Briefly, DS#2 got in to Holy Cross, Fordham, Creighton, St Joseph’s University, Northeastern, St Michael’s, Providence and Loyola Maryland. Merit packages have been varied, not surprising (SJU, SMC, Fordham, Loyola) with Creighton being our best choice right now. We got no FA. My question is about Creighton and it’s name recognition outside the midwest- most people I speak with have never heard of it and wonder why we would consider sending our DS halfway across the country for school.
I’m torn, because it is the best financial decision and I’ve read a lot of reviews here that say it’s a good school. It checks all of DS’s boxes (we are planning to visit in the next few weeks), but…we get this look of sympathy / pity that we are not accepting Holy Cross or Providence. My question is twofold:
I would appreciate any feedback at all re: Creighton and life afterwards, ROI, job prospects, grad school, etc
Why do people sympathize with me for deciding that a college degree is NOT worth putting our family’s financial stability at risk?
Does it really matter that the school is not recognized on the East Coast?
Midwesterner here. My daughter’s friend went to Creighton and is now in med school. They have a lot of opportunities for premed students. She was even able to do a semester abroad which can be hard to do when working around a heavy science schedule.
I visited Omaha a few years ago for a long weekend. It’s fine. The zoo there is outstanding.
Many many families are in the same boat and go with a school offering merit aid rather than load up with loans that will hound a student and family for years to come. Make the right decision for your S and your family and don’t worry about what others think.
I don’t know Creighton first-hand but we looked at a number of Jesuit schools with my S (who did attend a Jesuit school) and we were uniformly impressed with them. I hope things become clearer when you go out to visit Creighton. You should specifically ask about job prospects on the east coast etc.
Talk to the career counseling office. Find out what job/grad school placement is like in general and, if your son thinks he might want to go back to the east coast, for that part of the country.
Note that if your son goes to school in the Midwest at a college with a high percentage of midwesterners, that probably increases the likelihood that he’ll end up in that part of the country.
Think back to why your s selected Creighton in the first place from amongst the many thousands of colleges and focus on that/ Wat was attractive about the school initially that led your son to apply?
Tbh, in terms of name status/recognition, in some circles there isn’t much in it between Creighton, Providence & Holy Cross (and w/ Holy Cross people will ask which one).
Allowing for possible exceptions for the tippiest of top names, in general grad school is much more about what you have done (test scores, GPA, internship, research interests, etc) than about the name of your college.
The key will be how your son uses the opportunities he has. He should be looking at what he is doing for the summer when he gets back from Thanksgiving (applications for many things open in Dec/Jan, and often require recommendations. Don’t underestimate the value of being a star.
As for people who “wonder why we would consider sending our DS halfway across the country for school”, that is a very insular world they are living in, and there are a lot of other people who see expanding their child’s world as a positive, not a negative. I might be biased in this, as my college kids stayed nowhere near home (first one applied to 7 urban colleges in 5 countries; second applied to 7 college in suburban / rural areas of the midwest/east of 1 country; neither ended up within 1500 miles of home.
One caveat: it sounds as if he hasn’t actually physically been there. Do some thinking about what your plan B would be if he gets there and really, really doesn’t like it. What is the second best financial choice? what are the implications of that choice? It isn’t likely- but it has happened more often than you might think: a school that is just right on paper, looks good in pictures and you get there and it’s just wrong. If that’s the case, your son may not know how to articulate it well, and might not be able to give you ‘good’ reasons. Knowing your ok(ish…) plan B gives you something to work with in the discussions. If plan B is community college then transferring to state flagship, so be it: just have something that you have thought about in advance. If it doesn’t click that disappointment (on your part and/or his) can make it hard to keep a clear head.
A very close friend of mine attended Creighton Law School years ago while her H was in the military. She had no trouble getting work in NYC, although she did not end up at a top firm since that was not her area of interest. She has always worked and, several years ago, transitioned into the HR field. In my opinion, she is an excellent attorney and had good training. If your son has lived in the NY area his entire life, it might be a nice change over Fordham.
Among these colleges, there may be extra opportunities in specific programs (like NEU’s co-op program) or strength in specific departments (like Classics at Holy Cross). However, with respect to college name recognition and its potential effects on grad school or career outcomes, all of them are about equal. Your son’s own efforts (his college grades, test scores, internship and research experiences, etc.) will make a far bigger difference than the college brand.
My nephew went to Creighton, and then attended an Ivy for grad school. And he’s from New England. I visited there (about 15 years ago), and thought it was a lovely school. The opportunity to attend Creighton and not take on debt is a real gift. And unless someone is a college counselor or a parent doing very thorough research, it’s not that surprising that they are unfamiliar with the school. People in general tend to recognize brand names, and schools in their own geographic region. Good luck to your son!
