ok, lets say you have a kid who is theoretically committed to school X- has her roommate, already got her room assignment, and is emotionally set.
then today that kid gets into school Y off the wait list. a higher ranked, more prestigious school.
let’s say she decides to take the new offer- how far behind will she be in terms of housing and stuff? will she get like the worst room on campus? School Y is UCLA, by the way.
Because it’s a quarter system school, and they don’t start until the end of September, I think it would be no big deal at all. According to the UCLA parents Facebook site, lots of people didn’t end up with the roommates they’d signed up for anyhow. My kid did end up with the room and roommate she’d planned for, but there was a minor adjustment in July when they asked around for people wanting to switch from Classic Triple to Classic Double (for more $) and my kid and roomie decided to take it. So the room plans probably aren’t set until later in the summer. Classes aren’t chosen until orientation visits which are also later in the summer.
This depends on the school where the WL opportunity came up. For many, it will be early enough in the process that nothing will be different, and many schools go to lengths to make sure this is the case. For others, it could be tough in term of housing or even course selections. You’ll usually know which these are, btw, as the strategies for housing, roommates, etc are no secret among students there.
I have one friend whose S got in so late in the process that he ended up in a house for an affinity group where he was the only person not of that affinity group. (This is, btw, the only time I have heard of this, but his description was “yeah, I got someone else’s place – literally! – when they bailed”. Fwiw, they all got along great and remain friends.)
This is why kids who are so tied up in the WL process in May end up passing up offers later in the summer. The “trade up” often has to be significant to start unwinding exciting plans.
excellent point.
personally I don’t think this trade up is significant enough to warrant the hassle- it’s from UGA to UCLA (for a likely political science major). But I know many will argue that they aren’t comparable. to me the biggest change is not in academic quality or opportunity, but from college town to big city.
Hey, I asked on the last chain, how many more WL.
I think she’s getting in off all of them 
Let me ask you this - had she gotten into UCLA to begin with, at $70K+, would she have chosen it over UGA? Forget Honors…I’m talking straight up.
Would you, the dad, have paid - what double?
It’s a poli sci degree and like most, she doesn’t know what she wants to do in life. Frankly, UGA, Rutgers, or Ramapo - might not matter much.
If you were going to spend that kind of coin, you got Emory…which is a better value than UCLA at that price.
But while it’s a great get (in people on the CC), going to UCLA vs. UGA doesn’t give you any added advantage at law school or in the job market…so…if it were me, I’d pull your WLs because they’re just going to continue to torture you.
Congrats to her though…obviously a talented student.
But I don’t think there’s a WL out there that changes the calculation vs. UGA.
The big question here is whether she is really willing to go to school across the country? My senior has said she wanted to go to UCLA for years but then decided after visiting it last summer, she didn’t want to be that far.
Only thing I’d probably try to factor in would be where does the student think s/he wants to live when they really grow up. If the student grew up in, say, Georgia or elsewhere in the mid- to deep south and has lots of close family in that area, I’m not sure paying 2x more to go to school way out in LA would be warranted.
I think UGA’s academics are just fine. Sure, UCLA is regarded as a “public Ivy,” and certainly is a bigger academic “brand name” than Georgia, but for an undergraduate poli sci degree, just not sure the bump in cachet one gets from UCLA is that substantial. Plus, Athens just seems like a fun place to spend 4 years – big sports, big school spirit, great local music scene, and lots of brand recognition in its own right.
That’s her last one, don’t worry.
I agree academically the difference between UGA and UCLA isn’t big enough on poly sci to justify the $.
The bigger difference is between the big city and the college town, and California vs Georgia vibes.
People who know my kid tend to think of her as suited for Cali.
I tend to agree that you only get to be a college kid once and to do that in a college town like Athens or Ann Arbor or whatever seems like a super fun once in a lifetime opportunity.
City life will follow, likely.
My gut is to stay with UGA. But I don’t want to pressure her too much.
I wouldn’t want my kid dreaming of living in California.
I grew up there. It’s beautiful…but there’s a reason that every time at work (I worked in Gardena/Torrance) that every time a job opened in Dallas, Atlanta, or Chicago that every young kid was applying. And that the company made the wholesale move to Tennessee - and a competitive company moved to the Dallas area.
There’s nowhere better than California…but how will anyone afford to live there?
What about her suits her for Cali - there are different types in all places including California.
All that said, I respectfully disagree with @parent365 that I don’t think in today’s world, where you want to live matters…you can get to anywhere from anywhere and often times, unless you’re financially sustainable on your own, you won’t necessarily have a a huge say in where you’ll end up.
Good luck - as always - i’ve enjoyed the journey.
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