College Selection advice for a friend (Carolyn et al, HELP!)

<p>If she wants to stay in Kansas, what about Bethel? It's small, has nursing and education, has a great grad school placement record. It is church affiliated, but I don't think chapel is compulsory. I know a lot of happy Bethel grads.</p>

<p>berurah - look at Baker University in Baldwin City and Washburn University in Topeka. both have nursing programs. ft. hays state is up and coming. enrollment is up, i've heard. might look at pittburg state. does wichita state have nursing?</p>

<p>what about newman, tabor, sterling, mcpherson? i don't know much about them - do they have anything that might work for her? how about benedictine?</p>

<p>out of state but midwest - perhaps creighton, drake, tulsa, drury, truman state, nebraska-lincoln, iowa, iowa state</p>

<p>berurah - you are so absolutely correct about students in kansas and how they don't look to go out of state. this is what i am seeing at my d's school. the majority that i've seen are going in-state publics, i.e, ku, washburn, k-state, emporia, ft. hays, pittsburg state. gc's at our school are very good - eager to help but perhaps the families do not seek their help with out of state options? one thing to keep in mind is that there are no d3 selective type colleges within the state. only jc's, naia's, d2's, and d1's. ku and k-state are viewed as the top dogs.</p>

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berurah - you are so absolutely correct about students in kansas and how they don't look to go out of state. this is what i am seeing at my d's school. the majority that i've seen are going in-state publics, i.e, ku, washburn, k-state, emporia, ft. hays, pittsburg state. gc's at our school are very good - eager to help but perhaps the families do not seek their help with out of state options? one thing to keep in mind is that there are no d3 selective type colleges within the state. only jc's, naia's, d2's, and d1's. ku and k-state are viewed as the top dogs.

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<p>condor30~</p>

<p>Wow! Do you live in KS?! You really understand what I was saying...I know it's hard for many people to fully understand the rather xenophobic attitudes of many native Kansans (we are not native Kansans :) )</p>

<p>At my son's large high school (the same one this gal goes to), about 6 or 8 of the 444 grads ended up going out of state this fall. The VAST majority went to local community colleges, and the others who went to college went to something in the neighboring town. The rest went to KU or K-State, which, as you correctly pointed out, are viewed as the top dogs. </p>

<p>The girl I'm helping sent me her resume and her list of colleges she is considering. There were three....two in the neighboring town (would not require housing as she could stay at home) and BYU (the family is Morman). </p>

<p>What I have decided to do is to go through all of the fabulous choices that have been offered in this thread and select maybe 5 or 6 to present to her. That way she won't be overwhelmed. Then, she can decide if it is worth it to her and to her family to apply to any out-of-state schools. If not, I'm thinking she'll probably end up at one of the local schools, which would be adequate though not overly exciting ;).</p>

<p>Thanks so much for the suggestions. And it was so great to hear from someone who truly understood the rather unusual attitudes here!</p>

<p>~berurah</p>

<p>We lived in central Kansas for 15 years and yes, most of the kids stayed in state for college. But the group that my daughter was in middle school with sent kids to Yale, Macalester, Berkeley, U of Arkansas, Scripps, as well as K-State and KU. This is not Lawrence or KC, but a medium sized town 90 miles from anywhere.</p>

<p>We have lived in PA and CA since we left KS and most of the kids seem to stay in-state where ever they are. Cost is a big factor as is sticking with the familiar.</p>

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We lived in central Kansas for 15 years and yes, most of the kids stayed in state for college. But the group that my daughter was in middle school with sent kids to Yale, Macalester, Berkeley, U of Arkansas, Scripps, as well as K-State and KU. This is not Lawrence or KC, but a medium sized town 90 miles from anywhere.

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<p>my3girls~</p>

<p>That's interesting! I agree that the majority of kids stay in state ANYWHERE and that cost is a definite factor. At our son's particular school, though, the counseling staff gave him quite a bit of grief for his college selections. There was ABSOLUTELY a bias against those applying out of state. Maybe it was a difference in the attitudes/perspectives of the counseling staff? Regardless, I am so glad that your D's experience was different than my son's. ~berurah</p>

<p>Berurah, I was going to say that maybe the bias was simply basketball related :) but then remembered you also had bias problems re other elite schools.</p>

<p>Berurah, have them look at Illinois Wesleyan U. It has both a nursing and education major, is relatively small, has good academics and is out of state but not too far from home. The only caveat is that its student body is fairly conservative.</p>

<p>Other than comfort level and tuition consider travel expenses. What can she realistically get to from where you are? Is she comfortable going away - really away? Some are, some aren't. Are there cheap flights to Boston to consider Simmons? Financial aid won't pay for transportation. (Also talk to parents about doing the FASFA ASAP) So be realistic and whittle it down to a handful of local or relatively nearby possibilities and a couple wishful thinking stretches - her grades sound fine and should get her most places.</p>

<p>I'm going to send you a suggestion that you are going to think is totally off the wall..but when I read that the family is Mormon it struck a chord...
Arizona State U in Tempe is close to an extremely large(I think 2nd largest in the US) and active Mormon temple in Mesa.There are many many Mormon kids at ASU..we were really surprised at the # considering ASU's party rep. D was exposed to and became friends with Mormon kids for the first time (we're NY'ers).Since they tend to marry early,there are many young married couples attending school there and a large social network.In fact,there's a Mormon center (temple or satellite of the temple) right on the edge of the campus.
There's also a School of Nursing and a School of Education. And she could be a candidate for the Honor's college which would "shrink down" the large U for her. Also, there's a later deadline for applying,and possibly merit $$,especially with you saying shes Hispanic.
Don't know if she'd consider going that far away from home.But the parents could feel more comfortable with the Mesa Temple connection.</p>

<p>sorry I didn't see this post earlier..although Carolyn and lderochi are right that it is late to get a "national" outlook on colleges for next fall and for her parents to acclimate to a broader territory search..her 29 is a very good SAT score and her Latino roots are only a plus, plus her grades are great. The President of Vanderbilt Gee..is Mormon and their school of nursing and the education programs at Peabody are fabulous. Nashville is very warm and friendly and teachers at Vanderbilt are accessible. Deadline for Vanderbilt was today, but SATIIs are optional at admissions.<br>
Many schools outside of the Midwest (like my alma mater Furman) would love to have her..but we have no reason to think she would be comfy in a Southern school. Her parents must not quite realize she had so many options. If she took some SATIIs and tried next year, she would have many choices, not that I have a clue if a gap year is necessarily the way to go. Nursing is such a wonderful field. Johns Hopkins and University of Virginia are two schools on my radar that have nursing programs. I do folks would be interested in letting her go so far from them and be able to opt for meeting FAFSA figures.</p>

<p>Texas kids tend to stay in state, too. In fact, most people don't know anything about out-of-state schools, except their athletic records. That is their only exposure there. One man heard my D was graduating and asked where she was going to college (she was automatic admit for any state school under our rules) and she said Amherst. He said, "Well, perhaps after a year there if you do well, you could transfer to TX A&M!" Yet, it turned out so much cheaper for us to have D go out of state because of wonderful FA. That's what the counselors do not impart to the students. That there is funding out there for many students. For some, cost will keep them at home.</p>

<p>The counselors don't impart it, because most of them don't know it. I was absolutely amazed how little knowledge of the FA process that high school counselors have when I spoke to a couple groups of them. Most of them have far too much on their plate to be experts in FA.</p>