The Pros and Cons of Out of State School

We're taking a little break from regularly scheduled philosophical posts, because a bunch of the ones that I want to do require me to read things that I'm not right about to read...and also because I have something really exciting coming up for you on Saturday! So, instead of a philosophical post, I'm doing a different non-book related post, this time looking at the pros and cons of attending an out-of-state college, something I have first-hand experience with. :) Hopefully it'll be amusing, and perhaps thought-provoking.

(Also, yes, I did make a graphic for this post for the first time ever. Canva is magic. Please be impressed. XD)

Pros:

1. Different Environment
Starting off with the basics, sometimes it's nice and even exciting to be in a place with different landscape, landmarks, and even architectural styles. The completely flat landscape here in Illinois, coupled with the two-species ecology (corn and soybeans...jk, I know there are more species than that, but some days...) has certainly been different and interesting, as have been the Great Lakes, which I haven't seen up close, but I have flown over a couple of times. And that's just the natural landscape--the architecture here is also quite different from most of where I'm from. It's all red brick, which happens to be one of my favorite aesthetics--that's what our church and house are both made out of, and I LOVE being in a place where almost all the buildings are made that way! 

2. Different Philosophies
There are so many viewpoints that I've heard about during my life and reacted to by thinking "haha, that's hilarious. There's no way anyone thinks that." And in my college career thus far, I've come to realize...oh yeah, sometimes people do think that. And it's a little bit weird, and I don't usually AGREE with the thing the people think, but I do think that knowing that real people do think that lends a certain amount of gravitas to my consideration of the issue...knowing that there are two sides to it and all that. This doesn't apply only to out-of-state schools, but I do think there are philosophical differences between states (where I'm from there is definitely more confidence in the government, and here the government is super corrupt, for instance) that can be growth opportunities. 

3. Different Networking
I'm about 2000 miles away from home, and that means I'm about 2000 miles closer to the East Coast, and a whole bunch of other things. That means I get to meet people who know different cool people, which means I get to meet different cool people. This is called networking. Most of the networking I have done has been Catholic networking. (Do I have problems with that? No.) This means that I now know several more of the Eastern Dominican Province Dominicans than I did before, and also the Vocations Directors for both the dioceses of Peoria and Chicago. This is pretty cool, I think. I'm used to the fact that I had my First Reconciliation with the now-Prior Provincial of the Western Dominican Province, but I'm not used to the fact that I had lunch with the head of the Thomistic Institute randomly over Fall Break. #Catholicnerdstuff (Presumably this also works with jobs. I guess I also do know the head of the Landscape Architecture department here and a bunch of the professors, too, who I wouldn't know if I'd stayed in-state.)

4. Being Far From Family/Being Close to Other People
Sometimes, you just want a little bit of space. Personally, I chose out of state school during the COVID lockdown, where I was a little too close to my family for comfort. And I don't know if this is just me, but sometimes it's nice to have a little bit of distance. A little bit of perspective. (Not permanently. Just for four years.) Also, being here means that I am quite a bit closer to several other members of my extended family, who I don't see quite as often, so that is enjoyable.

5. More Variety to Choose From
There are around 27 four-year colleges (not counting community colleges that got themselves one or two four-year degrees. I love those schools--I took classes at one in high school--but for my purposes, they Don't Count) in my state, and almost 4000 four-year colleges in the United States. I am in a very specialized major. Hence, there are exactly two (2) schools in-state that have my major, and one (1) that had my major and my minor. In the US, there are approximately forty-six colleges that have my major (there are twelve states that don't have Landscape Architecture at all. If I lived in Maine and wanted an in-state school, I'd be up a creek without a paddle). I don't have data for major and minor, but it's definitely fewer. So, in order to get a good amount of variety in various things (major size, minors (obviously), college size, environment, Catholic community, &c), I had to look out of state. Now, this may not be true for everyone, since many majors are more common, but there's an incredible degree of variety among colleges, and looking out of state allows you to be just that much more picky about what you want in a school.

