Lananh La, a high school senior from the Dallas suburbs, had her sights set on the University of Texas at Austin long before she even started sending out college applications.

"I entered high school with full confidence that I would attend UT Austin," the 18-year-old tells CNBC Make It. "Everything was UT. My closet was filled with UT merch. I participated in a week-long sports medicine program at UT, and I never worried about where I was going to end up, because that was the one school that I had in mind."

La got her acceptance letter to UT in January. But another college caught her attention and offered her a spot in its incoming class: Dallas Baptist University. Her final decision came as a bit of a surprise.

"I turned down my prestigious dream school for a university that nobody has heard of," La says.

Plenty of locals, alumni and other curious students have no doubt heard of DBU, but with an undergraduate enrollment of just over 2,800 in 2024, the private college is dwarfed in size by UT Austin, which enrolls over 42,000 undergrads as of the fall 2023 semester.

The flagship Texas university has recently gained national prominence: It was named a "New Ivy" by Forbes in 2024 and 2025 to indicate that it was on par with Ivy League universities like Harvard and Princeton in terms of academic rigor and post-graduate job prospects. UT Austin's undergraduate business program, which La was interested in, is ranked No. 6 in the country by U.S. News. 

Though DBU may not have those distinctions, it offers a solid education that helps most (72%) of its graduates out-earn their peers with only a high school diploma, according to the Department of Education's College Scorecard. The return on investment from DBU is estimated to be $115,000 after 10 years, according to research from Georgetown University.

UT has a lower sticker price, though. In-state tuition at UT Austin's business school, where La would have studied, cost $13,676 for the 2024-25 school year, compared with $38,340 a year at DBU.

Here's why she chose DBU anyway.

Opting for 'connection' over 'prestige'

When she started considering colleges, La knew she would be staying in her home state of Texas to get a more affordable education. With UT at the top of her list, she "had really high expectations" for her tour, she says.

"But admittedly, I just didn't love it the way that I had hoped," she says. "I realized that I more so loved Austin as a city, rather than the school itself."

On a whim, she decided to take a tour of DBU's campus in October when she had a day off from school.

"Prior to that tour, I had absolutely zero intentions on applying, and I did not care for it at all whatsoever," La says. "But as soon as I walked on campus, I felt that amplified connection that I desperately wanted to feel at UT. … [DBU] started checking off all the boxes that I wanted in a university."

La realized the Christian faith-based affiliation and the campus community were important aspects of her potential college experience. She was surprised after that tour that she felt conflicted over which school to choose.

"I knew how valuable the academic prestige at UT was, but I realized that having that fruitful, faith-centered community was what I prioritized more, and that's exactly what DBU offers," she says.

'I wanted to actually thrive'

In January, La received admissions offers from both schools and knew she had to make a decision soon. 

DBU felt like a better fit when she was on campus. And the private school wound up offering her grants and scholarships that cut her tuition costs in half and brought her total cost of attendance significantly lower than what she would be paying at UT Austin, she says. She didn't qualify for federal financial aid, so outside of private or other scholarships, the money she could get for school was dependent on each institution. 

Though La initially wanted to study marketing and business, she has since realized she's more interested in pursuing physical therapy. She plans to work toward her doctorate in the subject and knows grad school could be even more expensive. That made an affordable bachelor's degree even more of a priority. 

Ultimately, DBU made more sense for La. 

"UT Austin's [business school] looked perfect on paper, but once it came down to it, it didn't align with who I am now, it didn't resonate with what I wanted," she says. "I didn't want to just go to a college to flaunt a prestigious name. I wanted to actually thrive. And I realized that [with UT Austin] I was chasing a brand, not a future."

Her parents fully supported her decision, but La admits she was a little nervous at first to share her choice with others.

"I'm someone who really loves that academic prestige, being known as smart and high-achieving, so in the beginning, it was almost embarrassing to say that I turned down the one of the top schools in the nation for this local university," she says.

But that feeling quickly wore off. She's confident in her decision at this point, knowing she's going to a good school that will give her the education she wants in a place where she can feel at home.

"I realized that if I want to exude myself as a high-achieving student, then I will be able to do that at DBU regardless, and the name of the university essentially doesn't mean a lot," she says.

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