<p>*S is college soph, D is hs junior. She knows she'll go "anywhere but 'his' school." S goes to a very small school, and it's not what D's looking for. *</p>
<p>Here too.
D #1 graduated from a college that is smaller than D #2 high school.
D#2 doesn't want a big school, still wants an LAC feeling school- but one that is not so small, not so " I'm going to beat you over the head with my intellect", not a party school, but a school where she can succeed.</p>
<h1>1 S is a freshman at Duke and loving it. #2 S is a HS junior. It is his greatest desire to follow #1 S to Duke. They both attended Duke TIP for several summers. # 2 S will apply to Duke ED next fall. They have similar scores, HS class ranks, HS GPA's, and EC's, so we'll see. I believe legacy/sibling status is some limited boost at Duke.</h1>
<p>My D, who's a jr., never wanted to consider the university her brother, a college freshman, attends. Too close to home, too this ... too that. Now that he's been there for a semester, she's actually considering the university. I don't think it's her first choice, but I know she really sees how much the honors college there has worked for him, and she's seen the "benefits" of being close to home but not living at home. So, where it used to be, "not on your life ..." It's now ... "well, there are some good things about that school ..." It'll be fun to see how it all pans out. </p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>My daughters are back to back college junior and senior. D2 applied to five schools, accepted at four, waitlisted at one. Initially, she did not picture herself at "her sister's college". But the search process throughout senior year was most interesting as one after another was eliminated and she found herself drawn to Saint Mary's (Indiana). Very small college, different majors, different dorms, different friends, but they really don't run into each other unless it's a planned event. They have made it a weekly Sunday routine to do brunch and mass together. We are five hours away so it's been wonderful to have them in the same city. Not for every family but for us it's been good.</p>
<p>The most telling comment of all came from the youngest over Christmas break as she was contemplating her sister's graduation this May: "I honestly can't picture life at school next year without my sister!"</p>
<p>I'm a Junior in college, while my sister is a senior in high school. One of her main criteria was definitely- not USC! She doesn't hate my school- every year before thanksgiving for the last three years she has spent a night with me and gone to my classes with me, but she knows from the experience that she wants to go to a much smaller school, in an area that isn't near a large city. All of this despite the fact that we are pretty similar, personality wise. </p>
<p>I think the fact that she got so much experience at my school really helped with her college search, because she had an idea of what certain colleges were like, and could make an informed decision. Now we are playing the waiting game with her, to see where she gets accepted!</p>
<p>Wow! Thanks for all the great responses. I hadn't seen discussion of this in the past on CC (although I'm SURE there has been)---this is really good info and shows lots of different points of view.</p>
<p>My D is 5 years older than my S, so they would not be at school together anyway. S went on all the college visits for her (but was only 12 yo) He ended up looking at many of the same ones she did, plus 2 that she did not. It came down to the college D had graduated from and a smaller school that gave him a very generous scholarship. For many reasons, not just the scholarship, he chose the smaller school, even though D's school was really his first choice. Well after the first 2 days of class, he knew he did not want to be at that school any longer and we began the transfer process to D's school. He just started there and is very happy.</p>
<p>Well...at our house, the two college searches were completely different. The kids are polar opposites. Child #1 is a music major and attended school in the northeast. Child #2 is an engineering major and wanted a school in a warm climate. Their interests and college lists didn't cross at all...not at all.</p>
<p>DS#2 would probably have attended the state flagship U that his brother, two years older, attends. I am still mystified, but DS#2 was not accepted to FL U, despite stats that far exceed the average admit. But I really think that things have really worked out for the best.</p>
<p>The two are very similar in abilities, and thus attended the same magnet HS, and followed in similar paths there. Son 2 has visited brother at college, hung out with his friends, etc. Had he attended that school I am sure that he would have gravitated to the easy familiarity of hanging out with his brother and friends. Instead, he has found his own way at his university, made great friends, and is doing his own thing. I had always thought that it would be better for him to have to find his own path in college, and now I am even more certain that this was the best thing for him.</p>
<p>DS #3 is about to join the search. He's a junior in HS this year. I truly don't know where his search will lead, but he wants do do college visits at both his brothers' schools. OTOH, he's sending his SAT scores to other schools as well.
Stay tuned....</p>
<p>In our family D1 is a junior at UCSD and is on the crew team, which was her goal.....D2 is a HS senior and not yet sure which college she'll attend (so far she's in at Stanford, but is looking elsewhere), but is focused on attending medical school. I'm not sure it would matter if they attended the same college, because now that they no longer live together they are better friends. Two years ago I would have been AFRAID for them to be on the same campus!</p>
<p>I worry more about their younger brother, S, who is a freshman in HS, because he has now said he wants to go to Stanford, which we all know is a very difficult school to get into. I don't want him to think that Stanford should be his goal, because he is different than D2, and may not be willing to work as hard or be involved as much as D2. I guess I don't want him to be disappointed, or to think we would be disappointed if he didn't get in...... because I just want him to be happy and to go to whatever school fits him. But at the same time, I certainly don't want to discourage him. My solution was to tell him that if he wanted to go there, he would need to work harder and become more involved in ecs, but that it didn't matter to me either way. Not sure if I handled it right, but that was my instinct.</p>
<p>Mythmom, I didn't think it was Freudian, hence the wink. I mistype stuff like that all the time.</p>