Yes, this is a question about parent deal breakers (Romani, you are an honorary parent 
)
@menloparkmom um, I didnât even apply to Stanford, so that analogy doesnât even apply to me lol. Get it? Haha.
@jym626 that cold is an absolute killer lmao. Especially the snow, couldnât have endured that snow without snapping even if I tried.
So LBad96âs kids will be limited to schools he picked and that liked him? And not north of the Mason-Dixon line. And nothing west of the Mississippi. And nothing too cold. Or too republican. Or single sex. Letâs see, that eliminates all the Ivys, MIT, Stanford, NU, U of Chicago, anything in Ohio.
I get it. That leaves HIS school and only his school.
Iâm OK with whatever they decide my only real hesitation are at schools where they donât have enough on campus housing for all 4 years and housing would be extremely expensive in the surrounding area like NYU. I would like them to be able to live on campus or very close for 4 years. I lived in a dorm oh so many years ago that was co-ed by room but the bathrooms shared by 2 rooms were single sex so none of that bothers me. The girls I shared with were so ridiculously dirty and messy I canât imagine sharing with boys could be worse 
Now that we are getting deeper into housing for the accepted schools Iâve found that a lot of schools have the hairy details in very fine print. One of my sonâs top choices is completely co-ed. They do get a same sex room mate unless they request otherwise but they can request. So a suite can be totally mixed including the shared bathroom. BUT every school seems to offer a single sex hall and bathroom option for those few who specifically request it.
I had forgotten but I, as parent, also had 4 years of guaranteed housing as a requirement. D was OK with that. As we live in one of those desolate Midwestern states, far from the colleges applied to, and reliant on FinAid, I just was not willing to throw security deposits, furnishings, roommates, househunting, etc., into the mix. Roommates as in having to find them, maybe not paying their rent on time, etc., because of course we expect roommates at college.
Oh and just to confound the âMidwesternâ thing:
If a native Montanan says theyâre going âback Eastâ they may very likely be going to Chicago!
No 3-2 engineering programs. No schools with absolutely no merit scholarships. Otherwise all schools were open to consideration.
@twoinanddone I never said that they wouldnât be able to pick schools north of the Mason-DixonâŠjeez, you all are really good at taking peopleâs words out of context.
Iâd really appreciate it if you all stop harping on me about my preferences. I donât criticize you for yours.
If my kid couldnât get into a better school than I could get into, I would feel like I did something wrong. (I wouldnât feel this way if i had gone to a top 20 schoolâŠ)
I would nix a school that was not diverse. Such as very few international students, students of color, Asian students, Latino students, etc.
Diversity adds to the quality of education.
Iâd encourage them to have a list completely different from mine, actually. And, of course, Iâd try to get them to slide my alma mater in there.
@SlackerMomMD, Not everyone posting here is a parent. Some respondents are projecting their future preferences onto children who are not yet even a âtwinkle in their eye.â
I agree that diversity is important and adds to the quality of the education. That also includes economic diversity. There was only one school that I would not allow my kid to apply to. It was very run down and I did not want her living there. Other than that, both kids were free to pick their school as long as I agreed to the price tag.
Many years from now, LBad96Kid will be here complaining about his/her parentâs odd and unreasonably restrictive limitations on college choiceâŠ
I recall when the parents forum and the parents cafe were first added to cc as a place for parents to talk. Made for less confusion.
And @LBad96 - the cold in upstate NY is not much different from your home state of NJ. Surely you can put on an extra pair of wiliest on your way to class if you so desired. Donât sell yourself too short.
@LBad96 , Have you ever been west of the Mississippi? We do have running water and indoor plumbing. Also beautiful mountains, rivers, valleys, wildlife, modern cities, public transportation. We even have another ocean. Since you didnât exclude California or Oregon from your list, Iâm guessing distance isnât your issue and you have a prejudice against people from Texas and Arizona and Montana - people you have never interacted with.
Try being a little more open minded.
@twoinanddone lol why on earth would I have something against people from Arizona or Montana??? Donât try to make this into something itâs clearly not.
It is a tread about parent deal breakers â WE arenât the ones trying to make it into something else. You havenât even changed a diaper or saved a dime in a 529 yet.
I still have a right to my opinion.