Talk me off a ledge

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many of you urging OP’s DD to go to ESU would send your own kid there, turning down Lehigh?
My concern would be that your DD may not be able transfer, coming from ESU, regardless of her grades.

I had my kid turn down Lehigh for a lesser school. Not East Stroudsberg but not too far off. Kid graduated with a $110k finance job. It’s not the school, it’s the kid. A smart, humble, hardworking kid will go far. That combination is in short supply today.

100% correct. Your DC has the work ethic, drive and ambition and unless there is something dramatic to change that, do you have reason to believe that your DC will not be as equally successful at ESU?

Now, think about taking that 180k you have and investing it for your DC. Your DC has a full 4-year ride, is successful in the health-related field, lands a job (or gets into a good graduate program) AND has a nice investment portfolio that is growing. That is the smart way of thinking about this.

+1. Your kid can basically have medical school fully funded. So graduating undergrad and medical school with OUT debt. That's damn impressive and trust me in 10 years they will appreciate that much more than being $300K in debt

Assuming they actually decide to go to medical school...which a massive %age of undergrads decide not to do.

I am sorry...you can't attend ESU assuming some polyannish outcome. It is almost like the sports analogy...would you pick the school if you decided you no longer wanted to go to Med school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, I’d ask directly for specifics for medical school placement. Also most kids who enter premed change their mind. How would job placement be if she entered a different field? The school is ranked 145th among regional colleges, as I already posted, that’s would be a no go for our family.There are plenty of premed kids from better colleges who will also have impressive gpas, and the quality of their school will be the difference maker.

Yes to this. Also I’m the pp who posted about turning down Lehigh, but it was for a top regional school. Look at the list of the top 15 or so - many are prob still taking apps and your kid will get merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she is really pre-health, this is idea. No undergrad tuition!!! Get a super high GPA, lean into whatever health opportunities exist in the area, and set yourself apart. Do well on MCAT and boom. I understand how you feel, but this may be a tremendous opportunity. For a business degree, I would have a different opinion.

This is the big fish/small pond approach. I went to a seminar given by college admissions officers - full disclosure it was a long time ago in a professional capacity -and they endorsed this approach to graduate school admission. If your kid is at the top of their class at ES, and they do great on the MCAT they might have an advantage over a kid who did just ok at Lehigh or Villanova.

There is such a thing as a pond that's too small. ESU is the kind of school that turns out nurses and lab technicians not people who go to medical school.

+1. Med school is insanely hard to get into these days. There will be many candidates who were big fish at much bigger ponds than this school most people haven’t heard of. Not to mention, the peer group there would not lead to the best education.

[Anonymous]

Look at The Common Data Set for East Stroudsburg and get some good info there.

More applications? The Space Available Survey comes out in May. Meanwhile, apply to some rolling admission schools? University of Kansas? Make sure you can pay - wherever she applies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You you all feel the same about Kutztown? Similar profile?

I know a kid who is a freshman at Kutztown and hates it, and I know a professor there who says the kids know nothing and it’s hopeless trying to teach them (post-Covid). So no, I would not send a kid there. A very exceptional go-getter with no other affordable options might indeed do fine, but I don’t think it’s a great path.

I know kids who have loved Kutztown (and Bloomsburg, and many other PA schools), but none of them would have gotten into Colgate or Lehigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, I’d ask directly for specifics for medical school placement. Also most kids who enter premed change their mind. How would job placement be if she entered a different field? The school is ranked 145th among regional colleges, as I already posted, that’s would be a no go for our family.There are plenty of premed kids from better colleges who will also have impressive gpas, and the quality of their school will be the difference maker.

How do you know this?

Look at placement stats and get back to me.

Causation vs. correlation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about an in-between, non-fratty LAC with a March deadline, and that’s known for giving copious merit aid. Pretty sure Agnes Scott is one, and they have a pre-health track (I think you can take classes through Emory, too).

Earlham has a March deadline and a pre-health pathways track.

Nothing wrong with your kid’s choice but maybe there’s a happy middle?

There are others — these are the first two that come to mind!

