Clark- after 20k merit total = $28k. Small School good (son went to very small NYC HS). Ranking lowest, Less appealing town, seems to have student connectiveness (collaborative not competitive)
GW=20K merit, love DC and the intern opportunity, descent ranking and rep but concerned the fast life of DC social life may be too much (despite being an NYC kid my son is reserved)
Weslyn - Full fare, best ranking and rep of our choices- some concerns that it is too unstructured and has a more accepted drug culture
Bates - Full fare, good ranking, small depressed town. Step sister to colby and Bow (got waitlisted) Good student connections
questions:
How much does the undergrad school “name” and reputation really travel? Considering I keep hearing that grad school is a must. My son is interested in International Relations (why he applied to GW and American {eliminated from list along with Union})
My kid is almost numb in having a gut feeling anymore so facts about student life and socializing are important to hear
Cost is somewhat of a factor -can swing full fare but it is a strain — trying agin to balance paying $80k to $100k (clark) for 4 years of undergrad
How vast is the talent pool of the professors at a Clark vs Wesyln for example? Or Clark vs. GK?
If anyone has insights into any of the school I’d appreciate it. Time is ticking
Bates and Wesleyan are virtually identical academically with students in top 2-3% of all students. BTW, Bates is harder to get into than Colby, and is very close to both Bowdoin and Portland with lots to do.
There are so many ties in the US News rankings that the top 20 are really the top 12.
Bates has a very nice student body that is well balanced politically and geographically. The campus is lovely.
Both Wesleyan and Bates are in a different league than GW and Clark but money is a very important factor and unfortunately its hard for others to give much guidance. I am a little surprised that neither Bates or Wesleyan offered money because very few people pay full price at these schools.
Tough choice. I sympathize, we are all going through it or have just resolved. Just from reading your descriptions I would say GW. We had all of the other three on the lists but the surrounding areas were a problem for us. I wanted D to apply to Georgetown because I thought DC would be a great place to go to school. So, I’m going with GW, especially given his chosen major.
@crabby955, Bates and Wesleyan are both generous with need-based aid but neither offers merit money, which is what the OP has been offered by GW and Clark.
My son is in a similar situation. He’s deciding between Bates and GW. Was offered merit scholarship at GW, but no aid at Bates. He likes the academic reputation at Bates but he’s concerned that it might be too small and not diverse enough. Meanwhile, he likes GW’s location and diversity but is concerned about the higher student teacher ratio and the lower academic ranking. He has visited both schools and is very torn between the two.