Which one...

<p>I'm new to the site and thought I'd get some opinions... My D has narrowed her final choices to either Vassar or University of Southern California. We're waiting on the FA package from USC and will then make the decision. We're located in Huntington Beach, Ca so USC is local and Vassar is a looooong way away. I like the idea of a small LAC for her, but my wife and I both love SC. D wants someplace different and leans towards VC. I know they are very different in many areas and would like other peoples opinions. She's going to start out as an International Relations Major but who knows in the end if that will change. SC alumni have a very very strong reputation for taking care of fellow Trojans and while Vassar might do the same, there certainly aren't the numbers of graduates that SC has. Any feel for how graduate schools (perhaps Law) would view these two very different institutions? How a very typical 'California Girl' would fair in NY? I admit to being concerned that she might not 'fit in' there although she's very good at making friends and into all kinds of activities. It's not a huge point, but she's been in competitive swimming for over 10 years and could excel in a Div III program like Vassar while she couldn't even participate at a school with USC's Olympians. Anyway... big school, small school... warm locale, cold one... big city, small town... I'm so confused and would welcome any opinions!</p>

<p>She sounds like an ambitious, smart girl. You've raised her well. </p>

<p>Let her make the decision!</p>

<p>Thats the intent, but she's debating too and turning to us for help. Just hoping for some input as these two are so very different in many ways.</p>

<p>Since you says she's leaning that way, I would let her go to Vassar. My oldest regrets now choosing a school in his backyard and I now see it would have been a wonderful growth opportunity for him to go back east. Deep down I think we as parents always want them to stay close, but it's a good time to let go.</p>

<p>As long as you want even unqualified opinions? Send her away if she wants to go, let her see what non-California is like, the swimming would be huge in helping her to find peers, swimmers always hang together. Dollars to donuts she will come back to California after college or grad school. It's nice here:)</p>

<p>Vassar! </p>

<p>-undergrad focus
-extremely happy kids
-drop dead gorgeous campus
-D-3</p>

<p>GK50 - Wow, you and I must live in parallel universes. I tried and tried to get DD to apply to our local favorite Vassar College. No go. She wanted Occidental College --- a mere 3,065 miles away. So I've got a pretty good idea how you feel.</p>

<p>USC and Vassar are quite different, so I'd be inclined to let your D choose. If she decides on Vassar I can assure you that the college will take very good care of her and that she will not feel out of place.</p>

<p>Hey there...I am from upstate New York, but I now go to school at USC. You can get into good grad/law schools from either 'SC or Vassar. I don't get the feeling that SC's alum network is as good outside of California, so if she wants to live/work somewhere else, I don't think the alum at SC should be a factor. As far as the quality of the IR dept at USC, go to <a href="http://www.senatecourseguide.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.senatecourseguide.com&lt;/a>, click on advanced and then click on IR department and it will give you ratings for all the IR professors. If she likes small classes and interaction with professors, I say go to Vassar. USC is big and a lot of interaction, especially in your first and second years, is with TA's. Good luck with your choice!</p>

<p>NewHope33 - you're right... we're going through the same thing. Do you find your D was certain a few months ago when applications went out that she wanted to go away and now as decision time looms isn't quite as sure? Mine is finding her friends who were talking about more distant schools are now deciding on UCLA or other local ones. Makes her a little less certain, but she still is leaning VC.</p>

<p>EEH - good input, thanks! The TA thing bothers me a bit, in fact, the whole large school thing does, but I have big SC attachments too. My father taught there for years and I attended in the early 70s for 3 years... lived in married student housing for a semester and worked there for about 5 yrs total. And of course the football team and Pete Carroll are great! Well... if the money issue at SC ends up close to the same as VC the decision will be hers and I'll be proud of either choice! Fight ON!</p>

<p>One other factor. . .there are a lot of very bright kids at USC but the culture at Vassar is much more intellectual across the board.</p>

<p>Vassar looks great on law school apps (is what i hear). I visited last year when I almost applied and loved the campus. I can tell you one thing about college: you will find people like you, no matter where you go.</p>

<p>GK50 - My D is at that awkward point where her rational half knows she needs to escape her insular surroundings but her emotional half wishes to stay within the warm cocoon. Her rational half will eventually win out, but meantime .... Fortunately it has been apparent for some time that this conflict would be taking place right now, so we had D visit many campus' across the country and encouraged her to apply to those that appealed to her. So any lament she has now relates to sorting out her feelings, rather than worrying that she somehow missed "her perfect college." As for her friends, virtually all are going out of state. Yale was the only viable option and students at her school could literally walk to New Haven. So Yale was simply too close.</p>

<p>Somewhere in the past 3 days there has been a thread on decision making that had several interesting points. One method was a coin toss, and if your heart sinks at the result, go to the other school!
Search for the thread, the posts are great, many ideas to think about.</p>

<p>GK50:
If she's looking to you for guidance, I would guide her toward Vassar. Kirmum's words are telling, & the same could be said for myself. Ages 18 to one's mid-20's are the most open, flexible, uncommitted years in one's life. It is a mind-opener & a heart-opener to experience even a different section of the country. We in CA may, because of our so-comfortable lifestyle, be less inclined to find it "necessary" to go elsewhere. (And you're right: she <em>could</em> get just as great an education at USC.) But it's not just about a school; it's a whole milieu. Grab the opportunity now. No young children to transport in snow, no job to commute to in snow. She's receptive. She doesn't have adult responsibilities. Go for it.</p>