You parents are very helpful so here I go.
My kid who is high stats in a super competitive HS, applied to academically strong schools which have some or little brand name recognition. Most of my kid’s friends applied to brand name and prestigious schools. My kid focused more on fit, academic strength, wide selection of majors, and overall school environment. (Im not mentioning the name of the schools on purpose to avoid focusing on the schools). Long story, but now my kid is deciding mainly between two schools and looking at each pros/cons, selection of majors, fit, school environment, etc. One school has a bit more brand name recognition than the other one. And, I noticed, brand name caused some pause and more thinking for my kid. Peer pressure is real.
I know my kid will select the school with right fit regardless of the brand recognition.
I wonder if there is a particular strategy to help my kid make things easier, less stressful regarding brand name? Has anyone been in this type of situation? if yes, please share your experience and any words of wisdom.
We are very encouraging for both schools and both are academically strong.
We had a high stats kid that passed up on applying to the big name engineering schools. He didn’t want a purely tech school like MIT or CMU. Rather, he wanted a “typical college experience.” But, he didn’t want giant lectures and TAs in labs and discussions. Add to that, we had a budget.
The non-negotiable constraints you and your student use to narrow a list, will lead to a good one.
There’s no evidence to show that the big names offer better outcomes. It’s really in your student’s hands. That pie was baked well before he’ll set foot on campus.
4-5 years after graduation, no one will ask or care which school you went to.
But the education, and more importantly the college experience you get from your 4 years, will stay with you for a long, long time. So go where you’ll fit in and be happy.
You don’t make it totally clear, but I assume he has a WL offer. I’m not sure exactly what advice you’re looking for, but I can share my kid’s experience.
She had two choices due to a WL offer. The schools were very similar in many ways, both academically and in terms of reputation. The finances were the same.
She ultimately chose based on small differences instead of big ones. She felt she would be happy at either school, but she liked the school traditions and the idea of a May-mester at the WL offer school. She chose it and had a great experience.
I’m working with a student who just got a WL offer to a university with a 10% acceptance rate. She is currently headed to a college with a 40% acceptance rate and a big, fat scholarship. Her mom said she should of course take the offer for the full price bigger name school. I said not so fast. One, it is a Spring start and two, if it doesn’t work out, mom doesn’t want to get the blame. For this particular student, fit will be really important. No point going to a higher ranked school if it means not fitting in and being unhappy. I suggested that mom remove herself from the final decision.
It’s hard to offer solid advice because you don’t mention anything about finances. Is one school substantially cheaper? Is the brand name school going to cause financial hardship? Is one school notably stronger in his potential major? Is the brand name school so well known that it will immediately carry prestige name recognition?
@lindagaf, good questions.
The financial aspect does not make a difference. One has a bit more of brand name but is not significant. Both are academically strong. And, fit is very important for my kid.
I’m trying to find the strategy and the wording to lessen the stress and make things easier for my kid by minimizing the peer pressure for brand name. By the way, my kid’s HS is really into brand name and prestige and thus the peer pressure.
My kid will select the best fit and not on brand name. I’m trying to help minimize the peer pressure that makes my kid a bit stress out. But peer pressure/a bit of brand name does not have any weight in the decision making. I hope I’m explaining myself.
It sound like you don’t want him to pick the brand name. Is that true?
At the end of the day all you can do is to tell him to choose the school where he thinks he’d be the happiest and then accept his decision. He’s the one who will live with it. And, as I said, we probably overthink all of this. He’ll thrive no matter where he goes.
Just remind him that in a few weeks he will never see 99% of his classmates again and it won’t matter. It really won’t matter. He needs to go where he thinks he will be happy.
We experienced plenty of peer (not to mention parent) issues with D18 who took a full ride at a red state university over top instate colleges here in CA. It was better for her major anyway, and she often remarks now how fortunate she is to have multiple years of living expenses left in her 529 to use now she’s graduated.
That long term benefit far outweighs the few weeks leading up to graduation, after which she never saw her high school classmates again.
I’ve said this on this sight before but it seems relevant here. The school is not the destination it’s the vehicle. Either way your student is the driver. A student with defined goals can choose from any number of excellent universities with strong programs within their interests. They can excel and can take advantage of the opportunities the school offers to reach their destination. My D2s first choice school was a non flagship instate public school. She excelled there and will start her new career in the next month. It offered all she wanted and she was able to enjoy her experience, use her talents to be a teaching assistant in two different classes, be part of a research project and chose to attend the same school as a graduate student. She very well could have attended a better known school but I doubt her outcome would have been any better. Good luck to your child.
Every “non brand” college has a brand SOMEWHERE. Whether it’s U Maine for Paper Technology or Missouri S&T for Chemical Engineering… whether the kids at your local HS have heard of it or not, someone important who makes decisions about who gets into grad programs or who gets to interview for which jobs has heard of it.
I worked for a company which LOVED kids from Baruch. If you are not a resident of NYC you likely haven’t heard of it. It’s one of the public colleges of the “City College” system, and NOT one of the famous ones. But the kids we interviewed and hired were sharp and hard-working and had taken advantage of every single academic opportunity. Who wouldn’t love kids like that? It’s a commuter school so it doesn’t have the amenities (and distractions) of a school where the kids start partying at noon on Thursday in their dorm rooms; it has a large immigrant and first gen population so the idea of skipping class or NOT doing the reading is abhorrent to many of the students. No gorgeous campus. Just classrooms filled with terrific faculty and motivated students. And although it’s quite cheap by modern standards, for many of the families, it is a struggle to pay for it because the kid who is sitting in a lecture is a kid who is NOT working to help the family cover the rent. So the students have quite a different orientation from many students at other U’s who snooze through class and worry about the next football game.
So whatever the kids at your son’s HS think- who cares???
@ivvcsf, It is a clear, nice way to say it! Glad your kid is doing great.
We’re not into brand names. The schools are academically strong so fit is more important for my kid and us too.
@lindagaf, my kid will select based on better fit overall including academics. The peer pressure adds a layer of stress/discomfort. But peer pressure won’t have any impact for the school selection.
@eyemgh, I don’t have any particular inclination for either school. The schools don’t really have a big brand name recognition. However, one school compared to the other one has a bit more brand name.
My kid is making the choice for best fit, better academics for the major(s), etc. However, I can see the peer pressure adds stress on my kid.
@blossom, that’s what I feel. However, my kid still in HS and being with that group of peers is not that easy. Most are into brand name, prestige. Some still talk to my kid…so not too bad…
It sounds like you raised a sharp kid and can simply let him know that he’s the only one who will live with the choice. He’ll make the right one, whatever that is.
Make a list (in a spreadsheet is ideal) of everything that is important/essential/ideal for you in a school from majors, campus life, location, size, affordability, corporate recruitment, name brand, comfort level on campus, etc.
Weight each item by percentage of how important it is so that all items add up to 100
Take each school you are considering and assess how well it meets your needs. For example, if a student wants on-campus housing all 4 years and has it weighted at 10% and housing is only offered for 2 years, you give that school 5% points.
Add up the totals to get a raw school as a guide to how well it meets needs but also look at how well your aspects of higher importance match at a high percentage.
It’s not a perfect system but it is a way to look at it from an analytic standpoint and even put some weight in your emotion about the school if you include some of those criteria. Often the fit of a school will stand out more than the prestige factor and help guide the best choice. And if that doesn’t work. Coin flip. If they aren’t happy with the outcome, choose the other school.
Sort of joking…