yeah, ideally used as a hook to get her to Grinnell.
But if she followed through it also gets her back to CA…I’ve lived all over, but my wife really wants D to end up back in CA 
1 Like
Curious why she applied to Grinnell in the first place then? It’s not like the college has moved since she applied. Did she become “VERY” resistant to Iowa only after she visited Grinnell upon her acceptance? What was it specifically about the state of Iowa that turned her off? It would be one thing to say she visited post-acceptance and did not like the small town where the college is located, or that she did not realize the inconvenience of trying to get to the campus from a major airport, or that she has since become politically offended by people like Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley given recent political events, etc. but to simply say she has a problem with the state of Iowa seems a bit. . . hmmm. . . I don’t know. . . ? Just trying to understand this, as nothing much has changed about Iowa since she applied. What gives? Why are kids applying to schools in states that they are VERY resistant to, given the tiny acceptance rates and class sizes at these schools?
2 Likes
yeah, I’ve seen that. Originally that was what got SLC on the list - but I think she just fell in love with the school that gave her an EA admission, nice merit, and made her feel loved.
Which is actually all GOOD - loving your safety! But after being accepted in December, she had almost 3 months to fall in love before Grinnell came along. Being accepted there made her think that either Wesleyan or CWRU would also accept (on paper they’re easier), so she would be able to avoid Iowa). Being waitlisted at CWRU, then at Wesleyan, and then again at Bryn Mawr definitely affected her. I think being loyal back to the first one to accept is part of it.
Thankfully we have until end of April…
1 Like
But you are an aid family so that 5th year has a cost…
3 Likes
Smaller place so it was a better ratio, but still, my D17 got one of the five (IIRC) really good scholarships, without which she couldn’t have gone to Muhlenberg (which was her top choice).
It’s reasonable to apply to one or two financial longshots on the off chance you’ll get what you need there.
2 Likes
yes - but we’ll figure it out. If she can get an engineering degree from CalTech we’ll make it work!
3 Likes
This is smart! Good luck to you, I know navigating this isn’t easy.
1 Like
Even if she decides not to do a 3/2 transfer, she is likely to have a better outcome for grad school by going to Grinnell than to SLC.
1 Like
She applied pretty much as soon as applications opened up, then we visited in the fall.
She actually really liked the school, and the people - but she hadn’t realized how remote it was. The next day we visited UChicago - so she compared the two locations.
It’s not really about Iowa - if Grinnell was in Iowa City, or Des Moines, or some other “city” I think she’d be much more OK with it.
But at that point the application was already in - there was no reason to withdraw it, and she was impressed with the school and all they have to offer. As we visited more schools later in the cycle she came to the realization that she really likes more of a city off-campus to go to.
5 Likes
I just watched this and the topic is about elite colleges vs less elite and the outcomes showing it may all be relative to where a student fits in. It was a very interesting talk- maybe 5-10 minutes - by Malcolm Gladwell- called Why Did I Say Yes to Speak Here. Seemed to fit in well with all the discussion. And maybe it’ll make someone feel better about choosing a less expensive school.
5 Likes
My D was also accepted to Grinnell with a great FA package. We were not able to visit but she did a few online sessions with them and loved them. She really clicked with them and their programs looked great. This was early on when her list was still wide open. As we got further into the process, she decided that she wanted a smaller geographic range from home so we cut all of the schools still on her list that weren’t within that circle except for Grinnell and Kenyon. She had already connected with them and their programs and so kept them on, even though they didn’t fit her criteria anymore. I think she thought that because she liked them so much that it wouldn’t matter that they were far away but now that she’s faced with that reality, it’s different. So I get it.
5 Likes
It’s all hypothetical until it’s not, right? My D17 wanted to go to school in New York. We visited a bunch of schools, she was in love. I made her apply to some schools back home in California. After all was said and done, she had affordable high quality choices in New York, in between, and in California. She picked a school in California a few hours drive from home. She would have never predicted that in the fall of senior year.
9 Likes
I totally get this. That’s why I was surprised that you phrased her objection as being totally resistant to Iowa. An objection to an entire state can encompass a LOT of things. One thing my kids are still struggling with is how much the college/university locale impacts job opportunities, networks, internships, etc. It’s a lot easier to evaluate a small college town in terms of social life than it is to understand how that impacts career options.
her impression of Iowa is that it’s all the middle of nowhere. She says it as opposition to “Iowa” - but it’s really about “remote, tiny town 50 miles from a real city” LOL
2 Likes
Like my son, they realize - I need to be in range of mom.
The moms always win !!
1 Like
Yes, I know that. I was responding to the statement that there are no merit scholarships at selective colleges. My point was there are few scholarships rather than none.
My family’s income is at the 45th percentile.for my area including all gig work and child support, yet I too would have received no need based financial aid even from the FAFSA based schools, so I am sympathetic to the issue and live it myself. I just have a tendency to point out exceptions to overbroad generalizations framed as fact.
4 Likes
We made a similar arrangement with our S23. We are in-state for Pitt and Penn State so we used the COA at those schools as the baseline. (We also used that as the baseline because we just finished paying a similar COA for S23’s older brother, who graduated from SUNY-ESF last year.) We told S23 during his sophomore year that if he wanted to attend a college with a COA above 30K (after merit) he could take out loans for the difference. On the other hand, if he could earn scholarships to get his COA below 30K, we would contribute half the difference toward his graduate school tuition to help him minimize loan debt. It really got him invested in the economics of college selection. Most of the schools that he was accepted to came in right around 28K to 30K after merit, so he decided to accept the full tuition plus offer from Alabama after visiting campus in early December. He’ll graduate debt-free from college and he’ll have a nice check from mom and dad later to use for graduate school.
4 Likes
I love that! Hoping my D will see things that way…
We had a similar arrangement with S18. His baseline got adjusted a little, mostly because our EFC has changed a little, so trying to be “fair” to D without going broke
1 Like
Middle of nowhere is all relative, though, you know?
I mentioned upthread that D17 went to Muhlenberg. One of the selling points for her, coming from Alaska? That it’s in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which is so close to both NYC and Philadelphia.
OTOH, a lot of kids there from the DC-to-Boston conurbation feel (which, depending on the kid, is a positive or a negative) that Muhlenberg is legitimately in the middle of nowhere, insanely far away from both NYC and Philadelphia.
6 Likes
So close she could probably Iditarod in just a couple days to New York!!!
4 Likes