<p>I’m pretty sure the “posturing” comment comes from this line:</p>
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<p>I’ll respond to the rest of this later, I’m sort of emotionally worn out right now.</p>
<p>I know–but that’s the OP’s portion for all four years, right?</p>
<p>^^^True, but someone has to pay. Also the OP initially expressed some concerns about how his/her parents were going to be able to afford that expense.</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of U Georgia and know many who have gone/are there and loved/love their experience, but it is a huge, huge difference from the life you’ll live at U Chicago. Both can be right, but I’d doubt that that would be the case for the same person. </p>
<p>You’re getting lots of good advice and, given what you’ve communicated so far, I’d probably agree with others that you are a better fit for U Chicago. But you really do need to get out there and see it, feel it, touch it, smell it. It’s a ton different from what you’ll find in Athens. </p>
<p>If you can swing a visit, too bad you won’t be in Chicago in the middle of winter as this is another aspect to consider and can materially affect one’s perceptions of whether a school is the right destination for them.</p>
<p>Okay, false alarm about that “crushing debt” thing, ha. I wrote that post in a Mood and thought better of it in the morning, but I wanted to make sure my understanding of the situation was correct before I said anything.</p>
<p>Some updates on the situation:</p>
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<li>I am visiting. We’re taking off part of my spring break week and going to Chicago for a few days. I’ll be doing an overnight stay, too. I’m pretty excited. [grin] We’ll have to see if it lives up to the glossy pictures in the viewbook, hmm? </li>
<li>Having received the official Chicago aid package, it seems they don’t actually expect me to take out the unsub Stafford loan, just the sub one, which would bring me down to around 18-22k over four years. It isn’t an earthshaking difference (a merit scholarship, now that would be an earthshaking difference), but it’s not nothing.</li>
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<p>I have to concede your point on the “romanticized vision” part, although it’s not quite how you’re describing it here. I’ve been trying for a while to break this silly association of UGA = Here (with all the baggage that implies), Chicago = Not-Here that I’ve developed, but my heart works three steps behind my brain, I think. I know that I can find my niche at UGA the way I never did in high school, and I’m not naive enough to believe Chicago is going to be some perfect haven. There’s just some part of me saying “but it’s going to be different there. It’s got to be different over there.” But I’m trying to be logical about this.</p>
<p>I do believe that four years’ happiness is not an insignificant thing, and that wanting to be around people who are (politically, culturally) more “like you” is not unreasonable. I have also been thinking that, for a whole lot of personal reasons, staying in the environment I am in right now would not be healthy. The question is how much of a departure UGA would provide from that environment, and whether it would be enough–which isn’t a question easily answered. Perhaps another visit would help?</p>
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<p>If I was absolutely sure it was worth $100k, this thread wouldn’t exist. XD</p>
<p>But I have to dispute this point. I’m sure that I could get an adequate education at UGA; I am equally sure that I would get a better one at Chicago. I’ve looked through the courses offered in my major for both schools, I’ve compared my experiences taking calculus at another USG school to those of Chicago students in their math classes (admittedly not a perfect comparison, but what can you do), and what jumps out at me is a difference in focus between the two schools, one that comes through in the curriculum. And I know which one is more in line with my temperament and career goals.</p>
<p>The facts of any discipline are going to be the same, of course, but there is more to knowledge than facts.</p>
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<p>I’m being nitpicky now, and I apologize for that, but I wanted to clarify. UGA, after subtracting Charter + NMF (I wish they would tell me exactly how much NMFs get!) is going to cost somewhere between 8-9k. That’s a huge difference from Chicago, yes, but I wouldn’t call it a near-free ride.</p>
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<p>It’s not about fun–I mean, Chicago is the place where fun goes to die!</p>
<p>Seriously, though, it really isn’t about fun. It’s about where I want to be in four years, and which school will better serve me in advancing towards that. Education is the most important thing about going to college, of course, but there’s more to it than that, I think.</p>
<p>I talk too much.</p>
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<p>Lick it? 
(I suppose that’s not sanitary. Ah, well.)</p>
<p>Thank you ALL for your input; it’s been most helpful.</p>
<p>“Go with the happiness. It’s worth it. Believe me - I went to the cheaper option and I’ve been wanting/waiting to transfer out since day one. It’s been miserable.”</p>
<p>When people think of UChicago undergrads, happy images rarely come up.</p>
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<p>That’s because most people can’t imagine being happy in a highly intellectual environment.</p>
<p>If, on the other hand, you are a person for whom the U of C is a fit, it is an intoxicating place.</p>
<p>I think that there are benefits to a great school like U Chicago that can last a lifetime, from the way you are trained to think to the connections you make to the way you end up feeling about yourself. It can also lead to opportunities for graduate school or other prestigious opportunities. But the most important part is the rigorous training in how to think. It’s hard to measure this in dollars and cents, but I do think that for an intellectual person, this is the kind of atmosphere that will really be satisfying.</p>
<p>Haavain either you misinterpreted my post or I misunderstood your concerns in the opening. As I said at the start of post #19, it’s obvious that you want to go to Chicago. I have no issue with that desire, but by your own admission you haven’t visited the place so your information is certainly incomplete and “Viewbook biased”. I think it’s great that you’re visiting, hopefully Chicago will live up to your expectations.</p>
<p>But…</p>
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<p>I agree, educational happiness is not an insignificant thing, but neither is $100,000. In your opening post 3 of the 4 main paragraphs were centered on the added expense of attending Chicago. You were concerned with your personal debt load upon graduation; you were, rightfully, worried about the financial burden it would put on your parents as well as how it would affect their ability to help a younger sibling go to college. After reading your last post those concerns seem to have evaporated. My question: What changed?</p>
<p>I am not trying to talk you into UGA; by any reasonable academic measure Chicago would be considered a superior school and I suspect you’ll do very well there. But from a strictly financial perspective “four years’ of happiness” comes with a $100K price tag that you and your family will have to bear. Only you can decide if that added expense is worth it.</p>
<p>Ivybear - yeah it’s true haha. Still, maybe OP secretly wants to go to UGA more but wants the prestige factor enough to let him cancel it out? I have no idea. I know that I’d choose UGA OOS tuition over Chicago.</p>
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<li>It’s “her.”</li>
<li>Really not a mystery here–as I’ve said multiple times on this thread, I like Chicago better. Believe it or not, not all of us want the same things from our college experience.</li>
<li>Prestige? Hah. Most of the people over here have never heard of Chicago. You can tell by the blank looks on their faces when I tell them I’m considering it.</li>
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<p>My concerns have not disappeared; rightly or wrongly, I simply didn’t feel the need to mention them in my last post. My mood has changed, I suppose. Different considerations have come to the forefront. I have also been reassured somewhat that Chicago is affordable for both sides of the family, but you are right that $100k is not an insignificant amount of money, and should not be spent hastily. I don’t intend on doing so.</p>
<p>Hah. Minor update, on that note: today I found a letter from UGA in the mail–it was a scholarship offer, worth $3,000/year–it would replace, not add to, Charter, bringing the cost of UGA down to about $6k. Not a huge difference in the grand scheme of things, I suppose, except that psychologically it’s a little harder to turn down a school that (seemingly) keeps throwing money at you…</p>