Yes, he did receive merit but also needs to visit CWRU to evaluate whether it’s worth the premium over our in-state schools. And we need to see which in-state schools he gets into. 
Meanwhile, some good OOS public schools on his list will come in at the same price as a UC (after merit), with significantly more academic flexibility. We need to visit them, too. Whirlwind spring break trip in the works!
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We sent D18 to Michigan from CA. D18 had several excellent UC options. Although this year, Michigan finally incorporated a restriction for the CS major, switching majors and schools is a relatively easy process, assuming you meet the minimal GPA requirements. The exception being Ross Business School (and CS now), which is more difficult to transfer into.
Anyway, housing options for us were cheap and plentiful post-freshman year at Michigan, when compared to CA.
OTOH, D21 attends Cal Poly SLO and while she had a 2-year on-campus housing guarantee, we’re now looking for junior year housing. And SLO off-campus housing is NOT cheap and its NOT plentiful. Just one anecdote.
ETA: D18 finished school a semester early at Michigan with two minors. Class registration was reasonably easy. Class registration is much more difficult Cal Poly SLO, though D21 is surviving because of AP credits have made her a junior standing already. More credits easier to get classes.
Michigan is the one exception that I personally allow 
If the colleges are using AI to screen their 50K applications, that is fairly creepy, that there could be no humans at all in the process.
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If there are no humans, maybe we should send ChatGPT in place of our students.
Could we use AI to pay the tuition? Yes, I know that doesn’t make sense but neither does AI. 
Don’t mind me. I’ll keep my day job (not as a comedian).
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It doesn’t have to be a super elite OOS school to be worth it. In addition to CWRU, S23 is looking seriously at UMN, Pitt, and Oregon State… all are good schools that check all boxes for the features he wants in a university, and have come in at a good price with merit. He could pick any of these over a UC for good reason.
(Edit to add: As far as Oregon State is concerned, both S23 and I are tired of having to explain to people why that school is on his list, head to head with CWRU and other schools. He likes it just as much, it is a good school and Go Beavs!)
I do think that if he gets into Cal he would probably go there. He takes classes there now and he is familiar with the pros and cons. Not a perfect school in every way, but definitely has its strengths. But admission is a gamble for sure.
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My D will be working as a camp counselor during the day (this will be her 4th year) and maybe at a restaurant a few nights a week.
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Between the school year ending in the latter half of June, and college starting the third week of August - there’s not a lot of time at our house!
S23 is planning a 5-6 day backpacking trip with a dear friend, we have a week with family, a separate week with family friends and family, and I am also contemplating a 10 day trip just for the two of us as I’m thinking that summer breaks during college are going to be about earning money and/or internships.
Other than that he’s planning on teaching 2 weeks at a local camp that he’s been doing for years, and doing basic construction for a family friend who’s a contractor - pay is pretty good and there’s a lot of flexibility around hours - work this week, not that, come back for two weeks here, etc.
I’m just stunned that summer’s only going to be 2 months and then he’s gone 
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NJ Best has everything from Large Cap Growth (S&P 500 Index), Small Cap/Mid Cap Growth, Tech, International Growth,… Frankly for all but the most sophisticated/insider investors, unmanaged index funds will beat any individual choices, specially longer term.
Used Growth funds all the way until 3 years before college started - eventually it grew so much, that I was barred from contributing more. After paying for one of the expensive private schools, freaked out because at the end still had YEARS stuck in there (before the Roth roll-over option). Fortunately she “helped me out” by signing up for 5 more years, of which NJ Best will cover the first 3…
I never had any problems finding options for my (rather aggressive) investing style of the early years - and later having fixed income and/or money market options to set aside 2 years worth of tuition in case/when the market tanked.
https://www.njbest.com/products/price-and-performance?filter=CLASS_STRATEGY:Individual%20Portfolio;
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My D has a retail job that she works year round, and she increases her hours once school is out for the summer. We also have two weeks of vacation planned. Other than that she will probably just be spending time with friends and shopping/packing for college. Our summer is short; there’s probably only about 8-9 weeks between high school graduation and leaving for college.
(Typing that out just made the reality set in a little bit more. 
)
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But then what?
Why not just get a Sphynx breed from the outset 
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We had a similar situation for S18. The kid most similar to him in HS (one was class president, the other student board president, both PoliSci focused, both in top 1% of the class) went to Georgetown full pay and his parents took out loans, my S went to UCLA. At the end of HS there were certainly other parents wondering why he didn’t apply to Georgetown too.
But five years later there’s been no difference in outcomes, both enjoyed their college choices and were very successful. Certainly not anything that my S feels it would have been worth paying an extra $200K for.
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Has she watched that documentary about college loans/debt with you? I’ve heard it’s very good. Borrowed Future (2021) - IMDb
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you’ll pay at least $850 a month on a 12 month lease near campus at Cal Poly. It’s definitely not very affordable. The water and gas bills will be crazy too.
As far as the UCs, my son would love to attend one of the top six, but we’ll see if that works out. I truly have no idea where he’ll get in.
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Close to campus? 
If you exclude the infamously awful places (e.g., The SLO), and you want your own bedroom, then that’s not even close in today’s market. Or maybe my family’s standards are too high. 
SLO is a CSU but each UC views AP/IB credits differently with respect to registering for classes. As an example, UCLA and UC Davis do not give earlier registration to students who come in with HS units. UCSB and UCI do. If it matters to you, it is something to look into before your student chooses a school.
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I think most UC/CSUs have Honors colleges which give priority in class registrations?
And the earlier and easier registration all factored in our decisions for both kids.
D18 graduated a semester early, though she could have graduated a year early w/o the two minors, which were important to her. The minors were both later adds, so planning-wise we expected her to graduate in 3 years.
And so far, it’s been a blessing for D21, since her roommates, who have the same major, are being shut out or WL’ed for some classes, like Chem or various GE’s.
D21 now considers those AP credits a blessing, though she needed some parental persuasion back in HS. 
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UCSB and SDSU are 2 Honor’s Colleges that no longer offer Priority Registration. I also do not see it listed as a benefit for Cal Poly SLO’s Honors program.
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No but maybe we will.