Great podcast!!! Thank you for sharing!
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I would personally pick Grinnell. But D23 is not a fan of āmiddle of nowhereāā¦.she loves theater, and the fact that Cleveland is the 2nd-largest Broadway district (outside of NYC) is a big draw.
One of her checklist items on every campus has been to pull out her phone and see the closest place to get Boba tea. Every other campus weāve visited has had options within a mile or tow, many just a 4 or 5 minute walk. At Grinell the closest was 53 miles away!
Another evaluative thing she has done is wear her cloak (a big, black wool cloak) on every tour, and gauged part of the āvibeā she felt on campus to the reaction she got to it from the guide, admissions officers, and even other students on campus.
She loved everything about Grinnell other than location - including the āvibeā. So itās still in consideration, she would likely do the 3/2 program with CalTech (that was how they got on her radar to begin with). And the combination of merit and need-based aid is the best so far!
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Cleveland really does have a fantastic arts scene.
My son did a similar thing with avocado toastā¦ he felt good about a place if he could get that lol. He loved Grinnell too, but ultimately ended up still in Cali, where avocados abound. 
Iāll just point out because I do so love Grinnell, that the Global Cafe on campus has Bobaā¦
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They have mail order boba kits you could send to her if she ends up Grinnell! 
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Completely! If you asked my kid a year ago where he was going, first before starting the process he assumed somewhere instate. Then came out of his comfort zone and completely changed to OOS, warm weather, and not the big instate flagship. Well heās going to that big in state flagship!
Itās been a roller coaster ride, blindfolded. A fun, stressful, and educational ride with lots of twists, turns, and growth. All to end up right where he started!
Started out only considering in state schools, branched to out of state, with a lot (believe me, it was a lot!) of tours over many states. Ruled out ones he anticipated would be winners and vice versa. The first visited, remained the favorite (thereās always something about the first love)! Did a Chevy Chase āVacationā look at instate flagship when driving through the area and he decided that was enough and not for him. But to be fair, it was late, worn out from another day long college visit and tons of traffic due to an event. Considering we didnāt give it a fair shot, he applied.
Didnāt discover CC until very late in the game. It would have been a different game had I discovered sooner. But it still had an impact. Both my child and I embracedā¦love the college that loves you back. Really, it was a game changer coupled with embracing an open attitude and realization of how crazy expensive this college endeavor can be! Well he decided to give the big instate flagship another chance and loved them right back! Unless thereās another unexpected twist and turn from last of outstanding decisions, which is unlikely, he is excited to have found his new home.
Honestly the college process is for the birds and glad to be done with it. However, I saw value in the journey and it was a pleasure to experience my sonās learned lessons, character building and growth!
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I see many friends of my kids all staying in state, after touring lots of oos schools and talking of going so far away. It is way less expensive, so it could be that. Or it could be dreams changed or became more realistic. I donāt know. But they all seem happy and relieved.
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Can she do overnights at any of the colleges? That really helps my dd17 and ds20 decide. It made the world of a difference in getting a feel of what it would be like. However, I have heard sometimes you can get paired with a student who is really not a match and that unfortunately is not good.
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Yes, demonstrated interest makes the difference at Case Western: It separates the acceptances.
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My D21 had raising canes nearby as a barometer
When you think about what you can afford for the total cost of attendance per year (not just tuition + room + board, but also spending money, etc), do you assume your child will be working during the school year and/or summer? And if so, how much do you estimate they will earn?
S23ās current favorite (WPI) will cost us ~47K/year for tuition & fees, room, and meal plan (at least the first year 
). We can contribute 32K/year. S23 has 32K saved (so 8K/year). He can take out the student loans. That gets to just about 46/year, but heād prefer to take out fewer loans AND there will be costs over the 47.
If we assume heāll be able to make 8K/year (summer + school year), it could work. But I have no idea if that is a good assumption.
S23 is currently taking 5 DE classes and working 30 hours/week and still has ridiculous amounts of free time. So I think heād be able to manage some work hours during ārealā college. But Iām not sure how much, and I donāt have any ideas about summer work.
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Your high school senior has saved 32K. that is awesome. Kudos to him.
