Should I choose SJSU for 2 years of happiness/ease or UCLA for 2 years of depression for better career prospects?
Hey, everyone, basically what I am asking in the title.
I’m currently a community college student transferring Fall 2026 and I’m stuck between committing to SJSU or UCLA. My current major I got in for both are Computer Science and Linguistics, however I will most likely switch to Applied Mathematics later on.
Of course, anyone with a brain would choose UCLA and say it's probably the better option long term academically/careerwise. Moreover, it's strong reputation and the number of opportunities makes it even better for getting a high paying job in the future.
However, if I end up choosing UCLA, I genuinely think I might be less happy there.
Outside of school, the biggest thing that's keeping my stress levels down right now is working for a high school marching band program as their audio technician. Basically, I do live sound engineering and audio equipment maintenance; things that I actually enjoy more than computer science haha. It has become a huge part of my life since my sophomore year of high school and also the MAIN thing that has kept me motivated in life, goals, and most importantly, to keep doing my academic course work.
If I go to SJSU, I’d still be able to stay involved with the high school music program I work for while going to school (this high school that I work for is 30ish minutes away from the campus). The commute from campus to my home would probably be a tad bit exhausting sometimes though. The only downside to this option would probably be that I might eventually lean more onto live sound as a career and might struggle to find a stable career to live in California in the future. ***For context, I have already intended to enroll at SJSU because it feels more realistic for balancing school, plus my passions music/audio, and, more importantly, my mental health.
If I go to UCLA, I will be forced to give full focus to my school work/computer science & linguistics since the high school that I work for is no longer in my vicinity forcing me to end my passions and interests from there. As depressing and stressful it sounds, there is at least a really good chance that I will have stable, high paying career in order to live in California soon after graduating.
This decision feels so overwhelming because it’s deciding what my life is going to look like for the next two years and even the direction of my future after that.
Has anyone else had to choose between prestige/career vs happiness/personal passions?
I’d honestly appreciate any advice/perspectives from anyone.