<p>Hey, all. I've been accepted as a transfer to UPenn. I was planning on going until today, when I found out that I didn't get housing. Call me crazy, but I don't know how comfortable I'd be getting thrown into the entirely new environment there and not living on campus.
I currently have a full scholarship at Ohio State. I'm still not sure how good of a school it is; people either love it and swear it's just as good as Penn or hate it and tell me I'm crazy not to go to Penn (where I'd go in debt up to 20-25k).
I'm studying economics.
The deadline for my decision is tomorrow around 3 PM, since my housing at Ohio State must be terminated by tomorrow if I'm leaving.
Any helpful suggestions?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Off-campus housing is seriously like the same as on-campus (about a 2 minute difference in walking time). It might be sort of annoying to find it, but there is PLENTY out there (and it is seriously cheaper and usually better quality than on-campus). Housing should seriously not be the issue–money should. If you are fine going 20-25k into debt, I would definitely go (especially as econ is one of Penn’s best departments).
Good luck!</p>
<p>20-25k is very manageable debt. In terms of undergraduate education, you can get a lot out of OSU and make what you learn in class as good as Penn. However, the job and recruiting opportunities from Penn are much better for higher paying fields like banking and consulting. Penn also has more recruiting from big companies like Microsoft, Google, Coors, etc. If you know you want to stay in the Midwest after graduation, doing very well at OSU would probably set you up about the same as Penn. However, if you want to be in NYC or have a better shot at getting one of those higher paying jobs, Penn will give you a solid advantage.</p>
<p>About housing, it is very easy to find a sublet. Just start asking juniors if they know anyone, and most do. If you’re willing to shell out a little bit extra in cash, you could live in the Radian (right next to High Rises) which has a ton of Penn students (if not 100% students).</p>
<p>Really? You’re going to base your decision on whether you got college housing?</p>
<p>Well, it’s just that with Penn costing 40k more than OSU, it was already a close race. Not receiving any housing at Penn just made it that much less attractive.</p>
<p>40k total? I have friends taking on more debt to come here. If you work for a few years after graduating and live frugally, you can pay that off pretty quickly (assuming you did well enough at Penn to get a job that pays over 60k a year). If you’re not feeling Penn, stay at OSU. Penn isn’t perfect and if you’re coming in with a bad attitude chances are you’ll focus on the negatives and feel it isn’t worth the extra money. You can do well coming out of OSU and if you want to continue in business you’ll need to get an MBA which will run you closer to 100k in debt.</p>
<p>Off-campus housing is generally cheaper than on-campus at penn (and nicer) and a very big chunk of non-freshmen don’t live on campus. It really shouldn’t be a factor in your decision. Living off campus doesn’t make you out of the loop in any way.</p>
<p>^ Also, most of the off-campus housing is within a few blocks of campus–or even right across the street from campus–in areas very densely populated by Penn undergrads, so you shouldn’t feel isolated from other Penn undergrads. It’s very much a part of the Penn undergraduate experience to live off-campus in the upperclass years.</p>
<p>Go to Penn! Definitely. You won’t regret it.
And as others have said, off-campus housing is great!</p>
<p>Penn.
10char</p>
<p>what did u decide?</p>
<p>^ He decided on OSU:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062854617-post44.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062854617-post44.html</a></p>