<p>Golfather… yes… I did say in my post that that amount was over 4 years… </p>
<p>MyLB…please come back and give your report on Wooster and OWU… my S will be applying to both and we are hoping to visit Wooster and Kenyon next month.</p>
<p>^He’s picking on you for saying $600,000k instead of either $600,000 or $600k.</p>
<p>And I assume that the amount is total scholarships offered from all schools, not from one school, yes?</p>
<p>5boys–not sure how a family from VA got so tied into the OH LACs (okay–I’ll stop using caps now) (mostly), but I toured Kenyon with one of my older kids and toured Wooster with both of my older ones. The BLUF (oops–sorry) (and for non government types, that’s a relatively new acronym that I actually like that stands for “bottom line up front”) is that I really really wanted my oldest to go to Wooster (and he looked at four LACs in OH). (There I go again.) Very nice kids, that whole senior year IS thing, black squirrels–what’s not to love? Just anecdotally, the only two adults I know who went to Wooster back in the day both ended up at Harvard medical school.</p>
<p>Kenyon is a really cool little school–but kind of too cool for my S. The kids there are really smart but if I had to label them, I’d say they tended more toward those artsy kids in hs. Lots of piercings. Fishnet leggings. Funky knee socks with mismatched shoes. Cigarettes. But I should add that a classmate of S’s ended up looking at many of the same schools–her dad is an architect and he and I agreed that Kenyon’s campus is the prettiest one we looked at.</p>
<p>Re: OWU–really nice, normal kids. They emphasize their international population (I think 11-12%). It ended up being a close second for my oldest, but he would have been very happy there.</p>
<p>P.S. on Kenyon–it’s a much tougher admit. In fact it’s the only school out of the eight he applied to that DS did not get in.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes.
Or, most likely, $60,000.
Unless, as you say, is covers a total from multiple schools.</p>
<p>And, again, in case 5boys (or anyone else) is not aware, “$600,000k” is equal to
600-million dollars!</p>
<p>LOL… Sorry for the confusion… I guess I should edit my posts better:)… but I’m sure you all didn’t think I meant 600 Million!! Anyway, yes, he received over 600,000 over 4 years from different schools. 2 schools offered him $30,000 a year,and others varying amounts ranging from 10,000 a year to 15,000 a year… every school that admitted him offered him something.</p>
<p>MyLB… thanks for the info! I think my DS is going to love Wooster, from the literature they sent it just sort of spoke to him. He is one of those wicked smart kids, just not in a traditional way…more out of the box smart. He loved the whole independent, think for your yourself, learn by doing thing going on at Wooster. He is also VERY arts and wants to do something in theater, so Kenyon will probably appeal to him too. But, like you said, a much harder admit… he may squeeze in there with his 3.5 rising GPA form a private rigorous prep and being a boy, but I certainly wouldn’t have him count on it… that’s why I want him to see Wooster and OWU.</p>
<p>Interesting observation about Kenyon. I know nothing about the school other than it is strong in writing, and I have never visited. Several recruited athletes from our HS have attended Kenyon recently and they are all preppy. We have a very small artsy contingent and the Kenyon students have not been among it.</p>
<p>Well certainly not all of the Kenyon students were like that–I was just reminded yesterday (first college visit in almost two years!) that just about every college campus has the fun/funky kid contingent, but I did notice a higher proportion at Kenyon than Wooster, OWU, or Denison.</p>
<p>MyLB–sorry, I didn’t mean sound as though I were questioning your judgment. I have never set foot on Kenyon’s campus and have been intrigued by the number of students from our school who apply there each year. Denison is another school that our east coast, preppy HS sends students to each year, but I have never heard Wooster or OWU mentioned other than on this site.</p>
<p>These trends go in waves where one student will attend an ‘unknown’ school and within a few years, we have ten applying to that school. Interesting to observe.</p>
<p>My sister is a Kenyon grad :). It used to be very preppy, but it’s a mix now. There is definitely a more hipster-intellectual vibe in recent years (would compare to Macalester maybe?). Too much of a reach for my DD, but S11 did look at Kenyon.</p>
<p>@Salvemater, we are in Virginia which is similar to CA in terms of the many great state options (and NY, NC, MI…). My older son did head to UVA in '11 (but transferring to VT Eng. this fall), however D13 has known all along that she belongs in an LAC and I completely agree with her!</p>
<p>Ya…my only concern with Wooster is that it won’t be hipster/quirky/funky as he would like. It is supposed to have a great theater program though. Unfortunately when my DS is on spring break and we are going to visit OH, Wooster is on spring break too. We can still get a tour and interview but we won’t be able to see students. </p>
<p>The other big draw for Kenyon is that he loves to write. Hoping there is not too much of a jock/preppy thing going on there.</p>
<p>Oh, and the aesthetics are hugely important to DS… it has to look like a college…LOL… that is why the OH schools are a big draw…and we are from So Cal!!!</p>
<p>@salvemater
For me, the appeal of an out of state LAC vs a SUNY is the geographic diversity of the student population. Is it worth the difference in cost? I’m not sure. I hope it is.</p>
<p>oneonmom, great advice re: your target schools, great strategy for successful apps. and successful college career!</p>
<p>pkdof13, I will pm you about Brandeis as soon as I am able to. This should be my 15th post so I’m hoping…</p>
<p>Interesting to read all of your thoughts re OH schools. We are going to visit Wooster and OWU in a few weeks, I’ll let you know our take when we get back.</p>
<p>First, congratulations to everyone and your kids on their acceptances! </p>
