<p>Ok, so I have been known to take 1 hour on deciding where to eat so deciding where to go to school has left me frozen. I was accepted into SLO for my intended degree of computer engineering and was even awarded a $3k scholarship and guaranteed housing (plus an ipad :). On the other hand I was also accepted into UCSD for my second choice major of electrical engineering and my third choice college of Thurgood Marshall and am getting a $3.9k scholarship from them as well. In both cases i’m also getting a cal grant and pell grant. Having not had the opportunity to go to SLO, SLO is still my choice for I prefer their more hands on learning and smaller class sizes and I dislike the atmosphere at UCSD. Now the reason I still haven’t accepted SLO is that if I go to UCSD, I can live at home and save 10k off my tuition and thus have my grants and scholarships cover my entire expense (at least for my first year). My research points shows a significant gap in wages for UCSD EE and SLO CE in favor of SLO(around 15k a year) but almost no gap between UCSD CE and SLO CE.</p>
<p>Basically, would it be easy to change majors into to the impacted CE program at UCSD and if so, is saving 10k a year worth living at home and getting a free college education vs a dorm at SLO and getting the “college experience”?</p>
<p>The difference between the two schools’ aid is only $900 ($3k vs $3.9k) and the base tuition is significantly higher at UCSD than SLO. You also say that in both cases you are also getting a cal grant and pell grant. So, even staying in a dorm at SLO would not be that significantly more expensive than UCSD living at home. Maybe a few thousand dollars a year at most unless my math is completely wrong.</p>
<p>If that is the case, go to SLO. Pay a slight margin more for the college experience and the hands on teaching methodology and then get a couple of coops (up to $20k) or paid internships (up to $10k) to even out the costs.</p>
<p>Go to the school you want, for the major that you want which according to you is SLO. Be decisive and choose powerfully and never look back.</p>
<p>GO VISIT. 4-5 years of your life is worth one over night road trip. (or take the amtrak 777) Go this week. or next. Do not discount the subjective “feeling” you get from the school. Granted numbers like Tuition, potential income, grad rate are all important, but you’ll do much better overall in a supportive comfortable enviroment. Only you can decide that.</p>
<p>@osakadad cal grant for uc schools is around $12k a year while CSU will only get around $5k. In the end UCSD will be slightly cheaper than slo if I live in campus and about $11k cheaper per year if I live at home.</p>
<p>@momneeds2no I am now planing on visiting next weekend when they are having their admited students preview day.</p>
<p>And be sure and go to the Open House on Saturday to check out all the booths on campus and other fun activities.</p>
<p>I agree completely with momneeds2no. And I predict you will choose SLO. </p>
<p>My son toured UCSD last year and did not bother to apply. Did not like the environment, impacted program, grad students teaching classes and the large feel. He did apply and get in to SLO, along with several other strong engineering schools. It was down to UC Davis, Santa Clara and SLO, and SLO was the only place he hadn’t visited. We went last week and SLO won hands down. Beautiful environment, smaller feel than the UCs, and a very impressive College of Engineering tour. When we went to the financial aid office they invited us in to talk to a counselor, making sure we all had chairs to sit down in, and took the time to make sure all of our questions were answered. Same thing happened in the admissions office, and all during a very busy time for them when spring break tours were going on. </p>
<p>The town is also a great college town where you can have a real college life, which my son did not feel at UCSD. </p>
<p>I wish you luck on your journey to decision.</p>