<p>JHS: reason for choosing private over public are the same due to which she is going to private prep over the top 100 public school. She has seen the benefit and would like to maintain it in the undergrad.</p>
<p>DonnaL: We are not religious at all and that was the only reason to not send her to parochial high school. We are very liberal and so does she. So she would like a university with liberal environment and not conservative right. So that is why she wants to consider the public universities only in CA. We all pro-choice.</p>
<p>Well, my kids have a similar point of view - not too interested in any universities (public or private) outside of Calif. unless they are very, very special. Why?
1. The weather.
2. The expense, both tuition and travel.
Of course, my daughter ended up on the East Coast, but I guess her school falls into the category of "very very special." It's certainly unlike anywhere else! And she loves it in spite of the weather, so all is well.</p>
<p>I ran into another mom at the grocery store about this time last year and listened to her tale of woe. Her daughter had applied to a bunch of reachy East Coast schools (Brown was her first choice) and as an afterthought, UCB and UCLA. Top private prep school, good SAT's, 4.something GPA, developed a tutoring program for at risk kids, blah blah. Oh the horror - she was rejected everywhere except UCB and UCLA and was distraught. She ended up going to UCB, one of the top educational institutions in this country. Really, as a safety the Univ. of CA system is second to none (that goes double for Cal Poly, where you can apply early). You just have to double- and triple-check to make sure that you have fulfilled all the eligiblity requirements and then apply to them all. </p>
<p>We are so lucky here in California. We just need to lean on our legislature and Governator to make sure that they don't screw up our wonderful public universities.</p>
<p>I'm a little confused by the references to the University of Chicago as being weak in engineering, or not particularly strong in engineering, or being "anti-engineering." I suppose I could be wrong, but I thought that engineering was simply an irrelevancy at Chicago, because they have <em>no</em> engineering courses. My son is starting there this fall, and I've looked at the course catalog with him, and I certainly don't remember seeing any engineering courses listed in it!</p>
<p>U Chicago does not offer ANY engineering. It would be too practical</p>
<p>I am confused by Georgetown being considered.</p>
<p>
[quote]
We are not religious at all and that was the only reason to not send her to parochial high school. We are very liberal and so does she. So she would like a university with liberal environment and not conservative right. So that is why she wants to consider the public universities only in CA. We all pro-choice
[/quote]
</p>
<p>and no engineering.</p>
<p>Only public universities in CA have liberals in sufficient quantities? :rolleyes: The reasoning here is so odd, I don't see how to help.</p>
<p>
[quote]
reason for choosing private over public are the same due to which she is going to private prep over the top 100 public school. She has seen the benefit and would like to maintain it in the undergrad.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I never went to any public educational institution, I spend ungodly amounts of money to send my kids to a private university, and I spent ungodly amounts of money for years to send them to a private school. But if the "benefit" of a private school included kids thinking that virtually any private university is superior, from an educational standpoint or a social standpoint, to any public university, then I would demand my money back. Who is her college counselor? Gossip Girl? Is she afraid that the tough kids at the University of Michigan are going to beat her up and steal her lunch money? That she might mistakenly date someone who's middle class?</p>
<p>Look, it's fine if she wants to use Davis or UCSD as her effective safety in the unlikely event she doesn't get into Berkeley, UCLA, or any of the 15 private colleges to which she apparently plans to apply. But her attitude is nuts.</p>
<p>See my post #60:</p>
<p>
[quote]
So what does she want, exactly? It sounds to me she wants prestige, otherwise why Georgetown for engineering?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>"Nuts" is a charitable description. I've seen less charitable ones on CC.</p>
<p>I think a clear problem we all have is etting our student out to visit a school
while their interest is high, we are trying to visit a movin target, their lists are always changing. I wasn't on CC at this stage for my offspring unit and I
would be blind by now if I was. The amount of experience is amazing.</p>
<p>I hope she does get to visist University of Chicago, other people have explained it better than me. </p>
<p>JHS, enineering has cooties, lol.</p>
<p>reason for choosing private over public are the same due to which she is going to private prep over the top 100 public school. She has seen the benefit and would like to maintain it in the undergrad."</p>
<p>But that's silly. UMich, as an example, offers a far better education than any number of private colleges. Her thinking isn't quite straight, POIH. She's overly concerned with prestige, she thinks that she's not going to get a good education anyplace outside of the Top 30 or so, and she's allegedly interested in engineering but is interested in schools that don't educate future engineers at all - and is looking down her nose at very fine engineering schools.</p>
<p>Why is she an "Ivy Hope"? Is she just very unsophisticated and thinks that the Ivies are the be-all-and-end-all of education? Are there cultural reasons she thinks this way? And who is showing her the light?</p>
