<p>My Junior D has good stats & resume, so she would probably qualify for nearly a free ride at Rutgers and it has the exact major/minor she wants (biomed engineering/equine science), plus pre-vet advising That said, we are not allowed to utter the word in our house or she goes ballistic. She is convinced we will drop in to visit on weekends (not! - it's an hour away) and doesn't want to stay in NJ. We can afford all the schools she is looking, but I would like her to consider Rutgers as a safety school. Any advice?</p>
<p>Is she considering post grad education? You can tell her that you can start a fund with some of the savings. Or if not post grad, perhaps for study abroad during a couple of summers? A full ride is worth a LOT, and it can buy a lot of other adventures in education.</p>
<p>My son is a senior and will be attending our state school next fall. A couple of years ago we showed him how much money we had saved for his college education. He saw that he could go to our state university (which is very good) without debt and have money left over for graduate school - or he could go into debt and work for many, many years to pay off his college loans. We did not discourage him from applying other places, because there was always the chance of a merit scholarship, but he kept his list small and was accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill. We have first hand experience with loans because my husband and I both had them, in fact, my husband’s HEAL loan won’t be paid off until the year after my son graduates from college.</p>
<p>A good safety school means one she’d be happy to attend, so in my mind you’ve got a bigger issue than just getting her to apply. Have y’all visited?</p>
<p>Our big state u. has a vet school. Price tag for instate students for four years around $120,000. Price tag for oos over $200,000. That’s a lot of debt for a new grad. if parents have already spent the college fund on pricey undergrad. Our state has pretty low costs in comparison to other state u’s. So these numbers might be low compared to others.
Most kids your D’s age have no clue about loans and how much/how long it will take to pay them off. They often base their choices on emotions (too close to home…parents might visit too much), the “name” of the sch., what their friends say, etc.</p>
<p>If your D knows you will pay for other schools that she likes better than Rutgers, she may feel she can just choose a safety further from home. If she is very against RU, it would not be a safety even if you persuaded her to apply because she would still not want to attend.
It’s a good idea to be very clear with kids up front about how much you are willing/able to pay for college.</p>
<p>We told our kids up front that we had a state u. budget and that if they wanted something different, it would be up to them to earn merit money to make the costs equal to our state u’s. Both stayed instate. S1 got a fullride and now has the money saved to use for post-grad. studies if he chooses.</p>
<p>Definitely show her the money angle. Our daughter opted for a CC then a state school and then got her masters at a prestigious private university. She graduated with no loans and is the only one of her friends with that distinction. She got married last summer and they just bought a house (in So. Calif. where prices are still ridiculously high.) She could never have done that with student loans. </p>
<p>We are far from wealthy, but while at the CC and State schools, she worked part time and all summer, and we filled in the rest with our college savings. We had enough left to pay for her Master’s. </p>
<p>Our next one is going to an OUS but with significant scholarships so we will come out OK with her too. Just be sure she applies to a variety of programs so she has good choices academically and financially. Tell her to apply to Rutgers just to humor you; and that you will let her make the final choice as long as she agrees to go visit Rutgers with an open mind. She at least owes you that in that you are paying for her education. We also made spread sheets with the various options and costs including required loans. It really opened our daughters eyes quickly!</p>
<p>It’s a bit embarassing, but we can afford to send her to any college. That said, I never like to overpay and see that Rutgers has a great program. She just won’t open her eyes to it. We went to UMass over the weekend and she like the Animal Science operation, but in my mind, Rutgers is just as good of a school, if not better, and would be far cheaper. </p>
<p>The issue to her is that all the kids a few years ahead of her settle for Rutgers when they don’t get in anywhere else and a few others she knows that are out and talk about how big of a party school it is. My friends that live out of state comment on how lucky we are to have such a great school and good in-state students are nearly given a free ride.</p>
