PLEASE Help me decide

[AllyPT2023]

I'm in a very fortunate position where I have been accepted to several programs (UNE, UMiami, UMass Lowell, Simmons, BU, MGH, URI, USF, Nova) I also have an interview at RMUihp in two weeks that I am attending (ski trip already planned), and am still waiting to hear back from Northeastern.
I loved MGH but unfortunately did not receive a scholarship and unfortunately it is way too expensive. I received $25,000 to BU but again, still too expensive.

I have pretty much narrowed it down to UMiami, UMass Lowell, or Simmons.
UMiami deposit is due 1/15, UML 1/20, Simmons 2/17. Probably going to deposit at Umiami today to not lose my spot (I am out of the country in Mexico 1/4-1/12, then in Utah (1/12-1/19)

Here are my pros and cons for each school:
UMiami:
Pros:
Loved the interview, beautiful campus
All of the current students were extremely welcoming, got the impression they are good friends, most live together, they go to tailgates/bars/beach, workout and play intramurals together
Top 10 program (not that this matters)
Solid clinical opportunities (in Miami and have options back in Massachusetts where I am from)
The weather/city (I currently go to school in Portland Maine)
Adventure/something new
Strong student/faculty relationship
No class on fridays
Several elective options
Cheaper housing than Boston (I know Miami is not cheap but Boston is insane)
Almost everyone in cohort is new to Umiami
Big cohort (~70) (some see this as a negative)
Large breaks between semesters, could come home/ski

Cons:
Away from family/friends
Away from skiing (huge skier)
Driving car back and forth
More expensive ($108,000) (have some help from dad)
No integrated clinical experience? (Am I wrong about this?)
Building for PT is a little older

UML:
Pros:
Cheapest (75,000)
Close to family/friends/skiing
Lowell is an inexpensive city to live In
Supposedly new PT building next year

Cons:
Have not seen the campus (open house for accepted students is when I'm out of the country)
>50% of the cohort is UML undergrad students (they already know each other), small cohort <40
Lack of clinical sites in Boston hospitals
Lowell is not an appealing area


Simmons: Will attend open house for admitted students on Feb 1st. This is the program I have very minimal info about because I wasn't highly considering it until I received such a large scholarship
Pros:
Integrated Clinical experience
Great clinical sites (Boston Hospitals), location in Longwood is ideal
Cheaper ($77,000 after my 65,000 scholarship)
Probably a lot of interaction with professors because cohort is small
Close to family/friends/skiing

Cons:
Several admitted students are from Simmons undergrad, which is all women (I am a woman but don't love this), already know each other
Boston cost of living, would likely live in Somerville and commute
Extremely small cohort (~20) (my undergrad AT cohort is 8 right now so looking for something bigger for PT school)

Looking for any insight on these programs or really any of them that I was accepted to. I know everybody says go with the cheaper option but please consider these other factors. I thought my heart was set on Miami but i am having second thoughts. The difference is ~30k which is a lot but not insane. I ruled out the schools that were 125k+ Thanks!!!!

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[ItsGoingTibiaOK]

I’d go with your gut, not necessarily what other people think. At the end of the day it’s your education, career, and student loans. If you’re having trouble, put your choices into a spin generator and see which school you get. How you feel after having a choice generated for you may help with what your “gut feeling” is. Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

[allantois]

Go to cheapest school

 

[TheDancingWriter]

Go to cheapest school

I second this. It doesn't matter where you go to become a PT because your future place of work won't care as long as you have a license. You might end up regretting 108k worth of debt, especially because that's much more than you'll be making starting out.

 

[MartialArtDPT]

As far as price, you have to decide how you feel about the debt and what it means you need to do. You are the only one who gets to decide what that debt means and how you'll feel about it. So don't worry about price *unless* the implications matter to you like they matter to the people who say to choose a school based on it. To me, I'm older and have experienced enough of life to know that I can be happy or miserable almost anywhere and with almost any amount of pressure or debt. I get to make that decision to be happy. I also get to decide that the experience of a life that I have denied myself for more than a decade is worth the debt I was so scared of that I crawled into a hole where I was miserable. That is, I was so scared of debt the first time around that I made myself sick trying to avoid it. I'm done. People can scream price to the hilltops now and it won't affect me anymore because I decided I'm done. I will not choose the most expensive school I get into, but price will only be one major factor in my decision, along with the implications of what price will mean for me when I get out in terms of what I'll be able to do with my money.

Now, here's what I want you to do. Once you've decided whether to cut out the most expensive of the three on price, put the two or three names into a hat and draw one. Open it, and feel whether you're elated or your stomach squirms. If you're elated, congrats, you've chosen your school. If you feel upset that you drew it, put it down and draw again. The truth is, it doesn't matter where we go nearly as much as we think it does. What matters is our deciding to be happy with our decision. I spent a lot of years regretting my undergrad choice that I made based on price, when I could have chosen to be happy about it. I just never knew it was a choice until recently.

If you want to learn more about how to make decisions and deal with anxiety and uncertainty, I recently discovered an amazing podcast for learning how to fix your brain. This lady could not be more amazing. I pulled up her recent podcast on uncertainty for you, but she has so many more that might apply to your situation even better, so take a listen if you're interested.