<p>Thanks yabeyabe and newtothismom. I don’t know where we are at this point. He’s now insisting that he does not want to go to a small school. I took him to see Hofstra over the weekend so he could get a look at a bigger college, and now he says Hofstra is his first choice. They did a good info session and the campus is nice but this would not be my first choice for him. I think it is too close to home, for one thing.</p>
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<p>Simpkin, what happened to wanting to be at least 8 hours from home?</p>
<p>If it were me, I would not argue about the size of the school with my child, but I would not show him/her the larger schools and show more smaller ones (assuming that I felt those were best for my kid). I would make it a point to spend a bit more time on the campuses of some small schools. If this does not work, at that point I would point out the negatives as I see them for the larger schools, especially as they relate to my child. If needed, I would revisit some of the smaller ones where my kid had less objections/more positive vibes (keeping costs in mind).</p>
<p>That was last week. This kid is driving me crazy. Also, he refuses to even start to write an essay until he feels “inspired.”</p>
<p>simpkin: Has your son sat in on any intro classes at a large uni? Then, at a LAC? The energy at a large school can be exciting, but I find stadium seating at a lecture to be soporific, and if it were me, my mind would check out early on. Glad my DD agrees. For the kid who really likes (watching) sports, Div. I schools are a big draw; Div. III sports almost everywhere are a big ho-hum.</p>
<p>FWIW, DD was talking large unis until I sent her on an organized college tour spring break of her sophomore year. (Wouldn’t listen to me about how LACs fit her learning style or that almost all schools <em>count</em> freshman grades, unlike the UCs.) Thankfully, after that tour she concluded that LACs would work better for her. Otherwise, it was just physics in action: The more I would push, the more she would push back.</p>
<p>He has not sat in on any classes. What I did like about Hofstra was that they claim to have small classes and the personal attention of a small school – maybe every larger school says this? They also offer the opportunity for freshmen to enroll in a “cluster” of classes – so they are taking three classes with the same group of kids. They have a bunch of freshman seminars that sound really interesting. I’m not totally opposed to him going there but I don’t think it’s ideal. I’m still trying to deflect him from the University of Kansas. I’ve also noticed that whatever school he visited most recently is the favorite, so I’m saving Susquehanna for the very last visit. :)</p>
<p>I agree, it’s physics – I push, he pushes back. The other thing he’s very good at is blame: “I didn’t want to do this, and you made me, and it didn’t work out, so it’s all your fault.” I don’t want this to be the story with college.</p>
<p>" I’ve also noticed that whatever school he visited most recently is the favorite, so I’m saving Susquehanna for the very last visit."</p>
<p>Sneaky there, simpkin…</p>
<p>My oldest ds is attending a small Cal State called Channel Islands. He applied at Sonoma, Monterey Bay, Boise and New Mexico. We wouldn’t let him apply private, or at out of state where he couldn’t do a WUE. We felt like he was too lackadaisical to make the money worth it!</p>
<p>He came from a very competitive Catholic HS, where he really was “low man on the totem pole”; academically, socially and for outside interests. One of his good friends is on athletic scholarship at Berkeley, another got in at very competitive schools, etc…of our family friends, we know 4 or 5 National Merit semifinalists and Finalists…one kid at Yale, another BU, tons of UCLA’s, Berkeley’s etc). People always said he was a “nice” kid.</p>
<p>He drove me crazy-wouldn’t look into schools, didn’t want to tour, bad about applications…the list goes on. My friends said I should just have him go to a local JC and “learn his lesson”, but I was afraid that would continue his HS cycle. I’m glad I went with my gut feeling he needed to go away.</p>
<p>At this smaller, less competitive school, he has done great. He is a RA this year and liking the responsibility. (We love the reduced cost)</p>
<p>I could have never imagined he’d be doing this well. Now, his younger sister is a junior, and her college planning is already a nightmare…different issues than brother. I have to hope things work out for her as well!!</p>
<p>VBC Mom</p>
<p>^^^^^^ Thanks for that! He sounds a lot like my kid. It is certainly a bit daunting to think about spending so much money on someone who is so “lackadaisical” about the admissions process! I also have friends pushing the community college idea but feel strongly that he needs to go away if there is any hope of breaking high school patterns.</p>
<p>My son finally came up with an essay idea, thank goodness. Now he just has to get started . . . .</p>
