My daughter did not get into any of her reach schools and now needs to decide between these 3 institutions. We live close to UCSC and she has merit scholarships to Mines and Case so financially all the same. Her major is physics and math. At Mines she would do Engineering physics. She’s waitlisted at a few places but needs to commit to one of these by May 1st. All advice welcome. Personality is quirky, hates big groups and parties and loves pure academics - thinks she wants a PHD in physics so aiming for grad school.
Case western has the best name out of the three, and has great grad school placement. Your description of her also matches the reputation of a lot of Case kids; hardworking and academically focused.
Case Western sounds the closest to her personality.
Thanks for your insight. She has offers from Purdue, RPI and Rose Hulman as well. Hopefully one of them will excite her.
I think Mines sounds like a good fit, too. Can she go to accepted student visits at Case & Mines? 24 hours on campus is very revealing — she likely would have a clearer preference after doing that.
Interesting. My child is also debating between Case & Santa Cruz for Physics major. Case seems to be ranked higher in general but it looks like UCSC has a better Physics department with perhaps more research opportunities. UCSC Physics department appears to be 2x the size of Case. We are in East Coast but both schools offered some merit that money is not a deciding factor. Planning on an upcoming overnight at Case and an admitted student tour at UCSC in a couple of weeks.
Good luck with your decision. We are visiting colleges this week. Daughter is leaning to Colorado School of mines - engineering physics degree.