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He never spends any money, and he has always been like that! Years of saving Christmas & birthday gifts, and of course all the hours he has been working the past 2 years.
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Maybe call me spoiled, but I worked 10hrs a week while at WPI and I complained about it.
BUT I also overloaded (took 4 classes instead of 3) every term, and did the usual college partying/hanging out with friends/club sport/sorority.
Speaking with other people, the 7weeks term thing seems to be very different from semesters. Your classes meet just about every day, sometimes 2x a day (lab).
Friends who had semesters talks about how much free time they had. My WPI alum friends and I donāt recall having a lot of free time. We did find time to do roadtrips and Springbreak, etc, but we didnāt have chunks of free time where we could have gotten bored or worked a lot.
My friendās DD is a sophomore at WPI and while she doesnāt work, sheās volunteering in a lab to get exposure and add to her resume.
I had also worked a lot at my family business during HS, all APs/tons of ECs.
My point is: donāt expect a lot of free time at WPI to calculate in earning a lot of money towards tuition.
And if he has some, he should be in labs/trying new stuff/playing w/ the Maker Space, networking for summer internships, etc.
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He sounds like a worker. Are there opportunities on campus, do RAās save on room & board? Also, most of my friends saved a bundle when their kids moved off campus as upperclassmen but that depends on locationā¦
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What is his intended major? Iād think that 8K/yr for his wages is do-able, especially if he does co-op or internships.
We are planning ~10K/yr on average for wages for our kid during college, and it will all go to his school expenses. Definitely factoring that into our budget.
Our son wants to do co-ops as many years as he can. My understanding is that engineering co-ops can usually earn ~10K per semester. If there are years where he canāt get one (like after freshman year), heāll work some other job during the summer.
He easily works 15 hrs/wk now and earns about $500/month doing low wage low demand work. We donāt make him and he chooses to do so. He could do more (like your son) if he really wanted to. We arenāt assuming that heāll be able to work in college. I think summers may be enough, and there is some wiggle room in the budget as well. I wonāt be surprised if he works during school, but Iām hoping he can take that time to join a club or something else. He may work a bit during the school year if he has the time and need.
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My son is studying Data Science, so hopefully there will be internships. My preference for him would be to have a well-paying summer job related to his major, and not work during the school year. I just have no idea if that is a reasonable expectation if he needs to earn $8,000. But it sounds like maybe that could workā¦
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Yes itās a very reasonable assumption that you student could early $8K/summer (and thatās a very conservative estimate).
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I would say that the years he could get a good internship, he would easily make $8000. Mine made $14K last summer. However, will he be able to find such an internship every year? After freshmen year can be very tough. Sophomore year can be tough as well, though more likely. If not, $15/hour x 40 hours x 10 weeks is only $6000. Also, what are the chances of getting an internship where he could live at home or at school? If not, those expenses would have to come from somewhere. Iām guessing you live in MA and that might not be as big as a consideration as it is for us. Though younger S was lucky and a roommateās family took him in for the summer and charged him $0 rent.
Also keep in mind that that $47K is very likely to go up. And with inflation as it is now, I wouldnāt be surprised if it was $50-55K the last couple of years.
My older son worked all 4 years at school. He worked 5-10 hours/week for the school (making $8/hr) and then also as a soccer ref. He made a whole lot more doing that, and could pick/choose his games/hours. Younger S didnāt work the first two years, but has ~10 hours/week while at school. He doesnāt make a lot, maybe $400/month, but itās good spending $$$.
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Not all on-campus jobs are the same. My D17 had jobs throughout her years that paid $13-$15/hour and did not hinder her ability to study as they were desk attendant jobs at the Music Library (low usage) and the Rec center (just watched as people swiped their ID to enter). She could get all her reading done and do some other types of homework as well. She had a TA/tutoring position one semester that paid more but required effort which hindered her ability to get her own stuff done so she stopped doing that.
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I saw your comment on the College Vine inaccuracy. We too are dealing with variance between college vine/ niche and reality. Itās been a disappointing several months! Just rejected by U Wash after College Vine showed a 75% chance of acceptance 