<p>My D has narrowed her choices down to Christopher Newport University here in VA and Emerson College in Boston. She's been accepted to both, along with a number of other schools. At Emerson she'd be in the WLP (Writing, Literature, Publishing) program and was also interested in the Marketing program. At CNU it will be English with a concentration in Creative Writing and a minor in Leadership Studies (possibly something in Marketing). She's also been accepted into the President's Leadership Program at CNU. Any thoughts on which school? We're VA residents, but I'm ok with her going to Boston. There's an English professor at CNU who did undergrad work at Emerson. I think we're going to chat with him for his thoughts as well as talk to her admissions counselor about options for designing a major like WLP. She loves both schools, but I think the bigger draw to CNU is that it will keep her closer to home (2 hours) now that her grandmother has been diagnosed with dementia. I don't think she wants to go too far away from 'granny', but I don't want her to base her decision on that and end up wishing she'd decided to go Boston. Looking for thoughts, pros/cons of either school and the associated major(s).</p>
<p>Are there financial considerations (merit money at Emerson)?
Did Emerson offer something comparable to President’s Leadership Program?</p>
<p>Can she make it to accepted students’ day at both places?</p>
<p>Do not only consider distance; what about time to travel?</p>
<p>One of mine was a 3.5 hours drive, 3 states away;
One was a 5 hour flight, on the opposite coast;
One was a 5 hour drive, in the next state.</p>
<p>My thoughts, the Emerson program sounds wonderful and CNU doesn’t seem to have options on designing a program like it. The President’s Leadership Program at CNU will also have some class requirements (perhaps minimal) but that would also limit her creativity re: creating a similar program.
I understand familial medical needs, but an emergency flight home will take just as much time as a drive from CNU, less actually if she doesn’t have her own car…meaning you won’t have to drive down to get her and drive her back.
CNU is fairly conservative. The kids that attend there and stay for all 4 years tend to be politically conservative; just a fyi in case your daughter is or isn’t in terms of fit.</p>
<p>And … Boston is an Amtrak city. Makes it easy to get the kids back and forth to college. My son only applied to “Amtrak schools” plus one of those non-Amtrak Ivies. Right now he is in Boston. It does make things easier.</p>
<p>Mominva - We haven’t received CNU’s financial aid package yet. Expect to by the end of this week. There is a big price difference between the public in-state and the Emerson private tuition, but Emerson gave her a really good tentative aid package. We should be getting their final offer within the next week. Based on the info I already have, Emerson may be a bit higher, but not a significant difference. I guess I should ask what you would consider a significant difference, I’m thinking about $2,000/year, but it’s still speculation at this point. Emerson didn’t offer her anything like the PLP at CNU, I’m not sure if that’s a big advantage to choose CNU over the ‘seemingly perfect’ program at Emerson. We’ve visited both schools and doesn’t plan to attend either accepted student day right now. She’s done the over night at CNU. It’s about a 2-hour commute to either school. We live about 2 hours from Newport News and Jet Blue is a 2-hour flight to Boston, so in my mind that should really be a consideration since the flights are reasonable, although she wouldn’t be able to get home as often.</p>
<p>@3321 - I agree with you totally. Thanks for your input! She does <em>really</em> like CNU, so it’s not all about the distance, but she was raving about Emerson and Boston when we went to visit.</p>
<p>@cnp55 - Yes, gotta love those ‘hub’ areas. That’s one of my concerns about Ithaca which she was accepted at as well in their Journalism school. It’s kinda off the beaten path to get to, which also makes it more costly to get to…</p>
<p>Let me fix this now that I’ve re-read it :-). Corrections in CAPS</p>
<p>We’ve visited both schools and DAUGHTER doesn’t plan to attend either accepted student day right now. She’s done the over night at CNU. It’s about a 2-hour commute to either school. We live about 2 hours from Newport News and Jet Blue is a 2-hour flight to Boston, so in my mind that should NOT really be a consideration since the flights are RELATIVELY reasonable, although she wouldn’t be able to get home as often.</p>