Decision Time: Blue Devil or Colonial?

Today I had a blissful 90 seconds after receiving a call from Dr. Landry of the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Duke University. Apparently, the faculty at Duke thought I would be a great addition to their program for the upcoming fall semester.

Great news, right?

Well, approximately one and a half minutes after hanging up the my call with Dr. Landry, I checked my email. There, I found the following in my acceptance email:

Please notify us of your decision to accept or decline your place in the Duke DPT Class of 2017 within 7 days of receipt of this email.

In addition, a non-refundable deposit of $1000.00 must accompany your signed Acceptance Agreement to reserve your position in the class.

Craaaaaaap.

For those of you who don't know, I have been putting off deciding on and committing to a physical therapy program. Here is the thing. I already have two deposits down at two other schools (Rocky Mountain University in Provo and George Washington University in D.C.) And these deposits, though not $1000 like Duke, were not cheap. And naturally. They. Too. Are. NONREFUNDABLE.

Luckily, I have parents who seem to think they are going to fall apart in their old age, and see my schooling as an investment so I can take care of them later in life. Thanks, Mom & Dad.

I think Rocky Mountain is out. But the other two... gosh I just can't seem to decide.

So let's get down to it.

My list of pros and cons so far:

Duke

Pros

• BASKETBALL.
• Aesthetically pleasing campus. Believe it or not, this was a huge reason I loved Duke.
• Eight million dollar anatomy lab. Whaaaaaat? Apparently the PT program shares with the medical school, and you guys know how I love those cadavers... Rad!
• They use a PASS/FAIL system for all of their assignments. This eliminates competition amongst students. Plus, I haven't ever failed anything that was pass/fail, so that's promising, right?
• Cost of living in Durham is relatively inexpensive (rent is comparable to SLC). Believe it or not, I would actually be SAVING money by going to Duke than I would if I ended up at George Washington.
• I have been told Durham is a "foodie town." I love food.
• Weather = ok about 70% of the year. I will, however, say goodbye to looking halfway decent between the months of June-August.

Cons

• The young single adult ward of the LDS church in Durham was not too promising.
• It is in Durham, North Carolina... For those of you who didn't know this: Durham is not D.C.

George Washington

Pros

• It's D.C. I mean, come on.
• Awesome campus in the middle of the city.
• GREAT singles wards. 
• I already know 5 people in the D.C. area. Four of them are married, so that means I would force Jason Lamprecht to become my best friend.

Cons

• Extremely expensive.
• Program is not pass/fail.
• I will be poor.
• They do not have an $8 million anatomy lab.
• I will be paying off student loans forever.
• Gets pretty dang cold in the winter.
• Really expensive. Like, seriously.

I am the worst at making decisions. I really am. So I'm going to go about this in a very mature and professional manner...

Cast your votes, people.