I already posted this on Reddit, but I’m hoping to get some more insight from my peers 
I applied to 11 schools and was accepted into 8. I’ve narrowed it down to the University of Delaware and the University of Florida. I intend to pursue a degree in linguistics/cognitive sciences and get TESOL certified.
I’m a FL resident with 100% Bright Futures so that would make UF relatively inexpensive for me, I would only have to pay for on-campus housing. UF is a #8 public university in the nation which is also something I value because I want to be academically challenged in college. I’ve visited campus and while the city of Gainesville itself isn’t that nice, I enjoyed walking around campus and the dorms we toured were nice as well. I would be content attending Florida for four years not only because it’s far away enough from home, but also because I’m sure I’d receive a good education and I’d enjoy all the school spirit. I also know many people attending there as well so at least for part of the first semester of the 2019-2020 year I will definitely have people to hang out with.
Then there’s UD. I have honors there, no cost (except housing), I’m in a new state, and the icing on the cake is that I’m in their study abroad program: if I deposit at UD, I will spend my first semester freshman year studying in Spain, a place that I have always wanted to visit and a place where I can practice my Spanish. My third year I would study abroad again in my country of choice with an internship/community service project to focus on while overseas. I loved the campus when I was there and even though the dorms there seemed to be smaller than at UF, they still were nice. They had a lot of cool restaurants nearby and there’s a lot more to do in Newark than Gainesville, not to mention it seems a lot safer in Newark as well.
The dilemma for me is that I know that UD’s offer is insane– in the nicest way possible– but I don’t know how ready I’d be to study in a completely foreign country in five months. Studying abroad is something that I’d truly like to do while I’m in college and this is the only university that has guaranteed me this option without having to sign-up/register and then pay money out-of-pocket to do so. I also feel guilty about considering an out-of-state school because although thankfully I do not have to pay for tuition, housing for OOS students at Delaware is still estimated to be expensive for my family. I have honors at UD but I don’t know how it compares to the regular/honors curriculum at UF and I don’t know how the linguistics and cognitive science departments at both schools differ. I truly think that this decision will come down to the quality of the academics out of anything else. I think that at this point I’m leaning more towards UD, but making the decision is starting to stress me out.
Which would you choose?
Study abroad is really quite easy at any college today. Look for programs at UF to study in Spain here-
https://internationalcenter.ufl.edu/study-abroad
Chances are , the housing costs in Delaware would pay for study abroad at UF.
Gainesville is getting better and better. Which has the stronger Spanish professors? psychology professors?
Which program will help you get TESOL certified?
Read here for UF TESL certification-
https://lin.ufl.edu/undergraduate/tesl/tesl-certificate/
Look up what U of Delaware offers you.
Where do you want to use that TESOL/TESL certification? If you want to teach in K-12, then work on a plan to graduate with as little debt as possible so that you can have more flexibility in where you look for your first teaching job. You also need to consider state certification rules, and where you might want to begin your career.
If the TESOL/TESL certification is not for K-12, and you plan to go abroad for work, then certification issues don’t enter into it immediately. However, as a TESOL professional myself, I recommend that you get state certification. It really will give you more flexibility over the long term. I came into the field as a career-changer, and my MS Ed TESOL without state teaching certification means that I can work in adult ed and pre-college Academic English programs (which I greatly prefer), but don’t have much of a chance of ever having full-time work with benefits where I live.
For your interests, there are advantages to the Delaware program because of the additional semester abroad. Do get more details about that. Is that first semester in a Spanish-only program, or are the classes conducted in English? What would your living situation be? Is it a home-stay where you would use Spanish in all of your free time, or would you be in an apartment or other residence with other US students?
Here is a nice calculator to help you and your family crunch your numbers: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletter.phtml
I have a full ride to both schools (my parents are graciously paying for my housing) so debt is gladly not a concern for me. First semester I would be studying at Saint Louis University in Madrid; a majority of the courses are taught in English, as it is an American university, but there are Spanish courses as well. We would be living on the SLU:Madrid campus with all of the amenities of students at UD. Ideally I would like to teach English abroad, but even if I don’t do that, I’m pretty set on not living in Florida after receiving my undergraduate degree.
For specifics on linguistics/cog sci at each place, ask the departments where their graduates end up. Where do they find work? Where do they head for grad school? You also can check the course descriptions in the course catalogs at each of the websites, and read the professors’ bios.
Considering that you want to teach TESOL the study abroad elements would be very important - you’d be in Spain like your future students would be in the US. In addition, if you wanted to be K12 certified speaking Spanish fluently would definitely be a big bonus.
And yes Honors at UDel is a very nice perk - priority registration alone is worth its weight in gold (when your forensic at UF complain they’re stuck with online classes or all the bad TAs you’ll understand how Lucky you are that you can pick any section, any class, any professor).
