<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Please bare with me a moment to explain my situation. I live in Florida and received my associate's degree from a local community college. Of course I want to attain my bachelor's degree and also plan on attending a top graduate business program after 4-5 years of work experience. My options are either, to finish my undergraduate degree at the local university (Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU)) or at one of the best public schools in Florida (University of Florida (UF)). Now, I have done some research and have have that the UF is ranked 60th overall in the nation while FGCU is not ranked at all. So far I've come to the conclusion that I should go to the University of Florida, but another thing that I will have to discover is having to take student loans in order to afford the campus housing, etc. at UF, where at FGCU I would not have those costs except for tuition and books. Also, would it really make a difference in trying to get into a top MBA program if I graduate from UF compared to FGCU? I appreciate the help!</p>
<p>UF is definitely the better school, and as a result, yes, you may end up with more opportunities if you go there. </p>
<p>Instate costs for UF aren't too bad - I think it would be worth it to go. As for taking out loans, well, almost everyone takes out loans. I know very few college students who haven't. Interest rates are low, and you typically have lots of time to pay them back. A few small loans really aren't a big deal.</p>
<p>Yea, that's what I was leaning towards also. I wanted to get few few more opinions since I've been told by people that it does not really make a big difference where you get your Undergraduate degree from and that above all it's about work experience.</p>
<p>yea the undergrad prestige of a school is taken into consideration when going into grad school.
However in regards to tuition, it may be more expensive to go to UF for 2 years than stick it out at FGCU but I can tell you that going out of UF will make a difference for grad school and in many cases UF grads are more highly seeked than FGCU grads for jobs. </p>
<p>To your advantage, UF is probably one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, public school in America. :)</p>
<p>What about Bright Futures? Even if you're already in CC, isn't there still some way or another to take advantage of it? </p>
<p>(I'm not from FL, so I wouldn't know for sure)</p>
<p>You should go to UF. You'll be set up for a better job which means a better MBA program. Undergrad DOES matter.</p>
<p>Well, in high school I didn't know that you had to apply to Bright Futures BEFORE you graduated. Therefore, even though my SAT scores were high enough, my graduation date had passed and the opportunity was gone. I do receive financial aid as far as grants are concerned, and I'm also looking into a few scholarships. I was simply trying to avoid taking out too many loans. I'm also considering adding Finance and therefore double majoring, but I'm not sure if it would be worth the extra time/cost...</p>
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Also, would it really make a difference in trying to get into a top MBA program if I graduate from UF compared to FGCU?
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<p>highly likely</p>