college help! 0_0

[tofutakeout]

so I've been excepted and approved to receive grants, loans, scholarships and all that jazz to go to pretty much any college I choose.(nothing to big I think) but I'm in a bit of a dilemma. first of all I need to figure out what courses I want to take and what I want to get a degree in. that I can decide a little later.

my brother and my mother both think I should get out of Portland to go to school but I said I wouldn't be able to go to kumoricon(yes I'd be near other con's hopefully but I can't miss my favorite one). my mothers says it will all work out since kumoricon's in the summer and I could come back but I don't want to use a bunch of money to get here, spend even more there, then leave using a whole bunch more money. I like being close to it. 

should I leave for an out of ton school or stay in this area?

[TanisNikana]

Can you rephrase your question more simply? i.e. Should I x or y? And why?

[Cassiopeia]

Kumoricon is honestly not as important as going to the right college. The things you do and the people you meet there can change your life forever. And your mom is right, you can come back for Kumoricon. Work on saving up for the trip for the whole year and it will make it more special. :]

[TanisNikana]

Kumoricon is honestly more of a year-round thing anyway.

[saya-chan14]

I think you stay here most of your friends are here and we do have grate colleges here two.

[tofutakeout]

I understand I could easily come back for ku-con but almost everything I love is here in this state/area. I do want to travel but not over the states. I'd more of like to save my money for bigger trips then just back to home. and saya's right all my friends are really here.

[MizzArianna]

There are really nice colleges in Oregon City. What do you want to major in? I can help you find a decent college.

[saya-chan14]

there PSU i love that college

[Cassiopeia]

If the right college is close by, then all the better. 

It sounds as if you've pretty much made up your mind though (and most of the others who have replied so far seem to think you should stay too).

[DancingTofu]

Major/Classes: Take general core classes until your calling calls you.  That's what I'm doing. (I've found my calling, but I'm going to try to find another one to study, since not many people make a living as a rock pianist, and I'm not banking on it)

PSU's a good school if your interested in Languages and Humanities.
UO is good if you're into art and architecture and parallel technical aspects of either.
OSU is good for Engineering, Physics, Comp Sci, etc
Willamette U is good if you're a hippy, it's also the closest out-of-town school.
Reed College is a great school.  It's also really hard to get into.
UW is a great school all around, if you like Seattle.

The East coast has loads of good schools, but that would get really expensive really fast.
California has a plethora of good schools as well, but most of them are pretty far from Portland.

It kind of depends on who you are, what your grades and SAT/ACT scores look like, and where you think you're going to be happy.  I've personally decided Portland is where I'm happy, so I'm going to try my damnedest to get into Reed, and I've applied to Willamette as my back-up.  I'm going to consider applying to UO and PSU, but Willamette sent me a free application and seems to be the most bohemian of the three from what I've gathered.

[tofutakeout]

thank you all for your inputs. I think I really want to stay here. I just need to tell my mother and brother that I want to. and convince them why I want too.

[Toxikon]

I agree with Cassiopeia in that deciding what college to go to is more important than K-con.  More concrete reasons for staying in/near Portland is lower tuition, courses offered at the local college(s), if your friends are staying, etc.

I'm biased in this, but you should check out OSU if you're thinking about an engineering, computer science, or agricultural degree.  We have a beautiful campus, and it's not that far from Portland.  And you could hang out with Nikki, Patrick and I!

[makichan]

I chose to stay here in Oregon, because I've lived in other places, but nothing feels quite like home (I used to live here as a child but spent half of my life in Nevada, simply to move back for middle school, onward). Of course, I only moved from Forest Grove into Portland, but I'm glad I'm here. If I ever feel the need to go elsewhere, it will happen, but I feel that this was the right way to go. Lol not necessarily for the kumoricon aspect alone, but other things such as my interests for college, the area, the weather, the people...well, basically the whole spectrum.
What I'm trying to say is that you should follow your heart. Sounds kind of cheesy, but it's your life and your future and you shouldn't have to do something else for the sole reason of pleasing your family.
My mother is quite the opposite though. Someday I plan to study abroad and she's always spazzing out about how hard it's going to be for her... but where would I be if I only did what others wanted?
So go where you want, whether it's here in Oregon, or elsewhere.
And with that, good luck to ya

[melchizedek]

Do you have a community college near you tofu?   Generally, for starting out class sizes are smaller than in university and the instructors are there to teach not do research so they tend to be more student friendly.

Also, consider that student loans take a LONG LONG time to pay off. 

Out of state tution I think costs about 5x more.  Also, living in the dorms costs that much more, It is quite a bit cheaper to just commute from home if you can.  But on the other hand, dorm life has all kinds of crazyness and excitment.

[nikkiolie]

I would not recommend going out of state unless you have a few friends (about 4 or so) and family in that state you are going. There will be times that you want to see your family and if you are out of state you are going to have to wait where as here in Corvallis if I want to go home for the weekend I can.

Also having friends that you already know going to the same school as you is a good idea just so you don't feel like such an outsider.

[melchizedek]

I went out of state for a year, it was a good experience, but really it was a great deal, I had lots of scholarships and the program was already cheap.  I think I spent 9k for the whole year but this was back in 2000