What should I do?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I've been accepted to three schools, here's my situation, pros and cons.</p>

<p>Michigan State University:</p>

<p>Pros:</p>

<p>-Cheap
-Urban(ish) setting
-Always something to do
-Has the major I want</p>

<p>Cons:</p>

<p>-Big school
-Public school
-Not as good academically as the other schools
-Just a number</p>

<p>Albion College</p>

<p>Pros:</p>

<p>-Affordable ($40,000 a year but received $16,500, I think I can make it work)
-Small
-Intimate
-Awesome staff
-Not a number
-Beautiful campus
-Looks good on a resume/application for a job/grad school</p>

<p>Cons:</p>

<p>-Doesn't have the major I want (I want to major in Journalism, I e-mailed the English Department head and got this back "My last survey of graduates who focused in part on journalism at Albion, for example, indicates that 80% of them were employed in journalism or in a graduate journalism program two years after graduation. What we do not have is a journalism major. Like many excellent liberal arts colleges, we believe that journalism is best incorporated into the broad liberal arts picture rather than addressed purely as a professional training program. Ultimately, I think you'll find that journalists who do their undergraduate work in an environment like Albion's go on to lead their field at a higher rate than students from large universities who have focused purely on professional training.")
- Heavily based on Greek Life which I don't like
- Nothing to do, in the middle of no where
-Religious affiliation</p>

<p>Kalamazoo College</p>

<p>Pros:</p>

<p>-Small
-Private
-Nondenominational
-No Greek Life is there at all
-One of the best study abroad programs in the country (which I am interested in doing)
-Urban setting and close to Chicago (2 hours)
-Best school academically in Michigan
-Looks good on a resume/application for a job/grad school</p>

<p>Cons:</p>

<p>-Too expensive ($38,000 a year, I was given $9,000).
-Campus isn't as nice as others, nor are the buildings
-Doesn't have the major, I e-mailed my admissions counselor yesterday and am still waiting for a reply</p>

<p>So, can anyone help me out here? Some advice? I feel like this is the best place to go and have been tearing my hair out over this for a while. Is going to a school without a Journalism major basically suicide for a want to be journalist for a music magazine (such as Pitchfork.)</p>

2

<p>Anyone? Please…I’m going kind of crazy.</p>

3

<p>I can’t tell you anything about Journalism as a major or as a profession. I think Kalamazoo is your favorite, but be sure to read a lot of the threads here on excessive college debt. If the $22,000 on top of whatever else you’d have to do to go to Albion is too much, I’d choose Albion.</p>

<p>My <em>uninformed opinion</em> is that I agree with Albion’s English department person. Totally unrelated, I just posted this on another thread:

I imagine the same applies to English vs Journalism, but keep in mind, I’m a techie not an Englishist.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Here’s my advice FWIW. </p>

<p>Imagine it is this point next year, and you’re at any one of the three schools. Will you wish you were somewhere else? Wherever you think you’ll wish you were is where you should go. </p>

<p>Now, some thoughts on it. I assume you live in Michigan, and I don’t know if you want to stay there. I’ve never heard of Albion College and I’ve heard of Kalamazoo College but don’t know anything about it. I do, however, think that MSU is a pretty good school, even though I’m not from the Midwest. I think that most people outside of the Midwest will be the same way, except maybe they haven’t heard of Kalamazoo. If that’s something you’re considering, I offer the opinion of someone from a different region. </p>

<p>That said, I can understand the value of a small school, and I think there are very legitimate reasons to choose one of those two schools over MSU. Once again, go with your gut. What do you think is best for you?</p>

<p>On the topic of majoring in English vs. journalism, I would completely agree with the poster above me. The education you get as an English major will be perfectly adequate for journalism. I’m no expert on professional journalism, but I do know that it’s a field that can be entered with a variety of different backgrounds. You will be fine if you graduate with an English degree. </p>

<p>(It sounds to me like you want Albion, but I could be wrong)</p>

5

<p>I got my bachelor’s degree in English from a small liberal arts school and my master’s in journalism from a large state university.</p>

<p>I have had three different careers in my life so far. 1. educational publishing 2. magazine writing 3. English teacher. Each career has lasted 6-10 years. The changes were my choice. I’ve loved each one.</p>

<p>I feel my English degree has served me well. My father told me when I was deciding on a college that “you go to college to get an education, not job training.”</p>

<p>Also, I once saw a famous journalist speak at a conference, and she said she tells aspiring journalists to major in something like English, political science, or history because you need to be educated and knowledgeable in order to report on anything.</p>

<p>I would say choose the school that will give you the best education and is affordable. Where do you see yourself in the journalism field–television, print, or online? </p>

<p>Hope this helps! Good luck!</p>

6

<p>You do need to sit down with your parents and work your way through the numbers. How much of that aid is scholarships that you don’t have to pay back, and how much is loans and/or work study? If you and/or your parents would need to take out loans for your education, what will the re-payment schedule look like? If these three institutions are “affordable” for you, but one is significantly less expensive, what could you do to enhance your education and life experience with the money saved by attending the cheaper place? For example, would you need to have good-paying summer jobs if you attend Albion, but you could spend your summers in more interesting, but unpaid, internships if you attend Michigan State?</p>

7

<p>Thanks everyone, your help is really appreciated, I mean it.</p>

<p>I’ve decided on Albion, they’ve just treated me better and in the end it’ll save me $22,000, quite a hefty amount. I don’t know if it’ll be online or print, most likely online just with the way the industry’s going. I just want to write about music, so wherever that leads is where I will go.</p>

8

<p>How much will you have to borrow to go to Albion in addition to the loans in your pkg.</p>

9

<p>I’ve been given $16,500, it’s $40,000 a year, so $24,000. I don’t know how much FAFSA will give me yet.</p>

10

<p>“I don’t know how much FAFSA will give me yet.”</p>

<p>The FAFSA doesn’t give you any money, it just yields a figure that determines whether or not you are eligible for federally determined financial aid such as Pell Grants, Federal Work-Study and Subsidized Stafford Loans. If your aid package of $16,500 includes any of these, then you have been awarded what you qualify for. How will your family come up with $24,000 or more for each of the next four years?</p>

<p>The figure that I find <a href=“http://www.finaid.msu.edu/read/fye.pdf[/url]”>http://www.finaid.msu.edu/read/fye.pdf&lt;/a&gt; for the Cost of Attendance at MSU for an in-state student is $20,456. That is roughly $4,000 less than Albion for each year, or something in the range of $16,000 different for all four years. Maybe that is OK with your family, but it isn’t chump change either.</p>