LAC vs State U

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

<p>I would love any and all opinions....</p>

<p>Ds has been accepted to UPitt with a full-ride.</p>

<p>Ds has been accepted to W&L with a full-ride.</p>

<p>Ds has been accepted to UVA as an Echols Scholar.</p>

<p>Dh and I would like to see ds at W&L. Ds would like to attend UPitt. Somehow sending my homeschooled ds off to a LARGE state school with 18,000 students where he would be (obviously) one of the TOP 50 to 100 students just doesn't seem right to me. Yes, there are research opportunities there, but ds is NOT Mr. Get-Up-And-Go-and Pursue-All-Options, and at UPitt the burden would be on him to make things happen.</p>

<p>At W&L there would be more hand-holding, more individual interaction with profs. My dd (freshman at W&L) has an AMAZING internship this summer, and she probably would have let it fall through the cracks had her prof not followed through with her multiple times in late fall and early winter. I am afraid that ds would attend UPitt but not be self-motivated enough to seize the initiative, at which point he would be better off at the LAC even though it has fewer opportunities.</p>

<p>And then there is UVA, which I see as sort of between the two -- more intellectual than UPitt but larger and with more resources than W&L. But he didn't receive a full-ride there, so UVA would be about $16K more per year.</p>

<p>I would appreciate all thoguhts! (Can you tell that neither dh nor I attended a state school?)</p>

2

<p>Based on the info. in your post, your choices appear to be down to Washington & Lee's full ride versus a full ride at the University of Pittsburgh. Depending on the student's intended major, there may be no wrong choice here. As the campus cultures are opposite extremes, the better choice should be obvious to the student. Personnally, I think that Pitt's environment may be better for a homeschooled student as W & L is well known for very heavy drinking. Pitt awards a lot of academic scholarships and has a great honors program. Thus, W & L is better for a fraternity centered social life, while Pitt's Honors Program is better for scholarly pursuits, in my opinion. The air quality in Pittsburgh is a concern, however. Today's just released rankings place Pittsburgh's air quality as the second worst in the nation behind Los Angeles. Had the student received an equivalent scholarship from Virginia, then UVa. would be the clear choice.</p>