6. More Travel
I honestly could have justified my attendance at UIUC (to myself, at least) as an excuse to fly back and forth. I know, I know, come after me environmentalists, but I just. love. flying. Or, honestly, an excuse to drive back and forth, take the train back and forth, &c, could work just as well as an excuse. I love travel in general, I guess? There's just something about that liminal space where there's nothing in particular you're supposed to be doing, so you can read, or watch new things go by out the window, or sleep and wake up somewhere new, or whatever, and it's absolutely societally acceptable. Also, for flying in particular, there is nothing like take-off. And when I was coming back to school after break, I was riding in a tiny plane from Chicago to the regional airport, and it was just after dark, and we came up above the clouds and all along the horizon were these beautiful soft but intense layers of red fading to orange and yellow and green and finally deep blue, and the stars and planets were just starting come out...that moment was absolutely worth coming to an out of state school for. ;)

Cons:

1. Different Environment
It. Is. Freaking. Flat. Here. I don't understand how people who've lived here their entire lives live without hills! Some of my friends have NEVER SEEN MOUNTAINS in their ENTIRE LIVES. How is this even possible???? I come from a place where the mountains are part of life, and acknowledged in passing like acquaintances ("the Mountain is out" is a familiar utterance when it's a clear day and we can see Mt. Rainier). The mountains are a familiar and comforting blanket around the shoulders of the city, and simply beautiful on a good day. And the water! I come from a place where a big body of water is never far away, and tidepooling is a perfectly legitimate pursuit for an empty afternoon when the tide falls just right. Here, when you get out of town, there is Absolutely Nothing until an empty horizon, and honestly, it freaks me out. And the biggest body of water from here to Lake Michigan (which is two hours away) is a cow pond, pretty much. I really don't love the natural landscape here. (And don't even get me started on the agricultural practices.) (I think my friends find me obnoxious because I complain about Illinois too much. XD I like it here, I promise! But only for four years!)

2. Different Philosophies
The amount of rage and sorrow that I suppress on a weekly basis at the stupid viewpoints that I didn't think existed but come across on said weekly basis is enormous. 'nuff said. (Again, this could be partly a being-in-college thing, but at least SOME of it is a being-across-the-country thing.)

3. Different Networking
Are these headings starting to look familiar? As it turns out, in terms of professional networking, having a profession network that is about 2000 miles away from the place where I ultimately want to work is not the most productive, Catholic networking notwithstanding. 

4. Being Far From Family/Being Close to Other People
As much as somethings it's nice to be away from home, there are days where I really miss my family. And also my home parish. One of my friends here accused me of missing my home parish more than I missed my family. My response: "I can call and Skype my family; it's harder to do that with the parish and the priests." Once the semester starts, I'm usually wrapped up enough in living and learning that I don't miss home all that much (I felt guilty about that first semester, however, I've decided not to this semester), but the week before the semester ends, or the week the semester starts? I have missed my family and home parish so much. I literally hallucinated my sister's head in the cafeteria for a second on one of the days right before break. 
The flip side of this also is that when one is an out-of-state student, most of one's friends will be in-state students. Thus, they will all be much closer to each other during break than one is to them. Thus, they will do fun things together during break, like hike, or watch Endgame, that one wishes one could do with them, but one can't. Because one is about 2000 miles away.

5. More Expensive
Out of state university is straight-up MUCH more expensive than in-state university. Depending on the state, something to the tune of 17-20k more expensive. And scholarships do help, but the fact remains...that is a lot of money. I had to be pretty sure I wanted this, which was definitely stressful.

6. More Travel
I do love traveling, but number one, it is expensive also, and number two, for my travel at least, by plane, the travel eats up an entire day. It'd be even longer if I had to take the train, and driving was about five days (33ish hours drive time). If I lived in-state, it'd probably take me four hours, tops, to drive home, and flying would be about twenty minutes, if I cared to do so.  

So...do the pros outweigh the cons? For me, they do. But not for everyone. It really does depend on the programs and plusses the college offers--for me, the Newman Center, I would do Quite A Lot to make sure I went to a college with a good Newman Center, and this is the best--and how well those outweigh the negatives. So, just things to think about. ;)

I'd love to hear about your experience! If you're a college student, are you in-state or out-of-state? How did you make that decision? If you're not a college student yet, what are you leaning towards most?