Parents of the HS Class of 2017 - 3.0 to 3.4 GPA

Parent Cafe
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@eandesmom , TacoSon really likes the in-state option that is often called a “public LAC.” TacoDad likes its low price tag. So they’re actually on the same page. If TacoSon really liked one of the LACs, we’d be having more of a discussion. I think he enjoyed aspects of all of them but wasn’t totally blown away by any.

If TacoSon gets into William & Mary – which is a reach but not totally impossible – I’ll have to make an argument for about $15K more per year; it’s public and we’re in-state, but the tuition is considerably higher than the other state schools. I’m fighting against common sense, natural New England frugality PLUS his own experience of true full rides for both undergrad and grad school. Basically, he doesn’t understand anyone paying high tuition!

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@techmom99 How on earth does that work. You can’t say yes to two schools. Rules of the game that I know it. #1) You are only supposed to say yes to ONE school. If you do this you could lose both spots if they find out. At all the schools I know of (particularly CA state schools) the deposit doesn’t hold a spot for spring semester. If you don’t actually register, pay for fall semester, show up the spot gets offered to someone on the waitlist. Does SUNNY have a special program for this. Did put a deposit and say her student was deferring for a year?

@endesmom It’s nice to hear your son has really opened up to you. Train rides are really good for that. He’s a captive audience. I suspect just talking about it will help prevent that situation from happening. Have a great time visiting colleges this week. Hope the college tour helps clarify the situation. Good Luck.

@CoyotteMom Sounds like a great visit. Sounds like it was a great tour. Yes we paid extra $ for my old D because we knew she needed to be at a small LAC rather than a large state school.

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@“Queen’s Mom” A BFA is similar to a BS. BFA’s take more art classes and fewer general ed courses. Both require more courses in your major and less general ed course, and less room for a minor or double major. In some ways it’s a more rigorous degree.

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I had to read through quickly after being internet-less for two weeks so I probably missed some stuff. But I do have a long post of replies here for your reading pleasure!

@Hankster1361, congrats on WUE at CSU – makes a big difference. And also for acceptance to ASU. I know what you mean about location subtracting points from an otherwise great fit. Regarding honors at CSU I say definitely apply! We’ve been on a few visits and it seems like a pretty low-pressure program compared to others – mostly just smaller more interesting electives. The engineering session specifically mentioned that it’s very compatible with engineering. And priority registration rocks. Worst case he doesn’t like it and drops it (or they drop him as happened to oldest D at CU-Boulder!

@curiositycat333, grats on CU-Boulder acceptance. I think your S should go there purely for the reason that you and I could get together for some coffee! (Jealous of @CoyoteMom and @tacocat333)

Also @mackatarinasmom congrats on Wooster and @VAOptimist congrats on Muhlenberg – more good news coming all (well most…) of the time.

@CoyoteMom, I enjoy hearing the talk of Beloit even though D wouldn’t apply (lack of an engineering program puts them at a bit of a disadvantage for her list :wink: ) I always heard good things and had a good impression of the school when oldest applied there.

I also loved our (oldest D and me) visit to Goucher and think it would have been a great fit for her but their dance program was too conservatory style for her (not a good fit.)

@eandesmom, I’m glad I got the non-realtime news of E’s calc travails. I’m so glad it doesn’t look like it will affect anything and takes a lot of stress off him (especially since he has it coming from other directions). Funny that just today D said she had briefly worried about not applying to CU-Boulder but is now confident that she would hate being THAT local. D’s plan is the exactly what you said about transferring to in-state if private doesn’t work out.

@MSU88CHEng, I would highly recommend sitting in on a class when available. It’s not just a matter of one teacher and one class, but seeing how the students act and react. I think it’s more valuable than most campus tours. My kids never played sports though so it’s certainly a matter of individual circumstance.

@“Queen’s Mom”, I’d say if Ithaca is over your max-max budget it’s off the list and Eckerd sounds good! (Though I also agree with @VAOptimist that it doesn’t hurt to try and squeeze some more money out of Ithaca.) Regarding BFA vs. BA, my oldest D (dance major) is VERY happy she’s a BA and not BFA (both are available at her school).

