It's official, Steve's been accepted to BYU and GWU. Unfortunately neither offered him financial aid. However, there is a chance he can still get aid at BYU if he fills out some more paperwork and writes an essay. Also, he's an alternate for assistantships/fellowships at GWU and will find out for sure if he gets anything after April 15th.
Steve will be headed to the capital with his dad this weekend (they both fly for free or I'd definitely be coming along :)) and then hopefully we'll have a better idea of where we're going to be next year, which will really take a load off our backs!
GWU is ranked a lot higher (#7) than BYU (#51) for MPA programs and obviously has more choices for internships, however, it also has a lot more up front costs than BYU (moving across the country, more expensive tuition, more expensive housing, etc.). Despite these costs we still think it'd be a great adventure for our little family and an opportunity to see a different part of the country. If we stay at BYU we can be closer to my immediate and Steve's extended family and get the BYU slant on public administration. Even if it's ranked lower it's still a respected school and has a history of sending students to work for NASA, an organization Steve would love to end up at. Anyway, those are the basic pros and cons.
I'm totally going to copy a good friend who just put a poll on her blog concerning grad schools, but it would be great to see what our friends and family think: highly respected institution, higher cost adventure OR lower cost, closer to family, BYU education. Feel free to leave your comments as well! (I put ASU on there even though it was really a backup choice)
6 comments:
We thought it would be great to have a big adventure and move across the country. Just a couple of months later we noticed that we really miss Utah and our families. It is still fun being totally on our own, but sometimes we wish we would be closer so that we can visit every now and then, since flying is so very expensive.
pffft... BYU Education = the suxxor.
Ok... my bias aside... get a little diversity in the education... Steve has already expressed this thought before and I agree with it completely. Different school, different perspective, different place, etc.
Money is important, though...
Well, I was going to base my own decision upon where we go for school after you two had decided, but I guess I can't do that anymore. :)
I'm glad there is another couple that can appreciate the situation that we're in too. It's hard to make this decision when there are so many pros and cons with each chioce! I have loved being out of the Utah bubble though. It's a good experience being with people who don't believe the same as we do. We're doing missionary work nearly everyday! It has been such a good adventure and I highly recommend moving away for a little bit. It will help you grow closer as a family and make you more self-reliant. However, I do miss my family and the comfort of home. Hmmmm...such decisions! I look forward to learning where you have chosen to go.
Tough decisions... financially, BYU is a lot cheaper, but I think diversity is great! I'd vote go to GWU; it's an adventure and it's not permanent. You can always come back, right?
Of course we're family so we would like you to go to BYU!
P.S. I tried to vote for BYU a few times on your poll, but it would only work once. Just know you have five votes from our family (Isaac counts for two!)
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