Hi @calmom : From a financial need standpoint, I have no ground to stand on. Carleton did better than their NPC predicted. They have done us justice with respect to the EFC. So I have to find other creative ways to find dollars, or more realistically, give up on Carleton completely. It was a tough conversation last night with my D. Lots of tears. The other four offering merit scholarships are excellent schools, but she can’t seem to get excited about any of them. Maybe visits will change her mind. Otherwise, as I said to her, she still has the great UCs and Cal Poly SLO (full ride). She’s very fortunate. April will be a busy month!
@mom2collegekids : Hi, yes, she doesn’t necessarily plan to major in science. Most probably, she will do something interdisciplinary that involves science and social science. In Whitman’s case, if she doesn’t major or double major in music, she only loses the smaller music scholarship and the free flute lessons, but keeps the larger scholarship. But Whitman was her “safety” LAC, so it’s unlikely she will choose it in the end. A bit too isolated and not enough diversity for her needs.
@Snowball City : Good point, we’ve thought about that extensively. I’m not too concerned about her deciding to do something else. There is no guarantee she’ll stay pre-med, and she does intend to take classes in C.S. (she does enjoy computer programming) to build up marketable skills required to get a job here, in the SF Bay Area (where she plans to return). Given her passion for mental health issues, she is likely to maintain an interest in the field. She really wants to be a psychiatrist, having witnessed the impact of mental illness on peers around her and on homeless veterans. However, knowing her, if her pre-med academic performance does not live up to her expectations, she will probably get demoralized and reevaluate whether the pre-med track is the best thing for her. In her case, happiness comes from both interest/passion AND doing well.
All of these colleges have a good track record of preparing students for grad school (PhD) as well. The one thing that does concern me is if she decides to join the workforce straight out of college, in my industry (high tech), the strength of the school brand and the alumni network can make a difference early in your career – to get that first recruiting phone call based on your resume. Later in your career, it stops mattering. We only care about your experience. And of course, once you get an interview, it’s all about you, not your degree.
One thing I’ll be scrutinizing is how these schools compare on the professional career advising and on-campus job recruiting front.
After all is scrutinized, you can do a cost/benefit analysis - and see the affordable options and what gives you the bang for your buck within your financial parameters.
Good luck and let us know what finally gets decided.
@BobShaw: Definitely visit the other campuses as time and your resources allow. She might surprise herself by discovering a new-found interest in another college. I can’t convey how pained I felt about the discussion you had to have last night with your daughter. You must hurt as much as she does.
I could have been in the same spot last year with our daughter. But I told our kids that’s why they had to drive our 1998 rusted-out Dodge Grand Caravan in front of high school peers who had nicer cars than those driven by mom and dad. “This helping to pay for your college,” I’d say to deaf ears. After 19 years, the Caravan died of exhaustion on Nov. 22 (R.I.P.) with 276,000 miles on it.
Our son once kicked the van after school, making bigger a rusted hole in its rocker panel, cursing the gods for his ill-deserved embarrassment. Now, as a sophomore at Univ. of Wisc. - Madison, he thinks his mom and dad are geniuses!! He’ll have no college debt, no need for a campus job, done some UW foreign study already-- just maximize his time to study, volunteer at a free medical clinic in Madison, and trail surgeons at the UW medical center. To me – and now to him – that beats some moving metal that just rusts away.
Wherever she ends up, your daughter will find her right place.
We are in a somewhat similar position, although the choices are all LACs. D got a great scholarship offer from Mt. Holyoke, then minimal FA from Smith and Bryn Mawr. She is very interested in a 5-year MA in International Affairs program that Smith has and the others don’t. If she does that, the saved cost on grad school turns out to be significant. But if she changes her mind, we are spending quite a bit more money than we need to for a LAC BA. Or rather, she is, because a chunk of the difference would be student loans. It’s tricky.
From your list of options, and given that your daughter is a musician, I think Oberlin might be a viable option if you want her to have that intimate LAC experience and not break the bank. Also, if she’s willing to consider living in a co-op, that will shave an additional 6K off the cost of attendance. Has she visited Oberlin as well? Like Carleton, it’s not too difficult to access, being about 45 minutes from a major airport.
We visited Northfield and Oberlin, although my daughter applied to St Olaf, not Carleton, because we wanted to avoid the dilemma you now face. We also have another child who will be heading to college in a few years and full pay was going to be hard to justify.
Good luck and I hope that she is at peace with whatever the result.
I think Carleton is outstanding, probably the top LAC in the Midwest, and top-10 nationally.
But Oberlin, Bryn Mawr, Scripps and Whitman aren’t chopped liver – all are well regarded.
@intparent mentioned the advantages of the Claremont schools and how a Scripps education would fit into that. I think the deal is pretty similar with the Quaker Consortium, though the schools are farther apart.
If you aren’t familiar, here’s a quick rundown:
- The QC consists of Penn, Swarthmore, Haverford and Bryn Mawr.
- Students at one can take classes at all the others. Penn appears to be most restrictive, but a Bryn Mawr student can take some classes at Penn if (i think...) they are not Wharton classes.
