Greetings.
I'm an international student going to start college in the coming fall. For some context, I plan to go to grad school after doing my undergrad and am pretty confused about whether to shell big bucks for the undergrad or save it for grad school. The following are my college options:
1. U of St Andrews or Warwick in the UK -> grad school in US
2. Undergrad in my home country(good college. Cs faculty did their masters, phds from cmu, berkeley, etc) -> grad school in US
3. FSU -> Grad School in US
4. Transferring from FSU to UF, UIUC, UCD, Maryland, etc.-> Grad School in US
5. Transferring from California Community College to Berkeley, Davis, Irvine etc. -> Grad School in US
6. Going to Grinnell in Iowa and maybe transferring somewhere else or graduating.
Approx costs for undergrad in each option:
1. $150k
2. $25k
3. $100k
4. $135k - $170k
5. $180k
6. Idk rn
What prompted me to ask this question is that I don’t want to waste my family’s money on something that isn’t worthwhile. I personally think that the last option could be really good in the long run. However, all my thoughts and beliefs are just conjecture. The ultimate goal, I believe, is for me to be in an environment where I can utilize my full potential. Unfortunately, due to certain reasons, I wasn’t able to do so in the final years of high school and thus couldn’t get into good schools.
I can’t map out accurately the outcomes and roadmaps from choosing any of these routes. Therefore, I need some advice rooted in reality. If you happen to think that the ‘degree value’ doesn’t matter when trying get into good grad programs, please provide some valid information to back that up, while keeping the context, me being an international student, in view. Thank you for reading.
1. U of St Andrews or Warwick in the UK -> grad school in US 2. Undergrad in my home country(good college. Cs faculty did their masters, phds from cmu, berkeley, etc) -> grad school in US 3. FSU -> Grad School in US 4. Transferring from FSU to UF, UIUC, UCD, Maryland, etc.-> Grad School in US 5. Transferring from California Community College to Berkeley, Davis, Irvine etc. -> Grad School in US 6. Going to Grinnell in Iowa and maybe transferring somewhere else or graduating.
Approx costs for undergrad in each option: 1. $150k 2. $25k 3. $100k 4. $135k - $170k 5. $180k 6. Idk rn
What prompted me to ask this question is that I don’t want to waste my family’s money on something that isn’t worthwhile. I personally think that the last option could be really good in the long run. However, all my thoughts and beliefs are just conjecture. The ultimate goal, I believe, is for me to be in an environment where I can utilize my full potential. Unfortunately, due to certain reasons, I wasn’t able to do so in the final years of high school and thus couldn’t get into good schools.
I can’t map out accurately the outcomes and roadmaps from choosing any of these routes. Therefore, I need some advice rooted in reality. If you happen to think that the ‘degree value’ doesn’t matter when trying get into good grad programs, please provide some valid information to back that up, while keeping the context, me being an international student, in view. Thank you for reading.