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@curiositycat333 -

This was about 10 years ago. I asked my friend and she said that she deferred the SUNY and put a deposit down for the spring, so technically she didn’t accept two schools for the fall semester. If her D had been happy at the first school, my friend would have just forfeited the deposit at the second school. Apparently, the SUNY school didn’t care that she had attended another school. I know she did it, I discussed it with her when it happened and it worked. Neither was an ED school and I agree that would have made a difference.

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Now my plan is to make my overall posting content look shorter by breaking it into two pieces.

D was accepted to RIT and got their presidential scholarship (15K – max is 16K)! She also got some very nice merit from Clarkson. We are pretty much down to the wire here. She’s not concerned with the remaining four decisions aside from bragging rights if she gets into Smith. B-)

IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

RIT: her first choice. Most expensive and over budget but not TOO far of a stretch. I’ve fallen in love with RIT. :x This may be why I’m a bit surprised she didn’t just say YES. She’s very money conscious (by which I mean stingy) and would have max skin in the game here. We would loan her the equivalent of max federal loans and charge interest rate of inflation. I don’t think that’s too big a deal especially with co-op.

Clarkson: She loves everything about Clarkson except for Potsdam. :)) It’s 3K/year cheaper than RIT and I think it would be a great fit. The travel logistics are bad though.

Michigan Tech: We haven’t visited and she’s wavering about whether she wants to attend their upcoming accepted students day. It looks like a good fit, plus they’ve sent the most swag. :-bd It’s 2K/year cheaper than Clarkson, but very much an “unknown” as of now.

CSU: We learned at our last visit that they have some newly endowed full- and half-tuition merit scholarships for engineering students. This made D’s eyes light up. $-) See “stingy” above. Plus she gets to keep any money that is less than CSU at full price. She won’t go if the doesn’t get one of these scholarships and I think they only give out ten. I’d say that pretty much puts CSU out of the running.

I’ll note that all these schools have co-op programs which is a big plus for many reasons, not the least of which is extra money. Yes, my D is actually Scrooge McDuck.

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@snoozn -

The kids I know (6 or so) who have gone to or are currently at RIT all love it. The 2 I know who went to Clarkson both left. One had a full scholarship, gave it up and went to work. The other is at a different college 2 years behind.

Every parent I know who visited Potsdam hated the town.

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I am not sure how one really pulls off 2 enrollments like that. You’d have to send final transcripts once you enroll/deposit I would think but maybe because it’s a spring option, and the timing is different, no one notices?

Interesting question as you aren’t supposed to be deposited or enrolled at 2 places after 5/1. It also seems a bit complicated given that the spring deposits would have been as a freshman versus the reality would be as a transfer so you’d have to go back to school 2 and basically admit you didn’t really defer, you enrolled somewhere else first. I could see it working but also backfiring.

I am a fan of kids sucking up the whole first year somewhere though as lots of kids are still not quite there at the end of first semester. There is a lot to be said for minimizing out of pocket costs though if transferring to a less expensive option.

@tacocat333 don’t have remorse about not aiming higher. All that would give is bragging rights, higher does not equal merit monies!

@snoozn Welcome back! I could be wrong but I personally don’t see Michigan Tech as being in the same league as RIT. The UP is spectacular, but remote and COLD and well, I have no idea but it might make Potsdam look nice. It may well be worth a visit but yeah, travel logistics for that one, yikes.

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Hi all–definitely understand the current concerns around affordability–seems like we’re all grappling with this one way or another. D17 just came home from a weekend at UVM–accepted students’ day on Friday and then spent Saturday exploring the area (and stopped off at the Ben & Jerry’s factory on the way back). She came home wearing a UVM sweatshirt–so yes, she loved it–definitely could see herself there. She spent the first night as a guest of a friend of a friend in the dorms–they had a suite style and she liked it a lot. They also visited Green Mountain College (one of the kids she went with is interested in environmental science/sustainability), and they dropped another friend off to visit one of her friends at Middlebury, so she got to see a lot of the area (I didn’t realize Middlebury was that close to Burlington–around an hour away). She seems to be broadening her areas of interest–poli sci plus environmental studies or anthropology, or psychology, etc., etc. Seemed to get a lot out of the information session for the College of Arts and Sciences and then the “major fair” (tables set up with reps from each of the A&S majors). Seemed to get the same vibe she got the other times she has visited–chill, crunchy, but not over the top–lots of Patagonia and LL Bean boots, and felt very comfortable there. It’s doable without loans, but will be pricey. @eandesmom I will be interested to hear your take–you’re there now, right?

