Thanks everyone for all the thoughtful and insightful replies. Interesting to see a nice continuum of opinions, although it highlights that this is not as simple a decision as I may have thought.
@Mark, I am relocated to the Bay Area, so it is not too bad of trip for me… maybe a road trip with friends.
@Jason & Heather, thanks for the tips! If I do decide on going, I will definitely look into options like crashing on a friend’s couch, and if ASLA has cheaper event-specific tickets, that would be great, and probably sufficient — such as I know the American Chemical Society (ACS) has a student member conference fee of $100 undergrad or $180 grad, however for their EXPO only, it is just $25.
Anyone here already register?
