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<p>I will keep my fingers crossed that the ACT scores are good. If they are, it is likely that Case Western and OSU would be admissions “safeties” for a top student. OSU would be a financial safety for an instate student…but NOT for an out of state student.</p>
<p>I hope this young man will be applying for the large Pogue Scholarship which I believe is at Duke. It is an extra application scholarship but is a very good award.</p>
<p>With all due respect to the sincere posters on this thread, school’s like Dickinson are not in Dad II’s frame of reference…and never will be.</p>
<p>If you read the posts regarding his daughter, it’s a major accomplishment that Ohio State is even being considered as a realistic option for his son.</p>
<p>If he can get his son to apply to Ohio State early, and gets an acceptance and acceptable (in the eyes of DII) FA package, then applying to the need-based elite schools will more than meet his needs. However, if he’s not happy with the FA package at Ohio State, or the son doesn’t get in (highly unlikely), I’m sure we’ll hear from him again.</p>
<p>You’re right, 2boysima, but some of us enjoy banging our heads against a virtual wall. :)</p>
<p>Seriously, though, Dad II does heed some advice, so the chorus is being heard, even if only faintly.</p>
<p>And who knows - this thread and discussion may be useful for lurkers who may be in a similar position, but not quite so prestige driven as DadII appears to be.</p>
<p>By the way, dad II, the financial figures I posted as estimated cost of attendance earlier in this thread came from the “cc resources” link in the top bar of ths OSU thread here on cc. It links to something called “Collegeview” <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ohio-state-university-columbus/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ohio-state-university-columbus/</a></p>
<p>If, say the COA would be $14K (your and your s’s oop costs) for OSU but your s also got into some ivys where, for argumants sake, they estimated your OOP expenses as $17k (and also you’d have travel expenses to deal with), what would you do? I realize your COA will be lower for the 2 years you will have 2 kids in college, but hypothetically, what would you/your s choose?</p>
<p>jym626, per my post #134. If the OOP is $14K for us at OSU, that will be great. My earlier complaint was regarding to the $24K figure given on OSU’s web site.</p>
<p>Considering the GPA and test scores, DS should be within the range of DD. It is the pain of actual paying those over $3K bills every three month that makes me putting affordability as #1. Majority of those who is paying college bills know what I am talking about. </p>
<p>I feel much better now that OSU seems real doable with some loans. </p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t know I have an answer to your hypothetical questions. Thank you very much for all the useful information.</p>
<p>2boysima, we have always considered OSU as one of the better colleges and a good option for our children. We move from another state into Ohio, dragging DD from her HS, because we could be IS for OSU. In DD’s case, her intended major at OSU is very weak and it costs less for her to attend Stanford.</p>
<p>^^ What is the most you will be willing to pay OOP to send DS to the ivys or any of the schools on his list?</p>
<p>Dad II, I still don’t understand why the only worlds for you are HYP/Ivies/similar schools or OSU. What are you so afraid of, with the schools that you (and your relatives in China) may not have heard of, but are fine schools nonetheless? Why couldn’t Dickinson, for example, be a better choice than OSU if your son could wind up paying less at Dickinson?</p>
<p>I was not aware that Dad II had made his income public. However, my advice stands–open your mind to “unknown” schools but be PICKY about them. Dickinson is not a particularly good choice, given the large gap between Dad II’s EFC and his willing/able OOP. Even merit-within-need is not going to cover 10-15k extra above EFC. Dickinson will not be cheaper than OSU unless Dad II’s EFC (institutional/PROFILE, which includes home equity) is ~15k. If his income is 100k+, I can almost guarantee that his EFC will be significantly higher than 15k.</p>
<p>Btw, my own (Asian) parents were initially all about “top” prestige schools or UDel. Their reasoning is, if you can’t attend a top school, just save money by going to the decent in-state flagship. I’ve indoctrinated them somewhat into the world of LACs–I have a rather, ah, assertive personality–but they would never pay for a school that they considered academically “worse” than UDel even if said school was a better “fit.” Fit is usually a non-consideration for Asian immigrants; job/career opportunities and cost are paramount. While I don’t agree with this perspective at all–as you will see from my previous posts, I’m a huge advocate of fit even if it means taking on a degree of debt–I do think I understand it much better than many of the other posters banging their heads against Dad II. This particular type of pre-professional mentality is alien among CC regulars, especially the adults.</p>