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@curiositycat333 sounds like your s and my d are interested in many of the same schools. My d was accepted at Boulder and UO and we are waiting on UC’s as well. She is also considering UArizona. What is your son’s first choice?

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@snoozn congrats at RIT

! I think my son would have liked to apply there too, but we just did not get around to it.
That would be a great choice for your D, unless she wanted a smaller stem program. RIT and Clarkson are both 6 hour drives from our house, maybe a bit too far for son17. I don’t know.
Regarding Clarkson, and Potsdam. Potsdam is not the grossest place I’ve been nor the most beautiful place. It’s just a small town in the middle of nowhere with 3 colleges surrounding it. I personally preferred it over Troy, NY but I like nature and simple living versus urban/highways etc. Potsdam has some eateries, a movie theatre, drug stores, and Walmart. If you have kids that like to go to the mall and shop then Potsdam is not for you. It seemed safe. I think if you had a kid that was going to go to school there and get involved with stuff on campus it would be a fine college town. If you planned on just studying and watching Netflix then the town might get a bit boring. The kids I talked with were having a good time there and I didn’t hear a lot of complaining. They played sports, went skiing, camping, were on robotics teams, in various clubs or frats. Very nice kids. I liked the people I met at Clarkson more than any school we’ve visited. It’s a very homey place, seemed like the school cared a lot about the kids. I liked that. I don’t think every kid would like it there, but for the right kid it seems like a good place. Our school sends a couple of kids there every year but it’s not as popular as WPI/RPI/Umass Lowell/UMass for engineering because of it’s location. If Clarkson was in MA it would be super popular.
I thought RPI was more of a professional,bustling, and polished place, while Clarkson was more of a nice collaborative small town good feeling kind of place. Because son17 has gone to a small town HS and lives in a bubble I think he liked the edgier vibe of RPI better, but appreciates the opportunity he has at Clarkson.

I would like to visit RIT and U or Rochester for son19, so if you have some thoughts on RIT and Rochester in general I would like to hear them.

@klinska glad to hear your D had a good time at UVM! I think she’d have a great time there. I’m going up to Burlington soon for a visit and to go skiing with some friends.

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@techmom99, it’s always good to hear the “real world” reports from other parents here. Any idea what made Clarkson such a bad fit for those two kids (besides Potsdam)?

@eandesmom, I agree on MTU not having as much recognition as Clarkson and RIT. We won’t know unless we visit whether Houghton beats Potsdam. Just from skimming around the web it seems like a friendly little town very invested in the college. I’m kind of hoping D won’t want to visit though and it will come off the list. I just don’t see her liking it better than the others and the price isn’t really THAT much lower. (Also - I will PM latest results!)

@klinska, I’m glad your D enjoyed the UVM visit. Our visit was excellent as well, but they were not so generous with merit. Most of us are feeling that pain from various schools!

@RightCoaster, thanks for the wealth of info on Clarkson and Potsdam. D loved the “nature-y” area around campus, but she is kind of into the “college town” setting. She really loved Burlington, Bellingham, Northampton and Fort Collins. I honestly can’t remember the last time she shopped at a mall! But she does like the pedestrian malls of Boulder and Burlington – nice places to walk around even if you don’t have a destination in mind. Plus they have various free events and performances. Rochester is a bit bigger than she prefers, but it was still nice to walk downtown and the riverfront is lovely.

Clarkson would be much more of a campus bubble in terms of activities. I’ve encouraged her to look around their website for clubs and events to see if that would be enough. I totally agree about the warm homey feel of Clarkson vs RPI being more polished and edgy (it came off the list pretty quickly even though it’s certainly a great school for the right kid). “Warm and friendly” is a top priority for D (along with a collaborative learning environment and lots of hands-on work).

We visited UofR which D also liked a lot but it came off the list after looking at the NPC. Kind of funny but I think much of the draw for UofR was their “Take Five Scholar’s program” (http://www.rochester.edu/college/CCAS/students/opportunities/takefive/) which allows students to take a fifth year free (yes, FREE) to study something NOT related to their major. That would very much fit her learning style, so I can see why it was really attractive to her.

