@grandscheme. aThanks for the info, yes,UNC is probably the hardest my D will apply to, she has very little hope but we have a fee waiver and she loves it so we figured, why not? Like UVA they meet 100% need. She wants to be a history major so we weren’t looking at VT or Lehigh any more, since that seems to be more about engineering, but we are also hearing it’s a bit cliquish, big on Greek life & sports, 2 things my D isn’t into at all. My concerns about GW, aside from her ability to get in, is that there isn’t much of a campus, but as a history major DC would be a great place to hang out for a year before trying to transfer into W& M. GW doesn’t meet %100 need however, so a little odd for a private school that is so $ to attend. We’ll try anyway though. Thanks for the school info, very helpful. We are looking at UGM. and AU a bit, lots of applicants though, as you say. Thank you!!
BTW, neither of my sons are preppy fraternity guy types. VT son is into intramural sports and fitness and outdoors hiking, camping etc. No issues w cliquishness. UVA son is very anti Greek. He’s a runner, loves utilizing their new student fitness center. He labels himself a nerd. I wouldnt call him that but… He was afraid of UVA-didnt really want to go-and now that he is there, he loves it. There are so many opportunities due to its size and he values those. It also means there are all types of people so he can make friends wherever. I was a sorority girl at UVA-it is def an active Greek system-but at least for my son, he is having a great time while being anti Greek. So…I wouldnt worry about cliquishness at either. VT has strong engineering but it has many other strengths. Dont be steered away for that reason.
@cloudysmom
I completely understand that you and your daughter are disappointed by the rejection from W&M. There is a lot to love about that school. But I do think you are romanticizing it a bit, saying it is the perfect fit and that she will just go somewhere else for a yr and transfer in. The fact is, there will be many schools that are fits and that your D can love. And countless kids, get rejected by their first choice and end up extremely happy elsewhere. You often see posts where kids say, it was a blessing in disguise that I got rejected, because now I can’t imagine myself anywhere else.
You need to help your D move on, or else she won’t be happy anywhere else. And it is usually not a great mindset to start at a school thinking at Day 1 that you are going to transfer. That limits your ability to acclimate and enjoy and take advantage of the school you are at, and if you don’t get in to the other school as a transfer, then you may have wasted your first year just pining away for the other place.
As someone who has spent quite a bit of time on both Furman and CofC 's campus , I’d like to weigh in on the " Bible Belt conservativeness" . Anyone who does not believe that Furman is not conservative has not spent a lot of time on campus . It is equally as conservative , if not more so than the College of Charleston. Of course , that is only my opinion based on repeated visits.
@wisteria100 I completely agree and we are doing that. I know there are a lot of posts in this thread to wade thru but I have said that I hope she falls in love with wherever she goes & doesn’t want to transfer. She is open to that & trying to get excited about other schools but she hasn’t visited many of the ones she is now favoring, and she doesn’t want to get upset over another rejection, so is in a weird place as far as getting excited goes. W& M was a perfect fit given how much D loves colonial history, being around history, a school w/out a huge football or Greek domination, size of copy’s, historical buildings, etc. Hard to replicate at other schools. She’s a kid who has been obsessed with Thomas Jeffersonn since she was little. We’d go to Disney & her favorite thing was the Hall of Presidents, not the Princess rides, etc, but the Presidents, lol.
@carolinamom2boys . I think college campuses are in general, fairly liberal places. I feel that there is more diversity in Charleston than the western part of the state so tend to think you’re right about Furman being more conservative. My only comment was that it was a great school. SC in general is a conservative southern state, still flying the Confederate flag till last yr. I would prefer my D go to school with more than just Christans, the world is a diverse place, the south is not representative of that. I want her to learn how to relate to and engage with people of many mindsets and views. I grew up in MS, the most conservative place in the south, so I know from where I speak. I got the hell out of there as soon as I could, went to Boston, NYC and Los Angeles over the next 20 yrs, then back to Boston, now Charleston & I see huge differences in each place I lived. The big standout is diversity. Just not so much here, but at least in Charleston, it is improving. And in case ur wondering, I moved here after my divorce for a slower paced quality of life, warmer weather, historic city, less traffic/commuting times and cheaper to live here. Forgot how religious the south is however, and how so many people smoke. I can’t remember seeing people smoke in those cities I mentioned. Oh, and people here drive slow in the left lane, lol. Also was excited to have sweet tea again!
The issue with now targeting these other Virginia public schools ( like JMU and UMW) is that they are OOS and may cost more than you can afford. So, she may not get rejected, but you may decide the price is too high. That would also be very disappointing. Which is why some of us keep saying to run the NPC’s (not always accurate but will give you an idea of what to expect), and decide on a budget that you are willing to spend. No point falling in love with another school, only to have it not be affordable.
@cloudysmom you just posted that JMU and MWU will likely be too expensive, but W and M would be even more expensive than those two schools for your D. They state on their website that they only meet 25% of financial need for OOS students which would leave you with a first year price tag of $42k ($57k x .75) From your statements about your finances, it really seems that you and your D need to let the W and M dream school/transfer scenario go and shift the focus to affordable options. Encourage her to look at the positive things available at her financial safeties, in case these reach schools don’t pan out for her. Try and arrange for her to sit in on a class and meet with a professor and students in her interest area, so she can get more excited about what they have to offer. Many of my kids’ friends attend our state flagship, and for many if them, it was the safety that they did not want to attend. Once there, they realized what a great school it is, and why it is so popular with OOS students. Your D can thrive and grow at your state University.
