Hello everyone,
As I have been thinking about this question for quite some time now and have not been able to come to a conclusion yet I thought I might ask you guys, because some of you will probably know a lot more about my problem. I am a US citizen, but living in Austria and I am in my first year of university, studying history. I always wanted to go back to the US to study so I went through the whole application process. I was accepted by the University of Minnesota and also by Rutgers University. My question now is: does anyone of you know these institutions? I am particulalry confused by Rutgers University as some people think that it’s a very good school, while others think that it’s not that good. I would have to pay the full 40000 for both schools, so do you guys think that they are worth that much?
My university also offers an exchange year where you can study at the University of New orleans for a year while paying in state fees, so that is also an option. So I could also study at the UNO for a year and maybe transfer after that year, but I am not really sure if I would make it into Rutgers or Minnesota again next year. The next question is, if I would get more financial aid after one year at the UNO, because I am not sure if I would still count as an international student.
Going to the UNO for one year and transferring to Rutgers or Minnesota seems smart to me, but I am afraid I would lose the opportunity to go to such a great institution, just because i wanted to pay less for this year. (UNO costs about 18.000, Min and Rutgers both about 40.000)
I hope some of you guys can help me with my questions as I am stuck and really afraid to make the wrong decision in one of the most important questions of my life
Of course many people in the US have heard of UM-TC and Rutgers. Both are their state’s public flagship. The problem for you seems to be that you are OOS for both/all. How do you know that UNO would cost 18K? I doubt costs would go down for you there in following years.
Consider McGill in Canada as well. I believe they would be cheaper.
Rutgers if you want to start your career on the east coast, or you want to be able to travel easily on the east coast, or if you don’t care much for snow. Rutgers is in a more congested part of the country - all of the cities run together pretty much from Boston in the north to Washington, DC in the south. The beach is not far away.
Minnesota if you want to start your career in the midwest, or you want to be able to travel easily around the midwest, or if you really like snow. Minneapolis-St Paul is a large metropolitan area that is several hours from the next closest metropolitan area. No salt water, but lots of lakes.
Both of those universities are great big public Us. There may be some difference for your own specific major, but you can’t go wrong by choosing either one of them.
Do the year at UNO if you would be happy finishing up at your original university. There is no guarantee that you’d be able to transfer successfully into a different place after that year, although if you did well, I’d expect that UNO would probably be happy to keep you. It is understandable that you and your parents would like to save some money. How hard will it be to come up with the difference between UNO and Rutgers or Minnesota?
Thanks for the helpful replies guys, really appreciate it. @PurpleTitan UNO would only cost 18.000 in the first year, because my university has an agreement with the UNO to sent some students over, which only have to pay in state fees in the first year.
@happymomof1 Yeah I also thought that it would be quite easy to come up with the difference, but a lot of information I can find on the internet about the schools is pretty biased, because they either went to the school and love it or hate it for some other reason and I don’t have any other source of information.
Maybe it would even be smarter to transfer to the US after my bachelor’s degree.
Anyway, thank you for your tips, now I only have to make up my damn mind 
Yes, a masters in the US after undergrad in Austria (free?) probably makes the most sense.
When you would come here to study really depends on whether you want to work in the US, and how soon you want to start that.
It is a lot easier to get a job here right out of college if you graduate from college here. People will understand your degree, you will have help from your college/university career center, and you will have some local work experience. Unless you have a family member or friend who is willing to take a chance on you, it will be extremely difficult to get a good job here with a foreign degree. Not impossible of course, but very difficult.
Planning now to finish your undergraduate degree outside the US, then come here for grad school only makes sense if your field of study normally requires a graduate degree in order to get that first job and/or if that graduate program would be no more expensive than finishing your undergrad degree here. It could make sense for engineering where a one or two year M Eng program at a good university would get you a decent job. It would not make sense for business. The better MBA programs expect a minimum of two years of increasingly responsible work experience, and cost much more than two or three years of undergraduate studies at the places you are looking at right now.
Are you permitted to work in Austria or the rest of the EU?
@happymomof1
Ok that’s very helpful, thank you. Even though I know what field I want to work in later on, I am not really sure what exactly I want to do later in my life. The only thing I know is that I want to live in the US later on in my life.
And I think what you say makes a lot of sense, because getting a job in the US or getting into a grad school will always be much easier with a US degree than with an international one. So I should really try to get my degree in the US.
Yes I would be permitted to work in the EU as I have a dual citizenship. (AUT/US)
Getting a job would be easier.
American grad schools take plenty of grads of foreign unis.
I live in the US. Rutgers is one of the oldest schools in the United States, being founded 250 years ago. It is known throughout the east coast (Boston to DC). So if you want to start your first job in the eastern US, you won’t have a problem with name recognition. However outside the east coast, the Rutgers name is not so well known.
Honestly though $40K per year sounds like a lot to me. Why not just stay in Austria, finish your bachelors degree, then come to the US to do a masters?
Since you already have US citizenship, it would perhaps make more sense to finish up undergrad in Europe and get a Master’s in the US, and look for a job.Many respectable American MS programs take plenty of foreign grads, so that’s not a worry. And I think you can use the Europe/ US experience in your favor.
Since you have US citizenship, finding a job in the US would be relatively easy if you attend a US college and use their career center.
Did you not get any scholarships - UMN in particular offers some to transfers.
People who grew up in NJ often want to leave NJ, and deride Rutgers. It is actually a perfectly fine state flagship. I agree that academically it is comparable to UMN.
You say you are studying history – what do you hope to do after graduation?
@MYOS1634, the economy has picked up, but there are still plenty of un-/underemployed American college grads (especially of non-marketable degrees).
Definitely paying 6 figures more while being uncertain if there is a better payoff than finishing uni in Austria doesn’t seem prudent to me.
^ but I’m guessing it’s easier to find a job in the US with a US degree and access to career center and job fairs, than from Australia.
However, fair point.
Op Will hopefully return and let us know.
Thanks guys for the replies, I forgot to see if there were any for some time now.
Unfortunately I did not get any scholarships at the UofMN so I would have to pay 35000 in the first year.
The choice I have have actually gotten even more, as I have also been accepted into Wisconsin Madison. But I think I would take MN and not Wisconsin, because at W. I would be an international student, while at MN I would be a normal transfer student, which would probably make it easier to get jobs and stuff like that.
I don’t really know what I want to do after my bachelor’s degree, but I have some fields that I could see myself in. (law, history, maybe even politics)
I know that it would probably be cheaper to stay in Austria for my bachelor’s degree, but it would most certainly be a lot more challenging to go to a US college so I think I will try to go to there as soon as possible.
I would also like the atmosphere a lot more in the US than here in Austria.
The Rutgers decision is due today, but I think I will decline it and decide between Minnesota, Wisconsin and maybe also Indiana Bloomington.
If you are a citizen who lives abroad, you may be admitted by international admissions that evaluates your record but you’d still be a national once on campus. 
Madison is a fantastic college town.
However, since cost is a concern, pick the cheapest of these three, since they’ll all be good.
Oh ok thanks, that’s good to know
Madison and Minnesota really are my top choices, but Minnesota is quite a lot cheaper so I think I’m gonna go there.
“I would be an international student, while at MN I would be a normal transfer student, which would probably make it easier to get jobs and stuff like that.”
No, you won’t be an international student. You are a US citizen. Please remind U WI about that! They may need the International Admissions office to handle the decisions about which credits to transfer, but that is it. Once you are here, and the credits that can transfer are transferred, you will be just another transfer student because, you are a US citizen. There won’t be any extra barriers for employment.