He is undecided and all over the place. Sigh…
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Time for a good old pro/con list for each place. Something is bound to come out on top. Compare the school, the variety of programs offered, cost, weather, surrounding area (off campus activities, off campus housing options), etc.
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My ds received his first denial today from Boulder and he is really upset. According to Naviance it really looked like it could go either way. He’s a 3.2, TO, no AP’s but a fairly rigorous private school, so I am really not too surprised. Unfortunately this was his number 1 pick and he is now telling me he doesn’t like any of his options and he’s really upset “we” didn’t do more research on finding a better fit. I think he forgets all of the times I asked if he wanted to sit down and discuss options, were there any other colleges he wanted to apply to, was he sure he didn’t want to apply to a,b, or c. In reality he does have some fine options.
Admitted:
ASU
UofA
Belmont
Utah
Loyola Chicago
Point Loma
Cal State San Marcos
Denied:
Boulder
Still Waiting
SDSU (I know no real chance here but his sister is there and it sure would be nice!)
Cal State Fullerton
He is a Business major, I personally think Utah is probably the best fit for him but now he’s saying he really wants a private school.
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Mine too, really.
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Denials sting, especially when it was the top choice. Give it some time to settle before discussing other schools. It’s too raw for him right now.
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Michigan State is a phenomenal school, but the weather can be depressing. Michigan doesn’t get much sun, so it’s really grey. But it’s a top notch school with a very high rate of job placement after graduation.
ASU is a solid school, even though it’s enormous. I know kids (who were mediocre high school students) who are thriving (dean’s list!) there.
Good luck!
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We are in a similar situation with our DS23 where her accepted schools are a bit all over the place with regard to size and location. What we are finding now is that onsite tours are incredibly helpful and have led us to narrow the list down to a few final options. Just to give you an example, DS23 was accepted at DePaul with an awesome scholarship, but after a tour decided that campus / environment was not what she was looking for. She is now focused on larger, traditional campuses at MSU, Iowa and Utah. Has your student already visited any of the accepted schools? If it’s not cost prohibitive, maybe pick a few for visits.
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Utah is a wonderful choice. Congratulations to him. I tell my kids to trust the process. So far my kids did end up at colleges that were great fits for them.
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I’m so sorry about Boulder. I’ve lived in both SLC and Fort Collins, and spent time in Boulder. If he liked the location/vibe of Boulder, I think U of U is a great choice! I took classes there and worked in a lab (when I thought I wanted to go to med school). I like it better than Boulder for easier access to the airport, world class skiing, and amazing canyoneering. Also, I think it’s more affordable to live off campus, and when I was there, it had a more down-to-earth vibe than Boulder.
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I thought Utah as well - SLC is so great. Does he ski? Because that location cannot be beaten for skiing…
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And Park City is awesome albeit not a place for a college budget.
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Thank you! That’s what we needed to hear.
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Thank you for your reply. He has visited both ASU and MSU (as well as Univ of Cincinnati and Xavier), he originally wanted a large, city campus but he wants the campus to be compact- which both ASU and MSU aren’t. We are definitely going to have to visit again. Sigh…
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Yup, ASU is huge. Their workout facilities are bigger than some college campuses!
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Butler update for those who asked 
D23 really liked it! The Communications department was apparently impressive, great internship possibilities, she liked their fancy dorms and the basketball of course. The students were warm and welcoming. My husband also thought it was nice, that D23 would probably do well there and enjoy some of the social aspects maybe more than some of the other schools.
Concerns/Cons maintaining a 3.0 for her merit scholarship, the importance of Greek life, and a pure Communications program vs Studio Art and Communications that she’s considering at other schools. Husband likes Hope the best but I think D23 is leaning more towards Butler today but nothing concrete. She’s still going to Trinity U in early March and then will need to make a decision.
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We are going to visit Hope since D23 is now a finalist for Hope Forward. Woohoo. This might be our only really big college visit and the expense of it is starting to feel a bit scary, but at least Holland seems like a really nice place to hang out and we will be able to meet up with D13.
Putting Hope Forward aside for now, if D23 wins an Ursinus special scholarship that will probably put it in the top spot.
UMaine is still a possibility. If no additional scholarships come through from Ursinus, we should probably visit over Spring Break. It feels closer than Hope but with traffic, it might actually take longer.
I still would like her to visit Elizabethtown and we could do that in a day. Etown is an amazing school. She just hasn’t realized it yet. She takes it for granted because her sister went there.
Rowan is beating Stockton out as an instate safety.
It’s interesting to see this play out. I think she has some good choices.
We haven’t heard from TCNJ, which might not accept her. Other EA applicants we know have been accepted. LSU may accept her but probably not with enough merit/fa.
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Is he able to articulate what he liked most about Boulder so that he can maybe evaluate his accepted schools with this criteria in mind? It’s also not too late to send out a few more RD apps so maybe he will be open to your suggestions at this juncture. Just a suggestion, but I went to Boulder and have a student at UVM—it’s basically the Boulder of the northeast. There are obvious differences (size, weather to name a couple), but they attract similar kiddos. UVM is also more generous to out of state students in terms of merit and need based grants than Boulder…
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Loyola University Maryland is a great school and offers good merit.
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Does anyone have any experience or insight into University of Iowa? DD is narrowing down options and we are going to visit Iowa later this month. She is comparing Iowa to Utah and Michigan State.
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Only that I hear it is great? I have heard it offers a lot. They have an amazing graduate program for creative writing. And a great bookstore in town, Prairie Lights.
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