I am very fortunate to have just been accepted to Case Western off of the waitlist for the spring semester, however with only a week left to respond to the admissions offer I have a huge dilemma. I have already committed to Miami University in Ohio due to it’s competitive pricing and it’s overall vibe. However, after talking with Case’s financial aid office I discovered that I can commute from my house to Case for <17k per year which is pretty much on par with how much Miami would cost me (~18.5k per year). My dad would let me drive his car and he would be willing to pay for gas/any mechanical difficulties.
I honestly have no clue what to do. I plan to major in CS and I think CWRU is much better academically than Miami, but at the same time I’d be missing out on much of the social life and independence that college offers. The commute would be ~45 minutes which isn’t great, especially during the winter with lake effect, but it would be doable. Not really much different than having a job I suppose and my dad made a similar commute when he went to college. Another thing is that not all of my AP credit will likely transfer over at CWRU since they require higher scores. This is whereas at Miami I will likely have at least 29 credit hours worth of AP credit which might either help me graduate a bit early or allow me to get a MS in CS in ~4 years. (they have an accelerated/combined masters program)
Since I would be starting in the spring semester at Case it would allow me to work some more and accumulate more money thus decreasing the amount I will need to borrow.
Living on campus at CWRU would be unreasonable for me and would require for me to go 85-95k in debt.
I’m not really sure which is the better option. The networking and brand of CWRU might help me land a better job off the bat but if I can get an masters in 4 years from Miami that might look better and help me land an equal/better job. Commuting to CWRU would only save me from ~10k worth of debt over 4 years compared to Miami.
I’d stick with Miami. 90 minutes on the road every day - more with weather delays, parking, etc. is a real burden, not to mention the safety issues and the risk of being late for important commitments. In reality you’re looking at a “tax” of probably two hours, every single class day, by the time you allow buffer for delays and deal with logistics. Where’s that time going to come from? Studying? Sleep? Work? It’s not worth it. Case is a great school but CS isn’t their biggest strength. Plus, according to your other thread, you have an Honors College spot at Miami.
Your dad says he’ll pay for gas/maintenance but that doesn’t mean these things are free - that money is coming from somewhere. At Miami, you could get a 10 hr/week job instead of spending that same amount of time driving. Over 4 years that would cancel out the supposed 10K savings, not including the gas/maintenance expenses your dad would be saving.
The change isn’t worth it, financially or quality-of-life wise. Furthermore, if I were your parent, I’d be worried about your spending all that time on the road. College students aren’t consistently well rested. Fatigued driving is impaired driving, and unless you’re more disciplined than 98% of college students, you will be fatigued.
If it were a 20 minute public transit commute, I might feel differently. But this just seems like a bad idea, for a fairly abstract and incremental payoff. Your CS education at Miami can be as good as you want it to be, and your opportunities will be just fine.
CWRU isn’t much better than Miami U in computing. College Scorecard shows that Miami CompE majors have higher average earnings than CWRU CS majors out of college (average Miami CS major earnings are lower but you can make your CS curriculum at Miami to be as rigorous as the CompE curriculum there if you like, for instance, by getting a masters).
And I think you’ll find that the quality of the student body at Miami honors will be comparable with CWRU’s.
CWRU and Miami are in the same set - not peer per se due to size but they’d be peer if Miami was smaller and more focused.
So - you were “lucky” to get accepted off the WL? Actually, if you got to CWRU, they are lucky that you are foolish enough to accept a spot where they’ll either have grads or transfer-ers out and need to fill the spot.
And for CWRU, not only will you not experience college - because most of the experience is related to living at the school - but you will have a 45 minute each way commute?
I’m not sure why this is being asked.
Miami is such a no-brainer for you - go experience college, at a wonderful university, with a gorgeous campus and gorgeous weather…for the same price no less.
Stick with your original plan - you are unlucky that CWRU is not willing to allow you to matriculate in Fall so you can establish a social network. Nothing about that is good for you - only for the school.
Don’t forget, college is a business - but savvy marketing helped get you to believe it was a good deal. It’s not!!!
Oh, right, I forgot to comment on the spring admit aspect. Starting in the spring isn’t a win in any way. Socially, it stinks, on top of the baseline commuter-student stinkage. And financially… it will still take you just as long to get through college. In the meantime, tuition will keep going up, and you will have traded 4-5 months of highly-paid post-degree employment for 4-5 months of poorly-paid pre-degree employment.
My oldest did a 5 year masters accounting program at Rutgers in 4 1/2 years, commuted 45 minutes the last semester and hated it, and she already had tons of friends there. It’s not like commuting to work, you could end up with a lot of downtime in between classes, and you will definitely not have a college experience that far away (it’s hard enough commuting 10 minutes away).
Thanks for the reality check. I was leaning towards Miami anyways but I’m pretty convinced now. I just thought that Case might set me off on a better, higher paying track than Miami and would be worth it in the long run. But you’re definitely right, the commute would be grueling and I’d miss out on so much. Plus, if I work hard enough I’m sure where I got my degree from won’t matter much in the long run.
Another vote for Miami. A 45-minute 1-way commute is not a negligible obstacle for a college freshman. Those 100 daily driving minutes could be better used studying, participating in campus activities, or just vegging out and recharging your mental/emotional battery.
Go to Miami and enjoy your college experience … or go to CWRU and watch your great college experience turn into a chore because of commuting and not living on campus. Those are actually two different detriments. Not living on campus eliminates much of the idyllic college experience. And commuting that far is a discrete problem that will sap your life of a bit of joy … on a daily basis … for the next 4 years.
Not to mention all the other reasons given above by others.
Ooooh. I missed Miami Ohio. I saw Miami. My bad. Ok. Not peer schools… Not good weather. But it is very nice and college is about experiencing college. So it’s still a Miami.