Neither of my kids wanted a big school, so the big state U was off the list. The local tech school (which is now a hotly desired and hard to get into school) was one kid’s safety (times change!) One kid wanted a chick fil A on or very near campus!
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To chime in on the NJ debate. All 3 kids line in the sand…not in NJ!
All three had many acceptances with a lot of merit and choose schools lower than Rutgers.
It always seems to me that Rutgers gets very little love from New Jerseyans…
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Except for those that attended Rutgers, and graduated, a lot of school spirit there.
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Let’s move on from the Rutgers discussion unless it’s your line in the sand. Such posts are subject to deletion without comment
And to be clear on concept, a post that says, “My line in the sand is… And now let me write a paragraph about Rutgers in the mistaken belief that the moderator will let it slide” will be deleted.
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ShawD did not want to apply to any schools that did holistic admissions.
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Are they any that fit this criterion?
Yes. She only applied to universities in Canada. Most of them looked at grades and SAT/ACT scores only. They pay no attention to extracurriculars, etc.
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What was her reason for an aversion to holistic admissions? It’s pretty common these days.
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Plenty in the US. Not all of them are that transparent, though. They also are not generally the schools that those seeking eliteness want to attend. Examples include the California State Universities.
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She was an anxious kid and went to a private high school where the students felt a lot of pressure (even though its nominal ethos was a little artsy and laid back). I used to joke that the parents were unsure whether to kill themselves or their kid if the kid didn’t get into an Ivy. Greater than half the senior class was on anti-depressants.
She just wanted to exempt herself from the pressure. So, we visited a few American school and then did a tour of 7 Canadian schools. Each one told her she would be admitted. The only thing unknown at the time was the amount of merit aid. She applied to two, got into both, and chose one.
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Had pluses and minuses when putting list together but Didn’t draw any line in the sand (thankfully) at that time. A major factor at the end of the day was whether there was a hockey rink within 30-45 minutes. Losing the ability to play even recreationally was a dealbreaker.
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Lots of Confederate flags on campus were a line in the sand for us.
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Politics was an absolute line in the sand for my kid, but mainly in the context of how the state legislature has managed issues of his interest, not so much about whether students are liberal or conservative. Kid has spent 100s of hours as a phone bank volunteer in high school so it was a natural concern for him.
He wanted to be instate so could afford to be very choosy - only MI, IL, CO and IN made the cut. He really liked a school in MO but skipped mainly because of state level politics.
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Happykid required Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and an Asian supermarket when looking at grad schools. When we went to her chosen university to apartment hunt, we hit (no lie) 10 supermarkets in three days just to see what else was within a short drive of campus. 
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Family discussion resulted in a very clear line crossing off all states with restrictions to Roe-standard abortion access, gender affirming health care, or state sponsored denial of academic freedom. That’s a clear and easy no.
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What about cases where the university itself restricts academic freedom? There are tons of those places these days.
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Kids: Not smaller than their’ high school, which eliminated nearly all LAC’s.
Mine: if OOS, they must offer some need-based aid.
I would take that over governmental restrictions because a state that intervenes that way will also likely do other terrible things.
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My Southern kid would like snow! We toured some in Minnesota and he was very happy to see snow on the ground. We haven’t had any snow in a couple years now and he misses it. He has been impressed with the midwest.
He also wants small under 4,000 and not too far West and not south of NC. Not in our city.
Not bro/frat heavy.
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