In broad terms I would say that RIT is to UofR what Clarkson is to RPI. UofR had more of a holistic and intellectual vibe. RIT had more of a geeky, friendly and hands-on feel. On our return airplane trip my seatmate asked about our visit to Rochester and turns out he graduated from UofR and his son from RIT. He thought very highly of both schools and knew professors from each. He saw both as progressive and flourishing. When he asked what major D was interested in and she said EE, he said without hesitation “RIT! For engineering no question, go to RIT!” (or words to that effect). What is your S19’s intended major?

Last of all, I thought there was a “new guy” here when I got back, but it was just your new avatar – very nice!

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@snoozn, good info thanks regarding the two Rochester schools. Son19 wants to study mechanical engineering and maybe some design, perhaps a combo of the 2. Or start with ME and then go into design. He loves designing things using cad software, fooling around with 3d printing making prototypes of things, etc. He’s not really an artist though, he just likes inventing things and solving problems. He is a very good student and much more driven than son17. He really thinks he can play college soccer and study engineering and is setting his goal as doing both. I don’t doubt that he will accomplish it.

I didn’t know one thing about RIT or U of R until last year when I started looking at colleges. I’ve never met anyone that attended either school, but I understand they have good reputations. Not that many kids from our high school apply to either of them either, I think because there are other similar schools in closer proximity. with more “name recognition”. That’s just what I think.
I think Son17 probably would’ve liked RIT better than U of R, while son19 might like U of R better.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they both end up at RPI ( assuming son17 gets in), it seems like a good fit for both of them.
I wouldn’t have thought that a year ago, but that’s why it’s good to go visit different places.

I think both of my kids would love going to UVM, I know they would have fun there and do well. It’s a great college town. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

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Hello from Vermont!

We had a pretty full day here today and while I am not sure we really got the “whole” picture, we did get a decent amount of info that helped both of us. We started off with the info session which was for admitted students only. YAY a tote bag. LOL! I don’t know if it was because I possibly had too much for breakfast and was in a food coma or what but it seemed like everyone talked really really fast…but didn’t say much. The admissions staff was actually worse than the tour guides but most of them seemed super jacked up on caffeine. If that makes sense. Then again it could be simply being a bit jaded after attending a few of these?

The info session itself was ok. Not the worst but definitely not the best. All the student tour guides were from the same college (A&S) and had semi similar backgrounds so didn’t really give us a great amount of variety. A fair amount of generalities without a ton of specifics to be honest. On the actual tour our guide was nice enough but made a few statements that I am fairly sure aren’t accurate or were based on very limited info (if you are STEM major you DEFINITELY want a MAC! things like that). One thing I found quite surprising is they barely mentioned the giant new freshman dorm under construction in the info session and did not have the tour go past it! If you didn’t know about it ahead of time you’d have thought what she took us to was the main option and she entirely confused the crowd explaining how choosing a program or theme worked. She even confused herself lol. She also talked a LOT about TA’s and how great/helpful they were which concerned me that it was so pervasive in her college experience. I do think the fact she was an A&S major had more to do with it than some other majors but still, that was not an item in the “pro” column in my book.

I do wish we could have experienced dining hall food. While we ate there and the food was quite good, it was also quite pricey if purchasing much on the non dining hall point system, you could run out of points really really fast! That is a bit of a concern.

The departmental tour and 1:1 meeting was FAR more beneficial. S17 had been feeling very freaked out about locking into anything but also agreeing that environmental is the main reason to consider UVM given the price tag, it’s just very difficult to justify otherwise. Rubenstein really impressed both of us. The size of the college (600) made us both feel better and address concerns about him getting “lost” at a larger school/in a larger program. The building itself is phenomenal, S was absolutely enthralled and I think we both could move into the atrium as a study space, very zen. While his 1:1 meeting was with an ENSC professor, he really helped give a broad overview of all the programs and what moving around could look like and what their core does for you. S came out of it feeling really good about the ENVS options, Rubenstein specifically, and what some great minors might be to play around with and give him the flexibility he wants (philosophy, econ, poly sci). The campus wide sustainability, (city wide really), was so pervasive and noticeable that it really made a strong positive impression. Overall he felt that UVM beat WWU on this score, hands down, and I’d have to agree.

