Hello. I am currently a senior in high school and I have recently received all of my acceptances and rejections. So far, I’ve been accepted into 4 colleges, waitlisted for 1.
I am currently in the decision stage, and I was curious to know which college is the best, in terms of experience. My biggest ‘want’ for a college is essentially having a balanced life; in other words, are the programs great? How is the student life? Great professors? Is the college exciting or boring? etc.
The colleges I have listed below don’t seem bad in general; a couple have really good computer science programs for example (I will major in Computer Science, btw), but others seem to have better student life. However, these are based off of databases/websites like Niche or USNews. I want to hear what people think of these colleges based on their experiences.
Here are my colleges:
-University of Utah
-University of Oregon
-Temple University
-University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Thank you 
Is there a significant cost difference between them?
As a far as experience goes, I think Temple is your best bet. I’m from the Philly area and know a ton of people that go to Temple. It is a really big party school (if you’re into that). I know football games are huge there and the subway is nearby so you can explore center city. Temple is full of school spirit and energy. The only concern is the surrounding area. I really wanted to go to Temple but my parents won’t let me because of it. 
The Baltimore-Washington corridor is a good area for CS internships. UMBC has a pretty good reputation locally for STEM programs.
@MYOS1634
I’ve looked at them and the University of Oregon seems a lot more expensive compared to the rest (total cost attendance for out-of-state is $50.5k). Everything else falls into a total cost attendance of about $41k-$44k (I’m using out-of-state tuition).
As far as money goes, my parents say my best bet is Temple or UMBC.
@basketball98
Glad to hear that Temple has some spirit. I’ve looked into what others have said about Temple, and pretty much everyone agrees the biggest downside is the area surrounding the campus. However, I’m sure that it’s still not necessarily going to affect the school.
Sorry to hear that your parents wouldn’t let you go.
@tk21769
Glad to hear. I think UMBC has the best program for computer science, based on what I’ve seen, and it would be nice to visit the Washington D.C. area.
In that case, with all costs similar, I’d go with UMBC or Temple. Can you go visit? They’re quite different.
Temple’s campus is safe - the problem is only once you’re a few streets away from campus. Campus security will gladly wall you back though.
Don’t you have an instate option though?