^^I think MSU’s campus and how cohesive it is makes that university feel smaller than Western’s campus. I second the idea of a road trip - coming from the south: Western and Kalamazoo as they are geographic neighbors, Hope in Holland, Grand Valley State University up the road from Hope and GVSU also has a Grand Rapids campus that serves some majors, then over to MSU and home. That makes a nice variety of unis and colleges of varying sizes and is a very doable trip from Chicago. Depending on GPA and test scores they could all be target colleges, they are all very different so a trip would help with the “fit” question.
@spring162 I know, right? UIUC is a highly regarded school, and Champaign is decent for a college town. D absolutely refuses to consider it. She has visited the campus, and said she didn’t care for it or the town. !!!
I know, though, with her, it’s exactly what you said - she wants to go someplace different, even if it’s Iowa or Kansas or Michigan. When we saw the OOS tuition rates for some of the neighboring flagships, we were blown away. Personally, I feel my alma mater, IU-Bloomington, would be perfect for what she wants to study, but I can’t wrap my head around paying almost 34k in tuition alone for her to go there. We actually can afford it, but we just don’t think it’s worth it, and again, we really want her to keep at least half of her college fund for graduate school.
We have told D that we will spend up to 20k in tuition, so if the asking price is more, she needs to get merit. This is very doable for her at many, many schools, including private ones, so I think she has lots of options still. We have also told her that the less she spends on undergrad, the more she has for grad school, and that will be very expensive. If she doesn’t need the money in the end, she can use it for something else…
I would also consider investigating extracurriculars that each school has to offer anthropology majors. She can read books at any school, but clubs, trips, hands-on research experiences can really make a difference.
It may be that the best school for her is the one that offers the best opportunities in her major.
“I cant figure out why the kids are drawn to other states compass schools when we have the same caliber schools in state and they would save a bucket load of money.”
I see this as well. Location seems to have a lot to do with it. I can’t really blame my students as I am not a big fan of U-C myself (the town, not the school). Kalamazoo isn’t Paris, but it’s more exciting and more scenic than the towns NIU, EIU, and WIU are in. If UIUC is the in-state option you’re looking at, sometimes you aren’t going to save a bucket load of money by staying in-state, anyway. Illinois residents pay almost as much at UIUC ($30k/year total, or $35k in engineering) as they would as OOS students at the Ohio and Minnesota publics. Some of those schools are in either much bigger cities or scenic small towns with more outdoors options.
The outdoorsy factor is big with my daughter, too. She likes to camp, bike, and hike, and there simply are not very scenic places downstate IL to do so. Even Iowa is much better for that.
She is also vegetarian, and that’s a factor - some towns are just better at catering to vegns than others - It’s my understanding, though, that UIUC is actually alright for vegns (not great, but alright).
And yes, we are seeing that she currently qualifies for scholarships at places like Kansas and Iowa State that would bring the cost down to a bit less than in-state tuition at UIUC. Traveling back and forth would be a drop in the bucket compared to tuition cost differences, so that’s not an issue.
If she keeps up her GPA, she’d get full tuition at Western IL, but I already know she’ll take one look at Macomb and run, lol. It’s on the safety list, but I’m not pushing it on her.
Go on-line and look at Northern Michigan…lots of downstate and Chicago area kids, mid-sized and with her GPA and potentially decent test scores it will be very inexpensive plus the outdoorsy kids love, love it. If she’s a stem kid look at Michigan Tech which is a superior engineering school and only downfall is more guys than you can shake a stick at and in a beautiful area in the UP with tons of outdoor stuff. All my boys had one of these two schools as their financial and academic safety. I had to really grit my teeth hard when I saw how much money I could save (and to this day always wonder if it would have made a hill of beans difference in their adult lives and much cost-savings to H & I). I would pick either of those two colleges over Western to be honest of she’s looking for outdoorsy, active kids.Not to mention a very “cool” place to visit for the parents.
If you really want an outlier college for an academic/financial out of state college safety look at Western State University in Colorado. Great price. Great experience. Lots of midwest kids. Small, though, around 2500 and a very private school feeling public school. If small is out this won’t work as well as Northern. Progressive thinking administration. Profs that become your friend for real. Not for everyone, but for the right kid, an experience they will never, ever forget and kids tend to love it or hate it. Great place and rising academically. Amazing and very loyal alumni support that have single-handedly and together funded most of the major projects on campus in the last decade. www.western.edu My oldest chose it over places like Colorado College, University of Denver and other more well known places where he was admitted many years ago. He’s been working since he graduated and loves his alma mater.