Burlington is definitely a great college town, I can absolutely get the appeal. It’s adorable (but that wind is COLD!)

As expected, overall S absolutely loved it and can see himself at UVM. He is trying hard not to as he knows the price tag, and we will have to see how it all plays out but it definitely validated that it is a solid fit, made sense to apply and may make sense to consider despite the price tag.

Cons: Price. Lack of Diversity (actually a big issue/concern for S).

And of course it is REALLY far away. Then again, all of these schools are!

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Nice review, @eandesmom ! I do think UVM has some work to do with their front-end–the info session we attended in the fall was laughably bad. D17 took it in stride, though (maybe she thinks adults are just boring/ridiculous in general and just doesn’t set the bar very high, lol). She didn’t mention anything specific about the info session on Friday, but she apparently got something out of it (maybe it was more about logistics). Is the Rubenstein building the one with the water feature/plants? What you said about being able to justify the price tag really resonates with me–in your S17’s case, I can see that it actually might be worth it. In ours, maybe not so much, and D17 acknowledged that. She said she definitely wants to give UMass another look as well as Allegheny (both of which come in substantially cheaper. I don’t even know if the two other schools (in addition to UMass) she’s waiting on, are even still on her radar (one likely to be even more expensive than UVM, the other a little cheaper).

Where are you off to next?

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LOL @eandesmom, this just goes to show how different families can have VERY different experiences when visiting the same school. For us, UVM’s info session and tour guide were outstanding — head and shoulders above every other school we saw!

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@snozzn Congrats on the RIT acceptance& award money. Sounds like you are getting close to make a decision. Don’t know much about RIT, although a bit about Rochester. Is it easy to get there for you? Are there direct flights. I know it can get a lot of snow in the winter, but I suppose you are used to fairly cold winters anyway.

Two more weeks till we hear from really the last real likely on S17’s list. But it’s one of my favorites & I know his top contenders. He won’t even think about what he wants till then. I’d like to get him to Boulder on his spring break but he’s balking. (It’s his way of being cheep.) But I did figure out it’s easy to get cheep tickets to Denver even at the last minute. It’s odd I told him to focus on getting into schools, so he’d not really looking into tuition cost at all. (OOS for Boulder & UofO are more than I’d like to spend.) But he will be full cost anywhere he goes. But he really nickel & dimes things and hates spending money. Or us spending money on him.

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@eandesmom glad you guys had a nice visit at UVM. Just so you know, everyone on the east coast that lives in a densely populated area talks “wicked fast”! Head up to the mountains and things move at a snails pace, people are more laid back.
My wife and I are moving to VT in a couple of years. I’m looking forward to having access to Burlington but living in a mountain town.
Your son has a tough choice to make, but I think he’s a great candidate for UVM. He’d fit right in and thrive. I’m sure he’d love road trips to the east coast cities and a trip to Montreal. Seems like a 100% perfect fit for him.
Good luck with the decision.

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Been lurking on this thread as the parent of a 3.0-3.4 D19 (hi, @eandesmom!) and wants to chime in that our friends who live in Vermont describe it as nine months of really great skiing and three months of really bad skiing.

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@klinska it’s so funny, I recalled you and @snoozn having horrible info sessions and tried to find the posts about them but couldn’t. It wasn’t that bad but it wasn’t great either.

Yes, Rubenstein is the building with the water feature (aka waste treatment) plants.

@RightCoaster I lived in Chicago for 10 years, do a lot of work on the east coast and with east coasters. I get talking fast and am often accused of it myself. However, as a presenter leading info sessions that is something that should be coached out, not modeled for the students to copy! It wasn’t east coast business sense of urgency fast pace…it was more “fluffy” than that, if that makes sense.

lol @Gatormama that’s funny. Guess the kid will have to learn how to ski

Actually I will say that was a serious disappointment. I really expected UVM to have a set up similar to Boulder and Colorado State in regards to the outdoor center/gear/equipment and activities with tons of access and great deals for students. At Boulder it was a tour stop! Here it was loosely referenced that equipment was available to rent but the focus was definitely heavier on the “skiing is expensive” aspect. Now that I think about it I realize we didn’t even see the athletic center which most schools make sure to point out.

Every single tour guide was from out of state.