<p>After attending Scholars' Day, my S is starting to have second thoughts about going to USC. I think a lot of it is the fact that he got accepted last week by William and Mary, which my wife and I both attended. It is only a 45 minute drive from our house. I think the 7 hour drive to Columbia to attend Scholars' Day made him realize how far away from home he will be. </p>
<p>I thought he had made up his mind (we have sent in the deposits to USC), but now I don't know. I have been a champion of USC due to the financial aid, and the fact that he can design his own major. Maybe I have been a bit over zealous on the money angle. </p>
<p>If he were saying Va Tech vs USC, I would be a lot more insistent on USC. But W&M is a lot better school the VT, so it is hard to tell him that USC is the better choice.</p>
<p>Oh well. Now he is finding out what being an adult is like. You think you made a correct decision, then you start second guessing it. Happens to me all the time!</p>
<p>We are going through a similar situation, thought USC was a done deal, now S has been accepted to Dickinson College, small Liberal Arts school, looks great on paper, only 600 accepted out of 6000 applicants...but it is like comparing apples and oranges. S doesn't want to go to a school that small, doesn't like the campus and small town feel but feels pressured by its "reputation". Yes, it is a big decision, I think weighing the pros and cons of both colleges will help him make the right choice. I believe he is leaning toward USC...he also wants to be in the marching band (Dickinson doesn't have one)...we'll just have to see. (And the financial/scholarship package from USC does come in high, seeing that Dickinson will be close to $40,000 a year!)</p>
<p>USC is a little cheaper in-state than W&M in-state, plus the $20,000 in financial aid my S already has received. It's hard to justify W&M other than its reputation is so much better than USC's.</p>
<p>Make that 3 of us.....mailed the scholarship forms in the same day D got accepted to her "dream college". Now we're deciding between Dream College ($46000) and free ride plus benefits at USC honors college etc.</p>
<p>USC vs. William & Mary is a no brainer if there is no particular major at USC which is of unusually strong interest to your son. The admissions process at USC is very numbers driven while William & Mary admissions is quite skilled at building classes- even with respect to instate applicants. The college years will probably be some of the most influential years of any young person's life and that is difficult to measure in dollars. William & Mary is a special school which will influence your son for the rest of his life. It may not be just the distance that is affecting your son as there is a definite qualitative difference between the two student bodies that cannot be measured in terms of test scores and GPAs. If this strikes a chord with you and your son, then the choice is obvious; if not, take the money and USC.</p>
<p>Good luck to you all....Last year we were walking in your shoes. DD got accepted to USC with a McKissick Scholarship. Truthfully she agonized over the decision, but ultimately went with her dream school (Santa Clara University). Yes, more expensive...but it was the right decision for her. We outlined the advantages of "going with the money" but they did not outweigh the advantages of a smaller school with a very strong Core Curriculum. So...she's in CA, and that's that. Folks who have been posting here for a while will remember the agony of this for us. DD made her final decision on April 30.</p>
<p>namtrag....now I wish my D and your S would have met yesterday....they sound similar.....Is your son thinking of grad school? D definitely wants to go to grad school so we are still leaning USC and designing own major etc...the extra money will come in handy in the future, but getting into dream school was unexpected for D and they have everything she wants other than cost and location.</p>
<p>Great advice, but my son wants to be a computer science/math double major. Most large schools have the CS discipline in their engineering school. W&M doesn't even have an engineering school, so I am not sure how that effects the quality of the CS dept there.</p>
<p>I would guess that W&M's Math and CS programs would be among the weaker majors at W&M, but not sure about it.</p>
<p>I guess with any decision there is going to be a bit of "buyer's remorse" regardless of the choice. I wonder if you imagine yourself at the "other" school and then try to decide if you would have that same remorse about passing up the opportunities at USC. It's tough.
I was lucky because my daughter did not have a "dream school". Once she decided on USC she was determined to find all of the reasons why that was the "right choice" and not try to think in terms of "what if".
For BB - it really seems that reputation is the only thing going for Dickinson in your son's eyes. While reputation may seem like a strong factor now, if he is unhappy with the size and location of the school, will that be enough to want to stay there? And is he willing to give up the activities ( band) just because of "reputation" ? It seems like it's not a good fit regardless of status.