Honestly, name recognition would be about the same for all except St. Michael’s and Loyola Maryland would be lower (I never heard of them before joining CC). The rest I know because of their sports or sports history (and because NEU send me a glossy marketing package back in HS).
Agree with the following: “People in general tend to recognize brand names, and schools in their own geographic region.”
Folks who think Providence is better than Creighton just because they know of one but not the other would be pretty insular.
@NEMomof4 Not familiar with Creighton specifically but have dealt with some of these same questions and issues with my son and would like to share the thought process that we went through (we are also in the NE near NYC):
Money - We looked up the average starting salary in his field and then asked ourselves if it would make sense to spend more annually on attending college than what his potential starting annual salary would be. However, if graduates from one college earns a much higher starting salary than those from the others, then it may be worth the extra expense of attending that college.
Prestige - The name of the school alone will not guarantee success in career. It is more important to choose the best fit school/program for your child so he can thrive and become the best at whatever it is that he wants to do.
Location - This one is tough and it depends on if he wants to return to the NE for a job/career. Companies will send recruiters to colleges to find candidates. The majority of the companies would come from nearby cities so going to a school in a remote or sparsely populated area of the country would diminish his chances of finding a NE job through Creighton. It doesn’t rule out the possibility but he would have to mostly do it on his own. If he likes Omaha and wants to stay there after graduation then that would be the ideal situation.
Creighton is known outside of the Midwest. It’s a stronger Jesuit school, so many have heard of it.
It’s probably best known as a prehealth/premed school, but it certainly is strong in other areas as well.
Will your son be premed or some sort of prehealth? If so, then there’s nothing to worry about.
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Why do people sympathize with me for deciding that a college degree is NOT worth putting our family's financial stability at risk?
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I’m not sure I understand this question. Many people will sympathize with a sound decision that is best for your family’s financial situation. Some may disagree. What is your concern?
What are the net costs for each school? And the pros and cons for each school?
What is the major and career goal for your student?
How much merit did Creighton give?
@@PurpleTitan
I think you took my comments the wrong way as I was speaking only in a very general sense.
I was not passing judgment on Creighton for it may be a very well known and respected school. I am in full agreement with you that there are many variables and tendencies depending on your geographical location. I was merely saying don’t choose or not choose a school because of it’s name recognition or lack thereof. I told my own children that the name of the school they chose to go to would not be as important as finding the best program for what they wanted to study. In my area, University of Scranton (also Jesuit) is one of those not-so-well-known schools but we really liked everything they had to offer, both academicall and socially. Plus, they gave a vey nice merit scholarship.
The starting salary would naturally depend on the major but are you saying that graduating from a more expensive school would result in a higher starting salary? I would think that, within the same field of profession, the geographical location of the employer would have more bearing than the COA of the school one attended.
It is only important that YOU and your son know WHY you are making the decision you are making. Creighton sounds like a great opportunity for your son. The visit will hopefully provide the clarity you need. Good luck!
<<< but…we get this look of sympathy / pity that we are not accepting Holy Cross or Providence. <<<
Providence? Really? Lol. I doubt that P is better than C.
HC is well-respected, but if your child is premed/health, then HC can be brutal.
Tell us what the cost differences are. You have FOUR kids! No one should be giving you “looks” no matter what your family needs to do to cover college costs!! (Seriously, tell them to contribute heavily to your kids’ GoFundMe accounts if they want to have a say…)
Creighton is a winner. Is ‘the look’ because they haven’t heard of the school, they don’t think a school in that location ‘competes’ against one in the NE? They absolutely are being very small minded. If it is a match for your son/family, go for it. Creighton has a great reputation. Creighton has name recognition, but some have limited scope on colleges. Believe me, if a potential employer doesn’t know anything about Creighton, they can easily look it up. If son works to his potential at Creighton and takes advantage of opportunities there for him, he will come out a winner.
I’m an East Coast resident who has most certainly heard of Creighton and would put it above nearly every school on your son’s list. For people in your area who don’t know what/where it is, you (and he) can simply say that it’s a mid-sized Jesuit college in Omaha, maybe even add that it’s in the Big East with Providence, Villanova, Xavier, etc.
Assuredly some people will then ask, “Well, if he wants a Catholic college, why isn’t he just going to Providence?” or Fordham, etc. No need to mention finances unless you want to; I’d just reply, “He’s looking forward to living in a different part of the country for a few years.”
I hope he likes Creighton when he visits. Sounds like a great opportunity.
I visited there (about 15 years ago), and thought it was a lovely school. The opportunity to attend Creighton and not take on debt is a real gift. And unless someone is a college counselor or a parent doing very thorough research, it’s not that surprising that they are unfamiliar with the school. People in general tend to recognize brand names, and schools in their own geographic region. Good luck to your son!