<p>My S3 is a HS Junior and will start applying this Fall. He will pursue a Finance/Economy major. Since our state school ranks reasonably high in Business (USNWR) and the COA is less than $10K/yr with the merit scholarship, there is really no need to apply to 2nd-tier schools anymore. He fully understands that the probability of him getting rejected by all top schools is high. Both his brothers are in the state school and doing well. The only concern is that he will party more there. Our current EFC is slightly higher than $10K. It will grow after his brother graduate. I would not think that it is worthwhile spending much more than that sending him to a school other than the top ones. Am I reasonable? Would he miss something critical?</p>
<p>Are you sure he will be accepted to the state university? How do you know he will earn the merit scholarship if the probability of him being rejected by all top schools is high?</p>
<p>Am I correct that you consider the state university to be second tier? If he has no legitimate shot at being accepted at a top university then there’s really no need to apply. But, even if he might be accepted there may be no need to apply if the cost is substantially higher. It’s hard to say without knowing which schools.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with going to a second tier school but you should impress upon him that the lower ranked the school the more important it is to get a really high GPA. You party too much in school and you are unemployed when you graduate.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t think of it in terms of tiers.</p>
<p>Rather, I suggest that first, you and your son figure out if he considers the state school to be an acceptable place to go. </p>
<p>If he does, then perhaps when looking at other schools, you could ask “Does this school offer more than our state school does?” It’s a question that is best answered on an individual basis, I think. For example, there might be a school of similar US News ranking to your state school but with a much better business program. That could be an important advantage.</p>
<p>Most kids like to have choices…unless there is some school THE STUDENT really loves above all. Many kids change majors…while finance may be at the top of the heap now, it may not be his ultimate major once he gets to college. </p>
<p>Is it possible to set a price range of what you can afford, and then look for schools that either are affordable to you…or where your son might get guaranteed merit aid to make it affordable? Maybe he just wants to be able to choose between your state school and something else. </p>
<p>OTOH, if the state school is the ONLY school you can afford, the ONLY school you are willing to pay for, and the ONLY school to which you will allow him to apply, then tell him that now.</p>
<p>My guess is he would just like to have a choice rather than having only ONE option.</p>
<p>What if he ends up switching majors and your state U is terrible in that major? It’s nice to have a focus but kids do change majors often. What do you consider “2nd tier” and why is that 2nd tier. Why is second tier a bad thing in your mind? What if he doesn’t want to do the same thing that his brothers are doing? What if he were to apply to a 2nd tier and get a full ride? Why limit him now? Let him explore all the options and make the decision when the final aid packages are all in. You don’t know if he will get anything anywhere, including your state school.</p>
<p>Does he LOVE his safety? Can he see himself going there, enjoying it and flourishing?</p>
<p>I think you should spend at least as much time finding the safety that he LOVES and that you can afford as on the reaches. It really is much more important. Everyone can come with 10 reaches if they try - finding the one good safety is the greater challenge.</p>
<p>I think your kid looses out because Parent has already decided the course of events. Sounds like you’ve made up your mind that it’s a “waste of time” to do much looking because you “already know” the answer. </p>
<p>This is your third kid and your expertise definitely exists – but it would be a tremendous kindness (and valid skill building exercise) if you said “Every college, every student and every student cohort is different. What worked well for your siblings may or may not be right for you. How do you intend to find out?” </p>
<p>Teachers will tell you that the Class of 20xx will have a different personality than the Class of 20yy. One year will be full of boisterous know-it-alls. Another will be chock full of athletes – or mean girls — or musicians. This doesn’t just happen by high school, there can be waves across a state (One friend learned, the hard way, that one year produced an absolute flood of top saxophone players. Kids that would have been a shoo-in the previous year found themselves denied entrance to the music department all together). </p>
<p>So this is a separate adventure than the other two had. If money permits, then a road trip to visit some campuses is ideal. If you can’t fit this important step in, can the student travel with some of his buddies as they visit some of the various colleges?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that some of the “lower” colleges will have a dazzling department or two. For instance, the tiny NM Tech in Socorro, NM is the number one place in the country to learn about explosives. Colorado School of Mines doesn’t make any Top Twenty lists but its high tech graduates are eminently employable. If a student is interested in primates, Central Washington has one of the few primate colonies in the country. </p>
<p>Please rethink your mind set. Help S3 figure out HOW he figures out who he is.</p>
<p>The point is, you may be “reasonable”, but perhaps not providing for S3 to define the optimal safety for himself (with you providing the financing, of course.)</p>
<p>Take half the time you would spend looking at “reaches” and spend it on safeties.</p>
<p>Some kids might do better at a school that is smaller than their state university. In New York most of the SUNY’s are out in the boonies and someone who wants a more urban experience might want to look elsewhere. I think it’s nice for kids to have two safeties so that if worst comes to worst they’ll have a choice come April.</p>
<p>What you may want to do is make sure that he knows what the net price limit is, so that when he is looking around at various schools (and using their net price calculators), he can get an idea of what schools are affordable with just need-based financial aid, affordable if he gets a big merit scholarship, or unaffordable.</p>
<p>Based on your previous posts, you are residents of Indiana, so you do have good state universities (Indiana and Purdue). But if he does find and get accepted to a school he likes better, and is no more expensive after financial aid and scholarships, then would you object to him attending that school?</p>
<p>How does the student “know” he will be a finance/economics major, when he has yet to take a college level finance or economics class, and has not yet been exposed to all the other areas you get to explore in college that don’t get taught in high school?</p>
<p>Let him have options. Tell him your firm price range so that he doesn’t have unrealistic expectations and then let him find a few options to apply to.</p>
<p>If HE loves the school and HE wants to go there above all else, let him just apply there and be done. No need to add stress.</p>
<p>My nephews only applied to one home-state public U, my neices applied to multiple places. Happykid applied to two as a community college transfer.</p>
<p>If your family finances are limited, make that limit clear to your son. Then he can decide if he wants to apply to one place or a dozen.</p>
<p>If you are concerned about partying, etc. Make paying for each semester contingent on some standard of successful completion of the previous one. Just the way many renewable scholarships are dependent on a particular GPA.</p>
<p>We made our kids take Stafford loans so they would have skin in the game even though the government says we can afford to foot the entire tuition (were do they get these numbers?) …and to limit the partying and skipped classes…for our kids, $5K seems like a ton of money at this point so we remind them occasionally about how much they will owe when they get out. I know that my D thinks about this regularly especially when she wants to sleep in and miss a class.</p>
<p>It read to me like State U in this case was a top choice for his major anyway, with a good ranking nationally–is that incorrect?
It sounds like the option is (or I would make it) “State U” (already well-ranked) or a better top university (private or OOS) depending on merit (or other financial) aid awarded. If he gets accepted to a top school MUCH better than state U then you make that decision–but be frank with him that the aid would have to be very good. In other words “State U” or better–which would eliminate all schools which rank below state U or are cost prohibitive. You still have to apply to safeties–there doesn’t seem to be any guarantees these days!
Hate to break this to you–you can party anywhere!</p>
<p>OP…you posted some queries regarding UPenn about this same son in January. Have you changed your mind about letting him apply there?</p>