<p>Long story short, I really don't like my current college. I applied to two different state schools for Fall 2013, ruled one out pretty quickly, and toured the other today. It was a very nice school that offers what I want to major in, and you get SO much "bang for your buck" but....I can't help but feel that it can't compare to Madison. I never even seriously considered Madison an option until a few weeks ago when I went there for the first time. I was SO impressed with how new and clean all of the buildings were, how close it was to the city life, and how much school pride there was! </p>
<p>The only problems are that Madison is so expensive and very challenging! Right now I am torn between majoring in Journalism with an advertising emphasis or pre-optometry (very different, I know). If I went to the state school that I toured today, I would pretty much graduate debt-free and probably not have a difficult time in my classes because it is known as an "easy" school. In high school I had a 3.8 GPA & I currently have a 3.5 GPA in college (so low due to mild first semester depression). Could I handle the academic rigor of pre-optometry at Madison? </p>
<p>SO in conclusion, I have come up with two options. Go to the "easy way out" school debt free, or go to my current school for one more semester, work my ASS off, and save up some money to attend Madison for spring 2014. During my final semester at my current school I would probably amp it up and take some equivalents of Madison's pre-optometry courses and get some good letters of recommendation for my application. Do you think Madison will be worth all of the extra money and effort in the long run?</p>