I see Niche rates American as #1 ‘liberal’ college in America. The kid reads Milton Friedman and Friederic Hayek for fun… Not sure if the school would be a good fit for him.
I have family members at American (and recent grads) and it is FAR from the most liberal college in America. Not even close!
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Okay…I’ll never look at Niche rankings again…
I know I’m a bit late, but I’m just here to bring up TCU again. I know a fair number of students in Hillel and faculty who are Jewish. I believe Economics offer an International Econ focused degree, and that Political Science also has an IR concentration available. There are quite a few students who double major or major and minor in these subjects.
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Thanks for the feedback , you can never have enough data points.
I wouldn’t write-off USC as they have a ton of merit scholarships available.
Note that left/right leaning on economic matters is much less of a hot button that brings out political nastiness than on social issues (race, ethnicity, religion, abortion, immigration).
Thanks for sharing this flyer. It looks like there are roughly 400 scholarships on offer. The last freshman class was I think 8,000 students. That’s a long shot for a an average excellent kid with no hooks.
Well, it is easy to feel offended nowadays… but that’s a can of worms better left unopened…
I don’t think that hooks help with scholarships. As a rule, scholarships are there to keep students who the college wants, but who may otherwise attend a different college. The admitted students who are at the biggest risk for that are those who look like they would have multiple acceptances, particularly to places that are either more “prestigious”, or that are financially better deals.
Students with multiple acceptances who will be attracted by scholarships are generally students who were not accepted because of a hook, since very few real “hooks” are shared by multiple colleges, and the most common one is low income. Since low income students will be offered financial aid at any place, they won’t be attracted by a merit scholarship.
The merit scholarships are USC are for very high achieving upper middle class kids, who would otherwise attend places like Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, etc, as an in-state students because they’re cheaper, or another “elite” private college which is affordable, but only if the family really stretches its finances.
According to their CDS, USC provides merit aid to almost 30% of their incoming class. Of these, 84% (or 25% of the incoming class) have no financial need, as defined by USC.
So the merit aid is likely to be for high achieving unhooked students.
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The list price at USC is already over $90K. Another two or three years and USC will break the six figure per year barrier. That is insane. Forget about upper middle class kids being able to afford it, soon this will only be within the reach of 1-3 percenters.
It depends on what they consider “full need met”.
The problem is generally for the upper middle class whose income is almost entirely salary, have little in savings and assets, and who are still paying mortgage on their house, and who will not be inheriting wealth from their parents. They are also very often supporting those parents.
So their salaries preclude them from high enough amounts of financial aid, but, because they are paying mortgage, trying to save, and supporting members family members who do not appear as dependants, they actually cannot afford to pay 40% of their supposed 'disposable income" in tuition.
That being said, so what? These are families for whom state flagships are affordable, and, if they have the profiles that get accepted to colleges like USC, they are eligible for enough merit aid at many other state flagships.
Moreover, USC has more merit funding that is available for these families. So I would expect that the income distribution of students at USC to remain the same for the time being, even if the tuition goes up.
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We are going on scheduled campus tours to W&M, Richmond, UVA and GW. After signing up for a tour at WM, we received an invite to an optional phone interview, so I signed up my S24 to do it. Is this another marketing wrinkle or does the interview carry any weight? Another question, is it worth visiting American campus when we go to see GW. Anecdotally, sounds like GW has better brand name, but American has affiliated school in Paris, and he’s been taking French so maybe studying in Paris will spark an interest…
We’ve not been to Virginia schools, any suggestions on what to do or see are appreciated.
American has a fine brand name.
GW has better marketing, and you can read about their strategic reboot/branding effort with a little googling.
I would not decide one or the other based on a successful marketing campaign. Especially if one is a better fit for your kid!
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American does not offer weekend campus visits over the summer. But it’s only 15 minutes away from GW, we may swing by and drive through on the way to the airport.
The William and Mary interview is not a marketing ploy. It is completely optional, and can only help you. The interviews are conducted by current William & Mary seniors and can be a great opportunity for your son to ask questions and gain insight from current students. It is evaluative and becomes part of the admissions file. Your son may find these tips from the admissions office helpful. Interview Tips | William & Mary
As far as visiting Virginia schools, there is a lot to see and do in Williamsburg. I highly recommend grabbing a sandwich at the Cheese Shoppe and walking around Merchants Square and Colonial Williamsburg. If you stay at one of the Colonial Williamsburg hotels they provide “free” tickets. We like the Lodge, it’s a Marriott autograph collection and not as expensive as the Williamsburg Inn (which is beautiful but a splurge). It’s a short walk to campus and shopping and restaurants. Jamestown is also close by and Busch Gardens is about a five minute drive.
We didn’t spend much time in Richmond or Charlottesville because we toured both schools in one day. I highly recommend getting breakfast or lunch at Perly’s in Richmond if you like Jewish delis. It’s probably the best we have found outside of New York and my husband and kids insist on stopping there every time we travel through. We found daytripper university very helpful for planning college trips. It gives suggestions of places to stay, where to eat, and things to do.
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Great tips and thank you for the traveling guide! As to the the best Jewish deli claim, I put forth my candidates Manny’s/Chicago and Katz/Montreal😄
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Ha ha. I admittedly have not been to either of those. My claim was only that it was the best outside of NYC that my family has found. My husband and son have been in mourning since the Carnegie closed and are on an endless quest to find a good deli. We could probably start a whole thread on this topic. Needless to say we were surprised to find a good deli in Richmond😁
I don’t know of any Jewish delis in Charlottesville, but I would definitely get breakfast at Bodo’s Bagels, either on the Corner across from Main Grounds or up Emmet St to the north. To give you a sense of the popularity of Bodo’s (and also the number of Northeasterners in Cville), there was a Krispy Kreme donut shop right down the street from Bodo’s at one point, and it went out of business in less than a year. I would also stroll the Downtown Mall, maybe get a slice of pizza at Christian’s and ice cream at Chaps. If you have time to go a little outside of town, head up to Carter Mountain Orchard (next mountain over from Monticello) and get some apple cider donuts. If they have any fruit in season, you can pick your own right off the trees.
If I may paraphrase a great son of Virginia - give me an everything bagel with plain cream cheese or give me nothing else for breakfast.