<p>My D applied to both SLC (waitlisted) and MHC (denied). MHC was her first choice until her overnight when she decided that she could not deal with the all girl aspect and needed more balance. SLC, however, is still on the top of her list. </p>
<p>Both schools are very different however if I had to choose for my D (or even myself), I would choose MHC for various reasons:
great alumni support group for the rest of your life i.e. MHC women like to hire and refer MHC women (same at Bryn Mawr)
supportive financial aid for study aboard / international internships
greater sense of community
five college consortium means you get five great colleges (and their course offerings) for the price of one</p>
<p>The SLC sticker shock as well as much tumblr reading has convinced us that MoHo is the better place for D13. Congrats to all that got in and feel they can fit in, my D13 already has some “issues” and felt that she does not need to be around a bunch of angsty kids.</p>
<p>Regrettably, she loved everything else about SLC, the donning etc, but it just wasn’t worth the extra money to her, and she was originally a questbridge kid, so nope, she doesn’t want to even attempt to compete with the “hipster” factor. Thank you awkwardcreation for calling this to my attention, it made D13’s decision a lot easier.</p>
<p>My daughter has issues too (very shy, bipolar II – in therapy and on meds – very pretty but awkward due to shyness/mild social phobia, gifted poet, deep thinker, high performer scholastically, pretty sheltered and close to family). Being in a very main stream (though very competitive), upper middle class metro NJ high school, where most people are non-introspective, up-beat and driven by career goals (at 17!) rather than real love of learning, has not been the best fit for her. I agree that being around angsty hipsters might amplify her issues (not sure), but I have to believe she would feel less isolated with this crowd than she would around people that have no “issues”. It’s a hard call. There really are no people in our town that fit the general description of the SLC student, because it’s a Republican town, with a lot of Wall Street dads and people with Ivy degrees who became corporate lawyers and the like. We are definitely not rich (on the modest end of our community), but don’t qualify for any need-based aid – certainly can’t compete with anyone from extreme wealth. Probably few at SLC are in our financial boat: regular, humdrum house and lifestyle, but too high an income in FAFSA’s eyes to get a penny of aid (she did get a Dean’s Scholarship based on merit). She got into other schools that I think might be a slightly better fit (some artsy eccentrics but not all), but those have less of a name, and even as a person who refuses to see college as vocational training, it can’t be denied that competing in the job market requires a recognized alma mater. If she doesn’t like the overnight visit Wed and the class the next day, it’s back to the drawing board with little time to spare!</p>
<p>Gosh, I really don’t know what you’re on about, fixating on the SLC ‘campus culture’ in this way. My son is a second year student there. He is a normal guy. He isn’t into theatre. He isn’t a chain smoker. He has a job on campus. He has had an amazing intellectual experience so far, with much greater fellowship with his professors and intellectual exploration with his peers than either his father or I did at our undergrad college (Harvard). He’s having fun. His friends seem normal. They’re having fun too. Lots of hard work. I hope your lot get to admitted students day and give it a chance. Best of luck to everyone.</p>
<p>Thanks for chiming in samuck. I was hoping someone with real life experience would show up here. I am actually keeping my fingers crossed that my son chooses SL over NYU (my alma mater). I think the tag line “a deeper preparation” happens to be true about SL. Glad to hear your son is having a great social experience as well!!!</p>
<p>Well, I hope it helps. I don’t want to sugarcoat things, there are drawbacks to SLC, but to me they are mostly connected to it being such a small school. which of course is also a source of its strength, eg the closeness of students and faculty. But the thought that people are shying away because of some perceived ‘hipster’ factor strikes me as wrong. My boy and his friends whom I’ve met are very much regular people, not alienated, but tolerant and involved. Some are into sports, some are into the arts, some are into community service, some are into all of the above!</p>
<p>My daughter had an overnight visit last night and will attend. No school is perfect but this one suits her temperament and learning preferences best out of 8 pretty different schools she was accepted to.</p>
<p>Congrats on having a decision, My3Daughters! My D is seriously considering SLC as well and although I am trying not to intrude on her decision process this thread has been very informative and helpful to me.</p>
<p>My congrats as well!
My S visited SL and sat in on a class yesterday afternoon. Tomorrow he will visit NYU Gallatin and do the same. I wonder if he will make as quick a decision as your daughter? :)</p>
<p>Thanks, daisychain and drae27! Actually, since before Thanksgiving she was positive she was going to Fordham at Lincoln Center, but people change at this stage of life, and she discovered she wasn’t really ready to live in NYC, and that the academics at SLC were much more “her.” In mid-March, she found out she had gotten a Dean’s Scholarship to SLC, and that put it back in view – we don’t qualify for aid, yet really can not afford full freight, so this news put the school back under consideration. So glad, because it really has so much to offer the poet in her.</p>
<p>Wanted to add something a bit more substantive to my exclamatory congrats! I know all colleges offer a transformative experience but based on personal observation, I am impressed that at SLC, students who despite their obvious brightness may not have been deemed traditionally successful in HS, really come into their own as motivated high achievers. I think it has to do with the lack of gen ed requirements. Students take courses they want to, not those they have to. . Just my personal take on it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the note, samuck! Though my daughter was successful in a very traditional, very competitive high school, in terms of her SAT scores and GPA, she has become entirely burned out by that whole system – that’s why we had considered other schools like Hampshire and The New School, in addition to the far more traditional Fordham (with its burdensome core requirements), where she was set on going (because its in NYC) since she was accepted before Thanksgiving. I knew that approach was going to be more of the same, and she was deriving no joy from it, depite the high stats and awards. Sarah Lawrence – I thought – was known for giving no pure merit aid, so, though she applied, I thought we simply couldn’t afford full freight, no matter what FAFSA says. I wept tears of joy when I saw her acceptance with the scholarhsip, because it put this choice back in play. She is a gifted writer of poetry and a very old soul – different socially than a lot of kids. So I’m hoping the transformative quality of the school really ignites her talents, which she has been so shy about sharing in her present environment. I am so excited for her!! Thanks for the congrats!</p>
<p>After my son’s visit to NYU Gallatin he now clearly feels that Sarah Lawrence is his preferred choice. While Gallatin, on the surface, appears to allow students to take classes in all of the other schools at NYU, the reality was quite different. When he went to speak to people in other departments he was told that it was not so easy and at one dept. it was even impossible. He also noted that the interaction between Sarah Lawrence students and the faculty has been the most lively and engaged of any of the schools he has visited. (he’s been to Sarah Lawrence multiple times now…sitting in on classes twice.)
For us now we have to weigh the fact that our aid will be reduced after the first year when my older son graduates college. For this reason he will visit SUNY Purchase again before the final decision is made. He will attend Accepted Students Day… we’ll be there too. Maybe some of you will be as well?</p>
<p>Yes, we will be at Accepted Students Day! Also, we visited SUNY Purchase and I loved it – D also connected with some artsy kids. She was accepted to their Creative Writing Program, which allegedly only accepts 10% of its applicants (though I have to say, I don’t think Purchase has much of a name in the Creative Writing department – much stronger in theater, dance and voice, which is not my D.) Anyway, value-wise, I was highly in favor of Purchase but I think the Sarah Lawrence name will open more doors in the future. I have always been dead set against using college chiefly as job prep, but let’s face it, they need to work when they graduate.</p>