When S23 was starting high school (3,600 kids) his sisters were trying to convince him not to quit lacrosse. They said, “Everyone will know you if you’re on the team.” He said, “That’s the exact opposite of what I want - I’m trying to fly under the radar and hope nobody knows me.” 
Now he is heading to a small college so it will be interesting to see how he likes it.
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Yeah, that was me too. I would have hated a small program. I LOVED being just one person in a sea of faces at my large state flagship. It was a feature. Spouse chose a small LAC for the opposite experience. We’re quite surprised that our son (who takes after me, overwhelmingly so) is drawn to the smaller program with more attention.
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Here is where I land. Private Universities should have to pay property taxes to their local jurisdictions, especially the large ones that are sitting on billions of dollars in endowments. Many large public universities are in the business of sports entertainment and being a university is a side hustle.
Also when I learned about the privation of dorms years ago I just get a bad feeling. Same goes for prisons and parking meters. There is always corruption and the contracts are not written well for the city, state or university. Too many guarantees are given out.
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Totally agree 
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Same here…this time last year I was 100% sure Twin 2 would commit to a small LAC…but after touring Trinity, Southwestern Univ and Austin College (two of these are apart of the Colleges That Change Lives list), getting accepted to all 3 with really good merit aid and grants…he ultimately decided to commit to UT Austin lol!! He found that the small LAC’s just weren’t the social fit he thought they would be. The way he lights up while discussing UT and the energy he felt while touring there solidified the decision.
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Sorry to hear that Pitt isn’t showing him any love! I completely understand as my DS just committed to the school that showed him the least love, and it’s been eating me up too! I’m worried he will be just a number, but he doesn’t seem worried at all.
Also - I actually have an older child that is at Pitt. She has had a great experience so far. She did get into the honors college, but if it helps, she did not like living in Sutherland (lots of construction in that area made the long walk even longer). She didn’t meet many people through honors activities or the dorm, but mostly met her friends through classes and other clubs. The early registration seemed to be the only benefit. She is considering doing an honors thesis, but I think anyone can do that. She has had good and bad professors, but more good than bad, and overall she has been having a great experience. Feel free to send me a message if you have questions and I’ll help if I can.
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I’m angry at a couple of schools for similar reasons, and I did let my son know a little bit, but…big difference…they are not schools he wanted to go to anymore. I let him know after he decided not to attend that I felt they didn’t honor his work. It’s particularly hard that it’s your son’s chosen school. Maybe he’ll adore Bama and his city needs will change. 
My kid let go of one factor that was super important at the start of his search, when he fell in love with another school.
It does bad things, it does.
(Let’s start with the gaming of the Clery Act that it allows, and we can move on to less obvious stuff after that…)
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Two days ago S23 was leaning toward choosing BU. Today he thinks he will choose WPI. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take! 
He has set a deadline for himself of next Friday so he can “stop thinking about the decision and get on with other things.” I know I’ll certainly be glad when there is a final decision.
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I am with you on not being able to wait until a decision is made. Our DD is between 2 she hasn’t even visited. So this weekend and next weekend will be the visits. I hope there is a clear choice.
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2983 miles for me. You definitely win this contest 
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I’m right there with you! S23’s top three choices right now are all schools that have been previously crossed off the list at one time or another 
So excited to share that D23 committed to Ohio State today. She had a lot of great options but this was the one she was most excited about and the admitted student day helped validate her feelings. I’m really hating that she’ll be 8+ hours away but trying to embrace letting her fly!!
For those (like me!) who love to see all the results, here you go!
Admitted:
Ohio State +honors + full COA. Attending!!
Clemson + honors + merit
UGA +honors + merit
College of Charleston + honors + merit
UMiami + honors + full tuition
UofSC + honors + merit
USF + honors + full COA (NMF)
UMaine + honors + almost full COA (NMF)
Ohio Wesleyan + merit
Rhodes + merit
UNC-CH
Waitlisted
Boston U
Vanderbilt
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@Poochie21 I would make a guess that she will probably feel the way many college freshmen feel. Which is “college is the best time ever!!”. I mean, it’s college! Don’t over think it. It was the best 4 years of my life.
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Yes! He has said how much he is looking forward to being anonymous (I personally know this will last about one semester.)
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Congrats! It’s not so far, you can drive there in a day and that’s my threshold- anything longer than about 12 hours of driving is officially “far.”
Columbus is a nice place, too!
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We had a great admitted student visit to Case Western! My son has never doubted how strong a fit it is, but I had reservations about the cost (and they came back with an offer in our target zone) and some other concerns (that were completely erased after asking many questions.) I am quite sure CWRU will be the one (and my son, husband and I are equally thrilled) but he does have some virtual events set up with other schools in the next week so I think he wants to follow-through on those and keep an open mind before making it official. He has a student ambassador (also a psych major but pre-med) assigned to him who met up with us and was so kind to answer all his questions. He was invited to a beautiful Unity banquet which was icing on the cake. This is a yearly event where they honor their minority and underrepresented students with this special dinner and some are presented with scholarship awards for study abroad and other things. Let’s just say it was a 5 star dinner with an excellent keynote speaker and other presentations really welcoming diversity and embracing the uniqueness of every student. They invited my son to move in a few days early and attend a 3 day welcome weekend for minority students (that’s right before the 1 week welcome program for all Freshman) so that sounded great. We attended a music presentation (he’s a drummer) and he left the admitted student day considering a triple major (psychology, cognitive science & music) which is actually do-able since they let some classes “double count.” Cleveland is only a 3 hour drive so that’s a bonus! Feeling really optimistic and positive over here! Hope everyone else is feeling good as you approach the finish line!
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One of my son’s good friends is attending Ohio State (Philosophy, Politics, Economics).
Congrats!
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Truly sounds like it couldn’t have been a better experience! Hooray!
i know that money is important; trust me; 4 kids 19 total yrs of higher ed between them.
but when a school is in your “zone” and feels like a fit, and the kid really wants it - that extra amount seems worth it.
you’ll see small savings being empty nesters. . . savings that will shift to the funds for college. No more gym fees/travel fees. . . . less food in the house. less travel. less money is handed over for kid things (you know; t-shirts, coaches gifts, gas, activity fees, booster clubs, fundraisers, lessons, equipment, eating out).
we’ve spent a small fortune on lessons of all sorts for our kids. I’ll never regret that. It’s been a joy seeing them develop talents! but sure enjoying not paying all of those fees, and have diverted those amounts towards higher ed. And soon, those funds will be going back to us.
so while i’m a random person online, i’ve read his story here, and am hoping for CWR. 
(and with that in mind, i’m starting off my wordle of the day with the word money. if anyone else wants to try it and share results on the wordle thread - i’ll be there!)
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