<p>I’m writing in part to thank you - S is into Susquehanna, a college I wouldn’t have known about if it weren’t for this thread. He’s also been accepted to SUNY Fredonia and Rider. (And I worried about him getting into college at all!)</p>
<p>He’s three for three so far, and I think he’ll have some other good options as we proceed, but for some reason, he’s more interested in Rider than almost anywhere else. He’s not very communicative and can’t say what is that appeals, but he talks about it consistently as being one of his favorite places. H and I didn’t like it that much, and we have particular concerns about it for S. He’s an ADD kid who’s always been in small classes in small schools. I think he might be reacting against smallness, which is understandable, but I worry about him getting lost in a bigger, less attentive environment.</p>
<p>My question is, once all the acceptances and aid packages are in (affordability is a big factor and he understands this), do we let him decide? I’m inclined to say no because he isn’t the most self aware kid in terms of accounting for his own needs. He’s also reticent about advocating for himself.</p>
<p>This decision is a couple of months off, but I never put off till tomorrow the worrying I can do today!</p>
<p>smythic–DS is also in at Susquehanna, which I also think I read about on CC. We’re going to visit in a few weeks–looking forward to learning about the place.</p>
<p>I posted up-thread that we went to Guilford on Monday and I was surprised at his reaction. He started in a public hs, transferred to a private, and has really enjoyed the small classes, interesting teachers, class discussions, . . . I really thought he was looking for something more LAC-sized. But pulling out after this great visit at a lovely, caring school, he said it was just too small. I asked him what his vision of college was and he said someplace big enough that he’d get lost in it for a while. (He didn’t like that he knew the entire Guilford campus by walking around it for a couple of minutes.) I was surprised to hear this and am not quite sure he even realized it until he did this visit. He also said that it was really similar to his high school in teaching philosophy and such. I think he might be looking for something that’s <em>different</em> from high school.</p>
<p>Anyway–re: who decides, did your parents decide where you went to college? I wouldn’t want the responsibility of making that decision for someone else. It’s not my life.</p>
<p>I have very mixed feelings about the “who decides” question. I’ve decided that it’s my responsibility - perhaps my last important one - to present the benefits and risks, pluses and minuses, of the choices DS has then join him in trying to weigh them from his perspective, viewing each through his priorities and preferences. Still his decision, but I think it is important to make sure the PROCESS of his decision-making is as thorough as possible. </p>
<p>It’s a bit tricky since DS still looks to me to know what’s best for him, so I have to be careful to try to stay out of the way with my own opinion lest I influence him more than I should.</p>
<p>The who decides question is interesting-- </p>
<p>For my oldest one school was eliminated (by us the parents) due to cost. It would have been a great choice, but coming in at almost $25k PER YEAR more than 3 of her other top choices we told her we couldn’t do it. She then narrowed down to her top two, visited those 2 again, and picked one. To me all 3 of her final choices would have been great, so I didn’t have a preference myself, and wouldn’t have mentioned my preference to her if I did.</p>
<p>Middle kid is in a sport so he did all but one of his college visits by himself. For him the $$ at his top three was close enough to the same, and since I had only seen one of the three schools myself I really did not feel I could offer any opinion at all. He did end up choosing the school I had visited with him, but choice was entirely his. ALl three were the same type of school so I didn’t see that there was a bad option for him</p>
<p>This one (last kid) has a much wider range of schools in terms of types. It is looking like we (the parents) will have to eliminate one of his top choices, again due to $$. I feel bad, but with no merit money it will come in at about $20k per year more than his other 3 top choices. We don’t have the total financial aid package, but I don’t think there is any way it will be close to affordable, and I am very reluctant to count on need based aid since it will be recalculated each year and can decrease significantly. He is not the type to share what he is thinking, but my plan is to have him think about which would be his top two (after expensive school eliminated) and then have him revisit those 2 if he wants. Then he can make his choice. For him I do have a feeling which would be the “best school” for him but I am keeping my mouth shut. He may know though-- he is fairly perceptive even though he doesn’t talk about much</p>
<p>MyLB, congrats on Susquehanna. H took S to see it, so I only know secondhand, but they both seemed to like it. </p>
<p>I decided on my own where to go to college, but my decision was based on the name and the fact that the school was beautiful, nothing substantive. I got out of it about what you’d expect someone to get out of a place picked solely for these reasons - i.e. not much (something I still regret). </p>
<p>I worry that S is doing something similar. If he could say why Rider, I’d be way more inclined to let him make his own choice, once finances are factored in. He’ll revisit a few places when we have all the acceptances in hand, and maybe that experience will enable him to articulate his thoughts about where he’d like to be for the next four years.</p>
<p>I graduated from high school a year early back in the early 70s. My Mom convinced me to go to Spain for a year at college because we really hadn’t even started to think about colleges.</p>
<p>While I was away my Mother applied to UC San Diego and that is where I went! When I asked her about her choice the main thing I can remember now is “it had a really good male/female ratio”. So, I didn’t really even get involved in my college choice like kids do nowadays.</p>