<p>Speaking of economics, Lafalum, that’s the other factor that needs to remembered when we’re talking about how many schools people are applying to. In our case, if we were a full-pay family, three or four applications is all we would need to be assured of our son getting into a school he would be happy about attending. But nine is barely enough to feel reasonably confident that he will get into a school we can afford to send him to.</p>
<p>True enough nightchef, that is why I have been buying “Paying for College Without Going Broke” by Kalman Chany (Princeton Review) since my oldest child was a high school freshman! I am an educated consumer, something the colleges don’t want you to be! It is now time to buy the 2010 Edition & do the worksheets in back of the book to estimate our EFC’s for the 2010-2011 school year for two in college.</p>
<p>Economics certainly plays a role, but it is not the only reason for low 4-year graduation rates. Most of the kids in our area who have taken 5+ years to get their degree were not economically disadvantaged. Many of them transferred one or more times, and were not able to transfer all of their credits from one school to another. Others have changed majors at mid-stream and had to take a whole new laundry list of pre-requisites. A few found themselves in over their heads at their four-year college and came home to brush up on the basics at the local CC. And, as yabeyabe2 mentioned, some were unable to get into classes they needed to graduate. This has happened to a friend’s daughter who recently transferred to SUNY Albany. She had already spent 3 1/2 years at the local CC and Towson. Now, because Albany could not fit her into a class she needs to graduate, she has decided to postpone her entry into Albany until next year and plans to work and take a couple online courses over the next 12 months.</p>
<p>Graduation rates and time to graduation are one of the reasons why I have steered my kids to smaller privates with potential merit money vs. larger state schools. </p>
<p>My older son (not 3.0-3.3 GPA, but relevant to this topic) got merit money at a smaller engineering school. We figured that 4 x the discounted rate was only a bit more than 5 x UT, where most engineers take 5 years because they cannot always get into the required classes in the optimum sequence. That, combined with a better job placement track record made the private a significantly better investment over the public. (We’ll see if this holds up in the recession. He is a Jr.)</p>
<p>S2 as I have discussed, has lower GPA, so (with y’alls advice) he plans to apply to about 10 schools to compare his COA against the strength of their programs and outcomes.</p>
<p>It is astounding to me that so many guidebooks; web resources; and GCs do not focus on graduation rates. Given the cost of tuition; the cost and burden of transferring; etc I would much rather see this statistic up front in all caps than the number of sports teams or even the student/faculty ratio.</p>
<p>And I have never seen a magazine article or book chapter which looks in depth at how to determine at various income and GPA/SAT levels if you are likely to get enough aid at a private to match the cost of a public in high cost public states–much less an article which factors in the likelihood of needing 5 years at some publics.</p>
<p>LafaLUM84 - I absolutely agree with your comment. I think there are a lot of reaches that my son would have loved but I’d rather focus on matches/safeties.</p>
<p>Mom2sons - If ds has 11 schools that he likes that he should just apply to all of them (unless he can’t afford to). That’s not an unreasonable number.</p>
<p>Also, it seems as if most of my son’s apps are free if he applies online or uses the priority app.</p>
<p>I’m really enjoying the process of watching my son realize what this 4 year committment involves financially. He’s starting to think that he’s rather go to a school that will give him decent merit $$$ and that way he can spend his $$$ on grad school. I guess they all grow up eventually.</p>
<p>We’re just in a waiting game here as all apps are in, but I do have a question. There is one last school I wanted my son to consider applying to which he hasn’t visited. The school takes the Common App. but in the supplement, they ask you to “explain your academic achievement” and they specifically say that if you have any grades below a “B” than you should talk about it. So my question is…my son doesn’t have any C grades but does have a B minus (honors course, so a little easier to explain I guess than in a regular one) which I guess he can explain in that space in a paragraph. But should he also be launching into why his grades may not be “reflective of his abilities” (since his SAT score is much higher, is that something a college would want to hear about when they ask such a question) or just leave it alone? (He may not even bother applying to this school since this question is such a dilemma!)</p>
<p>I guess they could have worded their question as “C+ or lower”, which would remove any question about the B-, but I’d suggest leaving it alone. Especially if there’s only 1. They can see all of his other grades and his SAT score.</p>
<p>One other thing - My son’s latin teacher passed out a paper today with a heading something like there are choices between Harvard and CC. It was a list of about 50 schools at very levels of entance difficulty that she felt were often overlooked. It was refreshing to have a teacher encourage the students to broaden their search.</p>
<p>RTR, I think you need not mention the B-.
