D accepted to U of Delaware, U of Maryland, U of Florida, Elon and Qunnipiac. She has not clue where she is going. Even created a decision matrix to help guide her. She is from NJ and wants to whole college experience. Going into Physical Therapy as her goal.
UF has awesome Health & Human Performance College. Also the ‘whole college experience’ and winters that avoide the Bombogenesis Stuff. But, you’d see your kid less often than if she went to school up north. Have you visted all the schools?
Those are some very different schools. What does the “whole college experience” mean to her? I’d have her start by stack-ranking features:
- Size
- Location
- Study abroad (often not feasible for medical related majors, however Elon has a winter term that allow study abroad with no impact to major requirements)
- Sports atmosphere
- Living on/off campus
- Greek life
- Internship opportunities
- Emphasis on graduate vs. undergraduate programs
- Activities on-campus
- Proximity to activities off-campus
And of course cost. Will it stretch the budget, or will there be some extra money available at one school vs. the other to fund something like spring break trips? What is the plan for paying for grad school and is it impacted by cost of undergrad?
These are all good schools and she can do well coming out of any of them. She has a great opportunity ahead of her - there’s not a wrong choice, just some choices that are better for her than others.
Has she had a chance to visit these schools?
What is the net cost of each school, including transportation in the fall, spring, thanksgiving, christmas and spring break?
Have your child picked a top 2 or 3 and gone to their admitted students days?
I would make a spreadsheet and include info like:
Net Cost
Number of Undergraduates
Faculty Student Ratio
%of students that live on campus
How big is the department for your major? If you are majoring in something that only has a couple of professors, that does not bode well.
Housing- do they offer all 4 years? freshman only?
Urban/rural/suburban
Is this a commuter school? (do students go home on weekends)
Surrounding area - what is the nearby town/amenities like?
Transportation - how would you get home
AP Credits - can you get credit for AP tests you have taken
Male/Female ratio
Greek life - what % of students are in greek life
Parking
Diversity
Safety
Sports
Campus
Jobs - what happens to seniors after they graduate
Internships - depending on your major, is it easy to get internships?
…and whatever makes sense for you
You might not care about, say, greek life. but if 50% of the kids are in greek life and you don’t want to be, that is something to know. Or you may want a big time sports scene or you might not want one.
If you are fancy, you could weight each of these.
Grade them from 1-5 as they make sense to you. Then see which one has the largest score.
Then see if that is the one you secretly would hope would win.
My eldest chose based on a combo of price (not cheapest, but under 30K net) and that it gave her the most IB credits of all the choices.
My youngest went ED…she goes to a in-state honorsy State College that is 5K undergrad and an hour from home with a nice campus.
We visited all but UoF. Going this weekend and Monday is one of their 4 admitted students day. Maybe she screams “this is the one” and decision done.
For all others with the list, We did the list like you were suggesting, ranked based on these:
Campus Facilities
School Spirit
Campus Look/Feel
Dorms
Clubs/Activities
Internships/Co-Ops
Location
3+3 PT Offerings (only Quinnipiac offers this from the 5)
Club Soccer
Size
Food
Sports Teams
Animal Science Minor
Cost
Class Sizes
Retention Rate
Quinnipiac ranked last doing this way and the other 4 were so close it made things worse!
How does net price compare, and does it matter to you?
For starters, Elon and UF are about as different as you can be. Small private vs massive state. Both are good schools but they have an extremely different feel. Which does she connect with better? Then you can narrow down within. UD and UM are smaller than UF but probably feel more like UF. Quinnipac will feel more like Elon.
Price matters to me :0) - UDEL offering the most merit (all in for less than $35K/year) while Elon, UMary, and UoF not offering anything. Quinnipiac offering $21K, but their sticker price is bloated to start with.
You are correct, we have 2 Extra Large schools (UoF, UMary), 1 Medium (UDEL) and 2 Smaller (Elon and Quinn). My D is likes to tell me the pros and cons of Small vs. Large, but then doesn’t say she likes one over the other, Grrrrr.
Does she want small, interactive classes with lots of contacts and support from professors? Is Greek life important to her? What about football?
So are these the net prices?
$35k Delaware (OOS after scholarship)
$42k Quinnipaic (after $21k scholarship)
$43k Florida (OOS list)
$50k Elon (list)
$51k Maryland (OOS list)
How much can you contribute without taking parent loans, cosigning student loans (i.e. those greater than the federal direct loans), compromising your retirement, or limiting younger kids to lower college budgets?
What are the college GPA requirements to renew the scholarships?
Football YES! Only Greek if it is lower key on the constant drinking part. Clubs a must and she did not mention much about class sizes amazingly enough, but she is use to staying after school for extra help with teachers so I bet that is somewhat important.
Yes, you are close on the costs with Elon and UMary being a few grand lower. We have a S in HS (sophomore) so he will be looking soon too. I can pay for 2 full years for each kid without robbing a bank. Qualified for the normal $5,500 unsubsidized loan.
Two full years for each kid at $30k, $40k, $50k, or $60k per year?
Take your total college budget and divide by 8 to get the maximum price per year for each kid’s college. Or divide by 9 or 10 if you want an extra buffer against unexpected college cost increases or extra semesters before graduation.
If you really can only afford two years for each kid at even a lower cost four year school like an in-state public, then they may have to do their frosh/soph years at a low cost community college before spending the money for junior/senior years at a four year school. Otherwise, using up the college money for frosh/soph at a four year school and then dropping out due to running out is not a good outcome.
I thought Quinnipiac had a direct admit program…undergrad to grad…for Physical Therapy. Did she get accepted t9 THAT?
Do any of her other acceptences guarantee admission to DPT programs?
None ! These are not good options unless your household income is very substantial.
You need in state rates for Florida. Consider: Take a gap year if Florida will allow.Move to Florida, enter into a lease agreement, get a job, register car in Florida, register to vote in Florida & get Florida tags. Then enjoy one of the most incredible in state tuition rates in the nation!
She did get accepted into the Quinnipiac 3+3 program. $21K merit for first 3 years and $10K last 3 years with a sustained 3.3 GPA. If this school had football, decent weather, school spirit and somewhat of a social life on the weekends it would be a no brainer for her. If she goes just for the major opportunity, this is the place. Low grades for most everything else on her decision matrix.
Maryland may be Extra Large but it doesn’t feel that way if you’re in one of the special freshman-sophomore programs like University Honors or College Park Scholars. So whether or not she was invited into one of these programs makes a difference.
If she is going into six year program, you may have to divide your college budget by a higher number in the calculation described in reply #13.
It sounds like the ONLY reason she applied to Quinnipiac was for the program. Did she apply to any other direct admit programs?
I have to tell you…admission to DPT programs is HIGHLY competitive. HIGHLY.
Then again…she could,change her mind and decide to major on something totally unrelated.
If she is 100% sure about the DPT…she needs to keep the competitive nature of those applications in mind.