<p>I don’t understand “value” or emphasis on “ivies”. Caltech, CMU, and MIT were the dreams; DS turned down Princeton, Yale, etc, and free ride to flagship to develop potential. Ivies are a sports league.</p>
<p>Our state flagships aren’t better than the Ivy League - at least not for most majors. That said, my son did turn down Harvard for Carnegie Mellon. :)</p>
<p>Of the students who will one day be successful, I’m sure nearly all of them would still be successful regardless of where they go. But some state flagships do lack in resource/student ratios compared to a lot of private schools with huge endowments and fewer students.</p>
<p>And as someone pointed out above, Ivies in particular have generally way more financial aid.</p>
<p>Bookworm, I agree - the emapasis on ivies,etc. is overblown as can be the emphasis on places like MIT,Caltech and flagships! However, for most of the population, unless you are affluent,price does matter. My sons would have been 3rd generation CMU grads had they applied or gone there but the price (and lack of social fit) meant that was not in the cards. Never even considered it for our sons(although husband recently got some Order of the May thing last week from CMU to acknowledge his alumni contributions over the years).
DwightEisenhower, the financial aid from Ivies for fairly middle class people is fairly recent.</p>
<p>“Better”? That really depends on the kid and the “fit”. We are very fortunate to live in a state with more than one terrific flagship school and my child was accepted to the top one; he was also accepted to his first choice school, an Ivy. Although the in-state is a great school, and almost as difficult to get into as the Ivies, we (his parents) had to admit that for him, the fit was better at the Ivy and, sadly for my pocketbook 
, that’s where he is now. He would have done fine here, but he is thriving there.</p>
<p>When it’s true.</p>
<p>my2sunz, the more recent Ivy League financial initiatives are great. Hope that has helped your pocketbook! In 2005, the Ivies did not work for us(not poor, not rich). That being said, UVa was a great fit and no regrets on that. For my son in particular, UVa was the best fit . He thrived there as well.</p>
<p>“Better” or “worse” depends on the student and his/her intended or possible fields of study, social fit, and net cost after non-loan financial aid and scholarships.</p>
<p>
But not a word about the lowered standards for athletes, right?</p>
<p>sevmom - I wish that were the case, but we are in that lucky/unlucky situation that we’re above the upper threshold for FA there. We are fortunate enough to be able to pay, but it is not without some serious belt-tightening. We’re in VA too and as you may have figured, S’s next best choice was UVa (and he was an Echols Scholar, too). I LOVE UVa and would love for S2 to go there in a few years, if he can get in. We are very lucky to have several excellent public universities here.</p>
<p>Correct,CTTC, I did not hear anything about Princeton athletes and standards for them. I do know that the standards are still high but the athletes do have a hook that the general population in schools like Princeton do not have. My nephew still had high SAT’s and good grades as an Ivy athlete (although lower SAT’s than my son-I know because the dad told us!). Ivy athletic recruiting is a whole other issue though!
Yes,my2sunz,We are very luck to have such great choices in Virginia!</p>
<p>One of my clients got full aid to Rollins, a small college near Orlando. Their website states that 65% of students have some disability, like ADHD or an LD. Another 35% have had some emotional dx. They seem fully prepared to do some hand-holding. Lynn U in Boca Raton is similar. </p>
<p>The students I’ve known who have gone to these colleges flourished. I don’t know how they would have done/would do at a state school.</p>
<p>What I love about CC is that many look for these small gems, not just name schools.</p>
<p>I like Bookworm’s comment about “develop potential” in prior post, and think that is the ultimate goal for college age students. </p>
<p>State flagships have strong programs and can be good for students who know what they want to do. But are they a good place to develop potential for those still figuring it out? I think developing potential is also about the environment and people around you, which can be chaotic at big state U.</p>
<p>On the flipside, we are talking about big bucks here, and is elite private worth the extra 100k or more? My state has expensive flagship (Illinois) but some states have even bigger delta.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My response on another thread about the best advice to give a prospective college student: “Choose a peer group that you would most wish to be like. Because, when all is said and done, you probably will evolve to resemble those peers.”</p>
<p>That would be my litmus test of whether a state flagship experience can compete well with that at a smaller, more selective school. Their abilities to create rich environments of motivated, involved peers vary.</p>
<p>we have 3 top ranked state flagships here in VA - UVA, W&M, and VTech.</p>
<p>My DDs career interests throughout the process were engineering and architecture. My DD has had issues over the years with ADHD, social anxiety, fitting in socially (she does best in “nerdy” environments). She attended a highly ranked sci tech magnet HS, had stellar SATS, but less than stellar grades. </p>
<p>She was cool to UVA, because of its size, and due to her low class rank, would have had difficulty getting in anyway. She was cool to VTech cause of its even larger size, despite its strength in her career fields. W&M was just right in terms of size, but had nothing in her fields. Ultimately, given the number of privates she applied to to maximize her chances of getting in and getting FA, we all decided it wasnt worth applying to ANY of the VA publics.</p>
<p>She was accepted to and will be attending RPI, which gave her a generous FA package, including need and merit aid. I think she and we made the right choice.</p>
<p>The moral of the story - every kid is different - make the choice thats right for your kid and your family.</p>
<p>[College</a> Navigator - University of Kentucky](<a href=“College Navigator - University of Kentucky”>College Navigator - University of Kentucky)</p>
<p>Univ of KY 4 year graduation rate 32%
Princeton 4 year graduation rate 90%</p>
<p>So, the odds of your d/s graduating in 4 years at UK are 32% vs 90% at Princeton.
Or, your UK d/s graduates in 4 years, but 2 out of every 3 of their friends doesnt, in 4 years.</p>
<p>Brooklynborndad, The Virginia publics do not work for everyone in Virginia, clearly. We are lucky though to have good instate options to start with so that kids and families can weigh all the options if they feel the publics won’t work for them(whether Ivy, private,OOS public,etc). Everybody does in the end make the choice that seems right for their child and family. Good luck to your daughter at RPI!
Jennalee, I would assume most accomplished, motivated Kentucky students can graduate on time if they need to. Some may be juggling financial or familial issues that the average Princeton student may not be dealing with.</p>
<p>"Brooklynborndad, The Virginia publics do not work for everyone in Virginia, clearly. "</p>
<p>clearly.</p>
<p>and if thats true in Va, with one of the top public flagships in the country, with probably the best public LAC in the country, and with a very good Tech school like VTech, how much more is that true in almost every other state? </p>
<p>Which, IMO, makes all the constant implication that publics are good for everyone almost as silly as the belief that Ivies are better for everyone, or that people should go as far up the USNWR rankings as possible. </p>
<p>Why cant we just accept that this is an individual decision, with many variables?</p>
<p>Our public unis are not on the level of UVa, UNC-CH, UMich or Berkeley – and even if they were, D did not want to attend a large school. Also, with finaid cost of the top LAC at which she enrolled was no more than a SUNY.</p>
<p>Brooklynborndad, As I said, most people are making personal, individual decisions/choices. And that’s a good thing.
foolishpleasure,If a family qualifies for significant financial aid, that definitely opens up additional options. Congratulations to you and your daughter!</p>