Sorry, I meant tend to aim for.
Even less true.
Well I don’t think so but perhaps you could elaborate.
Some LACs and LAC-like schools do have big fraternity/sorority scenes. Examples include Washington and Lee, Sewanee, Dartmouth, Bucknell, Furman, Lehigh, Union. Investigate carefully if this is a concern.
At smaller schools, the percentage of students participating in sports may be higher than at larger schools, even though the spectator sport aspect may be lower.
Probably more true than one might think from reading threads on this forum (or asking other students and parents in a high SES area). Here in California, the bulk of college enrollment is in the community colleges, followed by the California State Universities (which emphasize local area access in their admission and financial aid policies; most are heavily commuter-based, though a few are more residential), followed by the Universities of California (which are more residential). Most students going to college do not have 3.8+ HS GPA, 2100+ SAT, 32+ ACT, and parents with lots of money to contribute that enables them to have a wide range of choices of colleges to go to.
You’re saying that most US students aim for the best or nearest public university in their state.
This is not true for anybody I know. Was not true for me or my kids or any of their classmates, nor is it true for most of the students on CC.
In my state, the flagship state school used to have a mediocre reputation and top students fled. To keep more of the best and brightest in state, they instituted a strong merit scholarship and made many academic improvements. It has worked, and many now choose to stay instate. That said, there are still top students who look elsewhere and leave. Both of mine did. IMO it’s many of the top students who don’t limit themselves geographically, as well as wise B students who won’t qualify for the state merit money but can find $ elsewhere.
Maybe realistically aim? I guess there were plenty of kids I went to highschool with that applied to the HYPSM cohort that never had a chance at any of those schools and ended up at the state flagship. But I don’t think it’s inaccurate to just say “aim” either.
Your high school, or these forums, is probably not a representative sample of high school students overall in the US. The biggest college destination for high school graduates when I went to high school was the local community college. Other big destinations were various state universities (heavier in the nearby ones). The number of students going to private or out-of-state schools was small in comparison.
I think I’ve read numerous times that the average distance that kids go away to school is 50 miles so I believe @Vladenschlutte is correct in his assessment of where most students end up
I agree with you that most people (outside of states like CA, VA, and Michigan) aren’t dreaming of attending their state schools, but FWIW, I don’t think that CC is representative of the country in general.
Well, locality is the major factor for most, including the very top students. I would not say that it is a criteria for ALL, but most consider the locality as one of the top criteria. My kid would not apply to any college beyond 3.5 hours of driving from home (despite of all push from CG) and later she would not apply to any Med. Schools beyond 6 hrs driving from home (again, going against advice of her pre-med advisor). There are tons of kids around her who were doing the same with few exceptions. I also know several examples of kids who went far away to colleges only to transfer closer to home later because they could not tolerate the difference in people and general culture that surrounded them far away from home. But people here on CC have different experiences. I found that the push for Ivy / Elite is primarily is in NE and CA, the Midwest families are pushing more for Merit scholarships for their valedictorian, not only at state publics, but also at close by private universities. And again, there are exceptions here. Actually, given choices of 2 college “finalists” that gave my kid top Merit awards, my kid choose public over private simply because she saw more opportunities for herself at public. There is no general rule here. One needs to have very detailed information about each place. I do not know how you would do it when sending your kid abroad. It looks to me as some kind of guessing game.
There is huge poster in the GC’s office, every senior signs under the logo of the college they commit to go to. This is a very good high school that sends many kids to ivy’s but the overwhelming majority go to UT followed by and A&M. The only reason my DD will go out of state is because she’s likely NMF. I’d love to send DS to UICU but we can’t afford the out of state tuition. Most people, maybe not the CC crowd, can’t afford to send multiple kids to out of state schools. I’m on an international Moms email list and I’ve been surprised at how many kids are staying at home and commuting to college.
I’m surprised you don’t want your kid around other Chinese kids. Unless he’s fluent in English or has some Americanized cultural hobbies to bond with other kids over, I would think socially marooning him would make his life unnecessarily difficult. I’ve been a cultural minority on several continents over the decades, and not having that touchstone can get really tiring.
If one doesn’t want to step outside one’s insular cultural bubble, then perhaps studying/working/living abroad is not a good fit.
Where will you kid do after college? Stay in the US or going back home? If he is returning to China or work in Asia then you should pay attention to perceived ranking in the Asia market. Most Asians never even heard of Brown. When D2 was considering Brown, someone actually said, “why would your kid even consider going to school called Brown.” Many people outside of US think UPenn is Penn State. You kid would get a great education at many Unis and liberal arts schools in the US, but what that degree is going to do for your kid back home is something to consider.
Maybe it is just me, but if I were to send my kid thousands of miles away to go to college, unless it is a top tier school I don’t think it would be worth it.
In many countries, there is an inadequate number of university slots. The only choices are: college education overseas, or no college education at all.
There are overseas colleges in Asia. If I lived in Asia I would send my kids to Australia, closer and cheaper.
If they want to work and live in the US, it’s a lot easier to do so from a mediocre university in the US than a top university in China.