- Bryn Mawr is about a mile from Haverford. Those two seem to have the most participation with each other. BM students can even take a Haverford major, and vice-versa. For your reference, Haverford and Carleton are direct peers. Swat is widely considered a top-3 or top-4 LAC and the University of Pennsylvania is.. well, Penn. Ivy, Wharton, Ben Franklin, etc.
And add a column for weather in January. I think full tuition plus 75 degree days in January for SLO will beat out -20 and $$ for Carleton.
Yes, agree that the Quaker consortium is good (my kid who is at Mudd also got into Swat, and we have visited Haverford – twice – and Byrn Mawr). But the Claremont consortium is really ideal – 5 colleges, all fit together like Lego bricks, with easy cross registration. My kid has been taking classes on all the other campuses, and there are no transportation hassles or timing problems. They even all use a similar exam schedule based on the time the class is held, which avoids conflicts for students taking classes on multiple campuses. My kid also eats at the other colleges quite a bit. It is like having the benefits of a smaller college and a bigger one at the same time.
@prezbucky - Yes, we are familiar with and like the schools of the Bi-co/ Tri-co/ QC system. Did I mention she digs anything with an arboretum? Funny thing is, we visited Swarthmore, Haverford, and UPenn, but not Bryn Mawr, which was an afterthought in the application process because of its all-women’s status. She applied because of the possibility of a merit scholarship, and now that she has it, she’s coming around to the idea of all-women’s within a consortium. Now we need to visit BMC’s pretty campus. She didn’t apply to UPenn because she didn’t like the vibe of the campus surroundings, and she’s waitlisted at Swat. She really liked Haverford, the last LAC she’s waiting to hear from, but it doesn’t matter because the cost after need-based aid will be about the same as Carleton.
I do like the Claremont setup a little better. My D’s close H.S. friend at Scripps eats regularly across the 7 dining halls. Pitzer’s food is supposed to be excellent. And seeing that my D wrote down intercollegiate majors on her application, she is most likely to do something interdisciplinary that will require taking classes across the campuses, for example, STS (Science, Technology, and Society). Courses are offered through Scripps, Mudd, Pomona, and Pitzer. It’s also nice to have one of the nation’s best engineering schools right across the street for C.S. classes.
But I agree that she won’t go wrong with any of these schools.
It sounds like our daughters liked (and disliked) the same schools. We did get the chance to visit BMC and I will say that, in my opinion (even though she is not going there,) it is a particularly beautiful campus with some fantastic architecture and gardens. She is in a great position to decide, really. As you said, she can’t go wrong with any of these choices.
Pitzer has fresh fruit smoothies. 
And there is a nice botanical garden half a mile from Scripps.
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I’m sorry that your conversation went in that direction. My kids knew all along that finances were a factor and that I had final say-- both gave up top choice schools. The answer was clear for anyone to see on the spreadsheet I made with the bar graphs. It wasn’t’ even close. (I found for myself that the bar graphs definitely made analysis easier – there is something about having a visual that makes it a lot easier to see and understand the relationships between the numbers).
@intparent Are you referring to Rancho Santa Ana?
Hi there, I agree with all that was said esp. Comparing LACs to each other. Our daughter had a similar choice and went instate. It was very hard to turn down the highly ranked LAC that offered no FA. But we are very fortunate that William & Mary is an instate public for us. I don’t think she would have thrived at a school like UC berkeley so I understand your concerns.
We have 3 kids and need to be fair to all. So we told them going in that it was an instate public or merit to bring the cost to $45k per year. I’d encourage your d to revisit the schools that gave her great merit and hope she leaves her heart (and deposit) at one of them.
Remember in a year, she will be busy with her new friends and classes and won’t be missing MN winter!
We were a high-need family while my daughters were in college, and they both received generous financial aid (combined merit and need for D1, almost all need for D2). D2 went to Carleton. She had a good experience there, she got a good job after graduating, and she has been admitted to top Ph.D. programs, among which she’s deciding right now. But I wouldn’t have paid $20,000 per year extra for Carleton, and D2 wouldn’t have wanted us to. She took one school off her list at least in part because it would have cost a few thousand dollars extra per year.
Well, Mission LAC Applications complete. Haverford happened: $1K less than Carleton thanks to slightly higher costs and more generous grant. Love the handwritten note. She says that now if she goes to BMC, she won’t feel like a “Haverford reject” who took the back door. But she sees the wisdom in taking the merit scholarship and essentially attending the same institutions. And Marketing 101 is starting to do its magic: Scripps sent a box with an olive branch from one of their trees, a tote bag, a luggage tag, and a giant sticker for Class of 2021. Establish emotional connections! She’s sitting here holding these things and reading the letters. Give it a few days, and she’ll be like, “Carleton who?” 
Time to head to United.com…
You know, why are our women made to feel inadequate for going to an all-women’s school? I think it’s empowering and fantastic that they have these opportunities. Darn these magazine rankings and stereotypes.
Dont forget that Southwest flies into Burbank airport, in northern LA, which is far, FAR closer to Scripps than LAX!!
it should only take you 1/2 hr to get there from Burbank airport