<p>If her desire is vet school after undergrad, you might want to talk to a few vet schools as I believe there is an incredibly strong bias towards in-state applicants at most vet schools and many take care of their undergrads first. It might behoove (pun intended) her to consider this aspect of the bigger plan.</p>
<p>Well…how about this idea…</p>
<p>Since your D will not consider her free ride at Rutgers as a safety (for her stated reasons), then …</p>
<p>It’s very likely your D has the stats to get a great assured scholarship elsewhere for a safety school. So, if you can find some OOS schools that will give her big merit for her stats, can’t those be her safeties???</p>
<p>What are her stats? GPA and SAT breakdown?</p>
<p>I can appreciate your desire not to unnecessarily spend money that doesn’t need to be spent. Yes, you can afford $200k+ for any undergrad…but, can you easily afford $200k+ for undergrad PLUS another $200k for vet school? If not, that’s a consideration. </p>
<p>Below is a link that lists schools that give assured merit scholarships for stats. These can be financial safeties for your child since Rutgers is out. </p>
<p>AUTO $$$ CC Important links to Auto Scholarships…
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>BTW…virtually all schools have a party element to them…especially if they have sports teams. That should not deter serious students. Students in the so-called more difficult majors (pre-health, sciences, engineering, etc) are less likely going to be partying much. My kids go to a “party school,” but that doesn’t affect them at all. Their friends are largely in their majors (math and engineering) and those kids just aren’t real partiers.</p>
<p>If your D is interested in a smaller school with low instate tuition, TCNJ is a great choice. The College of New Jersey continues to climb the rankings and has great placement for med, vet, and law schools. A lot ot NJ’s top students looking for a bragained price LAC experience go there.</p>
<p>her stats are:
SAT: 710M/700R/630W (she blew the essay and didn’t do any review, she’s taking it again in June and targeting a 2150/2200). Taking SAT2 in May.
GPA: 3.8 unweighted/4.6 weighted
APs: 1 Soph yr, 3 Jr yr, 2 Sr yr</p>
<p>Girl Scout Gold Award (also got Silver in HS years), Girl Scout National Delegate to 2008 convention, also worked at GS day camp last summer.<br>
Science & Quiz Bowl Teams
Math Tutor & Peer Counselor
Significant Volunteer work through Church (250+ hours in rebuilding work in Louisiana & NJ).</p>
<p>She won’t consider TCNJ either. Very frustrating child in some way, thinks her parents are an ATM. Rest of the world thinks she very caring & giving.</p>
<p>If you look in the Rutgers forum here you will find a thread of disappointed high scorers who received much less merit aid than expected. Be glad you can afford other options. It used to be that a 1500 CR+M earned a full-ride. Apparently not so anymore. If she does decide to pursue merit aid at Rutgers it is very important to get her app in prior to December 1.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say she is a frustrating child because she wants more than NJ state U. Obviously she has worked hard, not a slacker. Your family could afford a better school and she probably could get into one. If you have never told her that you would only pay for in state U then it is unfair now to say she is being difficult. There are parents out there doing all they could to allow their kids to go to their dream schools. It is your money, you could do what you want with it, but it doesn’t make your daughter difficult. I am in NJ, my daughter visited Rutgers, and I saw the reaction after her visit. It’s not UNC-Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>Isn’t it too bad that MANY of our NJ kids dismiss NJ state publics out of hand?
We saw it with our son about 5 years ago and it obviously is still prevalent.</p>
<p>It’s ALMOST like it would be better if you could honestly claim the money angle.
We didn’t have to fake it…our son had very good but not full ride stats for NJ publics.
He auditioned at very pricey conservatories for music around the tristate area.
Accepted to some, rejected at others. Some merit aid, not enough.
Accepted to both TCNJ and Rutgers-Mason Gross.</p>
<p>He opted for TCNJ ( a real gem IMHO), transferred to Rutgers after two years and graduated summa cum laude. Auditioned for grad music programs and is now half way through a masters program with hefty merit aid that made it posssible.</p>
<p>So, for our family, the $$$ did matter and it’s was kinda useful.
