Daughter is determined to leave the state!

<p>My daughter is suffering severe senioritis and is determined to move as far away as possible. She has been acccepted to Northern Arizona, Cal State, Chico, Sonoma State and Pacific Lutheran University. She wants to study nursing. She isn't a party girl and I really want her to have a good college experience. Any advise with these schools in mind?</p>

<p>Why don't you want her to leave your state?</p>

<p>My daughter didn't apply to a single in-state school, but I completely support her in doing so. She's seeking a big city environment that's not available in-state. What's your daughter looking for out of state?</p>

<p>Which state do you live in now?</p>

<p>Chico State has a long and hard-earned party school reputation.<br>
That said, there are all kinds of students there. One girl we knew got into mountain biking while attending and stayed a serious student. We know another girl on the water polo team who is not a partier at all and is very happy there.
I would say to make sure your daughter has a sport or EC that will give her a healthy, non-party place to make friends.</p>

<p>I don't have a problem with her leaving the state at all... I just don't want her to get far away from home and then be miserable. She is not a city girl, she wants a more rural environment. We live in Washington. PLU was the only in state school she applied to and I don't think she is really interested in it. She played volleyball in high school but isn't interested in anything other than intramural sports in college. Any input is welcome. Thanks!</p>

<p>Both of my girls would rather have chewed off their own foot than stay in our state to go to school. They are very different from each other, but both love Boston. I was fine with that, because it is my home state, my family still lives there and it is only an hour flight from us.</p>

<p>That being said, my oldest wanted to apply to schools in Ca. I wasn't too jazzed about that because it seemed too far for a freshman and not as inexpensive to get to and from, making the visits home less frequent.
I will have to deal with her going out there though, and most likely having a career there too.
I love the idea of them being in the same city, even if only for a few yrs.</p>

<p>CSU Chico kind of gets a bad reputation.</p>

<p>I'd probably go with Sonoma State. The campus is in a really pretty area (wine country), and is only a short drive from San Francisco, which is a really cool city for young people.</p>

<p>Second choice would be NAU. This option is especially nice if she's interested in winter sports or skiing.</p>

<p>let her leave the state!</p>

<p>My son will be leaving the state. Some kids are just itching to get out on their own. (I think it's all the rain here in the Pacific Northwest ;))</p>

<p>I can't speak to any of the schools you listed, but good luck to your D with her decision.</p>

<p>Chico is a fine school, one of the better CSU campuses. In fact I know a woman who went there undergrad to major in nursing, went on to become a Nurse Practitioner, and now is enjoying a fine career. So the bad environment of Chico doesn't drag everyone down :p</p>

<p>Seriously, though, any school where the students live on/near campus outside of a large-city setting is going to develop the rep as a "party campus". Put 20,000 kids all away from home together and there's bound to be some kids taking advantage of being away from their parent's eye. Just like UCSB, though, this doesn't mean there aren't serious students or that you have to go along with the "party hardy" plan to have a social life.</p>

<p>But my advice is this -- don't make a decision (or advise your D) based on what you read here. Use it as a starting point, but the real decision needs to be based on more solid criteria. I suggest your D visit each campus while school is in session to get a better feel for each place and to talk to current students. Spend some time hanging out and watching to see if she sees people that seem like the kind she could be friends with; it's hard to say exactly how you know this, but it really does seem to work. Best of all would be if your HS has sent kids to these schools that she knows so she could have a place to spend the nite with a sleeping bag and really soak up what the school is like. There's plenty of accounts here of parents taking kids on visits and they refuse to even get out of the car at some schools; they just know it isn't right for them. So I really suggest a visit before the committment.</p>

<p>Sonoma State is lovely! It has a solid reputation in Northern California, the newest dorms are gorgeous and it is somewhat rural w/ the benefit being under an hour from San Francisco, and the coast and about 15 minutes from Santa Rosa which is a great small city. Sonoma County is beautiful!</p>

<p>Chico does have the party school rep but not everyone who goes is a full-on partier. They have some very solid programs too. The campus is beautiful and the town has some cool shopping. </p>

<p>A good suggestion for anyone wanting to avoid a party centric weekend lifestyle is to check out substance free dorms. They have them at SSU and I don't know about Chico. That way your D would be able to meet others with a similar outlook on partying and have the choice to come home to a hall that was quiet on a Saturday night and didn't smell like vomit on a Sunday morning.</p>

<p>I'd let her go out of state if that is what she wants. DS is 2 states and 600 miles away from home and it has worked out just fine. He had no desire to go to school anywhere near home and wanted a different experience and the opportunity to meet people from other areas of the country. He loves it and it had really opened up his eyes.
We are fortunate to have cheap airfare and it is a short flight to get between home and school. We try to visit him a couple times a year and he comes home for breaks. Whenever he feels a bit down, we are just a phone call away and he knows that we would hop on a plane in an instant if he really needed us. He has a great group of friends at school that are his support. </p>

<p>As far an nursing goes, it does not matter if she goes to school out of state or not. When she takes her NCLEX (nursing board exams) she can designate her home state as the state she wants her license in and she can return home to practice if she so desires.</p>

<p>One other comment I feel obliged to add since you say your D is intending on a nursing career. Does she have exposure to the field thru a job or volunteer work? Are you a nurse? (Nursing often seems to run in families).</p>

<p>The reason I ask this is that there are lots of lawyers, engineers, nurses, etc. who got into it without taking the time to seriously explore the field before they got too far in. After investing a lot of money & time there is a momentum that seems to develop. I had a biology teacher way back in HS who got a nursing degree before she found out she didn't really like being around sick people. </p>

<p>So my unsolicited advice is to be sure your D knows nursing is really going to be right for her before getting too far along.</p>

<p>We are going to visit NAU, Chico and Sonoma State during spring break. Our son goes to school in Palo Alto so Sonoma would be close to him which would be nice but I have heard Sonoma is a commuter school? She has worked at an assisted living for the past year and loves the old people which is why she chose nursing. I am aware that this could change when she gets to school but she did want a school with a nursing program since it is what she intends on studying. I am completely supportive of her desire to go out of state, as I said I just want her to choose the right school for her so it is a positive experience. Thanks for all the advice!</p>

<p>I live in the mid-west and during the Thanksgiving family get to gather of my Ds senior year in HS one of the family members ask me where she wanted to go to college. I said her first requirement was the school be 10 hours away for home. </p>

<p>My D overhears all of this and jumped in with “no Dad 10 hour east.” She ended up in suburban Philadelphia 10 hours and 35 minuets away. She’s fine. </p>

<p>Tell your daughter you love her and give her a phone card tell her to call and that you will always be there to talk.</p>

<p>She’ll be ok; I can guarantee it hurts the P more than the C</p>

<p>Sonoma was once much more of a commuter school than it is now. Our HS sends several kids there every year. It finished construction of new dorms I think 3 years ago and they are simply beautiful...It looks like an upscale condo complex. Those I think are reserved for sophomores but the older residence halls are decent too. It is a good place.</p>