Second that. My son almost wound up there but at last minute switched to Coastal Carolina. Went in as marine bio major but just switched to hospitality - fortunately, school has good programs for both.
Am I making it up that you liked Stockton when you visited? We did not get down there, but it was on my original list for D23 - I thought it looked nice. Would she be open to starting there for Marine Biology and giving her interests more time to develop? The nice thing about Stockton is she could go in many directions there. UMaine, too. But maybe sheâd prefer to stay in NJ? I was just reading a thing about how this yearâs seniors are showing the effects of the pandemic and theyâre not all eager to fly yet. Iâm seeing that play out with some of the kids in our friend group. Hang in there - itâs great that she has a lot of options. And Iâm sorry youâre feeling so stressed and stretched, youâre almost at the finish line.
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If I recall correctly, I believe your daughter is a big fan of biking. These are some schools Iâd give some serious consideration to if your daughter is thinking about doing a late application.
Salisburyâs sticker price is about $35k, but I donât know if it is still giving scholarships. It has lots of opportunities to explore your daughterâs academic interests, but is a smaller campus with about 6700 undergrads, so smaller than most publics. It appears to be in a cute town, and with its location on the eastern shore of Maryland, there are lots of water possibilities. Salisbury is also considered a bronze level biking university.
U. of Louisville is a bit larger, at a bit under 16k undergrads. Its sticker is around $40k, but as a New Jersey resident your daughter would automatically qualify as a Regional Scholar which would give her a minimum of $10k/year and up to $16k/year, depending on her academic stats, perhaps bringing costs down to as low as $24k/year if she has a weighted 3.5 GPA and a 29 ACT/1330 SAT/comprehensive review if TO. It appears as though the campus is 2.5-3 miles from the waterfront park & botanical gardens, with those miles going through Old Louisville and Downtown, which definitely seems as though there would be lots of stuff going on in those areas. U. of Louisville is considered a silver level biking university.
Florida Southern is more intimate, with about 2800 undergrads. It appears to be right on Lake Hollingsworth, which makes up part of the Lake-to-Lake Trail which, according to Wikipedia, âis an urban 26 miles (42 km) network of paved multi-use paths that runs between numerous lakes in Lakeland Florida.â The campus appears adjacent to a historic district which itself is near the downtown. Sticker is about $53k, but it appears as though scholarships may still be available (it still has an Apply Now button and indicates that all students are automatically considered for merit aid) and the net price for families earning more than $110k is below $30k. Some of its programs that might interest your daughter include marine biology, integrative biology, and environmental studies which appears to be more science based than social studies based. Thereâs even a 3-2 program where Florida Southern students can apply to complete a 2-year Masterâs environmental studies degree at Duke after their third year at FSU.
@2plustrioâs suggestion of Jacksonville also has possibilities. Itâs another intimate school, with about 2600 undergrads. It offers a degree in Marine Science as well as a major in Sustainability, Geography, and Environmental Planning with concentrations in either Sustainability and Resiliency, Geography and GIS, or Environmental Planning. You can call, but I wasnât able to find any deadlines to apply for scholarships (which appear to get automatic consideration once youâve applied).
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Any math people here? DD was thinking of majoring in math but not sure what she wants to do. Recently she decided she loves her AP Stats class and wants to major in statistics. Her most affordable options are Pitt and Colgate. She wants a smaller school not in a city, but Colgate doesnât have a stats major. They have Math, Applied math, math and comp sci, math econ etcâŠ
Does it really matter if they donât have a stats major? And what does one even do with a bachelors degree in math?
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It looks like they have a fairly robust Stats, Data Modeling, Number Theory, Data Analysis course offerings. So it seems like your daughter could definitely get a Maths major from Colgate with a specific interest in Statistics.
I also wouldnât worry about what someone can do with a Math bachelors - if thatâs what she ends up pursuing - she will have a rigorous training in critical thought and logicâŠwhich will serve her well in addition to the hard skills sheâll bring to a career.
ETA: She could also look into study abroad at Oxford and other programs with her possible Maths major. Could be another way to find a more statistics heavy off campus program to get more depth on that specific subject.
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Also, another thought @AnonMomof2 - I donât know if youâve heard anything from Hamilton re: your FA package but they look like they have a great Statistics major as well as a Data Science major.
Might be worth checking it out if the money might be able to be worked out. Seems like it would check all your daughterâs boxes.
