p>