UT Austin VS Macalester College

[utgirl2018]

<p>I was accepted to all the colleges I applied to: UT, TAMU, Arkansas, SMU, and Macalester. UT was my first choice (hence my name...), Macalester was my second choice. Now I am torn because I got a $45,000 scholarship per year at Macalester and zero from UT. I need advice on what to do.</p>

<p>UT Pros:
Only 50 kids were accepted to the Environmental Science program (including me)
Austin is beautiful and full of music which I'm in to
It's close to home (about four hours away)
A few of my friends are going
Dorms are better
Social scene is better
Texas weather is better</p>

<p>UT cons:
huge class size
zero financial aid</p>

<p>Mac pros:
45k scholarship
small class size
almost everyone travels abroad
almost everyone gets an internship
great chance to being admitted to a very prestigious graduate school</p>

<p>Mac Cons:
it's in Minnesota
It's cold
there's very little party/social scene
It's far away from home and friends</p>

<p>Basically it comes down to the money. At UT i would have to pay $27,000 a year vs $13,000 at Mac. I have $80,000 saved up for college so would need to pay $28,000 in loans for UT vs have $28,000 at Mac left over for perhaps graduate school.... is it worth it?</p>

[Lizardly]

<p>Is the above a full and accurate accounting of the costs? Like the Mac estimate includes travel and a new wardrobe? Just double check.</p>

<p>I guess I don’t see $28,000 in loans for four years as being that bad. You could work during school and/or summers, too, and off set some of that amount. Grad school may well be funded for you. Professional school not so much. </p>

<p>Yes, there is a price difference, but the larger difference seems to be in the atmosphere of the schools: big vs small, warm vs cold, etc. Are you more excited by Mac because they want you enough to give you money? Have you visited? Either school would be a great choice, but they are very different. </p>