In case this is an approach you want to take, there are LACs on this list known for strong merit aid and still accepting apps. Some definitely have health programs:

https://www.collegesimply.com/guides/application-deadlines/

Quick check, did not verify that they were all calculating the same way:

Medical school placement rates for some of the LACs on the late-deadline list:

Carroll College: 85%
Earlham: 89%
OWU: 58%
Agnes Scott: 100% (!? In most recent cycle….impressive if if true)
Hendrix: 89%
Juniata: 74%

Just FYI.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a rural PA college town and I’d have some reservations. It’s a smart financial decision but I’d have to spend a lot of time there to feel it out. Big fish, small pond is good, but so is having an achievement-oriented cohort. A lot of small PA towns are pretty depressed and heroin-y now.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, my college roommate at a low ranked midwestern state school got into UVA law (had full ride to this low ranked school after not being able to afford the ivy admitted to).

Cohort is overrated.

[Anonymous]

Gap year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing this is a sports situation?

My misgiving is that there is a BIG gap between East Stroudsburg and Colgate/Lehigh. Can you say a little more about why the "middle" colleges are unappealling?

I think that in the health professions, the most important thing is to get the degree. And to get lots of hands-on experience along the way.

Did you guys visit ESU? What did you think?

I agree with this. I would take the full ride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I find it utterly bizarre that you allowed your daughter to apply to any school that would actually be a stretch financially. It sounds like all of the other schools she applied to are expensive privates - why? You say she wasn't interested in a large state school, but surely there were small or mid-sized Pennsylvania state schools she could have included in her list? Your situation is so bizarre because while you don't want her to attend the no-name school for free, you also seem hesitant to pay $200,000 on an expensive private.

Where are your state school options?

She said that the kid didn’t like big state schools. Get off her back about the list and try to be constructive!

OP- if your kid is okay with the free school, go for it. She can transfer to UMD or your flagship state school if it feels wrong… with nothing out of pocket. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I find it utterly bizarre that you allowed your daughter to apply to any school that would actually be a stretch financially. It sounds like all of the other schools she applied to are expensive privates - why? You say she wasn't interested in a large state school, but surely there were small or mid-sized Pennsylvania state schools she could have included in her list? Your situation is so bizarre because while you don't want her to attend the no-name school for free, you also seem hesitant to pay $200,000 on an expensive private.

Where are your state school options?

She said that the kid didn’t like big state schools. Get off her back about the list and try to be constructive!

OP- if your kid is okay with the free school, go for it. She can transfer to UMD or your flagship state school if it feels wrong… with nothing out of pocket. Good luck.

Can you even read? I suggested small/mid-sized state universities. And I stand by my post. She's complaining about her options and for some odd reason, didn't insist her daughter apply to affordable schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I find it utterly bizarre that you allowed your daughter to apply to any school that would actually be a stretch financially. It sounds like all of the other schools she applied to are expensive privates - why? You say she wasn't interested in a large state school, but surely there were small or mid-sized Pennsylvania state schools she could have included in her list? Your situation is so bizarre because while you don't want her to attend the no-name school for free, you also seem hesitant to pay $200,000 on an expensive private.

Where are your state school options?

She said that the kid didn’t like big state schools. Get off her back about the list and try to be constructive!

OP- if your kid is okay with the free school, go for it. She can transfer to UMD or your flagship state school if it feels wrong… with nothing out of pocket. Good luck.

Can you even read? I suggested small/mid-sized state universities. And I stand by my post. She's complaining about her options and for some odd reason, didn't insist her daughter apply to affordable schools.

Sorry, what's the rule here? "Land the helicopter?" or "insist" they do what parents want?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I find it utterly bizarre that you allowed your daughter to apply to any school that would actually be a stretch financially. It sounds like all of the other schools she applied to are expensive privates - why? You say she wasn't interested in a large state school, but surely there were small or mid-sized Pennsylvania state schools she could have included in her list? Your situation is so bizarre because while you don't want her to attend the no-name school for free, you also seem hesitant to pay $200,000 on an expensive private.

Where are your state school options?

She said that the kid didn’t like big state schools. Get off her back about the list and try to be constructive!

OP- if your kid is okay with the free school, go for it. She can transfer to UMD or your flagship state school if it feels wrong… with nothing out of pocket. Good luck.

Can you even read? I suggested small/mid-sized state universities. And I stand by my post. She's complaining about her options and for some odd reason, didn't insist her daughter apply to affordable schools.

Sorry, what's the rule here? "Land the helicopter?" or "insist" they do what parents want?

Not sure what you're talking about - I've never taken either approach. But I sure as hell wouldn't allow my kid to apply to schools that I knew I wouldn't be able to comfortably afford. What, exactly, is the point of that?