Lol because downtown Evanston parking sucks. You are always feeding the meters or have to park in a parking garage and just bite the bullet and walk far to where you need to go. It’s great for college students but for people who don’t want to live in a city like neighborhood, it’s not. Most of NU is East of Sheridan Road so you can’t really drive through campus either but the campus is gorgeous if you’re on it and walking through it. Downtown Evanston can be expensive as well for students who choose to live there not far from campus junior and senior year since they are required now to live on campus I think thru soph year but there are some less expensive places, you just have to be careful which part of Evanston you’re in as there are some seedy neighborhoods that are not good. It’s also so far East that for people like me who like to go all over, it’s just not that convenient to get to because there’s no highway right there. It’s also not that convenient to get to ohare for the same reason. Have to just drive straight West down Dempster or Golf. But for someone who never leaves campus or wants to go downtown (they have plenty of buses and the EL from downtown Evanston ) it’s great. Also being right on the Lake it will be colder in winter than further out, so for some not used to that it could be rough.
Thank you for an answer that can only come from someone very familiar with the area!
Why did your son switch from poly sci to public affairs? I know it’s a new program at UCLA. What about Georgetown? Was that a consideration?
For kids and young people, it’s great, for older people like me, I can do without, lol. Of course, if you ask my husband, who is from NYC originally, he would move to Evanston or downtown Chicago in a heartbeat!
He switched because he preferred the applied policy focus in public affairs (particularly urban planning) and the breadth of the course as it includes both economics and policy - he had originally thought of double majoring in PoliSci and Economics and took courses in both of those the first two quarters before deciding to switch.
He liked Georgetown and if money was no object he would probably have attended (like his main rival at high school who had similar stats and got into most of the same places). But we couldn’t see the point of spending $80K per year compared to $30K instate. So his other applications were at places with some potential for merit (which he got from all of them, apart from the ultra-competitive scholarships at UVA and W&M). Still didn’t add up at ~$50K per year.
As someone who knows Evanston well and lives nearby, I’ll add that it is a lovely town with much to offer. Yes, parking can be difficult, and I guess it’s slightly colder by the lake than in the rest of Chicago, but not enough to make a big difference. Chicago is cold! The town itself is fantastic, with lots of great restaurants and shops, and the lakefront is really beautiful for walking or biking.
If she is going to stay in L.A. for the rest of her life, then USC. If not, Berkeley Haas is a no brainer. It’s the best or second best (Wharton is the other) undergrad business admin. program in the country. Plus, Cal is less than half the price compared to SC. And it’s Berkeley.
But if she is a go getter AND is a forever L.A. girl, that Trojan network is a real thing.
We were told not to update through the AO and to send directly through the application portal where there was a specific tab for supplemental documents. However, we were also told to do this only after first emailed the admissions department for the specific program (not the general admissions office and not the AO) and ask some basic question(s) for which we actually knew the answer to already. When updates are made through the portal they go directly into the applicant file.
Now for the UM postponed decision, they had a set process and form and did not want emails and werevery specific about what they wanted. Some people weren’t even asked for the LOCI but were only asked for grades only. Mine was asked for the LOCI only and optional grades. He sent his grades since we have always been told optional doesn’t mean optional.
Some schools I think once waitlists occur, the portals however may change and no longer allow the uploading of supplemental info so in that regard to send updates it may very well have to be to someone in the specific department or depending on the school perhaps an AO depending on who it is and their role.
I would say Michigan, UVA, and NU are all equivalent schools, along with the so-called “lower” ranked Ivies (Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown), JH, Vandy, Rice, UCLA. His career and grad school/professional school opportunities would be equivalent with these three elite schools.
Your S21 should consider location. Does he stay in Chicago? Then UMich or NU. NYC or DC? Then UVA. Of course, if someone is giving him money, that’s a consideration.
That is certainly one of the things that I have been thinking of as well. A person’s alma mater can often help in employment and credibility, but particularly in any field that work may be international, this is a consideration.
G’town, UC Berkeley, UCLA - an embarrassment of riches. Congrats to your D21. I may be biased (see my logo), but send D21 to Cal - as long as she realizes Cal is Top 3 hardest to get top grades (grade deflation, or more accurately, no grade inflation).
If D21 is super smart but not a gunner, then UCLA or G’town.
Thank you! A follow-up question – does Cal’s grade deflation apply to classes outside of CS, engineering and premed? D21 is interested in environmental policy or science, but she won’t be taking any hard sciences.
D21 is definitely not “super smart” in the context of T20s (I say that as her loving mother 
) And she may go to law school at some point, so maintaining a high GPA is important.
Grade deflation (or, no grade inflation) is across the board at Berkeley.
But, let’s be real: if D12 got into G’town, Berkeley, and UCLA, she’s pretty damn smart. And Cal has the No. 4 environmental science program in the country (I didn’t see the other two on the list). Our S17 is there now, transferred in from our local CCC, and he is continuing to bang out a strong GPA.
Since we are talking about equivalent or near equivalent schools, I would say “fit” is the most important factor (and affordability, as always). Does she prefer a smaller, more personal environment (G’town)? Does she prefer a larger, more impersonal environment but lots of different groups and orgs (Cal, UCLA)? Four seasons with some snow? Four seasons with overcast fall days? Sunny weather near great beaches?
And G’town/UCLA aren’t walks in the park academically.
I would say that if she is also considering a career in environmental science as well as law school, she might want to lean towards Cal (see above ranking). Lastly, because of Cal’s rep re grades, a 3.6 at Cal is “worth” more to grad/professional schools than the same gpa at G’town or (slightly) UCLA. Grad schools know the deal.
@anaray I think for UCI, if you send in the SIR/deposit, you’re in the queue and then you get sent orientation info and timing. At orientation is when the kids get to sign up for classes. You also get dorm/housing app (should be in his portal tomorrow?). I wanted to beat the Ivy crowd and I just want to dare the Ivies to waste my $250 deposit. It’s a psychological game I’m playing with myself. If S21 gets a rejection, I’m in line early. If he gets accepted somewhere on 4/6, I’ll never be so happy to throw away $250 to get a chance to pay $80k/yr.
That’s great strategy and mindset. It will bring you good luck. As I told you that you will hear good news from California schools , I am telling you that you should be ready to lose your deposit for UCI on April 6th when you are get Ivy results (fingers crossed)! Keep us updated.
NYC resident and native begs to differ: there are tons of UMich and many NU alumni in the NY metro area. I see people in Michigan gear almost every day in my neighborhood, far more than any other school. It’s like Ann Arbor east around here on a Saturday afternoon in football season, LOL. Certainly there are accomplished UVA alumni here, but I don’t think it’s a stronger network for undergrads IMHO.
Fair point, gotham_mom.
Here in my Silicon Valley neighborhood, it’s Stanford, Cal and then Michigan. Lotta “Go Blue” yelled around here. 
He’s going into CS so unfortunately there’s a big variance in all those schools. While individually they’re all great schools, for CS they are all not, so that also plays a big factor in his decisions and where he applied.
As for the money, just our luck he was offered a full ride somewhere but took a pass. But on the other hand he’s fortunate he can do that and appreciates that.
Fortunately in the CS field there really is no benefit (and no interest in his part) for earning a Masters Degree, so if he does hopefully he will get it in another field for diversification. But we’ll see how things shake out next week and where that leaves us on the decision and waitlist train. Hoping we can finally be finished. More than a year ago he was already working on his essays, so it would be nice if this cycle could be over already and onto greater things! 