<p>I disagree. The physical setting and environment are important too. That doesn’t mean everything needs to be a castle (my S’s dorms have been particularly unimpressive) but I don’t live / work in cruddy surroundings so why would I expect my kids to?</p>
<p>I would put the most emphasis on the academic program and intellectual and social environment of the school. Everything else is secondary and just needs to fall into the “acceptable” range. “Acceptable” will be different to different students.</p>
<p>This is going to be their “home” for four years. If the food is crappy and they’re going to end up spending oodles of money on delivery, that’s a consideration. If they have special dietary needs, such as vegan, they should know whether there are options that will meet their dietary needs. My S is between two excellent schools and it could come down to something like- one of them has 25 different meal places to choose from and the other has 2. </p>
<p>At a few colleges, most students spend 4 years in a residence hall, most of which do not have kitchens. However, at many colleges, the upper class housing has kitchens or students move off-campus. In that case, the quality of the dining hall food is less impt., because you will only have to eat it for one year. </p>
<p>I find it more important to look at the wide range of on-campus and off-campus housing prices between different colleges. Some of the colleges in large cities have housing that costs $4 K a year or more than colleges outside of large cities. If you have to pay rent and utilities for 12 months and don’t intend to be there during the summers, that added cost can also add up.</p>
<p>And for me, the whole idea of a campus where everyone moves into apartments is unappealing. I prefer the idea of my kids living in a dorm all 4 years, eating in a cafeteria, etc. They will have the rest of their lives to live in apts and cook for themselves. </p>
<p>I haven’t read through all of the responses…but if the money factor is not making the decision for you, I would take out the course catalogs for each of the schools and look at the curricular requirements for a variety of majors that your student might be interested in.</p>
<p>After all, it is the SCHOOL environment that will make or break your student’s college experience.</p>
<p>How rigid or flexible are the gen ed or distribution requirements for each program? Can they be satisfied by a selection of courses that are interesting to your student?</p>
<p>What does the track for each possible major look like? What classes are involved? How often are the classes of interest to your student offered, and how many sections are offered–to ensure that your student gets to take those courses.</p>
<p>The factors that will most impact your student’s college experience will be the classes they take–so make sure to check this out thoroughly.</p>
<p>There are also other factors should be considered. For example, the student retention rate (% returned in sophomore) and average graduation time. If the retention rate is low, that means more students dropped out or transferred to other school after freshmen. Also, longer time to graduate will also increase the total cost.</p>
<p>turns out best food didn’t win, best tour didn’t win, best dorms didn’t win, best girl/boy ratio didn’t win. finally got final official award notice confirmed same as estimate so our son gets to go to 1st choice based on programs. (it’s also the closest to home)</p>
<p>Yea! Congrats.</p>
<p>Hurray! </p>
<p>That is great news!</p>
<p>that’s fabulous news!!!Time to celebrate!!</p>