<p>D received her final decision today and the list of schools making the possibilities list has settled at 8. The two in-state options are at the bottom of the list, so here's your opportunity to blast or advocate for the remaining 6:</p>
<p>Ohio State
Drexel University
University of Pittsburgh</p>
<p>St. Joseph's University (Philadelphia)
University of Vermont
Northeastern University</p>
<p>She is undecided on a major, possibly business related but very unclear. All schools making the list are seen as affordable (albeit repugnantly expensive :)), so cost is not to be the deciding factor.</p>
<p>She has received offers of merit and Honors Program from all but Pitt.</p>
<p>Northeastern has a terrific co-op program. Most students do it, and students can live on campus at least three years… so co-op students stay in the groove with their friend. At one time I though it would not be a great school for an undecided student, but they seem to do ok there too.</p>
<p>As a business major, she may want to see if the schools’ career centers have career surveys specific to business majors.</p>
<p>Drexel and NEU emphasize their co-op programs; if that interests her in them, she may want to check whether other schools have formalized optional co-op programs. If she does not want to do co-ops, Drexel and NEU are not all that suitable.</p>
<p>Do you mean to say that they are all about the same net price? Check whether any of the merit scholarships have a high college GPA needed to keep them. 3.0 is usually not too hard for a scholarship winner, but 3.5 demands GPA management like a pre-med.</p>
<p>I think it depends on her priorities. If she’s career oriented, Northeastern seems to offer the most opportunity with their co-op. I believe it’s a bit more extensive than Drexel, but my belief may be tied to my Boston residence. Of course many of the coops are in Boston so if that’s not where she wants to end up, Drexel might be better. It’s hard for me to think of a better college town than Boston. </p>
<p>If she wants to study in a beautiful place, Vermont wins hands down. Of campuses that I’ve seen, UVm is really the only competition to Wisconsin-Madison, my favorite in terms of postcard picturesque.</p>
<p>Is there a significant difference between the minimum GPA needed to retain her merit awards? I would really consider that. If one has say a 3.6 and one has a 3.0, that’s a big difference. What about costs down the road. Boston area is very expensive so moving off campus could add a lot to the COA in the following years. It’s quite a list and the schools and campus sizes/styles are all over the place, which suggests to me that she would be fine anywhere–which one will she be most fine at though?</p>
<p>I think it’s a very nice list. For what it’s worth, you need a 3.0 to continue receiving merit aid at Drexel - and Philly also has tons of college kids and has made for a great college town for my daughter.</p>
<p>Let me throw this in. My daughter is at Northeastern as an undeclared major. They actually have an undeclared program. For the first semester the kids have a weekly class where they explore options - do things like personality tests etc. to help them decide what they might enjoy doing. These students are also invited to weekly sessions with various departments to help them decide a major. There are also assigned advisers who just handle the undeclared kids. (My daughter’s experience has been that the honors advisers are better though). They are also assigned a peer mentor who helps them with the decision. The program has been helpful for my daughter - she has decided upon a major and thanks to clever scheduling this year will not be behind at all vs. kids who came in with that major already decided.</p>
<p>Also, if she cares about housing you can’t beat living in IV as a freshman for the Honors program.</p>
<p>That’s an interesting list. What are her priorities? I would have her list the pros and cons for each school and see if there’s a trend. Coops are great for students who like the idea of taking a break from classes and experiencing the real world periodically, but other students aren’t ready. Does she want an urban setting or a pretty campus? Does she care about sports excitement? </p>
<p>Are you planning to re-visit any of the schools? Going back as an accepted student will feel different. Maybe one school will sing to her. Good luck.</p>
Yes, with the merit scholarships, OSU is somewhat cheaper ($28K) and the others are all $35-$40K. Will check into the GPA requirements.
Has visited all but UVM, so we are considering a visit there. OSU: concerned about large size, Pitt: leading candidate, also closest to us; SJU: liked, but concerned about smaller size; Drexel: liked well enough to apply; Northeastern: on campus briefly in 8th grade, doesn’t remember a whole lot, concerned about cost of living in Boston, I insisted she apply there if she was applying at Drexel because they are similar in format.
