Does anybody else have a kid who seems to have no clue on how to decide on a college?

@elodyCOH

At this point…just let it go. As long as your kiddo knows he or she needs to make a choice before May 1, that’s all that matters.

Our DD had her acceptances before Christmas also, and also as an intended engineering student. She didn’t make her final choice until April 30…I’m not making that up. She went back and forth between her top two choices for weeks before finally making her choice.

A lot can change perspective wise for a student between now and the end of April.

We did allow our kid to go to accepted student days for her top three colleges, and that did eliminate one. Will your kid be visiting any of these schools? Maybe this is the time to consider revisiting after the first of the year…and maybe sitting in on some classes. Some colleges also allow accepted students to spend the night. Maybe this will help your student.

But really right now…enjoy the holiday season knowing your student has five really good options. After January 1…you can revisit this with the kiddo.

@Thumper1 - He’s visited them all now. Some he did a scholar’s day event where it was a lot of students gathering for organized activities. Two schools he did more personalized visits. I think we will be going back to visit the schools where he didn’t get a chance to have a more personal visit. I’m content to let him make the decisions, and know he’s got plenty of time. He just seems all over the board with what he’s really looking for. My husband and I are not pushing him towards any school, as we really want him to be happy with his choice. Seeing all the suggestions has helped.

There’s nothing wrong with letting the bottom line ($) drive the decision. You are in the lucky position of having a child who likes something about each school. Don’t underestimate the relative benefit of lowered costs over four years.

If there is a college newspaper, he might want to look for past issues online. It can be a way to see past the marketing and find out what issues are brewing on campus.

If he’s looking for employment before graduate school, he should consider the placement office data, specifically where graduates find jobs. I know someone who went to a “national” school and was disappointed when the placement office told her they really only focused on a few states and couldn’t provide much help elsewhere.

@seekingaid Since he’s not looking to move back to Illinois, I don’t think this is an issue. He did talk to all the schools about internship opportunities, and all of them seem to have great opportunities. There were a ton of postings all over the engineering schools with companies looking for interns. These often lead to good job opportunities.

My free advice. It sounds like he has good options all around.

Just let this go until after the holiday season ends. Let him enjoy his last holiday living with you!

Lots of time for him to make his final choice and he has lots of choices.

@thumper1 Best advice of the thread! I can tell that he’s getting a little melancholy with all of his “lasts.” Trick or treating here goes through high school, and it hit him that this year was the very last time that he’d put on a costume and head out there with his bag to trick or treat with his friends. I’ve tried not to pressure him at all, because it is also sad for me. I do know that these 5 months will fly by and eventually he’ll have to decide. I appreciate all of the advice and support here. I’m a planner, so I’m getting ready to offer him ideas on how to finalize when the time comes and he asks for help. Eventually he will.

@elodyCOH, Love your list. As merit chasers. These schools sans Nebraska are schools we would like to learn about.

We were in a similar situation with D2 (except for the major and the specific schools). She quickly narrowed it from 5 to 3, and then had difficulty narrowing it from 3 to 1. We let her just think about it for a while, and visited her top 3 again. This did require an airplane flight over February break. Visiting after you have an acceptance and a good financial offer makes it very real – the student knows that the only thing keeping them from actually being a student here is their deciding to do it.

In the end we would have been fine with any of our daughter’s last 3. She eventually made the decision at about the beginning of April. Two years later it still looks like she made a very good choice. It sounds like you son similarly can’t go wrong with any of the 5 that he is deciding between. You have some time before your son needs to pick one.

@elodyCOH one thing that helped my daughter was Facebook groups or the such at each of these schools /departments… She really got a feel for the differences of the students there. This is what helped her make her final decision. It helped my son also somewhat. It also helped with my engineering son that he just didn’t have any bad choices (he really didn’t). I would personally follow the money and opportunities. Nothing wrong with getting the same degree and not going deeply into debt.

^This. All things being equal and an inability to make a decision, following the money is good advice. It is what my D did and as she gets ready to graduate she (and myself as well) is super happy that it was affordable and can’t imagine having attended anywhere else. Love the school that loves you.