It sounds like the cost differential isn’t too bad, so I’d pick UF.
UF requires students complete a graduation survey, before graduation. See the link for details:
https://career.ufl.edu/student-outcomes/
You can select “linguistics” and see the results. Remember that this is done before graduation, so students are still in the middle of job searches, applying to grad school, or just trying to figure it all out. (other schools could do their survey from 6 to 12 months after graduation, so be careful when doing comparisons). Lots of interesting data…
I don’t really know much about either schools programs. At UF about 50 BS’s in linguistics are awarded each year, so it’s a fairly popular major. Psychology (Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience) is also popular. Linguistics is one of those majors at UF, where very few if any freshman plan on selecting it, but they take a few intro courses, fall in love with it and switch over to it.
At UDel, each year only 1 or 2 are BS’s in linguistics are awarded (but they do have an active grad program), but about 75 BS’s are awarded in Cognitive Sciences. Cognitive Sciences would likely be your major.
Good Luck!
Ok first off I used to live up north in Maryland and NY and I can tell you up there people don’t have much respect for UD, I’m just being honest… UF is MUCH more highly regarded and a top 10 public university. Second I have friends who have sent their two daughters to UD and were not impressed. Third, you can study abroad at UF for FREE using bright futures money now with the new law that lets you use bright futures scholarships over the summer if you study abroad over the summer, so don’t assume you can’t study abroad and get scholarship money to do so at UF.
UF is an amazing school with an alumni network that is HUGE all over the world that will help with job placement in ways that UD will not be able to compete. Also consider where you want to work. Even if you don’t think you want to come back to Florida your UF degree with it’s national reputation as a top 10 (some say soon to be top 5) university will be worth far more as far as name recognition and value than UD unless you really plan to settle in Newark 
As far as things to do in Gainesville vs Newark I’m shocked you think there is more there lol. Gainesville has a lot to do and also beautiful parks, lakes, hiking, shopping, etc. Plus it is less than 2 hrs from Tampa, Disney, Jax, and tons of beaches. The kids take road trips all the time for the day and weekends. There are great internship opportunities too. Just check tripadvisor! Newark Number of things to do? 37 https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g34043-Activities-Newark_Delaware.html Gaineville 79! https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g34242-Activities-Gainesville_Florida.html
In fact, if you search best college towns you won’t find ANY lists with UD’s college town on it… but Gainesville makes the list on both top 50 lists as well as the 2018 top 10 list and the top 50 college towns to live forever list lol
https://www.bestcollegereviews.org/50-best-college-towns-america/ (# 11 top 50 college towns by BCR)
https://www.collegerank.net/best-college-towns/ (#3 top 50 college towns by College Rank)
https://livability.com/top-10/college/10-best-college-towns/2018/fl/gainesville (#9 2018 top college town)
http://www.collegeranker.com/features/best-college-towns/ (#39 best college town to live in forever lol)
Going to school far away has other expenses and complications too. You need to think about how much those things matter if at all to you… like going home for more than Thanksgiving or Christmas and the summer or if you care if your parents can make it there for last minute Family Weekends or Mom’s sorority or Fraternity functions. You will have to bring more stuff with you to cram into a small dorm room since you can’t just drive home for a weekend to get your formal dress or warmer clothing or a theme item for a party and getting your stuff up there and home is a hassle too since you will probably fly and have to ship stuff. If you get sick it can be scary to be far too. My daughter had to go to the hospital freshman year and we were lucky to be driving distance to meet her there. Her roommate had a similar issue but had to settle for us helping her since her parents were all the way in Philly. When finals came my daughter left to go home an hour after her last exam. Her roommate was stuck for 5 days because she had to book her plane ticket months before so she booked for the last day of exam week. You can’t book tickets for things like Christmas break and Thanksgiving at the last minute because it’s really expensive but you also don’t know your exam schedule far in advance… so you wind up being the last to leave even if you don’t have to be. If you don’t mind that kind of stuff and it is worth it to you then it doesn’t matter. But those are things you may not think about.
Good luck whatever you choose!
I would just be honest with your motivations. Is it udel that’s appealing or the romantic notion of going to Spain. Academically both will have excellent resources but UF would be my first choice. Especially with BF savings.
UDel Honors has benefits for an undergraduate (compared to a huge public university where all freshmen will have some online classes) - and living away from Mom&dad also does (independence, personal growth, discovering another part of the country and its culture).
So I understand right that both would be affordable and you’d only pay room/board at either one?
It sounds like the majors are quite different and @Gator88NE has a very good point in that respect. Dig into the classes required for each major and compare side by side for each campus.