so its April 30th and despite applying early action to every school I am still torn when making my decision.
I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to University of Virginia and Penn State. After heavily weighing pros and cons, Ive pretty much decided that the most pros/cons are as follows:
UVA
pros: more accredited school, trying something new & feel like the students are more like me (motivated, involved)
cons: COST (60k compared to PSU 38k)
PSU
pros: very familiar with campus (both parents went and go up all the time), less expensive
cons: I feel like being a Pennsylvania kid going to PSU won’t look good as a prospective employee
basically I’m deciding if UVA is going to be worth the extra money from an OOS student in the long run. ugh this is so tough haha any words of advice are appreciated!
Your con for PSU is not valid. Go to PSU.
both are good schools and there are distinct differences, but the ones you cite aren’t very interesting or valid. See if you can figure out $22K per year reason to go to UVA otherwise stay with PSU
I agree with the above posters. Prospective employers don’t care about that. For real. Save your money. Go to Penn State.
Though I admit, there are a lot of things to love about UVA 
I live in PA and know three families in the last two years whose kids have gone full pay to UVA. In every case, parents (and in 2 cases, grandparents) had the finances set for 4 years private, so about $250,000 already budgeted. If your family has the money set aside and will not miss it, go ahead with UVA. Otherwise, PSU is a fine school and a smart choice.
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is UVA going to be worth the extra money in the long run? Probably not, but it’s impossible to predict at this stage. However, $ ROI is not necessarily the measure by which college decisions should be made.
it’s clear you prefer to go to UVA. Should you pay extra to go there? If you can afford it without debt or hardship to family finances, yes. Otherwise, no.
Will being from PA and attending PSU look back to future employers? No. Stop worrying about that.
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Unless $88,000 is pocket change for your family, then you should go to Penn State.
The relatively minor bump in “prestige” for UVA is not worth $88,000.