Good luck to all of you - I hope that they all find a place where they are happy in the end! I will be going through this with d2 next year so I am watching closely!</p>
<p>Hopefully my S will get the full ride Stokes Scholarship from the National Security Agency. He is one of 115 people who are semifinalists for 22 awards. I hope we find out something before May 1 deadlines for telling colleges whether you are coming. I don't know how they will decide by then, S still has to pass a background check, including polygraph, possibly go to Ft Meade for interviews, and then get the final notification. I can't see the government getting all that done by May 1.</p>
<p>Namtrag...is your instate cost for W and M higher than USC? I have to say...Virginia is lucky to have a bunch of instate public universities from which to choose. If my kid had had those choices when applying to college, at least the younger one would be instate. Our state has a flagship u and a bunch of state colleges (which I would not have made either kid consider). But in VA...gee...so many good choices!!!</p>
<p>I believe W&M instate is about 1,000 higher than USC instate. </p>
<p>We are blessed to have great state schools here, but merit aid is not plentiful like USC gives out.</p>
<p>W&M and UVa both know that they are going to get the cream of the crop, and have no reason to give out merit aid. My S is just slightly above average statistically at either school.</p>
<p>namtrag: By any chance did your son apply to Carnegie-Mellon? Great math and one of the very best computer science programs in the country. CM is well known for matching other school's financial aid offers. This may also be the case regarding scholarship offers. Designing one's own major is not always a great idea.</p>
<p>S didn't apply to any private schools due to cost factors, perceived or otherwise. We really pressed him to stay with Va publics until USC started recruiting him. Unlike many people on CC, he only applied to 3 schools: W&M, USC, and VT.</p>
<p>On the designing a major thing, my S just wants to somehow be able to study 3 disciplines: CS, math, and French (his best subject by far has been French, 5 on the AP, 800 on the SAT II), and also wants to dabble in Arabic.</p>
<p>USC will give him at least 24 credit hours for his AP scores, which I think would free up hours for him to fill with Arabic and French courses. W&M is very stingy on AP, I believe it is virtually impossible to get college credits there for AP scores.</p>
<p>Well, at least my S is choosing between two great alternatives.</p>
<p>Namtrag
I was hoping someone would come on and report back on Scholars Day.
Was there anything that "spooked him" about USC besides the 7 hour car ride?Is there any perceived pressure from Mom and Dad about alma mater/distance from home...dont jump on me..I said perceived....
I think its time to make that pro/con chart..it seems you are working on it already when you consider things like the AP credit situation
Would W&M give him the flexibility of the design your own major that the Honors Colege does at USC?
How is the depth of language oferings at both schools?
Does the presence of the National Advocacy Center on USC's campus tie in at all with his leanings for a post college career? You'll have to carefully plot out the CS/Math offerings at both schools as well.
Did he think USC was too big in any way? Is he interested in big school sports/football Saturdays?
Is there an Honors College equiv at WandM? How does the physical location/setting of the two schools feel to him?
At least as you say,you have two good options to choose from.
Just as a side note,the granting of AP credit has given my S lots of leeway,even as a freshman to explore interesting classes and made both his freshman semesters very enjoyable.</p>
<p>He just loves W&M. There is no honors program at W&M because the whole school is an HC. In other words, the average student at W&M is similar or slightly higher statistically than the USC HC student.</p>
<p>Nothing really turned him off about USC. Only thing in that vein that was metioned is that the portion of campus where the engineering school is located is kind of urban and run down looking, and they did not show us that on our tour. </p>
<p>My son is not into sports at all, so the SEC thing is not a big deal to him at all.</p>
<p>I believe, but do not know, that the languages are better at W&M, but the CS and math is probably better at USC. It is so hard to figure out.</p>
<p>W&M is supposed to also have grade deflation from what we hear, which is a strike against it.</p>
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W&M is supposed to also have grade deflation from what we hear, which is a strike against it.
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<p>Namtrag, don't let grade deflation be a strike against. It should more likely be an indicator of the high standards. My D goes to a school where grading is very tough, but she chose it for the academic rigor. The W&M name definitely carries a lot of weight. You are right that the language department is strong at W&M.</p>
<p>Well since you say he "loves" W&M, maybe that should be a stronger indicator than the perceived strength of the departments? It's kind of hard to determine that anyway ( unless a school is specifically known for that strength) and so many students change their major anyway. If you completely took finances off the table - where would they stand? We told our daughter to look at the last 2 schools that she was deciding between with the thought that money was no object to our family. We were lucky because she chose the less expensive option any way ( whew), but I felt better knowing it was for reasons other than money.
I will say that being closer would be nice - 10 hours for us is a long drive. LOL</p>
<p>Talking more with S today. He is really torn, and says no matter which one he picks, he will always wonder if it was the right choice.</p>
<p>He did elaborate more on how ugly the campus was down where the Engineering School was, and how he wished the whole campus looked like the Horseshoe. W&M's entire campus is a lot like the Horseshoe. </p>
<p>He also said he was worried about going to an urban school 7 hours from home. </p>
<p>It is amazing how his opinion has changed, he was so sold on USC when we visited last summer.</p>