<p>I have been home-schooled for high school and would really like to have a going away "college experience" to make up for it and socialize a bit. But I am scared of debt lol. All the time we hear on news about student debt crisis & increasing tuition, no jobs for grads, etc. If you have the choice between these 2 schools which would you pick?</p>
<p>I plan on transferring from these 2 schools to my state flagship after a year anyway, since they're not my first choice but they're the only ones in the state with a late application deadline(May-June.) I am planning on being pre-med.</p>
<p>School 1
1) about 16 hours away from home. A-F grading system so I assume it'll be easier to hold a 4.0. 2010 class had an average graduating debt of about $28,144, the highest out of all my state universities. But I plan on applying for scholarships throughout college and applying to be a resident assistant to pay for food&room. But im not 100% sure that i'll get these scholarships and an RA position, as im sure they get applications from everyone. Should I risk it?</p>
<p>School 2</p>
<p>A commuter university about 45 minutes from my parents house. Average debt of 2010 class is $18,342 but I'll be saving on food and board, since I'll be living at home, and grants would cover tuition, so I know I could finish my first year with $0 in debt. I wouldn't have the stress of worrying about debt, getting scholarships, jobs to fit around my schedule, etc. They have a plus minus grading system, and I assume this would be harder to get a 4.0 in. I don't get the "college experience" and am under my parents thumb for at least another year.</p>
<p>first make sure that you can easily transfer from one of those schools to state flagship. Some of the schools have transfer agreements, it will be nice if the school of your choice had one with state flagship.</p>
<p>Second, if you were to attend second school, how are you planning to commute? 45 minutes is a long drive and if you are planning to work part time (to pay for gas and car insurance), then the long commute complicates things. </p>
<p>Third, you don’t have to be in a dorm to socialize. I stayed with my parents when I went to my state flagship and I was able to have friends (with whom I am still friends 15 years later). My friends were like me, worked part-time (around 20 hours a week) and lived with their parents. So, everyone was understanding that we could not hang out all the time - we did hang out between classes a lot. </p>
<p>If you can figure out commute to a second school and you will be able to transfer to flagship from that school - pick that school (you will have plenty of opportunity to acquire debt as a medical student). Otherwise look for local community college with transfer agreement or take a gap year.</p>
<p>While gpa is important for med school, you don’t need a 4.0. 4.0s are really a HS thing, they are rare in college. A 3.8+ would be considered an excellent gpa for med school. And most would agree that while a high gpa is necessary, the MCAT is even more important. </p>
<p>Please see the PreMed Topics forum for more information about important factors about med school admissions, what to look for in an UG college, etc. There are many experienced and helpful members there.</p>
<ol>
<li>Don’t be a resident assistant just for the room and board. You’ll be miserable, and we have a way of detecting who’s just in it for the funding. Also, you can’t be an RA your freshman year, so if you are planning on transferring to your state flagship after a year than the RA thing isn’t going to work out.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you know that you are going to transfer to your public flagship university after a year, why waste a year paying for a college w/room and board 16 hours a way? Save money, commute your first year and then transfer to your state’s flagship after a year or two.</p>
<p>And don’t worry so much about a 4.0. Not that your grades in college aren’t important, but maintaining a perfect 4.0 is not important. If you can get a 3.5+ you’ve done very well indeed. For med school you would want to aim a little higher, but I would say a 3.7+ would suffice. Few people get straight As in college. You definitely shouldn’t pick a school on how easy or hard it would be to try to get a 4.0.</p>
<p>With that said, I second the advice of perhaps attending a local community college with an articulation agreement with your public flagship. Is that regional college the closest one to you? My sister began college by commuting to a regional public 45-50 minutes away - which made little sense because two of our state’s flagship universities were closer, about 25-30 minutes away. She went there because my mom pressured her to, because my mother went there (as in was attending at the same time, not graduated from there). It was complicated, especially since she worked in the other direction from the school much closer to home, and she often had to spend long stretches of time there - like one day she had a class at 9 am and another class not until 4 or 5 pm. She’s since transferred to another public college that’s about 15-20 minutes away and is MUCH happier there.</p>
<p>I don’t think the transfer idea is a good idea IF you need merit scholarships or FA to help with college. Transfer students rarely get good aid. you’re considering transferring to a state flagship, and they RARELY give much aid/merit to transfer students.</p>
<p>Average aid or average debt doesn’t tell you much.</p>
<p>What are your stats? HS GPA and SAT/ACT scores? </p>
<p>How much will your family pay each year?</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>It may be better if you do a gap year and then apply (and in the meantime do NOT take any college classes). You don’t want to ruin your incoming frosh status.</p>
<p>That said, if your stats are good, there may still be some affordable schools to apply to that are good for pre-med students.</p>
<p>How much do college 1 and college 2 cost? It’s a little late to be applying for scholarships from most colleges at this point…if you are planning to go to college in Sept 2012.</p>
<p>You need to figure out your finances…AND you need to look at college costs including room/board or the cost of commuting…with a car/gas/insurance/parking. And you need to know how much your parents can and WILL pay for your college costs each year.</p>
<p>I’m curious why you didn’t apply to your state flagship in time for admission this year…if that is your ultimate goal.</p>
<p>If you took the SAT/ACT, you might want to check the link Mom2 posted a couple of days ago for UAH.</p>