Convinced son to excel in NJ public that we mostly paid for (he took staffords) and he was able to accept an attractive grad offer because we could help with housing for another 2 years.</p>
<p>No need to torture your D about Rutgers since the money is a non-issue.
Too bad she can’t see past the location to the obvious quality of science/vet at Rutgers though. </p>
<p>And, we never even THOUGHT about ‘dropping in’ to visit son at either instate schools.
Now that he’s 3 hrs away, it’s a pain of a drive when we ARE invited up.</p>
<p>Your D is fortunate that she has such support in you!</p>
<p>Not one of my kids, including the current student, would even consider Rutgers and I never understood why. Two went OOS to Florida, the others to privates. For reasons expressed on earlier posts…they weren’t impressed by the caliber of students from their HSs who went to Rutgers. We knew they had to “feel” the school so didn’t insist.</p>
<p>TCNJ has gotten lots of good press lately but only one kid applied. Rolling admissions cut her (and a friend’s S) out of the pre-med/science program and neither wanted to risk attending in another major and not being admitted to the science program for sophomore year which is what TCNJ offered.</p>
<p>her stats are:
SAT: 710M/700R/630W (she blew the essay and didn’t do any review, she’s taking it again in June and targeting a 2150/2200). Taking SAT2 in May.
GPA: 3.8 unweighted/4.6 weighted
APs: 1 Soph yr, 3 Jr yr, 2 Sr yr</p>
<p>Well, her stats are good, and if she improves her scores, she’ll be in a better position for her choices. However, paying a bunch of money for UMass is just silly (I don’t think UMass gives big OOS merit). If she wanted to go to an elite, it would be different. </p>
<p>What top schools have good pre-vet educations? I would suggest that she either apply to top schools with pre-vet (like Cornell or ???), which would be worth the money, and then also apply to mid-tiers for safeties that will give great merit scholarships that mitigates their OOS costs.</p>
<p>Many kids immediately dismiss their in-state flagships because too many old classmates will be going there and they want to feel “special” by going elsewhere. So, that’s why I’m suggesting (for safeties) that she apply to some mid-tier schools with pre-vet that will give her big merit. Then it’s a win/win for the family…mom doesn’t feel like she’s wasting money, and D gets to go OOS.</p>
<p>I know a young man pursuing vet programs this year.
Cornell is in the mix.</p>
<p>Penn State is also a top choice. He was offered a sizable merit award to the campus that specializes in small animals, his choice. Can’t remember which campus, but it is not College Park. Might be Hazelton?</p>
<p>For Equine Science, there aren’t that many options. Chances are that Rutgers is one of the very best. Choosing an out-of-state just to be able to say she didn’t stay home is pretty silly unless that particular institution is also better than Rutgers.</p>
<p>And is she hell-bent on Equine Science, or would more general Animal Science do?</p>
<p>Texas A&M offers equine science: [Department</a> of Animal Science - Equine Science](<a href=“http://animalscience.tamu.edu/academics/equine/index.htm]Department”>http://animalscience.tamu.edu/academics/equine/index.htm)</p>
<p>She wants to be an equine surgeon and her personal statement is all about that goal and it is a moving story. (we attended the Breeders Cup at Monmouth a few years ago and she saw a horse breakdown in front of her, plus it builds on her other experiences with horses). </p>
<p>Cornell is currently #1 and not out of the questions with her stats. She is going there this summer for the pre-vet program, so she will know if it is right for her. I think I need to kidnap her one day and drag her to the Rutgers barn so she can compare it to other schools. Penn State is not on the list because a friend’s mom went there and told her it’s too big and near nothing. I’ve suggested Maryland/College Park, as I’m from there and that’s where my parents went, but she’s not interested. (possibly having cousins & aunts 15 minutes away is unappealing).</p>
<p>The other schools she’s considering with pre-vet advising are WPI & RPI. Given she’s a girl, we think reasonable merit aid is highly likely at those schools, as they are trying to balance out the M/F ratios.</p>