hello,
i got accepted by both the universities as an out of state student. Arlington gave me the presidents charter scholarship so now i am eligible for instate tuition. Also they gave me enough aid so basically i have to pay nothing for my fees, housing and even books. But i am not sure if ut arlington is worth it.I wanted to study biomedical engineering and really wanted to go to austin. I also got into the biology scholars program so that was also exciting. But they gave me 40k in loans and i do not want to take that big of a loan. So can I transfer to austin later? Will I have a good shot at transferring after a year? and should i transfer ?
My current stats:
2070 SAT
4/4 O levels
4/4 A levels.
The UT-Austin Biology Scholars is clearly a stronger academic track, but these are considerable financial concerns. You are not able to take $40K in loans (over four years?) by yourself; you would have to discuss this with your family, and see if they would be willing to co-sign for some of the loans, such as PLUS loans. Otherwise, Austin would be infeasible for you.
I would not recommend planning on taking scholarship money from Arlington and planning to transfer – you would need to have somebody qualified read all of the documentation in the contracts, because you could stand to potentially lose money if you left the program. I don’t know the specific answers to that, but I would definitely proceed with caution. In other words, if you plan on taking the Arlington offer – which is very nice – I’d do it with the intent of completing the program, and maintaing the grades and stipulations of said scholarship offer.
hey, anhydrite thanks a lot for your answer 
. i just feel i belong to a better university with my grades. how can i get over that ?
and the loans are 40k per year
You are welcome. Well, I don’t know exactly. First – O / A levels – are you from the UK? Why are you choosing between Texas schools? UT-Arlington should be solid, if not exceptional. And the deal they are offering you is good, and you don’t want to jeopardize that. Are your parents willing to pay for the rest of UT-Austin? In that case, it could be worth it, but you’d still have to get into a / the program which suits your needs. So it is more of a risk in several ways, but not out of the question.
Basically, for Arlington, the best answer is: go. Make the best of it you can. It is a reputable school. Get great grades, do research, make friends, have a great college experience, and have no debt at the end.
Are you an international student?
$160,000 is a tremendous amount of debt. Can your parents afford this? You can’t qualify on your own for these loans.
Do you have a more affordable option other than UT Arlington?
The schools are not comparable.