I think you have every right to give your $.02 as I bet you’ll be giving a lot more the just the 2 cents (more like $70k?). I even think you have a responsibility to talk it out with her. She is still a young and it’s a big decision. I wouldn’t worry about the schools. I’d start from scratch and put down all the things she likes about both school, but try to get the ‘dream school’ notion out of there. BU was a dream school, but did she even know GW existed 6 years ago, what it offered, how fabulous it was?
Boston is good for state politics because it is the state capital and there is a lot going on there. DC will be terribly exciting in 2020 because of the presidential election and in 2021 because of the inauguration. Living in a city (either city) with REAL newspapers can’t be beat for political science junkies. DC is really fun because you can just go to a museum or take a tour of the Supreme Court when you feel like it. My niece lives near GW and walks to work past the White House every day which makes me jealous.
Wait list doesn’t matter at this point. You have a fresh decision to make. I would definitely help her reach a decision, but that’s the dynamic I have with my kids. S had a lot of choices, and eventually it came down to 2. I helped him do a pros and cons list. I absolutely had an opinion but I let him make the decision.
In his case, after we went through the positives and negatives, I told him that for selfish reasons there was a decision that was best for me. But there was a different decision that was best for him (both affordable, that wasn’t why one was better for me). And my advice was that he should do what was best for him, not for me. Fortunately he agreed.
If I were the student, I’d pick BU. Although a city school, it has a more cohesive feel of community which GW lacks. I’m also swayed by housing, which is shallow since it is so short term, but GWs has some tiny and old freshman dorms. And lastly, I’d have a difficult time giving up a school who stole my heart so early.
As a parent, on paper GW likely wins from the major perspective. But so many change majors.
In the end, this student will receive a great education at either choice! Congratulations!
The OP mentioned having friends and family around Boston. Is the same true for DC? For at least four years, your child will live in the new city, and it’s fairly likely that the location will exert a long-term pull. Can you see your extended family re-orienting itself around either city for the long haul? May or may not happen, but this consideration could be part of the decision puzzle.
College is a great time to spread one’s wings. DC is easily accessible to almost everywhere by train, bus and plane.
Anecdote…my BU grad lives in Phoenix. His CA college grad sister lives in the eastern time zone. Sample of two. Not everyone stays where they go to college.
BUT this student wants to presumably do something related to politics…And really they could end up in DC anyway.
Both colleges are great options. I still say…take the waitlist thing off the table. Let this student choose the college like they would before May 1. Which is their top choice.
Net Cost
Number of Undergraduates
Faculty Student Ratio
%of students that live on campus
How big is the department for your major? If you are majoring in something that only has a couple of professors, that does not bode well.
Housing- do they offer all 4 years? freshman only?
Is this a commuter school? (do students go home on weekends)
Surrounding area - what is the nearby town/amenities like?
Urban/rural/suburban Transportation - how would you get home
AP Credits - can you get credit for AP tests you have taken
Male/Female ratio
Greek life - what % of students are in greek life
Parking
Diversity
Safety
Sports
Campus
Jobs - what happens to seniors after they graduate
Internships - depending on your major, is it easy to get internships?
…and whatever makes sense for you
You might not care about, say, greek life. but if 50% of the kids are in greek life and you don’t want to be, that is something to know. Or you may want a big time sports scene or you might not want one.
If you are fancy, you could weight each of these.
Grade them from 1-5 as they make sense to you. Then see which one has the largest score.
Then see if that is the one you secretly would hope would win.
Money aside, I think I would just try to have her take the emotion out of the dream school idea. The fact that BU is/was the dream school…try to take that out of consideration. Maybe once she got into the process it turns out it isn’t the dream school any more? Also, there’s some emotion in “but I got in…I should go!” But that’s not a real factor in choosing schools. The accomplishment stands whether she chooses to go there or not. Hope this makes sense. Like someone else said, just try to compare the two as of today…two acceptances, forget past dream school and waitlist and the fact that GW used to be the second choice. Good luck!
While I think BU is the more “competitive” school to get into, I think GW is the best choice for Poli Sci. Either way she can’t go wrong and the decision should be hers. I really dislike the idea of a “dream school”.
If she is getting decent $$ from GW and nothing from BU, she can buy a lot more in the way of experiences and amenties at GW. It’s no fun having to count every penny at school. I don’t see anything extra she’s going to get from BU for the cost differential.
I don’t see that. Poli Sci is a very generic major, offered at pretty much every college, and has been that way for decades. At no time has GW risen to the top of the heap for Poli Sci.
As the late great, Tip O’Neill was fond of saying, “All politics is local.”
And there are plenty of great schools in state capitols and big cities with politics. Boston is a two-for: state and local in the same town. In contrast, the politics of DC is Congress & the WH, but those jobs are extremely hard to get. Internships with the bureaucracy are just that, young bureaucrats. Nothing wrong with teh so-called Deep State, but not politics IMO.
She decided GW! I understand now a few things that people say about the college admissions process – it’s a process, be open to a variety of schools (don’t pre-judge schools), don’t have tunnel vision for one school only, and also “things happen the way they’re supposed to happen.” She has until 5 pm tomorrow to decide but decided yesterday based on a list of reasons that are mostly positives she learned about GW after going to admitted student day: paid and unpaid research and internship opportunities during the school year (she has FT job as a camp counselor for the summers already); double majors and minors including between the different schools is encouraged; study abroad is supported and encouraged; she can go on Birthright with Hillel and they’ll help line up an internship immediately after so she can do an internship abroad; they offered her $$. (On my list as a parent also is DC’s weather is milder than Boston and while she says she wants “four seasons” she’s lived in Southern California her entire life; true that DC summers are pretty bad but she’ll be gone all summer.) I think her ego is happy to have finally been in at BU but she still feels a little like “go where you’re truly wanted” with the fact that GW accepted her into a special affinity housing program (they study together too and have a freshman writing class as a group) and giving her $$.
I had a friend with a son in a similar situation…he got into BU and wanted to go there because of the name/prestige/location but was also admitted to George Mason with a scholarship and a program in his major (cyber security)…he realized that GMU was a way better fit for him.
"As the late great, Tip O’Neill was fond of saying, “All politics is local.”
In Tip O’Neil’s day, that was true. These days, all politics tend to be national.
There are a ton of opportunities in DC (even outside of Congress and the WH, and no, Congressional internships aren’t “extremely hard to get”) for those who are interested in politics.
Agree^^ it isn’t hard to get the House/Senate summer internships if she applies early. If she wants to find a gov/poli job after graduation, she will need to build her resume with DC summer internships. As nice as a camp job maybe, it is time to look towards the future job competition.
GW may not be “top of the heap” for polisci, but it punches well above its “general” weight and well above BU in every politics (and IR) ranking I’ve seen.