Looking for a great fit LAC

College Search & Selection
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@Midwestmomofboys @porcupine98 I don’t know where we would be without the amazing support we received here. Some of you have been following since my very first post. And a few of you have reached out and offered very personal support. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I’ve had a crash course to say the least.

I cannot express my gratitude enough. I am humbled by the kindness of strangers. Some of you are no longer strangers. It’s not hyperbole when I say I would be absolutely lost without the support.

I think we are going to have some tough decisions to make in the weeks to come. And I wonder if we should try to expand options when her ACT scores are released?

Although, she seems very pleased with her perceived choices thus far.

I appreciate you all so much.

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Congratulations to both of you! Very excited for all the news. I hope you keep us posted. She’s going to have some great choices.

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Hooray! ! As overwhelming as this process is, for people who do the kind of work you’ve done to find good fits, it usually works out really well. It is fun to see!

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Congrats! Although it isn’t her top choice IMO the Coe acceptance with an aid package that makes the school affordable is huge. She now has an affordable LAC option in hand. Yay! Looking forward to hearing more good news.

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It is a great relief to have an affordable acceptance in hand, and she will also be thrilled about Knox. Again, though – I’d strongly encourage you to find a way for her to visit her top few affordable choices before she sets her heart on any of them. On campus and on paper are not the same! Part of your job right now should be to make sure she has choices AND is able to visit/evaluate them before the decisions are due (May 1). A student who rushes their decision can end up unhappy. You don’t want her talking transfer next winter break because she didn’t really get a good look at the school before deciding.

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@intparent both acceptances come with some travel package. I’ll see tomorrow what Knox offered. Coe is providing $250 to visit. That should get her there since it isn’t too far away.

The other schools we will hear from in the next week will,do fly ins if accepted.

I absolutely want her to visit before deciding. I do expect more yes letters or phone calls. Again, that was a very nice touch. My D and I were definitely not expecting that phone call.

Fun fact, apparently Coe has interesting clubs…like a club for bacon lovers. I’m not sure if that was a selling point for her? lol

It’s a great little school and definitely worth a visit.

I’m anxious to see what else comes through for her.

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She doesn’t have to rush deciding where to visit – no decision on where to attend is needed until May 1. There are varying schools of thought on this, but my kids got a lot out of going to the formal “accepted student” days and staying overnight on campus where possible. The schools are really trying to put their best foot forward, and often have more activities and campus programs going on than a regular visit. But the dates for those do tend to be clustered in April, sometimes the dates conflict at different schools, and it is exhausting to try to go to too many in one month. My kids maxed out at 3 in April.

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Yay for your daughter and yay for you!! What good news, and well-deserved!! I am guessing that St Olaf will be an acceptance as well – it does sound like she’ll have decisions to make over the next several months, with multiple variables in play, as the aid packages may well be different.

As others have said, it’s so exciting when students and parents do the research to come up with good fit options. Enjoy your day tomorrow!!

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@Grinnellhopeful - What great news!! It’s great to have a couple of acceptances in hand – especially when one is a top choice, and having an affordable option with stacking merit and need-based aid is a great thing to have.

Here’s hoping for an improved ACT score with some more great options!

I can’t agree more about the need to visit the schools – my daughter was accepted to her top choice EA school sight unseen. After visiting, she realized that she actively disliked the area in which the school was located and fell out of love. Thankfully she had continued to submit apps even after the EA acceptance came in, so she ended up with some other viable options to choose from.

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Your good news makes me very happy for you and your daughter. I have to say I admire your self-control with the Knox situation. I personally would have jumped on my daughter’s bed and woke her up. LOL. Keep us informed and wishing you continued good luck!

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Great news! More to Come!

Absolutely agree on taking time through the RD process, as some schools may not provide any insight until RD decisions in March - it doesn’t mean they want her less (usually the more selective schools will be less transparent early on as they have lots of highly accomplished applicants like her to chose from), and then hopefully she’ll have the opportunity to take her top 2 acceptance choices and attend their Accepted Student Day events in April.

While regular visits are good, as it may take more than one visit to be sure attending Accepted Student Day events will provide much greater insight, and many, many accepted students will be attending 2 or more of these events in April to make their final decision - its totally normal!

Happy Holidays!

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She just got the big envelope from Drake with 80,000 in Merit aid. They have not processed need based aid, yet.
She doesn’t really want to go there. It’s a safety. But she did say “”That’s a lot of money”.
She has some things to think about.

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@Grinnellhopeful I can’t believe that I am waiting with bated breath for the ACT results of a deserving young girl I’ve never met! Congratulations on all of the recent good news. I hope there is more to come!

