Oh, I know. I had a friend who attended Vassar and it’s an amazing place. She would like it. I’m confident of that.
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I also agree with considering Vassar. @MidAtlanticMom50 - the description of your daughter sounds very much like many kids at Vassar. My D attended Vassar and strongly considered Davidson and Lafayette once decisions came in.
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Yes, I believe flicker ball was mentioned during our visit! Sounds like a lot of fun. And Davidson is a neat institution.
She’s working with an essay coach, which is so helpful. The coach suggested putting questions from all prospective schools in their spreadsheet. That exercise and the next three months is where a lot will shake out. She’s not particularly keen on broadening her options, but then she’ll surprise us with an occasional comment. This process is exciting and certainly fun at times, but I’ll be happy once it’s over. Then I’ll probably long for the days… she’s our one and only, so I should enjoy it while I can!
Many good suggestions here.
As an aside my D attended a LAC (Lafayette - and ended up with a theater minor FWIW) and then went on to become a SLP. She didn’t decide on that profession until probably sometime mid-junior year (she did a lot of shadowing people in professions she was considering etc.). I will say that the path to becoming a SLP would be more straightforward (and cheaper) if she went to an undergrad program in speech pathology(of the schools you mentioned I know that BU has a great program). I do understand if your D is not yet ready to commit to this path at this point. But if at any time now or in the future you would like details on my D’s experience feel free to PM me.
I do agree that the Lehigh culture doesn’t seem to be the best fit but of course your D is the best judge of that. Perhaps it is the larger size college that feels more comfortable to her? If finances are a concern (especially if grad school is a strong possibility) then William and Mary in-state sounds like an excellent option to me.
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Thanks so much. Lots of good insights here and I appreciate the offer to connect. Her tour guide at Lafayette was a psychology major who talked up the externship program. Shadowing SLPs in a few settings would certainly be very helpful if she’s serious about the career.
I believe we determined that a B.S. (not a B.A.) in psychology (if that’s the route she goes) would set her up best for graduate school requirements, including costing her less in the long run. She’s talked about BU, Northeastern, and UNC - Chapel Hill for SLP programs. We visited them all and she said she’d file them mentally for graduate programs. BU contained some special charms for her and made her undergraduate list. She has an open mind, I’ll give her that. Lovely campuses on hills and a bustling urban one!
Housing is a snag with Tufts, Lehigh, and W&M to a degree. That’ll be a fun one to untangle.
Thanks again!
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Thank you!
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I could have written this post (swap out “theater” for “art”) including the unfortunate, uniformed husband comment bit… My daughter’s list is strikingly similar, sans Davidson – which we love, but is too far for her taste. Not sure your daughter is in the same boat, but one issue mine faces is the ED factor. She’s got the rigor, GPA, test scores and ECs to make the first cut, but she’s a majority applicant from the Northeast and if this year plays out like last, she’ll have to ED at one of these (Tufts, Vassar, Haverford, etc) to have a shot. Kiddos with stats similar to hers were also deferred/waitlisted at Lafayette and Skidmore because they hadn’t visited or shown interest. We feel your pain about having to make a decision soon. Also, for my daughter too, Tufts dropped down a bit after our (second) visit. Still, I believe it is her top choice for fit and academics.
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Good suggestions. Bates should be considered too.
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Hmm. Glad & not glad to hear from you. 
Our lots sound eerie similar. Yet I don’t know how my daughter’s situation might stack up in terms of EC and rigor. Haven’t really wrapped my head around those metrics.
My daughter feels ED is likely her best shot in several respects, but she also knows she doesn’t feel strongly enough about one institution to do so. As much as she can, she’s demonstrating interest in all the requested and recommended forms.
W&M is quite competitive. We know a long list of talented and disappointed students in Virginia. Plus, using their quick-cost estimator, we’re finding W&M isn’t the super bargain many people tell us it’s supposed to be. Our tab for in-state tuition is close to that for a good four-year private. The report assures me the estimate is within $3,000 for families with our financial profile. I sure hope I made some data entry errors (twice – several months apart).