<p>I spent quite some time glancing thru the pages of this thread. My son is a compilation of many of your kids. LOL. My son is interested in CS. We live in MD. Can anyone share their computer science specific east coast college info? He won’t be eligible for need based aid, but the $40K price tags of many of the schools mentioned on this thread really give me pause…</p>
<p>It all works out: Has your son considered UMBC? It has an excellent CS program, and you can’t beat the in-state tuition. If his test scores are high, he might also qualify for merit $$.</p>
<p>VBC Mom- you might want to post of the western colleges thread about your S’s experience at Channel Islands. I don’t think it is a school that has come up on that thread.</p>
<p>momjr— Yes UMBC is at the top of his “list”. We visited the school and he liked it a lot. (I’m happy w/ the cost!) His gpa is on the low side, but his SATs are a good match. However, I’d love to have 3-4 more schools on his list in case things don’t work out… Do you have other suggestions for computer sci majors? He might try College Park, but his gpa makes that quite a reach. And I don’t know how good College Park is for comp sci anyway…</p>
<p>“it all works out” I LOVE THAT NAME. I say that phrase in my brain all the time!! thanks for making me smile!</p>
<p>dear proudwismom. I went to Carthage. Beautiful campus and excellent education. Back when I went (1984), I was the only Spanish speaking girl on campus (I am from Panama). It was a sink or swim situation. I was very happy at Carthage, made many long lasting friendships (Thanks God for Facebook!!) and had a superb education. In spite of Kenosha, which can be very, very boring. Today, I work as a Real Estate Broker for CENTURY21 in Panama. My daughter, Susana, who also graduates from highschool this year is planning on applying to Carthage. Tell your son not to doubt it, to apply to Carthage. He won´t regret it!!</p>
<p>Gmigaza, I hope your daughter appreciates the courage and perserverance you displayed. I suspect you are a very successful broker.</p>
<p>Itallworks, although your concerns about $40k sticker prices are well-founded, bear in mind that B kids can get surprisingly good merit awards and that come schools’ co-op programs can provide substantial earnings. Have you considered Towson? A poster on another B student thread has been thrilled with her son’s adjustment there. I also know kids who enjoy Salisbury. With compsci, remember that some of the usual suspects (Drexel, RIT) may have so many comp sci majors–many of them extremely talented–that average students may get lost in the crowd. At a lesser comp sci school, you might get both more attention and more merit aid.</p>
<p>Gmicaza, I’m glad you had a great experience at Carthage. Even though Carthage isn’t my son’s first choice if he ends up there I know he will be happy.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter!</p>
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<p>I second that. LeMoyne, Siena, and Manhattanville (none of them top tier) were very generous with aid and we are not even Catholic.</p>
<p>All three of my B kids got very good merit aid offers from several Colleges. The key is doing your research to get an idea of what schools do that and also where your child falls in the applicant pool. If it’s a reach school the chances are slimmer for merit aid. My son, who was looking for information Science/systems/Networking got very good merit aid from liberal arts colleges like Hartwick, Arcadia, University of New Haven, Guilford. He also got at least $10,000 off per year from Drexel, RIT, Florida Tech and Wentworth Institute of Technology. A couple of them were Robotics scholarships but none were need based.</p>
<p>My son was a B+ hs student. He was offered merit aid from nearly every private school, including one reach school, so one never knows… One needs to look at sticker price vs. possible scholarship amount. My son is currently at a school with a relatively low sticker price of about 35600 (tuition and R&B). His merit aid there was 10,000 (for incoming freshmen that amount would be at least 12,000 for similar stats, as my son is currently a college soph). The 10,000 scholarship made this school more affordable than a school that has a sticker price of 43,000 or more, and offered 12,000 in merit aid. Sometimes you can find out in advance as to how much merit aid your child would probably be awarded.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is the GPA required to KEEP a merit scholarship for all 4 years. You don’t want them to lose it if they don’t have a high enough GPA at the end of freshman year! My son can keep his award as long as he keeps a 2.0. Many set the GPA required at 3.0, and some require an even higher GPA. You can shop for schools that offer merit awards where only a 2.0, or 2.7 is required to keep it. You can just pick up the phone and ask and you don’t need to give them your last name if you don’t care to do so (you can even block your phone number if it makes you feel better). Editing to say that the GPA required to keep a merit award was a factor when it came to decision time.</p>
<p>northeastmom- You are right. We found the gpa to keep a scholarship is a really important factor to consider, especially in some of the engineering/techie areas where sometimes it seems the school or dept. tries to weed some majors out.</p>