<p>Carleton: Great school, sounds like a good fit, but bring your checkbook. Essentially zero merit. $2K if you are National Merit Scholar. That’s it. So high $50’s COA.</p>
<p>Case: Good school, great merit, it’s Cleveland. Better visit.</p>
<p>St. Olaf: Another good school, more preppy than Carleton, some merit, should drop COA to low $40’s.</p>
<p>Lafayette: Good merit, engineering, recommend visiting for personality fit.</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman: Definitely “geeky” culture, anime for sure, engineering and robotics all over the place, lot’s of guys if she likes 'em, modest merit aid. Should get COA into the mid-$40’s.</p>
I stand by that recommendation despite comments about NU’s architecture. I’m talking about the whole package of what the OP wants (the best combination of those 4 features, with the least compromise). WashU might be a good alternative … or CWRU. I love Carleton but it has no engineering. Virtually no merit money, either. Well, NU also offers little merit money. WUSTL offers a bit more; CWRU offers a lot more.</p>
<p>But go visit some of these schools. Kids (or parents) may say they want one set of features, but then they get on campus and something they’d never thought about (pro or con) blows them away.</p>
<p>No, as I said, Northwestern is a good choice. Although I looked back on the OP’s criteria and saw that the student might prefer a campus with no Greek system–NU’s is pretty big.</p>
<p>I do agree completely about the importance of visiting. If not yet this fall, maybe they can make a few trips in April after she has been admitted to various schools.</p>
<p>OP here – thank you, thank you! Lots of great advice and I loved the pros and cons listed of some of the schools, makes me understand them better! And the midwest schools don’t get as many comments on their “pages” so this has been really helpful.</p>
<p>Carleton – it was a WOW moment for sure when I saw the number of people that love that school. Even though it is a little farther than we would like we do have several friends in the St Paul area which would give her a home-away-from-home. I looked at the pictures and wanted to go their myself. And DreamSchlDropout – you nailed my daughter with your description, thank you. (except for the Lutheran-Methodist, we are Catholic which is why Notre Dame is top of the list, even though it is slightly larger than she would like) And we could add St. Olaf to the visit as well.</p>
<p>Case – has always been very generous and welcoming to the First Robotic’s kids. I’m glad so many think it is worth a look.</p>
<p>U of Chicago and Washington U – I probably wasn’t clear about the city/neighborhood vibe. It’s the immediate neighborhood that scares me off. I mentioned the school the other day to a parent and the first comment was about an armed robbery 2 blocks from the main campus entrance. But obviously tons of kids go there with no problems and I’m sure the school is smart enough to have lots of safeguards in place. We need to see them for our selves. As for Washington, I know St Louis has a rep, but I’m not sure about the immediate neighborhood around the school.</p>
<p>Rose Hulman – we’ll have to add that to her list. I am hoping another season of Robotics and a summer Engineering camp will help her figure out if that is a path she wishes to follow. We are fortunate that she is a junior and has more time. Momof2TeenGirls - sounds like we have a lot in common! Thanks for your insights.</p>
<p>MichiganTech – thanks intparent for reminding me of that one. We are hoping to do a summer camp there and see the campus at the same time…that’s how it missed the list of fall/spring visits.</p>
<p>And lvvcsf, your mention of The University of Evansville made me smile. That school was my D14’s second choice. We loved it! Everyone was so helpful and friendly. They did a great job with merit money (she had 75% of tuition covered by merit) and they just do everything so “smart” from the visits to their career counseling. And, yes, it was the Harlaxton Castle pictures that first caught her interest and then we saw how much more it had to offer.</p>
<p>And all the other schools mentioned will be looked at in more depth. It was most helpful to get some direction and advice. Thanks again!</p>
<p>“Nice try, but you’re clearly not familiar with the campus and are just doing your usual schtick.”</p>
<p>I’m familiar with the campus Pizzagirl. While there are some Gothic buildings, there are a lot that are not. Would you like to see the north campus dorms? That was my point. </p>
<p>@girlsmom14and16: I too have a D16. D13 is doing a coop near Evansville so we visited. She liked the school and loved the idea of the Harlaxton campus. She’ll likely not apply as it is smaller than she wants and she would like to continue dancing which they don’t have. I agree with you on their presentation. They came across very well. Another Catholic school to consider as an admissions safety is the University of Dayton. Strong in robotics and the sciences with it’s ties to Wright Patterson AF base, very nice campus, and has about 8k or so undergraduates. With her scores she should do well with merit aid.</p>
<p>WashU is actually in two suburbs of St. Louis, Clayton and University City. They are very affluent and filled with beautiful homes. The name “in St. Louis” was added to the name of the school, even though it’s not actually within the city limits, in order to prevent confusion with the many other schools that have Washington in their names. </p>
<p>Rose-Hulman has an engineering camp called Operation Catapult. Not too pricey, and students who attend are usually offered some merit money if they apply and are accepted to R-H for college (a couple thousand a year, so quite a bit more than the price of the camp). It is a “surprise” that they announce at the final camp banquet, so you won’t find any info on it in the website or if you ask them, but it has happened every year for many years. My D2 attended Operation Catapult to see if she wanted engineering (after a couple years in FIRST). She ultimately decided against engineering, and is now a sophomore in college (not in the Midwest) debating between CS and Physics. But it was useful for her to attend an engineering camp to help her decide about it as a major, and thought you might want to know about this one.</p>
<p>“WashU is actually in two suburbs of St. Louis, Clayton and University City. They are very affluent and filled with beautiful homes. The name “in St. Louis” was added to the name of the school, even though it’s not actually within the city limits, in order to prevent confusion with the many other schools that have Washington in their names.”</p>
<p>Yes. The overall STL crime rate is irrelevant to WashU. </p>
<p>Sorry for my misunderstanding about WashU. I have a personal issue involving families who resist certain cities, because I went to Barnard in the 1970s when lots of parents refused to consider sending their daughters there. The immediate neighborhood was one of the safest in NYC. Boston was considered safer, and yet an MIT and a Harvard student were murdered my freshman year, and the racial situation was pretty ugly at the time. Tufts had a serial rapist. The Hyde Park neighborhood near University of Chicago is very attractive. University of Chicago is not for everyone, and some students prefer more pastoral settings, but I think a neighborhood safe enough for the President and his family should be safe enough for most students </p>
<p>@woogzmama I agree with your take on Barnard. When one of my kids matriculated at Columbia and later moved off campus, some people asked if I was worried about his safety. I told them that I actually felt much safer walking there at night than I did in the (very safe) suburb where I live because of the many people around. And, that I would quite like owning an apartment in that neighborhood!</p>
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She ultimately decided against engineering, and is now a sophomore in college (not in the Midwest) debating between CS and Physics. But it was useful for her to attend an engineering camp to help her decide about it as a major, and thought you might want to know about this one.</p>