<p>E.g. Even before I visited, I refused to consider Harvard. To me, it symbolizes many traditional values in my heritage that I do NOT agree with; and certainly I’m seeking an LAC-type environment which Harvard does not provide. I won’t give my well-meaning parents the remote opportunity of pressuring me to attend Harvard (the implicit pressure to attend Yale, if accepted, is bad enough, and I like Yale!) if I am accepted. My parents wouldn’t tell me “go there, period,” but they’d certainly emphasize how much <em>they</em> want it <em>for</em> me and how affordable it would be. Again, most Asian zero-generation kids are not as “rebellious” or argumentative as me.</p>
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<p>You know…if this is SonII’s list, I would say it is a fairly well balanced list…reach, match, safety in terms of admissions. If Son II doesn’t want to consider other schools then so be it…agreed…apply as early as possible to OSU (they have rolling admissions, correct?), and the SCEA to Stanford. The other applications can always be withdrawn if need be. OSU should be a financial and admit safety for an instate student. Duke, Cornell and Amherst all meet full need. Case Western does not, but does have some nice merit awards in addition to need based aid.</p>
<p>This is a nicely balanced list…not just HYPS…</p>
<p>T1, that was only part of the list DS and I worked out earlier (please see post #64 in this thread).</p>
<p>Amherst
Case western
Cornell
Duke
OSU
Stanford SCEA
Swarthmore
UPenn </p>
<p>The concern now is that some these 8 may become not affordable because the reduction in grant.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Dad II, you can’t tell which will be affordable until after you get the acceptance and the FA package. I knew one student who was offered TONS of aid from one top LAC but not nearly as much as another, similarly ranked one. I don’t get the discrepancy except that perhaps one was paired with merit.</p>
<p>Looks like 5 reaches, 2 matches (Duke and CWU) and one safety (OSU)to me…or maybe 5 reaches 1 match (Duke) and 2 safeties (CWU/OSU). It’s not an awful list.</p>
<p>I am not a big advocate of applying to a lot of schools, but many parents here on CC say that if your goal is to maximize financial aid/merit, then you need to apply to more than 8 schools. 10-15 seems to be the number that comes up. Is Son II limited by his high school to 8 schools? </p>
<p>The list right now has one safety, one safety/match (not sure how to classify Case, but it’s probably a safety), and the rest are reaches. Since there is a big possibility that the only two acceptances could come from OSU and Case, make sure Son II is very happy with those 2 choices.</p>
<p>(If it were me, I’d look for schools that would throw merit money at high stat Asian males.)</p>
<p>Case is a safety, although not a financial safety. So it’s a reasonable list; could do with more matches.</p>
<p>You know…my DD applied to three safety schools and one reach. There was NO need for her to have any match schools on her list because she was VERY happy with her safety schools. She is happily enrolled at her number one safety school. To be honest, I’m not sure she would have chosen the reach school over where she is. If Son II is happy with Case and OSU…then he doesn’t need any other schools added to his list.</p>
<p>Keilexandra: Could you please explain/amplify on this statement:</p>
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<p>Is there something about traditional Chinese values that is in alignment with Harvard’s environment? </p>
<p>I know you are interested in small LAC’s and certainly Harvard would not provide that, so I understand why you don’t want to look at it, but I am just trying to understand your linking Harvard with traditional values in your heritage.</p>
<p>Let’s put it this way: I asked my parents flat-out why they and other Asian parents liked Harvard so much. I mean, given a choice among HYP, almost all will instinctively prefer H. I’m not sure why Harvard’s prestige is so abnormally high even among its peers in the Asian community; by “traditional values,” I was referring to filial piety/collective family duty and the idea that your parents know best what’s good for you. A surprising number of Asian parents will essentially assemble a list of schools for the student to apply to, from which the student may choose some or all. Unsurprisingly, this list often ends up as Ivies + near-Ivies, Hopkins as a “safety” for pre-med, and state flagship as ultimate financial safety. Such a list works for many people, but my issue is that the student was not the one who came up with it.</p>
<p>^^ So are you choosing LAC’s just to be a rebel? </p>
<p>Are you falling into the trap of reflexly rejecting what your parents are reflexly promoting?</p>
<p>Do you know for sure that LACs will be a better fit for you than Harvard?</p>
<p>^ The short answer: yes, I am very sure in what I want. The long answer:</p>
<p>Until recently, Yale was my top choice (and I have solid reasons for changing my mind)–one that my parents were certainly satisfied with. I’ve looked at Princeton several times but ultimately decided that the no double-major policy was too inflexible, along with other reasons. And I frankly see nothing special about Harvard–it’s not notably quirky social-justice/activist-oriented, intensely intellectual (by which I mean Swarthmore, Chicago, Reed), or LAC-like (Princeton, Yale for the residential colleges, Brown, Dartmouth are the ones I’ve heard cited as such among the Ivies). Only after I visited Swarthmore did it make the leap over Yale into the position of tentative top choice.</p>