My middle daughter’s dream school was Clemson for biomedical engineering. She could only attend with their biggest full ride scholarship. She was a finalist for their national scholars program, attended the scholarship weekend, but in the end was not offered the full ride. She was crushed and upset for a short time, since we had made it very clear that Clemson would be unaffordable without the big scholarship, and she knew she had to let her Clemson dream go. She did let it go and focused instead on her other financially viable options, and she is happily attending UR, which turned out to be perfect for her. It was also helpful that her HS guidance counselor gave her a little pep talk after not getting the Clemson scholarship, telling her to focus on the Colleges which were showing her more “love”.
I know first hand how much it stinks to tell your children that you can’t afford your child’s dream school. 2 of my kids had stats for top schools, but we simply could not afford them, and it was hard to watch as their wealthier friends were allowed to apply wherever they wanted to, while my kids had financial restrictions, but many, many families are in the same situation.
What is your actual budget for each year of college? Hopefully you are focusing on an amount which will not drain your home equity and undermine your own financial security. One of the most valuable things you can teach your D is to be a good $$ manager, and minimize debt, even if that means making tough choices at times.
@sevmom, I agree, my contribution is 0
I’m out. Good luck in your search for the perfect fit for your daughter.
@mamag2855 I agree and she knows that unless the FA is good, we can’t do it. I’m just gathering info on this thread, not weighing options as she doesn’t have any concrete ones yet. This is why she’s applying to C of C. W&M only gave 25% as u said to OOS but it was a school worth getting loans for, UMW or JMU are not in our opinions. W&M is a better degree to graduate with and she loves it. Who knows, maybe UMW will give us a great offer and she’ll love that, but it’s all give and take. Not sure if you read it but my parents have an education savings plan for about 15 yrs now for her, so that would have paid for over 50% at W&M for 3 yrs, plus the other grandparent wants to contribute. Its a small family, no other kids in college now or for at least 15 more yrs if at all - lots of only children and people w/out kids in my family, for example, I have never had, until I was married, an aunt, uncle or a cousin. Pell grants and GSL are great - loans not due till out of school, I hope to help her pay them off so she is not burdened.
@cloudysmom If your contribution is zero then the OOS publics might not be your best bets unless the grandparents are giving you big money each yr for college.
I wrote the above before seeing your last post. Disregard.
@citymama9, it’s complicated, there are things we can do to scrounge up some $ but only worth it for certain schools. Mot of my family have graduate degrees (not me) and going to a good school has always been important in my family. We have to temper FA offers with loans and grandparent contributions, GLS, Pell Grants, etc and see what makes sense. Gotta work with real #'s so unfortunately we have to see where she gets in first. OOS public is rough as you say but she fell in love w/ VA. Might not work out but it’s worth a try, nothing ventured nothing gained. Apply to SC school as a back up.
Hi there: Both of my daughters attend JMU and we are very happy Duke parents. In terms of how I-81 bisecting the JMU campus impacts students, my JMU students would say it’s a non-issue. Our freshman’s dorm is right next to the highway and it does not bother her. Both students use the tunnel under the highway and bridge over the highway daily with no complaints. JMU just finished an addition to the recreation center, is building a new dining hall and will soon break ground on a new basketball arena. The school is committed to undergraduate education and the vast majority of classes are taught by professors. The campus vibe is positive and students go on to great opportunities to work or attend top grad schools. We are lucky enough to live in Virginia and looked at most of the state schools. If W&M is C’s dream school, I would caution against offering UMW as a suitable alternative even if only to transfer after a year. UMW is making great strides but the rigor there is nothing close to W&M and I don’t know how many students are able to transfer to W&M from UMW. It might be worth trying to dig up transfer information from W&M about where their transfer students come from. It will also tell you how many are accepted in any given year. The other thing to consider is that many VA students attend community college for a year or two to try to transfer to W&M, so C will still have some steep instate competition. All of that being said, good luck to you both during the process and I hope you can find a few days to visit some of the suggested schools in the VA/DC area.
@cloudysmom I’m not sure if anyone has thrown out University of Maryland. It is a terrific school with a beautiful campus. In fact, we toured both W&M and UofM, and we thought the Maryland campus was much prettier! Plus, UM is on the DC Metro. Can you imagine anything better than being able to go into DC on the weekends? I’ve heard that UM is often an alternative to UVA. Good luck – we are in the middle of applications!
OP, forgive me if you’ve already seen this, but it indicates many of the institutions from which W&M transfer students come, as suggested by @HouseofClay http://www.wm.edu/offices/registrar/studentsandalumni/transfercredit/tribetransfertool/index.php
@cloudysmom, you keep saying that your daughter wants to study history and wants a historical school. I hope you are aware that most students (certainly over 50%) change their major and some change it more than once.
This is not something you need to discuss now with your daughter, but you need to broaden your expectations to the possibility that her focus may change, and research other opportunities a Humanities kid may have at your target schools - for example, IR at AU (I was shocked to see how low the admission rate is now, but they might be interested in an applicant from SC for geographic and SES diversity).
Sorry if people already suggested these schools but I didn’t read the last couple of pages. Maybe also look into Roanoke College, Hollins University (Womens school), Longwood University and Radford University? They may not have the clout/prestige factor but they are all pretty campuses, have history majors, give decent aid (from what my friends have told me), and people seem really happy at these schools. I graduated from Radford last year and now in a funded masters program. I really enjoyed my time there!
Congratulations on your graduation from Radford. Radford and Longwood both have nice campuses. They are also OOS public schools for a SC resident. Unless a substantial amount of money would bridge the gap, in general, the OP’s well regarded instate schools like College of Charleston, Clemson, and USC would usually be better bets.