<p>Yes, that has been nice!</p>
<p>Update: Now I think the thread title might actually fit (even though I thought it did before based on a web posting but boy was I wrong <vbg>). Anyway, a nice offer came in from another school last night that has quite decent stats and has made quite a few rankings including “up and coming colleges”, “best in the Southeast”, and “best values in small public colleges”.</vbg></p>
<p>It is College of Charleston, and they offered 80% off OOS tuition (about 80k total for 4 yrs) as well as acceptance into their honors program. The regular school has a middle 50% range of mid 1100s to almost 1300, and the honors program would obviously be even higher. The discount makes it a bit cheaper than UVA. So how many of you would choose UVA because of the prestige/higher ranking? Who would choose based on the best fit for the student? And who would choose CofC based on the cheaper price?</p>
<p>If I had the money, I would absolutely choose based on the best fit. TV4caster, is your daughter going to have the final choice, or will you?</p>
<p>You said a bit cheaper, hands down UVA.</p>
<p>If I had put away money for my kid to go to UVA, meaning it is affordable for my family, then it would be UVA even another school was cheaper. I wouldn’t choose a school purely based on cost.</p>
<p>If it is only a bit cheaper than UVA, I would go with UVA. Also if all of your other 2 children do not use your prepaid instate, this would leave two kids with maximizing the instate use of the prepaid (which seems to be a more advantageous use).</p>
<p>We know several kids who go/have gone to C of C. My s looked at it. He didnt like it. It is a charming school in a cute area not far from the beach, but it wasnt for him. Others adore it. Housing is a bit of a challenge. What does your dau think?</p>
<p>“What does your dau think?”</p>
<p>She hasn’t been yet but her favorite place in the entire world is Hilton Head, and that is very close and is also very similar to Charleston. DW made her apply there because it was on all the lists (she’s big into lists and rankings for some reason) and it is one of her favorite cities.</p>
<p>Frazzled asked who gets to make the ultimate decision.</p>
<p>That’s a good question and the answer is probably her. I suppose if she makes some decision that we think is totally crazy we might say no, but if it is even semi-reasonable, then probably her (although, even though she is very independent I can be quite persuasive since I know her so well) :)</p>
<p>Charleston is a beautiful city, but I don’t think that is the way to pick a college. I dont know what lists COC is on, but its not on the same place on those lists as UVA. Did DW go to college? Is she DD’s mother? What is their relationshp? Have you spoken to DDs GC?</p>
<p>TV4caster,</p>
<p>Congratulations to your D! Now you’ve got a race, or some people might say you do. I wouldn’t personally make a decision based on cost unless the cost difference was truly meaningful and unless paying for the higher-priced option would pose a hardship. If I were in your shoes, I would have a reasoned discussion with my D about the pros and cons of each place, and let her decide. I get that UVA is a great school (I don’t value prestige, per se, as much as others seem to) and by objective measures is superior to College of Charleston. Your D may like College of Charleston better. In any case, I think what she prefers is the most important thing. (I would be leaning toward UVA if I were considering for myself!)</p>
<p>" Did DW go to college? Is she DD’s mother? What is their relationshp? Have you spoken to DDs GC?"</p>
<p>DW went to U. Alabama for 1 semester then transferred for monetary reasons back to a school that is not very selective, and was even less so back in the dark ages. </p>
<p>She is DD’s mother and has a great relationship, although she isn’t quite as close as DD and I are.</p>
<p>I spoke to D’s last GC but she left the school this year and her new one is about D’s age. I’ve only dealt briefly with her once about a transcript issue. I don’t think she really knows my daughter too well anyway.</p>
<p>" and by objective measures is superior to College of Charleston. "</p>
<p>Although I was very surprised that the avg SAT is only about 125 pts different. That isn’t all that much. </p>
<p>BTW- She also found out last night that she got into Clemson’s honors program although they didn’t say anything about additional monies over and above the initial 20k (or whatever it was)/year there.</p>
<p>I did see, TV4caster, that the percentage of kids above 700 for SAT M/CR and above 30 on ACT was comparatively quite small at College of Charleston. Whether that makes a difference on the ground (especially for someone in the honors program) is another matter. In any case, your D seems to have some great options. And great, involved parents. ;)</p>
<p>I’m not a parent, but I come here sometimes because the conversations are interesting 
I went to a small LAC in a large Southern city, and now I am studying psychology at an Ivy for grad school. I loved the experience of my LAC - HOWEVER - in this case I would certainly say Virginia is the better choice, unless there’s a large cost-differential.</p>
<p>Having gone from a small LAC to a large research university, there are differences that you wouldn’t immediately think about. Resources is the biggest one. Libraries, study spaces, cafes, computer labs, IT help, software available, residence halls, dining halls, etc. At small campuses, you will have one - maybe two - choices, a small library with smaller holdings. The library was the biggest one for me, as college and university libraries have to subscribe to journals in order for you to have access. When writing a paper as an undergrad, I was often stymied when trying to find an article because my small college library, with limited resources, didn’t have it. Not here. We have almost everything, and for the small stuff we don’t have, we have interlibrary loan with all the other Ivies - some of the premier libraries in the world. She’ll get that at UVa. Not so much at Charleston.</p>
<p>Study space is another. When I was in college, I mostly studied in my room, because there was limited study space on campus. This is a little bit inconvenient since your room feels like home and not like a workspace. Here at my grad university, that’s only a problem because of the location in a large urban area with less space, and even then this school has many times more study spaces than my undergrad, including the 20 libraries. This may also be something to consider. College of Charleston may have great resources in that area, but it’s worth looking into.</p>
