Are the private schools ranked 30-70...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are lucky enough to be full pay and my kids would pick Wake, BC, or Tufts over our in state, UMD, without a second thought. US News rankings are garbage. I don’t want to send my kids to the school with the most Pell grant eligible. That isn’t an indication of quality. That said, UMD is a great deal if cost is an issue.

Same. Agree 💯

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are full pay and cost is not an issue. My DD will apply only to privates in that range and we will happily send her to Wake or Tulane or even Bucknell before we send her to a big state school. We are happy to pay for the smaller campus, smaller classes, advising and career services. Money is not an issue so it’s all about size and services. I believe that’s a common thought among my income bracket.

I'm giggling a little because Wake and Bucknell were 2 of the colleges I applied to in the 90s.

They also have an architect in common. Which is probably why I really loved both campuses when we visited.

Anyway, I wound up at Wake in the end and had a wonderful 4 years. I had incredible access to professors - I honestly don't think anyone ever turned me away from a drop in chat in their offices. At the time, it was 3600-ish students and I just loved that size. It also was a great time to be a student as it was the Tim Duncan era (who remained a part of my story because I wound up marrying someone from San Antonio-we got married on St Croix, Tim's home) I gravitated to smaller sized schools and didn't even bother applying to my state school (mostly because it was right down the street from my parents house)

At the time I applied, Wake was the #1 Regional Southern University. It switched to the National rankings probably my junior year? It was T30 for close to 25+ years until the new ranking formulation a couple years ago. Nothing about the school has changed, as far as I am aware.

I feel like people need to stop obsessing so much over the rankings at this point. Wake is a solid school filled with bright kids who work hard and also play hard. I wish it didn't cost so much (It was $20k-ish/year in the 90s), but if there is a way to pay, you won't be disappointed. It's a lovely place to spend 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can get into Tufts or BC you can get into Oxford College at Emory, or Umich, UVa, etc. Those others are worth it over these.

DC got into Tufts and Umich - full pay OOS Michigan vs a pretty reasonable package from Tufts (just a little north of in-state Univ). Preferred Tufts size and location. Easy call.

[Anonymous]

My kid picked in-state UVA over one of the lesser Ivies. I definitely think he made the right call.

[Anonymous]

Very different types of schools. Wake- smaller enrollment, conservative, in the shadows of Duke and UNC. BC -larger 9,000 undergrads, Conservative Catholic(70%) in shadows of ND and Georgetown. Tufts-4-5 thousand undergrads, largest NESCAC school, bland

[Anonymous]

If all you care about is money yes go to a massive instate public. If you have saved and care about student life, access to professors not TA, in person classes vs online, facilities, etc etc basically the entire experience of attending the college, you pay for private. Doesn’t matter what usnews says in terms of rank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very different types of schools. Wake- smaller enrollment, conservative, in the shadows of Duke and UNC. BC -larger 9,000 undergrads, Conservative Catholic(70%) in shadows of ND and Georgetown. Tufts-4-5 thousand undergrads, largest NESCAC school, bland

Interesting, as Wake and UNC were basically tied in the rankings for YEARS. I'm not going to get into Duke - I never even considered it and I have no interest in starting a fight over it.

I would imagine Wake is probably more conservative now as the tuition has gone up. Kids were mostly apolitical when I was there. My sorority was a pretty good mix of views. Many of my friends who were on the R side then have come more towards the middle. I don't think any of them are boosters of the current potus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no one-size-fits-all rule. The value of a particular school for a particular student depends on so many factors, starting with affordability for the family. Next would be fit for the student, what they are looking for in a school, what they want to study, academic stats, and so on.

Affordability is not an issue for some families, who will pay whatever the cost. However, for other families, the cost difference has a much bigger impact, and that cost difference may not justify the difference in college experience or degree among the privates you are referring to and their state flagship university.

Also keep in mind that not everyone lives in a state with a highly ranked public flagship. People's options will differ.

This!

It's all about fit for your kid and your finances. Imo, if you need more than fed student loans to afford a school, it's not worth it. But if you have the cost of a 90k school saved/readily available, why wouldn't you let your kid attend even Tulane if that's the right school for them?

[Anonymous]

Wake, BC, and Tulane are known as full pay safety schools for lots of private high school kids. Go to reputable state flagships and save the money for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If all you care about is money yes go to a massive instate public. If you have saved and care about student life, access to professors not TA, in person classes vs online, facilities, etc etc basically the entire experience of attending the college, you pay for private. Doesn’t matter what usnews says in terms of rank.

This! You student will have to work much harder at a huge state school to get access to professors, classes they want/need, etc.
yes the honors college can make it slightly better but nothing compares to a school that has 4-8k undergrads

[Anonymous]

Those schools are ranked 40-70 for a reason then add in top 25 or 30 SLACs those 4 shools are simply not prestigious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are full pay and cost is not an issue. My DD will apply only to privates in that range and we will happily send her to Wake or Tulane or even Bucknell before we send her to a big state school. We are happy to pay for the smaller campus, smaller classes, advising and career services. Money is not an issue so it’s all about size and services. I believe that’s a common thought among my income bracket.

I'm giggling a little because Wake and Bucknell were 2 of the colleges I applied to in the 90s.

They also have an architect in common. Which is probably why I really loved both campuses when we visited.

Anyway, I wound up at Wake in the end and had a wonderful 4 years. I had incredible access to professors - I honestly don't think anyone ever turned me away from a drop in chat in their offices. At the time, it was 3600-ish students and I just loved that size. It also was a great time to be a student as it was the Tim Duncan era (who remained a part of my story because I wound up marrying someone from San Antonio-we got married on St Croix, Tim's home) I gravitated to smaller sized schools and didn't even bother applying to my state school (mostly because it was right down the street from my parents house)

At the time I applied, Wake was the #1 Regional Southern University. It switched to the National rankings probably my junior year? It was T30 for close to 25+ years until the new ranking formulation a couple years ago. Nothing about the school has changed, as far as I am aware.

I feel like people need to stop obsessing so much over the rankings at this point. Wake is a solid school filled with bright kids who work hard and also play hard. I wish it didn't cost so much (It was $20k-ish/year in the 90s), but if there is a way to pay, you won't be disappointed. It's a lovely place to spend 4 years.

Thank you for this. I love hearing things like this. I feel like Wake might be the perfect fit for my 3rd kid (and probably would have been a better for my first - finishing up at an Ivy).

[Anonymous]

My kid has had a terrific experience at Tufts. But we can afford it without worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake, BC, and Tulane are known as full pay safety schools for lots of private high school kids. Go to reputable state flagships and save the money for grad school.

College is more than ROI; it's about the experience.
The "reputable state flagship" is not all it's cracked up to be from an experience perspective. If that's what you can afford, great. If you've got the money, go for the experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake, BC, and Tulane are known as full pay safety schools for lots of private high school kids. Go to reputable state flagships and save the money for grad school.

Strange. BC's average SAT is 1490 with a 15% acceptance rate. 4,421 applied ED, with only 1,331 being accepted. Keep telling yourself that it is a "safety" school. After a while, you might actually believe it.