Anyone else's kids apply to a strange assortment of schools? I mean schools that are so different

I was just thinking that my daughter has applied to small schools, medium sized, large and gigantic. She applied to privatte and public. Suburban and small town and one sort of urban.Some schools seem to be in the middle of nowhere and others near city, but there’s a contained campus. She applied to schools in different parts of the US. The smallest school is a LAC with around 2600 and the largest is a huge public univ with around 40,000. I was just thinking about how odd it was and was wondering if this is "normal’. The only thing the schools have in common is that they all have very nice campuses, majors that are of interest and Greek life.

Yale and Princeton are very different compared to Cornell and U Penn, yet most applicants apply to all 4. Most who apply to these also apply to teeny tiny LACs as well. This is an strange assortment, only picked due to perceived prestige.

My 2013 HS son’s final choices were between a LAC on the opposite coast with 900 students and a large OOS Southern flagship. So, I completely understand.

@Longhaul Wow, those are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Was he happy with his final choice?

My DS is the same. He is applying to big and small and has four major regions of the country covered. His top choices seem to be medium sized research universities in big cities. So it’s not such a big leap to the couple of small LACs he likes that are in big cities. And then in the other direction he has a few universities that are in small cities. Mostly privates but with a few big publics because they have a major he might be interested in pursuing (although he’s not so set on that major that he would not be ok with giving up the opportunity.) Only one LAC in a small town but he just really liked the vibe when he visited.

I always roll my eyes when people are so dismissive of kids with a wide variety on their list. It’s really not that surprising if you have a kid who is more in the undeclared camp and also who doesn’t have a firm idea of how they envision their college experience. Mine is open to a lot of options.

Initially, no, he was not happy at the large OOS. He took it for the merit money. Now, he is thrilled to have only a small debt vs his high school friends. He is helping his sister through the application and decision process now. I’m amazed at the maturity and advice he gives.

Did I mention he was also looking at 3 separate majors? Music, Engineering or Philosophy.

He made his siblings college process a breeze for me in comparison.

Yup - all over the place - small LACs and large publics and a few top privates. She went with a small LAC and loves it. (It became clear when doing tours that the women’s colleges were going to be the top contenders for her.)

Older son applied to schools with good CS programs. The sizes and locations varied. They happened to all be private, but if we’d been in state for better schools he’d have applied. Younger son left one LAC on the list in case he changed his mind about size. Most of his schools were on the east coast, but he also applied to U of Chicago. He also didn’t care that U of Chicago had a core curriculum and Brown did not.

@citymama9 , based on the change of plans on the ED school, it sounds like your D is still working out what kind of place she’d like. Who knows? She may welcome having the list whittled a bit based on acceptances.

Many kids are quite certain of what they want the next 4 years to be but there are others who are hanging on to their options.

It’ll be an interesting spring in your home!

@citymama9 People slice similarities in different ways. Some focus on size or location/setting which on the surface makes it easier to see the commonalities. Your D has seemed to focus on aspects of community or student vibe she gets when on campus. That’s a reasonable way to slice it too.
Did she decide against ED?

S created a “fit list” and pretty much stuck to it. East Coast, non urban, under 15k students, great UG business school, etc. Only school he applied to outside of this was his safety (state flagship). Made for great choices, all of which he would be happy.

I think your kid is doing what’s good for them. I “made” my son look at different types of schools so he can see the differences. Small engineering schools like Rose Hulman(2,000)compared to Michigan(50,000) where he ended up and a few mid size schools. Private and public. How do you know the “fit” for your kid till they experience it. We are lucky in Chicago since we have different size schools not really that far away to see how one “feels” VS the other.

Mine had some weird choices too, especially if one assessed based on size and location. What they all had in common though was being strong in STEM, great facilities, emphasis on career readiness, and engineering courses in year one.

My D applied to 17 schools and 15 were very similar, since she knew exactly what she was looking for. She would have been happy at any of them.

Just depends on what is important to the kid. For a long time Nebraska and Brown were going back and forth as 1-2 selections for my S. Doubt many people can say that, but both had very different benefits he cared about personally, so both ended up making an appealing overall package to him.

Personally the setting doesn’t matter as much to me as most people. I’ve been happy living 40 miles from the nearest town big enough for a grocery store, and living in Greenwich Village. I realize most of my rural friends wouldn’t consider living in NYC, and my NYC friends wouldn’t like it out in the sticks. But neither really bothered me.

In 2006, my kid was choosing between Santa Clara University, and University of South Carolina…and she really liked them both. I think those are pretty different!

Definitely @ thumper1!
My daughter is applying to a school in the South, 2 east coast, 1 Midwest, several CA, 1 in WA and one in CO. She has given thought to it and eliminated schools through the process with one or two last minute additions.

My kid has applied to schools from 1400 to 50K. From small towns to major cities. They all have a good music program. He’d prefer midsize at least somewhat urban but gets it’s about 4 years and a quality education and finding at least some of your people for 4 years more than anything else. It’s going to come down to funding at the end.

@Knowsstuff makes a great point. Prior to creating his list, we did either tour or casually visit (drive through, walk around while near school X) many different types and htis helped form his list. For example, while in NYC or Boston we made a point of seeing the NYUs and BUs of the world and he new immediately that urban was out. He just doesn’t want the noise and crowds of the city but rather the traditional well defined college campus (compared BU to BC as an example). We live by a large state U and have been on other campuses due to baseball tournaments. Definitely prefers smaller, more intimate settings.

The thing is, there are so many great schools that fit the bill, it was OK to eliminate many highly selective (his range) schools while not eliminating the opportunity to attend a highly selective school. He ended up at X, but based on his criteria and list, he would have been quite happy at Y and Z too. What would have been a downer is to not get in X and not have other choices within his fit list.

Put us on the list as well! Small private LAC with less than 2000 undergrads all the way up to a large public with 22,000 undergrads. Every time we visit, she decides she loves THAT school the best. The small ones seem so personal and supportive and the large ones seem so vibrant and exciting. She too seems to be looking for a certain kind of “vibe” from the other students. When she see it, the school stays on the list. I don’t see why we should assume kids will want only one kind of school. Adults don’t only like one kind of environment. Its possible to like the city, the mountains and the beach!