Wake Forest or Gettysburg College

Wake has been my dream school, however I thought about it long and hard and began to wonder if an 8 hour drive (~2 hour plane ride) is worth it. It’s a bit cheaper but I would be traveling more and would have to keep my stuff in a storage over the summers. Those costs would add up. I am in NJ and Gettysburg isn’t that far and I could comfortably go home during Thanksgiving or for long weekends. Don’t think that would be easy to do if I attended Wake. I would love to be closer to home and by being at Gettysburg my homesickness would ease. Going all the way to WF has definitely made me really really nervous.

I already accepted my offer to WF (my mistake) but was able to get the deposit waived. I do not want to be a hassle to my regional AO after emailing him a few days ago to waive the fee. For some reason, after clicking that accept button, reality has set in.

Wake is a great school and has a lot of opportunities…but can’t the same be said about other colleges? Would I be crazy for not choosing WF just because of the reasons listed above? I know most would say Wake Forest due to its rank…but does rank always matter? (genuine questions!)

Just would like some advice (no heavy criticism please, this is already a frustrating situation and I have recognized my mistakes).

P.S. Gettysburg recently changed my aid package. Although they didn’t give me as much as Wake, it is manageable.

I think you have a lot of good reasons to stick with Wake. Cheaper, excellent school, was your first choice, etc.

It’s normal to get cold feet after a commitment has been made. Really, it will be a great opportunity to check out a different (but really not so distant) part of the country, meet a different group of people, etc. Gettysburg has a more regional student body than Wake, so this is a terrific opportunity to expand your world.

It would indeed be a shorter trip home from Gettysburg and especially easy if you have a car there. But I would guess you will discover ride boards wherever you are and will find that there is almost always an option. With that said, what I have seen is that most kids have little interest in coming home outside of major breaks so that commutability factor is not that important once you are there.

Thank you.

I guess I am having cold feet. I have never been on a plane before and I have never been away from my family for such a long time. Those are the two things that are bothering me.

Also, I almost never get out of my comfort zone, so maybe this would be the chance to do so…

There is also the possibility of driving (~8 hours) to and from.

An eight hour drive is not that big a deal. A lot of students from the NE drive twelve hours to colleges in the SE. A 12 hour drive is grueling to do in one day; 8 hours is much easier. I went to college 5.5 hours away from home-- I never went home for long weekends, I just caught up on studying and hung out.

I always lived in on-campus housing, so never had to store anything over the summer (I could fit all my stuff in my car, never had to worry about furniture). But if you had to, that’s not really an exorbitant cost anyway.

I agree with the advice to go to Wake, so you can expand your horizons and experience a different part of the country. Most kids feel some homesickness and unease for the first few days or so, but it does usually fade pretty quickly.

S is a junior at Wake (11 hour drive) and he never comes home, too much to do (accept for winter and summer break of course). Long weekends become hiking on the Appalachian Trail or Skiing or Ocean Kayaking or just hanging out and getting work done. Great school and a lot of fun. Normal to have cold feet but give it a shot.

College is about expanding your horizons. Time to expand.