We never found a less selective private that we felt was a better deal than our public options.
When I ran the NPC, they all came in at around 30-40k after the discount.
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Thatās surprising. I routinely hear people talk about how less selective privates offered them x amount which brought it in line with the in-state options. But they often perceive it as a better value because of the āscholarshipā offered (plus sometimes it is flattering to be offered a scholarship). Like I said itās a pricing strategy, and may be more effective with less experienced consumers (first gen, first kid going to college, etc.). Of course itās going to vary depending on in-state options and the particular schools you look at. Iām saying that it is a pricing approach that many small schools use to appeal to families.
Not my boys at all.
Sorry, I didnāt mean all of them. Just one of mine.
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Iām thinking if he needs tutoring or more time to work through an issue, there will be better access to the professor or resources = better performance. This can probably be worked out at the larger university but take more digging or persistence. Trying to be realistic that there may be some Covid learning gaps.
But I come at this with an access to professors = better mentality having a parent that was in academia.
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We have our very last campus tour this weekend. I donāt know how we got so lucky because my son wonāt even have to miss school Monday since itās just online homework on Monday due to CAASP testing for the juniors at our school. Sat-Mon was the least expensive flight option. Iām also glad hubby and S21 both are fully vaccinated. I told them they better not lose their vax card. I didnāt realize that Boston and RI both have quarantine guidelines.
Iām at home, anxiously hoping that Brown is exactly what he had hoped and that thereās no crazy incidents. Iām annoyed at myself for thinking, āPlease donāt let there be any racist encounters because that would be a deal-breaker.ā The other part of me is also thinking, āThey better take some nice pix if he says yes.ā Waiting to buy some swag but I did get him a Brown shirt on Amazon. This morning when I dropped him off, he did pack a Northface shell jacket. He said that heās kinda sad because his Berkeley hoodie of 3 years is his favorite hoodie.
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We just finished our trip and I know exactly what you mean. There was an anti-masker on our flight from DC to Syracuse and we had a short conversation with an anti-vaxxer in a Friendlyās in New Hartford. After a long day of travel my son was not pleased. The next day, after our tour of Hamilton, we drove through upstate New York and saw some very ugly yard signs. Luckily, once we crossed into Massachusetts that all changed. I am not saying that you canāt find that out here, but for a tired, overly traveled kid, it definitely made an impression.
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Oh yes, personal attention is definitely a plus. Iām a professor so I completely understand the mentality 
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Thanks for gently challenging assumptions. Thatās what I appreciate about this forum. My own college search was limited, and now Iām doing this for the first time, much more in depth, with my S. Weāll be speaking with alumni from each school, with whom I have a connection, so I hope that will help.
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@HoldensMom My daughterās experience this past year at her SLAC is that she has had a lot of personal attention and interaction with her professors. However, her roommate has had a very different experience. The difference?
My daughter has been very proactive in reaching out and making those connections that increase the personal attention and interactions, which then have continued to strengthen. Her roommate is less confident in doing this; doesnāt feel comfortable going to office hours, making appointments, etc. As the work load increased, her roommate has actively started to avoid the classes in which she is struggling. I feel for her, as she really is a lovely, smart and talented young woman. She is just struggling with making the transition to being in charge of her education.
SLACs are wonderful, supportive environments but I hope no one goes into it thinking professors at SLACs have infinite time and resources to give that personal attention to students who arenāt reaching out for it. It is really up to the student to put in the time and energy to get the most out of college, even SLACs.
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First gen or solid middle class (getting stimulus checks) I know donāt even consider private schools. The rep and sticker prices are non-starters. Iāve known some to go for sports and others may go to Christian colleges.
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The small privates in our area definitely go for athletes, kids who were decent but not spectacular athletes in high school but who want to keep playing. They offer them sizable merit money and it fits the bill. For some of the really small schools I think thatās a significant part of how they recruit the student body.
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My daughters are one each at a private university and public. The one at the large public has way more access to her professors than the private university. Itās been incredible. They are amazingly responsive. She was looking for a LOR to be a tutor next semester and he met with her and then wrote the LOR within hours. I had never seen anything like it before. The one at the private, while the professors are generally responsive, when she needs help on something, it generally has to first go through TAās and their office hours. So just beware of the idea that you get better hand holding or 1:1 help at a private college.
Also the tutoring services as the public are free and available to anyone, where my daughter goes privately while sheās never used them I think youāre limited to the number of hours you can use and only for certain courses.
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Is the public daughter in an honors program or does that matter?
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She is, but even her non-Honors classes she has had similar dealings. She has just felt that the school has been made very small. Which is something that worried me. Sheās getting an MIS major and last semester had a class (non Honors) with a few hundred people in it yet the professor knew who she was, and this was during remote also so was pretty impressive considering most students turn their cameras off most of the time.
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Update #2
My son accepted Duke last Sunday (no fee is required at the time). Two days later he gets a notification from Chicago (heās on the waitlist there) gauging his level of interest. He shoots off a quick reply professing his love for Chicago. The following day he got a letter of acceptance from Chicago. He spent a couple days agonizing (we really love Duke); then he found out that one of his friends is headed to Northwestern and then he discovered the Chicago ā25 discord group (Dad, theyāre just like me!).
So now Mom and S21 and S23 are headed to Houston and Chicago to visit the school (our kids have never been there, my wife hasnāt seen the campus).
The only happy one with all these developments is S23. He is also a great student, really likes Duke but also wants to go to a different school than his sibling.
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Okay, final decision finally made, so I thought Iād share.
My D21 was deciding amongst Bryn Mawr (presidential scholarship), Mt. Holyoke (21st century scholarship), Smith (presidential scholarship), Scripps, Reed, UCSC and Sarah Lawrence (merit aid). She was waitlisted at Barnard, Wellesley and UCSB. Rejected from UCLA, Berkeley, UCIrvine, UCSD, Swarthmore, Yale and Stanford.
And the winner is . . . Bryn Mawr! While she never let herself have a āfirst choiceā throughout this process, and any of the schools she got into would have been a good fit, it was clear all along that BMC was where she saw herself ending up. So happy to be done (until I have to do it 2 years later for my S24).
FYI if anyone is interested and thinks it will help you with your kidsā choices, feel free to PM me for her stats. And any parents of Mawters class of 2025, Iād love to connect! Good luck to everyone still making decisions! Youāre almost there!
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Oh and she has declined the spots at all the other schools she got into, as well as her spots on the waitlists at Barnard, Wellesley and UCSB.
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Congratulations! My daughter is going to BMC as well and is super excited about it! They invited Class of 25 girls who live near by to go to campus Monday and Tuesday to get their covid vaccine. We havenāt seen the campus, so it will be nice to see even just little bit of it.
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Where is your daughter going? (If she already has made her mind 
)