I’ll show her some pics of the housing - she seems VERY concerned that the housing not be some draconian thing ;). We want to revisit/visit some of them, but as you can see they are not close together and we have to narrow the list to 2 or 3 first.</p>
<p>I’d go for Northeastern but there’s a little regional bias there. I don’t know enough about the other schools for business. I have a sister that graduated from Northeaster, a niece that’s there now and two coworkers with students there.</p>
<p>All other things being equal, my urban pick would be Northeastern for living in Boston, a really great college town with broad cultural offerings, and the coops, and my non-urban pick would be UVM (also in a nice college town, albeit smaller,) beautiful area, and every seems to love it.
After that it would be between Pitt and Ohio State. Although I’m wondering if not being in the honors program at Pitt would detract.</p>
<p>^H and I have some concern about the Pitt Honors/Merit situation as well. From the dynamics of her situation, it appears to us that they place a high value on “playing the game”. That’s fine for students who “play the game” but what if you are a student who doesn’t?</p>
<p>Philadelphia is a great place to go to college – maybe second to Boston, but not a distant second at all, and maybe not second if you value the ability to get to NYC easily. I know Drexel students who have done their co-op work there while continuing to live in Philadelphia. Drexel’s new (relatively) president is a very effective guy, and I think it’s a rising stock. In a somewhat shrinking regional market, Northeastern carries the burden of being pretty close to the bottom of the academic prestige structure in the Boston area (although I think it carries that burden quite well). Things are much flatter here in Philadelphia, and Drexel really plays second-fiddle only to Penn.</p>
<p>St. Joe’s IS much smaller, although it is in the middle of a major expansion, and an ongoing shift to residential rather than commuter students. It’s a pretty nifty Jesuit college on the edge of the city. It currently has one of the best college ad campaigns I have ever seen.</p>
<p>Pitt without the Honors Program is a big public university where it is possible to have a great education or no education at all, depending on the student. </p>
<p>I have a number of relatives who have gone to UVt, and many of them have never left Burlington since. They regard it as just about perfect.</p>
<p>Northeastern has very much risen in the world, is now quite selective, and many of the top students in my kids’ classes go there. It would be a really really excellent choice. One of my friends has a daughter who graduated last year and she has done really really well, just snagged a great job with a municipal association after working as a legisative aide, studying in London, and taking some prelaw courses. Every kid I know who has gone there, has loved it.</p>
<p>If you visit, you will be surprised that the campus is beautiful, even leafy, in places. The new housing for honors students is gorgeous.</p>
<p>Does she want a city?</p>
<p>UVM is a very appealing campus physically, and academically excellent. Less focus on careers, I would say. It sits on a hill in Burlington, with the lake at the bottom and, as I remember, mountains on the horizon. We know several who have loved it there:one majored in biology and has a great job in a lab, and the other is a music teacher.</p>
<p>I don’t see how she/you can make a decision without a visit to any school she might be interested in. And perhaps more investigation into the nuances of difference and details/particulars of each school. I hope you can manage a New England trip to Boston and maybe Burlington!</p>
<p>Though the thought of throwing darts does have its appeal :)</p>
<p>If she is interested in Business find out how easy it is to transfer in or out of the business program at each of these schools. Some places make it hard to enter the business school once you start in another major.</p>
<p>You can get a great idea by going to admitted students days (I am a big fan of these as that is what helped my daughter decide). But narrow down to 3-4 of those - 6 is still too many.</p>
<p>UVM is in a very pretty part of Vermont - are there any ugly parts?! - great if you like winter sports. Everyone I know who has attended was happy, and the ones I’ve kept up with are gainfully employed, but it’s a bit of a backwater, harder to get to than the big cities.
My son went to Carnegie Mellon and I really like Pittsburgh. Don’t know enough about the university to comment, I do know (via an online friendship with the Mom) one kid who seems to be doing pretty well there having not gotten enough money (or into his choice of major) to make CMU feasible. He’s an aspie, so some issues he’s had, are clearly due to not being neurotypical.</p>
<p>I’ve heard nothing but good things about Northeastern and its co-op program.</p>
<p>The two kids I knew were attending Drexel have both dropped out. One was in engineering and now thinks engineering is not for him. The other was pre-med and ADHD, he started off taking time off to try to get off meds, but in the meantime he’s an EMT and enjoying it so much it’s not clear when he’ll go back. It may be a while if ever.</p>