Recently I have been accepted to UMD, Bucknell, and Rutgers and I’m having some trouble deciding which school I should go to because I feel that each school both has a lot of pros and cons for me. I’m visiting all three schools next month in order for it to be easier for me to make my decision as well. I’m majoring in public health with a focus towards nutritional science/food and nutrition. Personally I’ve always wanted a larger university feel for my schools, and the majority of schools I applied to were larger institutions. I’m also pretty into the party scene of college, but of course education is going to be my number one priority there. Any feedback and advice regarding my decision is highly appreciated! If you go to any of these three schools or know anyone who goes there I’d love to hear about their experience there as well. (ps sorry if this is really really long)
UMD College Park- This is personally my favorite school out of the three and I was so happy when I got in! I also got into the Scholars Program for Global Public Health which goes perfectly with my major.
Pros:
*Personally my favorite out of the three schools!! 
*Amazing location that’s close to Washington D.C. and one of the prettiest campuses ever
*The Scholars program seems really interesting to me and goes well with my major
*The social scene here really appeals to me- I feel like there’s a lot for me to do, and the close proximity to the city widens my options on what I could do as well.
Cons:
*Definitely my most expensive out of the 3 schools- since I’m OOS, tuition along with room and board and transportation fees is over $45k. I’m trying to work with the cost a bit with financial aid but I heard their financial aid is pretty stingy so idk how much luck I’ll have with that.
Bucknell- Personally unsure whether I want to attend or not just because of the secluded location and due to the fact that none of the majors offered there go particularly well with my desired career path. If I was to go there, I plan on doing Biocemistry but with a minor in food systems because I feel like that would be the most relevant to nutritional science. A huge reason that I’m considering the school though is because I recently got the Presidential Scholarship to the school which makes it really affordable for me despite being out of state.
Pros:
*I’ll gain a great liberal arts education there at an extremely reasonable price due to my scholarship and will be able to graduate college with little to no debt!!
*Another great thing about the Presidential Scholarship that appealed to me is that I get to do paid research on a project for four years there and work one on one with a mentor there. I feel like these can be amazing learning experiences and will be beneficial for my job search after college. I’ve read a little bit about some of the projects the previous Presidential Scholars did, and they appeared to be really impressive.
*Amazing party scene tbh, I heard it’s one of the biggest party schools in the country. And not going to lie, the whole “work hard play hard” motto the school appears to have appeals to me a lot considering that I’ve always gone by that.
*This probably shouldn’t be a deciding factor but it is the most prestigious out of the three schools. It’s a lot more selective than both UMD and Rutgers (with the 25% acceptance rate I was pretty shocked when I got in tbh), and from what I’ve heard Bucknell has a high job placement rate which is always important.
Cons:
*Secluded location. Growing up in a suburb, I’ve always wanted to attend college in a more urban environment, and Bucknell appears to be rather rural. And due to the seclusion of the college, it’s rather hard to get out of the college especially since I don’t own a car.
*Lack of diversity- I feel like this shouldn’t be a deciding factor for me but as an Asian American I’m not too sure I feel about being in a part of a school that’s mostly preppy rich white kids ngl
*Focus on greek life- tbh I’m really not against greek life at all and truthfully if I do end up going here I feel like I would rush my sophomore year. But at the same time if I decide not to participate in it, I feel like I’ll be pretty left out due to the huge presence it apparently has.
*They don’t offer public health at Bucknell, so I’m going to have to study biochemistry/food systems.
Rutgers- I live in NJ so this is my only in-state option, and is also pretty affordable for me due to the relatively low in-state tuition and since I received $5k of scholarship. I got into the Honors College for the Schools of Arts and Sciences so I’ll stay in the Honors College dorms. I also got into the more competitive business school, which is where I received the majority of my scholarship money from. Therefore if I go there I’ll be taking classes at both the business school and the honors college for arts and science. So if I do go here I’l be simultaneously studying food and nutrition and business. I’m also doing an overnight stay this weekend to see if I like the school.
Pros:
*Affordability- since I’m in-state and have scholarship money this school may be just as or even more affordable than Bucknell for me.
*From the people I know who go there, they said it’s a really fun school to attend and that there’s always something to do. They have lots of great clubs to choose from, football games, a great gym apparently, and an awesome party scene.
*Location is good in that it’s pretty close to NYC aka my favorite place to be
*I heard their business school is highly ranked, so studying there along with studying food and nutrition could be really beneficial in my job search later on. Their food and nutrition program also seems really interesting!
Cons:
*Location is pretty bad in that the school is really close to where I live and I’ve always wanted to branch out and try living in a different environment in college.
*Again-shouldn’t be a deciding factor but it is ranked the lowest out of the three schools and I did apply there as my “safety school”. Therefore I’m not too sure how much success I may have with finding jobs outside of the NJ/PA area unless I have a near-perfect GPA (which I am trying to achieve obviously but just in case)
*I also feel like because I’ll be in a similar surburban environment that I was in for the majority of my life I could get bored there
And if anyone’s actually made it this far, thanks for reading my horrendously long post and any advice will be extremely helpful for me in making my decision. And if any of you need help regarding college decisions feel free to ask me