For an outdoorsy kid, look at Ohio University as well. Pretty reasonable price, honors tutorial program, and a beautiful location in the Appalachian mountains near the Ohio river.
Yes, Ohio is on the list, as well!
We’ve looked into Northern Michigan when they sent us a brochure, but we ruled it out for some reason, can’t remember why…
@momofthreeboys , Haven’'t heard of Western State in Colorado, will look into that, thanks!
Did you look at Alma? We had the best experience with them through admissions. A little diamond in Michigan.
IUPUI might also be a good option. The honors program was a strong contender for us.
Looked up Alma online and read about it in Fiske, I think. D dismissed it right away, as having the double whammy of being a small school in a small town - same for Albion.
So many schools out there to choose from, and something for every type of kid… That’s one valuable thing I’ve learned from this process of helping her find schools. I am really amazed at how many colleges and universities we have in this country.
Of the small LACS Hope might be the better fit given the few comments you’ve made. Bigger also with almost 4000 students, more active sporty cohort of students, great college town and amtrak to chicago one block away for day trips. More geographic diversity in students. My third wanted to stay closer to home had a hard time saying no to their ABET accredited engineering program and has lots of friends there right now. Good job placement out of Hope also. The uber religious go to Calvin or wheaton. Hope is more wholesome if I could come up with a descriptor. If you visit K you should also visit Hope in my opinion.
Isn’t Hope a religious school, though? Because D is not religious at all, so haven’t looked into it for that reason.
Or is it “religious” in the sense that a Catholic-afilliated or Lutheran-Affiliated school would be? (In other words, not really…) If the latter is the case, then we will look into it; but if not, D is a non-believer and don’t think it will suit her.
Just checked their website - seems decidedly Christian… but thanks for the suggestion anyway!
Hope is still affiliated with the Reformed Church in America (it’s official motto is “Spera in Deo” (“Hope in God”)). So yes, it does have a Christian vibe to it. The kids I know who go to Hope are very good students and usually pretty religious. Hope has a great reputation in the sciences and in undergraduate research; it probably IS less “uber religious” than Calvin but it’s definitely not secular.
Yes, the “no chapel” even if not required is going to eliminate alot of the smaller LACs. I think K college also has chapel, same as Hope and is not required, every week. I believe Alma and Albion also have chapel. Probably best to stick to the publics if she wants an agnostic vibe in the midwest.
You will probably get in-state tuition at MSU with an invitation to the Honors College and, possibly, a “Professorial Assistantship” that would add another $2500 and is a guaranteed undergraduate research opportunity. There are also several residential colleges that can make the campus seem smaller. The part of campus north of the river is beautiful. East Lansing itself is not a great college town like Ann Arbor or Madison, but being next to the state capitol makes it seem like less of a “small town” than others.
I have heard that the area around Wayne State University in Detroit is on the upswing, if you’re looking for an exciting, urban environment.
Kalamazoo College (K College) does NOT have chapel every week, if by chapel one means some religious service that also serves as an all-school meeting. Kalamazoo is not a religious school in the way Hope is; it’s just a small liberal arts college. It does not have a Christian vibe. An atheist student could be happy there. My son, who is an atheist, was at Kalamazoo for a time.
Just wanted to clarify that we are NOT opposed to church-affiliated schools - We are considering Augustana College, for instance, which is affiliated with the Lutheran church, and I think there’s another we are considering that is affiliated with the United Methodist…
But, when a college’s website states on it’s main page, at the top, that it values Christianity and wants to teach Christian values - I’m just going to assume that the school places a high priority and emphasis on Christianity - and that a non-Christian student may not feel comfortable there, whether the school and students are accepting of them or not.
One of my daughter’s best friends at school is Muslim, and another is Catholic, so she has nothing against religious people - I just don’t think she’d be comfortable being one of the only, or few, students at a school that would emphasize religion so much.
Hope College is very religious. I’d rule that out in a heartbeat. MSU’s campus feels much smaller than Michigan’s or Western’s because it’s enclosed. Plus there are always residential colleges.
Western is a fine option but it does tend to be a commuter school… Just something to keep in mind. My fiance is from Kzoo area so most of his high school friends went to Western. They don’t dislike it but they don’t rave about it either.