<p>Thanks mom2sons. I’ve heard L&C is beautiful, and I know Portland is wonderful. D has a cousin there. I think it would be an excellent fit for my D, and I’d love to have her a little closer to home.</p>
<p>warriorboy - In the post that put out the different scenarios we are looking at, I was going by info in the acceptance letter and info from a financial meeting held at school. And believe me, I’m new at this…</p>
<p>Basically at the FA meeting, they said schools put together a FA package of many components, all totaling to meet the need, based on your EFC. Grants, scholarships and loans.</p>
<p>In the acceptance letter it was stated that the receipt of other significant scholarships or grants may result in an adjustment to this merit scholarship. Perhaps that’s the key words - scholarships/grants…not loans. So I think I misspoke in my post - it wasn’t about loans.</p>
<p>In our situation, with the merit $$, it puts the college below our EFC - therefore we would not qualify for any other FA…atleast that is what I’m thinking. I am thinking our situations are different. And this may be just the rules at this college.</p>
<p>Any experts out there ready chime in?</p>
<p>Buying a college is like buying a Car-
You like looking when the need isn’t immediate
It’s a hassle when you do need one
And you always feel you could’ve made a better deal</p>
<p>Sorry, had a long day…</p>
<p>S2 is now 3/3 - got a nice elegant folder from Gonzaga today, including some merit money! Looks like he will have some choices after all. (He still has applications to his 2 “super reaches” to finish.)</p>
<p>His UW GPA is just under 3.2, even lower if you look at just academics, so I really think these schools are looking at the AP’s, and possibly his EC’s, and giving “bonus” points. Plus, he wrote a good essay (at least I think so).</p>
<p>2010search - you need to check the school’s ED program. May ED2 programs either accept or deny - there are no deferrals.</p>
<p>S had a second acceptance today. He logged into the Drexel application check & got a ‘congratulations!’</p>
<p>He really liked the school when we visited; however, it was before I understood what ‘EFC’ was. So, he’d need more than a token amount of merit aid (unlikely I think, with his stats) to make it doable.</p>
<p>His next two decisions will come in Feb, the last two in April.</p>
<p>Congratulations to everyone on all of the acceptances. This week brought a lot of good news for the holiday season. Keep the good news coming.</p>
<p>Have not posted in so long! School vacation starts tomorrow, so S has promised to get everything done before January 1st. He also has to to send out Common App Arts Supplement with recorded CD. Thank goodness he is the last one out of four with this process so maybe I can turn off my “nagging” machine! 
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<p>Hi everyone. Congrats on all the great news! Our kids are doing really well!</p>
<p>S has gotten into a few schools, most are public schools and one is private. I really think that public schools are going to be the only ones that are affordable for us since we won’t qualify for aid (although we are filing the FAFSA and CSS Profile) and because he is not interested in the smaller privates where he might get merit (he wants a big “rah rah” school as you may remember). I have to admit that I’m still worried about whether he is going to get what he needs at a big public. I’m sure the social life will be great, but I keep hearing stories about kids not being able to get the classes they want, or having a class with hundreds of kids in it. </p>
<p>I went to a public school (also big “rah rah” place) for college. I was in the honors program there, but that really only meant taking a few honors courses…I still had a fair amount of freshman classes in halls with 400 kids. I know that, once I got into my major and was taking classes with 30 or so kids, I enjoyed it much more. I just don’t know how much has changed in the nearly 30 years since I went to college, and whether there are even more giant classes at the big schools and if it’s even less personal that it was. My S goes to a school where he graduating class is 150 kids. He doesn’t know at all what it’s like to be at a giant school!</p>
<p>I think I’m going to post this issue in another thread to get some input.</p>
<p>RTR - Has your son considered Gonzaga? It’s very “rah rah” and has small classes. When we visited, it was the first day of the NCAA tournament - can’t get any more “rah rah” than that. They were even closing the bookstore early so they could go to the viewing parties. </p>
<p>What impressed me was that the professor called each student by their name as they walked into the class. Our tour guide told us that there are only a handful of “large” classes (~100), I think in the business program. There is only one large lecture hall.</p>
<p>Gonzaga is less expensive than most privates, and they have merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Martina, although Drexel is very expensive, their co-op program offers the opportunity to earn some money, so factor that in as well.</p>
<p>RTR, a very bright boy I know, the child of 2 quiet professionals, told his dad what he wants out of college is to be on TV with his chest painted</p>
<p>I second the Gonzaga endorsement. I didn’t see or hear anything I didn’t like there–loads of school spirit, a strong identity, good aid, close-in dorms, a well-planned and managed campus, easy access to the Spokane river walk and downtown. Unfortunately my daughter had already been influenced by the opinion of a friend (too preppy/sporty) and didn’t apply. Rumor has it that a recent shakeup in admissions at Seattle U was due to rising competition from and yield rates at Gonzaga.</p>
<p>Would Gonzaga’s air fare costs wipe out RTR’s tuition savings vs. for example, Siena and St Josephs, which are also good basketball Catholic colleges she could drive to?