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@mamaedefamilia Awwwww Thank you! I know, release her scores already!! The support from everyone has been amazing. I do truly believe that so many of you care. I will say it again, I would have been lost after the Grinnell rejection without everyone here. Because of the guidance, she is now getting acceptance letters and merit aid. It will help her think more clearly about her what’s next. She can think rationally instead of emotionally.

Hopefully, we can help someone with similar situations to ours. We have educated our GC so he can direct more students to private LAC instead of CC or State School. Because, it’s definitely more cost effective this way.

I’m crossing my fingers that her scores are in Friday’s batch. Cmon ACT…

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@Grinnellhopeful It’s exciting to watch this play out- I think your daughter will have some great choices!

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So did you give her the Knox letter yet? If so, what was her reaction? What I’m seeing is that even if her ACT doesn’t go up, she still has some great options. It’s a win-win situation.

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Hi, Grinnellhopeful!

I’ve been silently keeping up with you and your daughter since we first talked, and I’m so, so excited to see her thriving and earning these acceptances, ahhh! NOT TO GET ALL CAPITAL, BUT I’M SO ANXIOUS FOR HER ACT SCORES! I’m rooting for you both all the way! :slight_smile:

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Wow, catching up on this thread.

First, from one Knox alum to a future (?) Knox alum, congrats!

Second, definitely take advantage of that travel money and visit Coe. If Knox and St. Olaf offer less attractive FA packages, follow the money if Coe is a good fit! Coe is a nice college that–in my humble opinion–is seriously overlooked. Your post made me check out their majors and faculty, and I was impressed. Plus, your daughter won’t know for sure which school is the right fit until she visits. She might visit Knox, St. Olaf, and Coe, and maybe it is Coe that makes her feel like she’s home. She needs to choose a place where she’ll be spending four years of her life, and that’s an important decision. No, there’s no such thing as a perfect school, but there is very much such a thing as a bad fit. St. Olaf probably has the best reputation of the lot, but if Coe provides the more nurturing environment that your daughter needs, well…

Fit is what is important: academic fit (make sure your daughter looks into potential majors (even though she may very well change her mind) and compare departments at the schools), personal fit (what is the vibe on campus? how friendly are students, faculty, and administration? which school feels most like “college” to her? which seems most nurturing?), and financial fit.

Coe is in Cedar Rapids, which is one of Iowa’s largest cities (maybe second largest?), so your daughter would have access to more shopping/dining/social options. Believe it or not, Cedar Rapids is large enough to even provide internship opportunities. Some Coe students complain that the school is in the “bad part” of Cedar Rapids, but this is small-town Iowa overreaction. Some Knox students speak the same way about the “mean streets” of Galesburg. LOL/sigh. Anyway, Galesburg and Northfield are much smaller than Cedar Rapids, though Northfield is home to two very prestigious colleges, St. Olaf and Carleton, which I would guess affects the character of the town? Others could weigh in on this.

Galesburg is what it is: a railroad town that boomed back in the day (read: late 19th and early 20th century) but like most railroad towns (and river towns) has struggled ever since. Still, I like Galesburg, and most of the complaints about it come from students who have never been exposed to life outside their middle to upper class suburban homes. Students who come from downstate Illinois or the small towns of Iowa and Wisconsin (these three states account for 60 percent or more of the Knox population) have no problem with Galesburg. The area right around campus (Seminary St. especially) is cute, but even though Galesburg is a town that has a college in it, it is definitely not a college town. Galesburg is around 30,000 people, and it is isolated. The closest “big” cities are Peoria and the Quad Cities (both equidistant from Knox, about 45 minutes away). Chicago is three hours away.

Best of luck, and, again, congrats!

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@Hapworth I LOVE your reply!! I can’t wait to share it with my D. Her letter wasn’t in today’s mail so she still doesn’t know. She’s been drawn to Knox since we discovered it.

She got accepted to Drake today, I almost wish I could post the video. You can see her absolute disappointment that it wasn’t from Knox lol. They gave a very generous merit package.

I hope the Knox package gets here tomorrow. The AO also sent Knox socks and a lanyard.

There are a few others lingering out there that I suspect will be acceptance letters as well. They were EA so I think they’ll come before Christmas.

But she has an obsession with Knox. St. Olaf is moving rapidly up her list as well. Although that’s not for sure. It does seem likely.

Again, what a helpful reply!!

Thank you!

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@kalons I need to catch up with your progress!! I’m anxious to hear what’s happening!!

Yes, ACT is making me crazy right now. I “think” they’ll release another batch on Friday?

I’m not sure after that because of Christmas and New Years?

But we need those scores, pronto!!