Are the private schools ranked 30-70...

[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.

[Anonymous]

+1 We are full pay but would never pay $90-95k a year for BC, Tufts, or Wake. Would one want to live in a mediocre suburb and pay Greenwich or Scarsdale prices same analogy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a pretty big gap between Tufts and Tulane. Only 13% submitted an SAT to Tulane, or only 230 freshman. Of those, only 57 scored above 1500.

Contrast with Tufts, 38% submitted an SAT score, or 687 freshman. Of these, about 60% scored above 1500, for a total of 900 students.

Student quality is much higher at Tufts.

Are you the Michigan poster back at it again? 13% submitted SAT (230) and 28% submitted ACT (506 students). 25-75 ACT is 31-34. If you are going to quote statistics at least be honest.

[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.

+1

[Anonymous]

Depends where one lives. Wake has better reputation outside of NC and BC has better reputation outside of Massachusetts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Just correcting a few errors in the prior two posts:

Wake is less conservative than a few decades ago because the percentage of kids not from the south has greatly increased.

Nor is it in the shadow of UNC. In state kids see UNC differently than oos because it just isn’t that hard to get in, especially with kids coming from the more rural parts of the state. Duke, different story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends where one lives. Wake has better reputation outside of NC and BC has better reputation outside of Massachusetts.

20 percent of the kids at Wake are from North Carolina. It does just fine with in-staters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worth the investment going forward? I'm talking about Tufts, BC, Tulane, Wake, Brandies etc.
Their lower endowments make me concerned they'll lose brand power in the Trump era; while costing the same as T20/25 schools. If DC can't get into Georgetown or similar, should they just go to UMD?

"Just" go to UMD? If your DC is considering privates in T30-70 you mentioned (which BTW are great schools for the right kids) then unlikely that they have what it takes to get in UMD. If your DC is in-state and from the W schools, anything less than UW 4.0 is a red flag for UMD admission, and that is for EA round. Zero chance to be accepted in RD round. If in-state and from a non W school outside Montgomery County, then much better chance. If you are out of state and full pay, then your DC chances in getting the T30-70 schools mentioned is significantly greater than getting to UMD as OOS.

For reference look at the CDS UMDCP (92% admitted has UW GPA 4.0). Compare that to the CDS of the schools mentioned above. Again, those schools provide great educational value for the right students.

[Anonymous]

All these types of schools, BC, Tulane, Emory, Miami, GWU provide a great education. Many spend $20k or $30k a year on Catholic schools, so paying for a private school for a large percentage of people is part of the privilege of having money.

[Anonymous]

Disagree about Wake vibe. Many of those Northern full pay families going to Wake are still conservative definitely not liberals. Refer to thread on here recently about Wake crowning Homecoming King and Queen. Liberals had a field day mocking Wake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth the investment going forward? I'm talking about Tufts, BC, Tulane, Wake, Brandies etc.
Their lower endowments make me concerned they'll lose brand power in the Trump era; while costing the same as T20/25 schools. If DC can't get into Georgetown or similar, should they just go to UMD?

"Just" go to UMD? If your DC is considering privates in T30-70 you mentioned (which BTW are great schools for the right kids) then unlikely that they have what it takes to get in UMD. If your DC is in-state and from the W schools, anything less than UW 4.0 is a red flag for UMD admission, and that is for EA round. Zero chance to be accepted in RD round. If in-state and from a non W school outside Montgomery County, then much better chance. If you are out of state and full pay, then your DC chances in getting the T30-70 schools mentioned is significantly greater than getting to UMD as OOS.

For reference look at the CDS UMDCP (92% admitted has UW GPA 4.0). Compare that to the CDS of the schools mentioned above. Again, those schools provide great educational value for the right students.

The acceptance rate for UMD is twice that of any of the privates mentioned. It is indeed an easier admit, even with the rampant grade inflation In Montgomery county public schools.