Warriorboy, it is great that the teacher did that–and a shame GCs do not.
The one downside to a child becoming focused on the economics of college is that, to a child, $1000 may seem like an immense amount of money, but I would not want my child to change his choice for $1000 (of course, each family has its own tipping point $ figure).</p>
<p>RTR - congrats on getting all the apps in - I hope you celebrated that milestone in some way with your son!</p>
<p>yabeyabe2 - My son isn’t so focused on the finanaces that he would go to a school that he doesn’t like. The differences he’s looking at are in the 10,000’s. Of course, we won’t know how it all plays out until he actually gets acceptances.</p>
<p>RTR - That is fabulous. You can sit back and relax!!! I was excited when my son completed his first 3 apps. I’d be celebrating big time if I were you.</p>
<p>We’re in the same boat. Our D is a B+ student in a high school where a 93 is an A-. Her most recent SAT was a combined 1730, higher in writing than M &V. She’s looking at LSU since she’s probably going to major in French, wants to go OOS and likes the feel of a large state U. Merit aid is unlikely and need based is not an option.</p>
<p>My daughters were worried that the Nov. 1st EA would be too early for the October SAT date. I called a few colleges and they said if they get there within 2 wks, it is usually fine. They don’t start looking at everything right away. Luckily most of the early dates are Nov. 15th and Dec 1.
I think it makes sense, the Nov. 4th test should be fine or any Dec. 1st EA dates and beyond.
One of my daughters wants a “reach” college but didn’t do that stellar on one of her SATll’s. She would love to just submit the ACT so she is taking that 3 times and seeing what happens. Her last should be in Dec.</p>
<p>OK, my son is struggling with the “greatest contribution” part of a college supplement question. His answer is probably about 6 sentences long and I can’t see a way to elaborate. Any idea how long those short answer questions should be? The “why did you choose to apply is easy”, but also difficult. How much info do you include? Any advice???</p>
<p>What does “greatest contribution” mean? Is it asking what his greatest contribution to his school has been? Does it give a suggested word count?</p>
<p>P.S. The whole thing was a bit anti-climactic for my son…he just isn’t that into the whole process. Meanwhile, I was at a local party last night and was floored by the amount of people in my town that are using counselors to put together their kids’ applications…for the first time it made me wonder if we have been at a true disadvantage in this town from the beginning of the process! Obviously I’ve learned a lot from CC, but we’re talking about counselors that have worked with their kids every step of the way, from course planning to essay writing to what to write in the thank you note…</p>
<p>When do you send thank you notes?</p>
<p>Beats me…we don’t have a counselor for that…lol…</p>
<p>But one mother really did say that the counselor “helped her son craft his thank you notes”. I assume she meant after interviews.</p>
<p>RTR, I am sure you have done as well or better by your son than a private counselor would have. If your son is not into the application writing process, I doubt mandatory sessions with a counselor would have done anything but infuriate him.</p>
<p>In our affluent NJ suburb, there are tons of parents paying major bucks to counselors–and most say they have gotten little value from them, while none has mentioned a single college a counselor suggested that wasn’t obvious.</p>
<p>In today’s Times, a private counselor says his kids write 25 practice essays before their senior year. What a great way to burn out a kid! You might find a relationship between kids feeling pressured by the private counselor process and kids who turn to alcohol and drugs to rebel.</p>
<p>I’m a little thrown by the concept of sending thank-you notes for interviews. I assume my son has said ‘thank you’ to his interviewers at the end of each interview, in the way polite people naturally do in such situations. A formal thank-you note, though, seems like overkill to me, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t sent any. Is this a serious problem?</p>