<p>Hey everyone, I'm a senior in HS trying to choose my college much like most of this website. I'm currently torn between 4 schools.</p>
<p>UMass Boston vs (Full tuition and fees + honors program. Living expenses would be only cost. Say 10-13K a year)</p>
<p>Rutgers vs (OOS but 13K merit brings it to about 27K a year.)</p>
<p>Adelphi University vs (About 19K a year after merit + honors program)</p>
<p>Temple University (About 22K a year after merit + honors program + summer stipend)</p>
<p>I like all of these schools. I'm from Boston so UMass would be the closest but I'm quasi-worried about not having a college experience. I'm not a big partier or anything but I don't want to miss out, you know? Adelphi is smaller than I would like and has a lot of commuters but people I know who have gone have loved it. Temple and Rutgers are great opportunities but a bit more expensive than I'd like plus I'd have to include travel costs as well.</p>
<p>My parents can pay about 20K a year and I'm planning on being a nursing major with a fairly high possibility of graduate school. Obviously a lot of this comes down to fit, but all things being equal, What do you guys think is the best option for me?</p>
<p>I am not admitted into the nursing major at any of the four schools except for Adelphi. However, it is fairly easy to transfer at Rutgers, UMB, and Temple provided I keep up a decent GPA freshman year. There are GPA thresholds for the scholarships, around 3.2/3.3 for all of them. I will definitely look up the NCLEX pass rates. I’m stunned I never thought of that.</p>
<p>Here is one tool that can help you evaluate the offers: <a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid; Right now Adelphi and UMB are your best offers. Adelphi because of the direct admit, and UMB because of cost. If you would decide against nursing, UMB could be the best overall option as it is inexpensive enough to leave you with the option of an extra semester or year should a change of majors require that.</p>
<p>Nationwide, more students live at home and commute than live on campus. If you do end up commuting to UMB, you will be having the real college experience. Look around at UMB and see what it has to offer students like you. Chances are that there will be plenty of things to do, and lots of new friends to make.</p>
<p>I would look carefully at the requirements for Temple if you are not admitted into the Nursing program as a freshman. For transfers, they require 8 semesters of study in the Nursing program even if you already have other credits. They state “Internal transfer admission decisions are highly competitive and made on a space available basis.” and require a minimum of 3.5 GPA.</p>
<p>They’re fairly similar schools and the price difference between them is negligible. I’d say I preferred Rutgers in terms of environment/vibe when I visited but by a relatively small margin. However, the catch is that Temple is now a guaranteed nursing program (I was accepted). Rutgers is still a transfer. According to their experience day, they accept approximately 30 students after freshman year out of 130-150 applicants. Same goes for the following year so I’d have two chances. The associate dean made it seem like it was very doable if you worked hard and set this as your goal from the beginning. However, I’m still nervous about it. I very much like Temple and the guarantee is appealing but I can’t shake Rutgers either. I can’t make a decision. Anyone have any advice?</p>