18-Year-Old Turns Down Dream School UT Austin for Local Christian University

Lananh La had always dreamed of going to the University of Texas at Austin. She wore Longhorn gear and attended summer camps there, and she was sure that was where she would attend college after high school.

But when the 18-year-old from the suburbs of Dallas got her acceptance letter to UT Austin this year, she did something she hadn't planned on: she turned it down.

La instead picked Dallas Baptist University (DBU), a small private school with just over 2,800 first-year students. According to her, she turned down her dream school for a university that no one had heard of.

UT Austin is a big name. Forbes called UT a "New Ivy" school, and its undergraduate business program is ranked sixth in the country. The school boasts excellent academics and a large student body. You can also attend for less money; the in-state tuition fee is only $13,676. The annual price of DBU is $38,340.

But everything changed when La went to DBU. She had an instant link, which she didn't think she would have at UT, even though she had been looking forward to it for years. She said, "I learned that I loved Austin as a city more than the school." The small, close-knit school and faith-based community at DBU checked off the things she didn't know were most important.

DBU also provided her with loans and scholarships that cut her costs in half, making it more affordable than UT in the end, especially since La wants to pursue a Ph.D. in physical therapy and knows that graduate school will be costly.

She says it made her nervous at first to tell people she had turned down one of the best schools in the country for a less well-known university in her own state. But that shame went away quickly. "I didn't just want to go to college to show off my fancy name." "I wanted to do well," she said.

La is sure she made the right choice because her family fully supports her: "The name of the university doesn't define your success." “You do.”

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