My son is a spartan sort, so packing will not be a problem. I’m figuring he’ll fit all his belongings in one duffel bag to move to school. My D19 had 3 of the schools rolling carts full to move into her freshman dorm. It was insane, but she’s an Uber organized person and made it all fit. She had a great year and was happy, so whatever. Decorating her dorm was fun. My son will care little, though he wants Berkeley blue and gold bedding. We’ll see what I can find!
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Thank you @mountainsoul for your take on the college. We’re planning to stay close enough to campus to walk and get a feeling of the neighborhood this time. I’ve been reading the Wikipedia entry on UPenn and it’s pretty interesting. We’ll be checking out places like Locust Walk and maybe a museum or the arboretum. How was the housing? Seems it’s required for 2 years, but then it’s not guaranteed. Also, how is the wellness center and access to counseling if needed. This is important to us given the experiences of our other children.
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I worry about kids choosing CS solely for the prestige of a 6 figure salary at Google. And then they are crushed when they get a lower paying job at a no-name company. It’s fine to pick a major that will get you a decent job, but you should really enjoy what you are studying. Then it won’t matter so much if you don’t get that prestigious job. Because you actually LIKE what you are doing.
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@Dolemite Our kiddo got accepted to the College of Arts and Sciences and seems ok with the city location. Is there a rodent problem at UPenn? If so do you know which college houses? I’d not heard that before.
Any hotels that you recommend?
My son considered CS (comes very naturally to him) then PA studies and admitted that both were mainly due to job security and salary. He always said he wanted to minor in psychology and was always reading psych-related books and listening to psych lectures online (he’s a proud nerd. lol) I kind of always knew that was his passion but he finally told me just before junior year that psychology was the path he wanted to pursue and his goal was a PhD in clinical psychology and to work with Spanish speaking populations if possible. Very proud he went with his passions over the money. I believe he’ll stick with this path and his schooling and career will be very fulfilling for him. To be clear, the money won’t be bad at all but I didn’t want him to choose an area of study based on salary alone.
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Yes, it’s important not to double up. I avoid this completely by only sending medications with a single active ingredient. I send the following: acetaminophen, ibuprofen, pseudoephedrine, oxymetazoline nasal spray, loratidine and diphenhydramine. They know how to use these medications already, as this is how we do it at home too, but they can always call with any questions.
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Definitely learned to not stress over the dorm stuff. We were flying so that limited what she could bring. She still ended up bringing more than she needed. A few items that popped up after move in and those we could easily send via Amazon. The big one was an air filter which did wonders for allergies.
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Thank you for this! Diversity is very important to my son and he recently told me his top 2 choices are:
Case Western (.68 index)
U Albany (.70 index)
So he chose well!
Case is $32k vs. $21k for U Albany. He wrote an appeal letter to Case Western asking for consideration to increase his award (sent to admissions & financial aid.) Got a polite no from admissions, stating he already received their top merit of $43,500 (this was not a surprise.) And financial aid said they would send him an updated package later today, I assume only if they were able to make changes. Our EFC is $16k so there might be a slight chance of extra money but doubtful it will be enough to make a dent.
So U Albany is the most likely choice which was a surprise since it was barely on the radar most of his search process. He only applied because I encouraged a non-local SUNY and they had free app week. It was dark horse that came in focus at the end after an impressive visit on 4/2. He’ll be disappointed if Case doesn’t work out but said he could see himself very happy at U Albany (lots of research opportunities with it being an R1 school and the honors program truly seems to make a large school seem small and intimate, plus they’ll take all 36 of his college credits from high school.) My husband & I agree it seems like a great fit for him!
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I sent you a PM.
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You have done an amazing job guiding him through this application process.
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Another thing to think about when comparing diversity at universities and to look at economic diversity at universities. I had found something 4 years ago for D19 but can’t find it now. But if you are worried about it I am sure you can google it.
I had seen that D19 was going to a college that had more well to do kids compared to average state school. Less pell grant kids also. It has showed over the years.
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Well you could say there are lots of rodents in Philly in general but there has been various news articles in the past of rodent problems in UPenn dorms from time to time with the bigger news seemingly UPenn’s less than enthusiastic response to try and fix the issue.
My point is not to denigrate UPenn - it’s a fine school with many positives but it’s not any more perfect than many other schools in the country and the ones you have to choose from. I will add that the on campus food isn’t that great but one of the positives of being in Philly is all the off campus choices including numerous food trucks that have great food at reasonable/cheap prices.
As for hotels to be close to campus you want The Inn at Penn, University City Sheraton or the The Study at University City. All are nicely located.
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We visited Cal yesterday and my son bought 3 Sweatshirt/Hoodie/T-Shirts. I didnt know Champion branded stuff is so costly 
My son wears uniforms to school now and I mentioned he would need a lot more school clothes. He said, “No, I’ll just get a bunch of Cal swag.” It will be an expensive trip when we visit the 22nd! 
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That’s very kind of you to say! Well, we now have quite a twist! As I said, admissions at Case Western gave a polite no to his request for additional funds but financial aid took another look at our info and gave us another $5000 (takes us within $2k of our target budget which my son can cover with his summer job) and added $2500 for work study. Ugh-truly wasn’t expecting that! Case Western has really shown him the love at every turn. Now to crunch numbers and have some serious talks as we process this new, unexpected development. What a roller coaster this has been!
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Yes to Case! I totally get the roller coaster of financials!
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Did it show in a good or bad way? Can you elaborate? Thanks
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that’s pretty exciting to hear! question for case: will they offer that much when your oldest graduates and isnt in college any longer? Is that a concern? **we’ve only ever gone merit-route for our kids so i dont know how gift aid affects a kid once there’s only one in college . . .
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My guess is that if something does change, it will change at all schools, not just Case.
That’s one of our big concerns. I asked FA and they said they try hard to keep packages similar each year but can’t guarantee it will match up exactly. If it’s a few thousand, that’s one thing but if it’s $10k more, that’s a problem! I am attending an FA webinar tonight and hope to get a better answer. I wish they were like Northeastern which had the “Northeastern Promise” that your package won’t increase during the 4 years.
-he could graduate in 3 years from U Albany since they take all his credits but would be 4 years (3.5 if he’s lucky) from Case Western.
-to the best of my knowledge, they don’t have an honors program at Case so at U Albany (with honors) he has perks like early registration, honors dorms, honors seminars, etc.
We are going to an accepted student event at Case on Friday so we hope to explore some of these concerns more.
Some other areas to consider:
-Case is only $5k more in price than our SUNY options ($2500 more if we count the work study.) However, overall cost is lower at Albany due to less time for degree
-neither my son or I are big into rankings but Case is a T50 (ranked #44)
-both schools are R1 universities so he likes that he can start research early at either one
-Case is known more for STEM so psychology classes tend to be smaller and easier to get into
-Case is a medium sized school which he’s been leaning towards but the honors program helps Albany feel smaller
Lots to think about in the coming days & weeks.
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