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Living the West Coast dream

Everyone in the Bay Area seems to agree that it doesn’t get any better than Northern California, but what if there was a place where instead of summer and slightly-colder-summer they had all four seasons? Or what if you could have a snow-day at college? What if you could attend a lecture in a building built before the 20th century? If that sounds like something even the slightest bit interesting, maybe you should follow me out to the East Coast.

My argument may seem relatively useless considering every article regarding the “coasts” is either followed by “WEST COAST IS THE BEST COAST” or “Why is the west better than the east;” but I still believe that, at the very least, is a better place to spend four years of college.

Let’s start with the weather. Now, I love a sunny beach day as much as the next girl, but have you ever thought about spending the winter skiing without having to drive to Tahoe? Well, on the east coast, your college is your own personal ski resort. Not to mention, when summer officially arrives, there is still plenty of time to sit in the sun and get a nice tan. So what if the winter drags on a little longer than our “brutal” California winters? At least if you are an east coaster and some apocalyptic ice age hits us, you’ll have the right shoes. Plus, if you’re in the east, you can actually jump into a massive pile of bright red, orange, and yellow leaves and properly enjoy your warm Starbucks drinks during autumn.

Being a college student is hard enough as it is, but being a college student on the west coast means spending every ounce of your savings on a rickety apartment that you have to share with three other people for the next five years. According to trulia.com, the average cost for a house in Los Angeles is $701,500, while an average price for a Boston house is only $445,000. If you plan on living off campus during any of your four years in college, you may want to consider how much you can spend, and how much ramen you want to be eating during your senior year.

Even if you’re still on the fence about whether you’re meant for UC territory or the hallow halls of the Ivy Leagues, the east coast is still a cosmopolitan hub filled with urban energy. If you’re still not convinced, Bernie Sanders is from Vermont so you now have your reason to attend university there.