<p>Oldold; Good luck! But you know, you can have all this angst now and your child end up deciding to change majors and transfer next year. So may as well try to relax! </p>
<p>Another thing to consider concerning the smaller schools is the general feel you child may have of the other students on the campus. One reason my son chose his school was the main draw of the student body was in our general state metropolitan area. The kids here were more cosmopolitan than some other schools he considered. The issue was comfort factor and that our son felt comfortable with these kids.</p>
<p>oldolddad - good luck to you and your son. your posts always seem so sensible and down to earth, i know your son will make a great decision. he's had a good example to learn from.</p>
<p>Well, we are one more family in the midst of making this decision. However, it is extremely likely, barring a miracle, that D will be following the money. Her two schools are Miami U of Ohio and Furman. Cost of attendance after scholarships is <$15k per year vs. >$30k per year. In our case, money unfortunately does matter.</p>
<p>My oldest child is an economist, so I asked him for his opinion. He said that since D is "undecided" the ideal situation would be the cheaper school that has more options. She will have more opportunity to explore. And in the event that it takes her awhile to settle down into a major, we may be glad to have not spent all our money the first four years! With a smaller school, too, if you don't "fit" - it becomes harder to find a peer group you're comfortable with. Larger school not only has more majors, but also more dorms, more eating places, more clubs, more "subsets."</p>
<p>The draws for Furman are that it is closer and the weather is nicer. I also like the idea of a smaller school for her, for the personal attention. (It is frustrating to not have gotten answers from any of the Miami staff she's emailed, outside of the music dept. A sign of things to come?) I think she likes the music dept better, too, but that is hard to judge without being in the middle of it. These differences are probably not worth $60k over 4 years. </p>
<p>At either school, she could always decide she's not happy there -- In that scenario, making the "cheaper mistake" would be better.</p>
<p>Sharing our thought processes to give you a different perspective, since most folks on the thread have gone the opposite direction.</p>