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Hamilton has the math and the dance she wants. We have appealed the FA package and reached out to the Admissions rep her high school works with, he said we will hear by Friday. I donât expect they will be able to match the Colgate offer even though their endowment is larger and they have 1,000 fewer students.
Undergrad math (and stats) degrees are in heavy demand in a number of industries. Famously, a lot of them have been employed in business during the last decade or so building complicated models of financial trends.
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I posted this in a Dartmouth thread and someone suggested that I put it in this thread as well, because I might get more input. So, here goes:
My son got into Dartmouth. We donât know why, but he did. He has exceptional stats and good activities, but they are similar to what is described by many applicants. Of course, we think heâs wonderful and very deserving. There are SO many kids who are. We do not live on one of the coasts, so maybe geographic diversity played a part. My husband and I went to middle-of-the-road state universities. We live in a high cost of living area, have four kids very close in age, and have ânormalâ jobs. We have college savings, but nothing extraordinary. We didnât expect this to happen but now that it has, weâre trying to figure out if a Dartmouth degree is worth the extra $100k that we had not allocated to his college education fund.
I would really appreciate any words of wisdom on this. I know there isnât a single right answer. This is just very new and unexpected territory for us so othersâ experience and anecdotes would be welcome.
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What is his intended major, and other school choices?
Your son got into Dartmouth. Congrats. Why? Who cares - heâs in at Dartmouth 
He did something right. You did something right raising him!!
When you say more than $100K vs. his college fund - Iâm not sure thatâs the relevant way to look at it.
If you said - $100K more than U of Kansas, etc., you can look at that. But if you had $50K less in your 529, you canât say - $150K more.
But - if itâs $25K more a year than you have saved, the question would be - can you cash flow the difference?
So the answer to your question is a personal one.
You might look at major, alternative school choices, comfort (has he been, did he feel at home), etc? You might look at curriculums - what does Dartmouth give him, besides Ivy bragging, that other schools donât.
Tell us more about your impressive son.
What major?
Whatâs choice #2?
Whatâs the total cost (tuition, room and board of each) minus scholarship?
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While you might not have allocated the extra $100k to his college fund, my answer is different if you still have access to the extra $100k necessary or if youâd have to borrow it.
If you have the money and youâre willing to spend it on education - go for it.
If you donât have the money and it would require borrowing - no, Dartmouth not worth $100k of debt.
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Same questions everyone else asked, also is there financial aide involved? Are the costs set off at all by some aide?
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He has two other acceptances from selective schools (11% acceptance rate) that provided enough aid to put them at the top of our budget (there are many other choices, but these are the ones that compete with the Dartmouth opportunity). One is a private SLAC in a mid-sized town with wonderful outdoor adventure opportunities, the other a much bigger, private school (20k students) in an urban setting. I think he would be happy at either of them, but the latter one would be a wholly different experience. Intended major is undecided; could be geography, linguistics, economics, physics, environmental science.
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We have access to it, but even though itâs not tied up in retirement accounts, that has been its intended purpose. I guess Iâm wondering about how people have thought through this type of decision.
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I usually look at where the student wants to go after undergrad and work back to understand which school provides the best opportunities / optionality for all the possible areas of interest. You have a list of interests that seem very broad. You need to look at which of your colleges have the most resources in the most number of areas your student is interested in.
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If you have another school with an 11% acceptance rate thatâs $100K less - itâs likely a better deal.
But thatâs just financially.
When visiting, where does he feel best?
Given these majors and not knowing what heâll want to do, Iâm not sure what youâd gain from Dartmouth vs. another highly rejective school - other than Ivy bragging for life.
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I did a math degree and PhD, and was never very interested in stats, ended up building simulation models then moved more explicitly into strategy consulting. Thereâs plenty of data analysis which doesnât require stats at all, let alone a major. Building mathematical forecasting models (often in Excel) also has nothing to do with stats.
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If you have three more kids to put through college, wonât you feel obliged to offer them the extra $100K too? That sounds like a recipe for either long term financial challenges for you, or long term jealousy amongst the siblings if they arenât treated the same.
We were very explicit about allocating exactly the same amount of money to each kid (in terms of contributions to the 529, though the younger one had more time for the money to grow). One had a lot of money left over, one had some money left over, one wonât have any left over. They knew that in advance and all understand the fairness of our approach.
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