I think ESPN has brainwashed this generation into believing you are not having a good college experience unless you can be seen on national TV in the stands.
With state schools, it is vitally important to check 4 year graduation rates (as a fifth year of tuition caused by required classes being full can wipe out savings vs. privates); level of academic, graduate school and job market mentoring; size of classes; and likelihood of feeling lost on a vast campus with tens of thousands of kids. Many kids can; many can’t.</p>
<p>I’m not in the 3.0-to-3.3 camp, but I thought I’d chime in that I’ve attended a MAC school whose football team appeared on TV at most once a year, if they were lucky, and another school with a top football program that was on TV weekly. Honestly, it was a lot of fun at both places. Top sports programs should be a minor factor at best for prospective students who are not athletes or otherwise involved in athletics (such as sports management majors) themselves.</p>
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<p>With all due respect, every prospective student has to decide what is right for them. There are no “shoulds” in choosing a college.</p>
<p>yabe is right…Seattle is a bit far. Also, Catholic is a bit…Catholic…lol…</p>
<p>Yabe…I’ve been trying to check four year graduation rates and just can’t seem to find them for most schools. As I mentioned, I went to a state school, and everyone I knew graduated in four years unless they were in a five year program…so this whole idea that people don’t graduate as quickly at a public school is new to me!</p>
<p>ReadytoRoll, here is an excellent site for comparing graduation rates. I plugged U of Alabama:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search1a.aspx?institutionid=100751[/url]”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search1a.aspx?institutionid=100751</a></p>
<p>Thanks Northeast mom…just what I was looking for!</p>
<p>Just to try the system out, I looked up the four year rate at Gonzaga, and the four year rate at University of Maryland…Gonzaga is higher but not by a lot. I guess it’s not so clear that public schools have hugely lower graduation rates than private ones. Some are truly abysmal though…I wonder if that is more because of financial issues for the students. Presumably a student who is not as well off might be more likely to attend a public university, and perhaps not be able to afford to finish? I guess I’m wondering if it’s really because you can’t get into the classes you want.</p>
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<p>You could say that about every single opinion ever expressed on this board, but that would get annoying.</p>
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<p>Most opinions offered are in response to a request for them. I would counter that opinions not sought (i.e. “Well if you ask me…”) are usually perceived to be the ones that are, indeed, annoying (i.e. “We didn’t”).</p>
<p>However, if anyone ever asks what they should personally base their college choices on, I’ll be sure to send them over to you.</p>
<p>It had never occured to me before this search that publics’ graduation rates could be an issue, but then I saw a 4 year rate below 60% for Rutgers, Uconn and UMD (and some well regarded privates --Roanoke, etc) and thought: What? Using NEmom’s very helpful link, I saw UConn–a very good school–had a 4 year rate of 54%, a 5 year of 71% and a 6 year of 74%. To me, the big gap between 4 and 5, and the small gap between between 5 and 6, suggests a lot of kids need a 5th year to get required classes. Perhaps UConn and similar schools have a different explanation–but NE’s site dates back before the stock market crash, so I do not think it can just be finances.
I find it a sad sign of the times that NE’s site’s default setting seems to be the 6 year graduation rate.</p>
<p>Certainly, private schools may have their own graduation rate issues–I saw a study which had Susquehanna and Moravian, both at 4 years/80% or so, at the top of their selectivity category’s results, with many schools much lower–but I think it may be more of a surprise at well-respected flagships.</p>
<p>Mantori, you are welcome to your own opinion of the value of sports (or the lack thereof). It is not a universal view, however, nor is it limited to less selective colleges. When my Ivy college was very good in football or basketball, ir was a glue binding a very high percentage of the students. And schools as diverse as Duke, Villanova, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Siena and UNC have been able to translate the appeal of nationally ranked teams into increasing average applicant GPA/board scores. Even top students seem to want to be on ESPN.</p>
<p>I think sports has become too important at many schools, and the athletes often exploited, but, as with the value of a strong Greek presence, I recognize opposing views.</p>
<p>We got another YES - from (rah rah) UConn! It’s 3 for 3!</p>
<p>I am surprised it was a Yes, as GC said that they are really competitive.
I am thrilled, because I think there’s a match of GPA/SAT’s with our S. But it’s so big - I know he is favoring Central CT…and we don’t want him to, as someone put it, ‘fall thru the cracks’.<br>
I wonder if the school feels smaller once you are attending…</p>
<p>We are all having such great news!</p>