It will all work out. She’ll have a well-rounded list. But the process is a little nerve-racking and less fun for those reasons.
What are her stats? Maybe there’s some “guaranteed” merit we could point out to you.
Schools like Ogelthorpe and Hendrix will provide a state (UVA) match. I believe I read on here Beloit (and others) will too.
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This is my very first post, so I don’t know the drill: ACT 33, GPA 4.1, 6 APs, highly involved theatre kid but nothing remarkable, typical/expected honors, community involvement tutoring ESL fourth graders.
She doesn’t have much taste for the competitive game. For example, she could easily have a 34 – maybe a 35 – had she taken the ACT a second time, raising her math score.
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33 is wonderful - a 4.1 is wonderful.
There are schools that she can go for a decent price - under $40K, under $30K. They might not “excite” her, etc. and you have Mary Washington in the bag - but if that’s not satisfying to her you might consider others. I can send you a list if you PM me - I made for someone with a 3.7 UW and 31 ACT - at $25K or less OOS. Not her kind of schools but - financial safeties as a just in case.
Don’t bankrupt mom - whatever you do.
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We have excellent public options in Virginia. If she were so fortunate to get into W&M, we could certainly swing it. Unfortunately, UVA and William and Mary don’t give you a ballpark on “need-based scholarship” when you use the state’s MyinTuition estimator. (Mary Wash uses a different tool and will estimate need and merit given some basic stats.) Our net price for W&M comes out to $41K, but given our income we’d expect to pay less. It’s quite striking how relatively generous some private colleges can be. That figure is in the ballpark of the least-expensive privates colleges she’s considering. Of course, you can trust a net price calculator only so far.
Yeah - you have great schools!!! And yep, they are tough - will be tough!!
We are OOS - but my daughter was waitlisted at W&M with a 4.6 (3.95 UW and 32 ACT) - +.5 for Honors and + 1 for AP.
OOS might matter as in harder. My daughter didn’t stay on the waitlist so no clue what may have happened.
If she’s good with Mary Washington then you’re done - nothing else to do except apply to others and hope 
But if she’s truly not - there might be some that might work for her - and give her $s she/you can do well - but likely not at her type of school.
FWIW, as a parent who did somewhat of a deep dive on this, I don’t think you really need to worry about it. Certainly it shouldn’t be a deciding factor on school of choice. I may be mistaking her for someone else, but I believe it was @blossom who also had some insight on this point and (again, as I vaguely recollect) agreed that a BA or BS made no difference in PhD admissions.
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Thank you. This is a good reminder.
I’m not too worried. She and her eventual academic advisor will sort it all out. I’m not recalling the details, and the requirements for a BS vs BA vary somewhat from school to school I imagine, but I think the basic idea was getting hard science credits as part of a psych degree so you don’t have to backtrack and take basic science classes as prerequisites for a SPL program. Maybe you don’t need the BS necessarily but strategically taking some science classes with labs works to your advantage? I can’t recall now. This exchange reminds me that Pitt had some good programs, too. I think UVA, James Madison University, Chapel Hill, BU, and Northeastern offer various good undergrad programs that she looked at, but she’s not ready to dive into the field. Lots to sort out first.
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Absolutely agree…the classes a student takes are much more important than the if the degree is called a BS or a BA. Grad schools will see the student’s undergraduate transcript.
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Where did your daughter end up going with those nice stats?
This is reminding me… I feel so clueless. I look at her unofficial transcript and some HN classes have 1.0/1.0 after them, some not, some AP classes are noted with 1.0/1.0, some not. I’ll ask her counselor. This transcript looks like a jumble to me.
Mine could make Mary Wash work, and genuinely likes much about it, but a more selective safety would be a good find. We haven’t succeeded yet. Thought we’d punt to the counselor at school.
Any thoughts about Elon?
If she’s open to a women’s college you could look at Hollins as a safety. It’s got a lot of quirk and our tour guide there was a theater kid. She would get money.