OK, so my son got accepted to UCLA and to UCSD this past week. He is also accepted to UW-Seattle, UNC Chapel Hill, and UVA. He has been waitlisted at every private school except one (USC rejected) and I’m expecting a few more waitlisted after today. This is a two part question really: 1. Why would he get waitlisted at Washu, Northwestern, Emory, and rejected at USC, but get in every single public school he applied to? And 2. Knowing all the above, and the probable outcome this week at Harvard RD, Dartmouth RD, CMU RD, and Duke RD, is going to UC school worth it at all? He will be going oos wherever he goes, and paying oos tuition wherever he goes. We did not apply to anywhere in-state. UNC has given us a pretty good package, but they are not as strong in CS and Engineering as the UC schools. Also, and this is the best part, I only have to pay for half…his mother will pay the other half. In my thinking and trying to rationalize paying full price at UCLA, my son is actually getting a $30,000 grant every year! I only am on the hook for the other $30,000 a year. So, a full UCLA education for $120,000 to me, versus the next best offer we have received (so far) at about $80,000 total to me at UNC. What price the California and UCLA experience?
You may have more responses if you post this under college search and selection instead of in the Dartmouth Forum.
I’ll take a stab at your questions:
- Perhaps your student's application came across as a better match/fit for the large publics.
- I would personally not pay OOS tuition for the UC schools.
Good luck today but your son already has great options.
I’m not sure I buy the rationale that an otherwise-unreasonable price should be deemed reasonable only because you’re splitting it with the other parent. If the other half were a merit award or something, then sure, but to regard your ex’s obligation as “free money” doesn’t quite compute for me. (I mean, I guess you can look at it that way but that doesn’t mean your son should, and theoretically the decision should be weighed from his perspective, no?)
I agree that I would think very hard before paying OOS for the UC’s, and would consider it only if 1) the student got Regents or other registration priority and 2) the student was accepted to, and passionate about, a particular stand-out program. True, engineering is generally strong in the UC system, but it’s hard for me to believe that the difference between a UC and Chapel Hill, for undergraduate engineering, would be worth a large cost difference. They’re all ABET accredited and highly regarded.
Regarding your “why” question, keep in mind that all of the schools that waitlisted your son are skewing increasingly toward Early Decision, resulting in plummeting RD rates. The publics don’t have that split in acceptance rates going on.
Unless he got direct-admit to engineering at UDub, UNC is obviously the one to beat here. I’m dubious that UCLA offers half again the value, but obviously there are a lot of intangibles in the mix. Good luck to your son on his remaining schools - I sense that the current question may become moot if he gets one or more additional offers. (Although TBH, if engineering-specific reputation were your top priority, then neither Harvard nor Dartmouth would beat the public U’s he already has. Duke and CMU, perhaps, but $$$. That Chapel Hill offer sounds pretty great to me!)
Well, like I said, I am trying to rationalize in my mind that it would actually be a “bargain” even though it quite obviously is not! I’m sure there are people out there who did pay the oos tuition at UC, and I would really like to hear what they thought about the quality versus the expense. If I were an 18-year-old-kid I would sure love to be near that beach and all those things that make SoCal great.
I had a feeling that the rise in EA/ED would make it more difficult for RD. It seems to have been going that way for a few years now. At my son’s school there were about 22 kids who applied for Washu since it is so close. All the ones that applied EA got in and out of all the kids who applied RD only two got in. Typically they take about 15 kids a year from our school.
He did get direct-admit to engineering. This would put udub in the mix, especially since the base tuition is relatively affordable and we already received the pueple-gold scholarship for $7,000.
My son mentioned yesterday that he wanted to go somewhere where he would be rewarded for all of his hard work. Sounded like trying to put a guilt trip on me, but I get it. In terms of “reward”, perhaps these kids need to look at the schools that try to get them to come the most, instead of the one that simply wants cannon fodder to pay oos tuition. If that is the case, it would appear that udub and UNC are trying harder to show him they want him. The folks at UNC seem so nice and they have sent us a few letters already asking us if we need any help with anything. We will see what happens.
Actually, there is a huge difference between the UCs and UNC-CH for engineering, because UNC-CH has only one ABET-accredited program, biomedical engineering. However, UNC-CH does have CS.
Seems like a mistake if cost actually matters.
Other thing to consider is whether the student was directly admitted to the desired major, and, if not, how difficult it would be to get into the desired major. Or change major to other desired majors if unsure.
Have you visited UDub? With direct-admit, that should be in the mix for sure! My California kid loved UW and would have gone there over any of her UC choices, fwiw. (UCLA has a lovely campus but it’s not a beachy location like UCSB is… and as urban settings go, my kid would have chosen Seattle over LA ten times out of ten… but that’s personal preference of course.) Between the lower base price and getting what I think is the max OOS merit award, UDub deserves serious consideration for sure.
A “reward” for hard work is great, but that doesn’t mean the price tag on the award reward necessarily correlates with its value. (Plus there’s the question of how he might tangibly benefit from money not spent on a more expensive school - it can help to frame the value of that money in concrete terms!) Frankly, a debt-free education from any of these schools is ample reward IMHO. Congrats to your son on having great options!
UNC-CH is a school a lot of kids would love to have as a destination. It’s not settling, IMO, unless he had a dream school in mind, which many kids do. or if… if he gets into HPY, the hype and prestige certainly make the matter of engineering program moot. It’s hard to resist the very top schools. Frankly, Harvard would be the only one that would tempt me from UNC with the deal he is getting.
@ucbalumnus , good point about Chapel Hill and ABET - I did not realize that ABET engineering options were so limited there. (I guess NC is a bit like Oregon and others, in that the flagship U isn’t the engineering flagship.) That, combined with OP’s son’s direct-admit to UW engineering, makes UW look like the offer to beat. Perhaps the factors that appeal about UCLA will sway the decision in that direction, but the UW offer sets the bar IMHO, and it’s on UCLA to demonstrate its value-added. (Or, a super-reach offer will happen in the next day or two and render the debate moot!)
Note, however, that Washington Direct to College of Engineering admission does not apply to the CS major.
https://www.engr.washington.edu/admission/directtocollege/faq
It may help if the OP mentioned what major the student is most interested in, what the student got admitted to at each school, and whether intended major is firmly set or can change, since different schools will be more or less desirable based on that. Also, the net price of each option, if cost matters.