<p>"Many "tech" schools offer every bit as good a liberal arts program as the Ivies. "</p>
<p>Oh? Which ones?</p>
<p>I have my doubts. Of course, it depends what you mean by "tech."</p>
<p>On the subject of safeties and matches and the like, my son's junior year GC suggested to him that the U of C and Carleton were suitable safeties for him. They didn't seem safe enough to me, and the mere suggestion caused an online firestorm and increasing sense of insecurity on my part that ended in his applying to 12 schools, only one of which was "safer" than those two. (I just couldn't get him interested in anything that was really a slam dunk safety.) Some people told me that even those two weren't even matches for him, much less safeties. </p>
<p>He got into the U of C and Carleton, his "safety," and a few reachier places.</p>
<p>Maybe his GC wasn't such an idiot after all. (Maybe he was just lucky. :) Or both.)</p>
<p>JHS: "virtually any private university is superior, from an educational standpoint or a social standpoint, to any public university"</p>
<p>We are talking about virtually any private but only talking about the top private universities. For which the statement is correct.</p>
<p>"
Is she afraid that the tough kids at the University of Michigan are going to beat her up and steal her lunch money? That she might mistakenly date someone who's middle class? "</p>
<p>I never thought it that way but if she is thinking that way then won't it be an added benfit for us. (LOL)</p>
<p>"Look, it's fine if she wants to use Davis or UCSD as her effective safety in the unlikely event she doesn't get into Berkeley, UCLA, or any of the 15 private colleges to which she apparently plans to apply. But her attitude is nuts."</p>
<p>I think she is not only smart but very practical too.</p>
<p>cottonwood513 : "I hope she does get to visist University of Chicago, other people have explained it better than me. "</p>
<p>Visiting is important to her so she is planning to visit all the safeties first to make up her mind prior to applying about which safety she would like to go as the initial safeties of UCSD and UCLA has been moved to matches.</p>
<p>She will then visit her matches to narrow down the list to apply.
As far as the reaches are concerned she is not planning to visit before the acceptance.</p>
<p>Pizza Girl: "Why is she an "Ivy Hope"? Is she just very unsophisticated and thinks that the Ivies are the be-all-and-end-all of education? Are there cultural reasons she thinks this way? And who is showing her the light?"</p>
<p>Unsophistication is something that gets reflected in one's action (here the writing) resorting to such statement shows that you are in desparate need for some grooming lessons.</p>
<p>It might have been because of public education which lacks in imparting values or ethics or any grooming or sophistication.</p>
<p>How reliable is the college counselor? For some students, UCSD, UCLA, and UCB are reasonable safeties. Does your DD's school use Naviance? Unless the admissions practices of those UC's change profoundly from year to year, the Naviance graphs can be very reassuring if the student's numbers show up in the right area of the graph (in a sea of admits).</p>
<p>Sometimes college counselors, in their laudable effort to make sure that a student applies to colleges with a range of selectivity, tend to leave students and their parents unrealistically pessimistic. And some err on the side of recommending easier targets, in part because it's harder to be faulted later if the student and parents aren't happy with the outcome at the more selective colleges.</p>
<p>If your D, or you want private colleges and universities over public institutions, that's fine. All families have their own reasons for making decisions specific to their needs and circumstances. However, to imply that one does not have "values or ethics or any grooming or sophistication" because one attended public schools is beyond the pale. I personally take offense at that statement for so many reasons I can't begin to list...but I'll try. I attended public elementary, secondary and law school (went private to college) and worked for a top Wall Street corporate law firm. My H went public all the way through. My kids attended public elementary and secondary and are attending (or graduated from) Chicago and WUSTL. Trust me, all 3 of my kids had values, ethics, grooming AND sophistication long before they set foot in a private institution.
Your family, of course, may want what it wants, but don't disparage public education (and those who have been very happy with it) simply because you do not choose to avail your family of the opportunities provided.</p>
<p>SV2:"Does your DD's school use Naviance? "</p>
<p>What is it? I've not heard of it before. We have only met with the GC once and letting our daughter meet with them regularly.</p>
<p>Is their a web site where I can find more information about this system?</p>
<p>runnersmom : "However, to imply that one does not have "values or ethics or any grooming or sophistication" because one attended public schools is beyond the pale. I personally take offense at that statement for so many reasons I can't begin to list...but I'll try."</p>
<p>Don't get offended by the statement because I don't make loose statement and will stand by my statements.</p>
<p>The statement "It might have been because of public education which lacks in imparting values or ethics or any grooming or sophistication." conveys that public school system doesn't impart these values.</p>
<p>That doesn't mean anyone who attends doesn't get these values. You can get such values from your home, family, friends.</p>
<p>SO please do think about it before getting offended.</p>