<p>Think about other little things that too many undergrads don’t think about until after they get to school. How late are the dining halls open? Can she get a quick snack in a safe place on campus at 12 midnight if she wanted? Can she bring a mini-fridge in the res halls so she can keep snacks in her room? (Most colleges allow this, but my undergrad didn’t - our building were too old to sustain the electricity and they didn’t have the money to renovate them yet.) What’s the student center like? How many student orgs are there on campus? Flip through the course catalog. Are there interesting niche classes? Many liberal arts colleges do a very, very good job of offering the basics. My training in psychology was top notch. However, I do wish there had been more niche training (like psychology of human sexuality, or health psychology) and more interesting classes to satisfy electives.</p>
<p>Yes, she’ll have larger classes at UVa, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I will say that the idea of 200 people in a class is strange (I TA a 200 student science of psych class now. My intro psych class was about 30 people). And TAs teaching classes are much maligned. However, as a TA, let’s clear some things up - only advanced graduate students - ones who have finish graduate coursework and probably qualifying exams - teach their own classes, and at that point, they know more than enough to teach you the basics in an undergrad course. They also aren’t teaching the 400 level courses; they are teaching intro-chem or intro-psych which are the same everywhere. And at many schools, TAs truly are just assistants. In my department graduate students can only teach small optional summer classes, not the regular academic year courses. Also, consider this: because I do all the “grunt work” for them (grading, answering student questions via email, making up assignments, administrative work) my professors have more time to do the research and prepare the materials that make them phenomenal teachers. I only mention this because the TA v. Professor thing is often mentioned when someone is choosing between a big university and a small college, and it’s a false dichotomy IMO.</p>
<p>You bring up some good points in your post, juillet. But College of Charleston is not a small LAC. It has 10,000 undergraduates, give or take and 1,400 or so graduate students. Still, it makes sense to think about the factors you mention when considering any school.</p>
<p>"I did see, TV4caster, that the percentage of kids above 700 for SAT M/CR and above 30 on ACT was comparatively quite small at College of Charleston. "</p>
<p>I noticed that too, but the percentages from 600-700 were almost identical (just under 50%) of all students, which is still a darn good score, and within the range of what D scored on 1 of the 3 sections.</p>
<p>Great point Juillet, especially since D is planning (for now) on majoring in psych. As absweetmarie pointed out CofC is about 10k students vs something like 15k at UVA. </p>
<p>My slight reluctance with UVA (and I think hers too) is that she learns best in situations where she can have more interaction and I worry that she won’t get that as much at UVA as at a smaller school, especially if she is in smaller honors classes. She also hates the cold and Charleston is a lot milder than Charlottesville. </p>
<p>On an unrelated note- I wish I could talk her into a science or math based major since she is so good at those, and I would think a woman in those fields would be in high demand. She also might not need an advanced degree as much as if she goes into them vs something “softer”, if that is the correct term, like psychology.</p>
<p>Heh, sorry, I didn’t realize it was so large!</p>
<p>I agree with trying to talk your daughter into a science or math based degree. I don’t regret majoring in psychology, but I wish to the high heavens that I had double-majored in mathematics or an engineering science. I love math, and although I am doing quite well in applied statistics (I do statistical consulting for $20/hour…and that’s as a student) the mathematical background would’ve been so useful, especially since now I want to go into business. It’s hard - when we’re 18, nobody can tell us anything! But mathematics majors have the lowest unemployment rate of any majors, and their skills are in demand in all fields. Similar is true of science majors.</p>
<p>Here’s some tools, if you want: what about double-majoring in psychology and a science? You can let her know that if she wants to ‘help people,’ as many psych majors want to do, there are a multitude of opportunities to do that in the sciences. There is also a loooooot of scholarship money for women in non-traditional science majors, especially chem and engineering and math, if she ever decides to get an MS or a PhD.</p>
<p>Also, I think at large universities the intro-level classes tend to be large, but the upper-level classes are smaller. Is she a go-getter, or someone likely to seek out her own experiences? In those large intro classes, she could organize discussion groups with other students, or talk to her professor or TAs about the possibility of organizing such groups. Or she can just go to her TA’s office hours and have a lively talk about the material. Trust me, we will welcome the company - no one else comes.</p>
<p>I am having sort of the opposite problem with my older son who is a junior Geology major at a California State University. He likes Geology and gets good grades in his Geology courses. The dillema is that he is absolutely passionate about Physics and Math and wants to change his major to Physics but does not get good grades in Physics or Math. While he has earned mainly A grades in his Geology courses he received Cs in Calculus I, Calculus II, Differential Equations and Calculus based Physics (Mechanics) and Calculus based Physics (Waves and Optics). He did manage to get a B+ in Calculus III (Multivavariate Calculus) but other than that has not shown me he can really succeed as a Physics major. I think the problem is that his Math skills are good (mid 600s on Math SAT) but they are not great.</p>
<p>The situation is also complicated by the fact that my younger son is a Freshman at the same university and is majoring in Physics with my blessing. However, he scored in the mid 700s on the Math SAT and has very strong Math skills.</p>
<p>I have told my older son I want him to study what he likes best but it has to be something that he can succeed in and get his degree in so he is still a Geology major but is currently taking the last of the Introductory Calculus based Physics courses, Electricity and Magnetism. I think we have an agreement that if he gets a C in this class to he will stick with Geology but if can get an A we will revisit the issue of changing his major to Physics but things are pretty tense.</p>
<p>Just wanted to note that while C of C is coed, it is about 65 percent female. My son, who is looking for a school is a warmer climate, will like that They OP’s daughter may not so much.</p>
<p>Also, I second encouraging her to take as much math as she can stand. There are many jobs out there that don’t require a math degree but do require a demonstrated knowledge of math, particularly statistics. Not to mention the day-to-day usefulness in ‘real life.’</p>