How many colleges are there, really?

[Anonymous]

As my child may or may not get into a 4 year school because she struggles with ADHD, depression, etc, etc and struggled quite a bit during HS, I have stopped caring at all about all the lists/rankings.

I am quite happy with the schools that are on her list currently. Most of them are regional schools, but they have good programs in the two fields she is interested in.

She may still go to a community college in the end, but we also are fine with paying what we would pay for a state school anyway at any of the places we have very carefully researched over the past couple years.

We have visited 5 college campuses so far and liked all of them for different reasons. Have another tour next week of a small school in MA that caters to kids with some learning differences.

I actually am glad my kid isn't shooting for the top schools - it allowed us to discover other hidden gems that don't get talked about a lot. I actually fell in love with a a couple of the Cal State schools from afar-kiddo isn't applying, but some of those schools look like fun places to be!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 3000+ 4 year colleges.

Cool. To most parents, that number is meaningless. No parent in this area is considering Philander Smith University for their kid, along with 3,750 of those 4,000

People really tell on themselves when they make comments like this! SO many students in the area attend HBCUs. I think you probably meant to say "no white UMC person living in Bethesda is considering Philander Smith University for their kid," but like...Black people exist. Non-UMC people exist. Maybe not in your little microcosm of "this area", but alas.

TY. I was fairly certain Philander Smith is an HBCU and thought "this PP is really telling on themselves."

[Anonymous]

DH's cousin is in the college admissions business. They throw around the "there are 1000s of schools" line, yet there are only 30 schools she and her DH would find acceptable for their children. I overheard her say to her DH, "X will not meet the right people @ Y public" where X had received a generous merit award.

Don't say it if you don't mean it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 3000+ 4 year colleges.

Cool. To most parents, that number is meaningless. No parent in this area is considering Philander Smith University for their kid, along with 3,750 of those 4,000

People really tell on themselves when they make comments like this! SO many students in the area attend HBCUs. I think you probably meant to say "no white UMC person living in Bethesda is considering Philander Smith University for their kid," but like...Black people exist. Non-UMC people exist. Maybe not in your little microcosm of "this area", but alas.

Spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know there are 4,000. But how many are there that anyone UMC who attended college themselves would want their kids to attend?

I wouldn't exclude schools that "nobody's heard of" because I really like the high quality selective SLACs and would gladly send a kid there. But it seems like there are tons of small bible colleges and a million regional state schools that would just be odd for a student from the DMV to attend as an OOS student. Then once you throw out all the for-profit schools and community colleges, how many are left?

The Princeton Review includes somewhere between 350-400 schools they consider high quality.

This. And Fiske is similar with about 320 schools. Any of those can potentially provide a quality education for a student willing to put in the work

And many not on that list.

[Anonymous]

Isn't a lot of it regional though? Plenty of middle/upper middle class families in the DMV send their kids to places like UMBC, Towson, CNU, Radford, St. Mary's MD, etc. But you're probably not going to find a lot of families from say, Minnesota sending their kids there or considering them as options. Likewise, not many families in the DMV are looking to send their kids to schools like Mankato State, UM Duluth, Winona State, etc. (i.e., regional schools in Minnesota) but those schools are certainly on the radar screen for lots of high schoolers of all social classes in MN (and WI/IA).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't a lot of it regional though? Plenty of middle/upper middle class families in the DMV send their kids to places like UMBC, Towson, CNU, Radford, St. Mary's MD, etc. But you're probably not going to find a lot of families from say, Minnesota sending their kids there or considering them as options. Likewise, not many families in the DMV are looking to send their kids to schools like Mankato State, UM Duluth, Winona State, etc. (i.e., regional schools in Minnesota) but those schools are certainly on the radar screen for lots of high schoolers of all social classes in MN (and WI/IA).

Funny enough, I ran across several of these schools looking for a particular performing arts program for my child - wish those MN regional schools actually worked for her!

Instead, she has 2 MI schools in contention.

We even considered schools like Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Wichita State, and Utah Tech, but ... not happening.

[Anonymous]

But, PP, you're interested in them because of a strength in a specific thing. If your kid were not seeking performing arts programs, those regional schools wouldn't be on your list, right? Or, if one of those schools were really interested in geographic diversity and willing to give full rides to decent students from the DMV, you might choose it. But otherwise, why bother going all the way out there for something you could find next door in West Virginia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But, PP, you're interested in them because of a strength in a specific thing. If your kid were not seeking performing arts programs, those regional schools wouldn't be on your list, right? Or, if one of those schools were really interested in geographic diversity and willing to give full rides to decent students from the DMV, you might choose it. But otherwise, why bother going all the way out there for something you could find next door in West Virginia?

Well, we aren’t considering WV anyway for political reasons.

We started with a couple lists of schools that had the specific performing art-Looked at the degree/classes for that. Then, we looked for the other field she wanted, making sure there was at least a minor with the mix of classes she wants (having it as a major was preferred, though). And of course, we also looked at costs-tuition, scholarships, cost of getting there, etc.

We probably would not have looked so far afield, no, had we not been looking for such specific criteria. But I personally enjoyed learning about some of these schools that I otherwise would not have known about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't a lot of it regional though? Plenty of middle/upper middle class families in the DMV send their kids to places like UMBC, Towson, CNU, Radford, St. Mary's MD, etc. But you're probably not going to find a lot of families from say, Minnesota sending their kids there or considering them as options. Likewise, not many families in the DMV are looking to send their kids to schools like Mankato State, UM Duluth, Winona State, etc. (i.e., regional schools in Minnesota) but those schools are certainly on the radar screen for lots of high schoolers of all social classes in MN (and WI/IA).

All universities have a regional element to them.

Nearly 40% of Harvard’s entering class is from New England or the Mid-Atlantic. Only 14% from the west coast.

In contrast, 36% of Stanford undergrads come from California alone.

[Anonymous]

US News ranks almost 1,500 colleges and universities each year which includes almost 400 National Universities and about 215 National LACs. The majority of schools ranked by US News are regional universities and regional colleges.

There are about 2,832 four year colleges & universities in the US and there are roughly 1,582 two year colleges in the US.

[Anonymous]

Western Governors University
Mississippi University for Women
University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

Would you really consider spending obscene amounts of money to afford DMV housing and even private schools only to have schools like this on your list? It sounds elitist and snobbish, but OP's point is a decent one. There are schools that the average DCUM family wouldn't even consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't a lot of it regional though? Plenty of middle/upper middle class families in the DMV send their kids to places like UMBC, Towson, CNU, Radford, St. Mary's MD, etc. But you're probably not going to find a lot of families from say, Minnesota sending their kids there or considering them as options. Likewise, not many families in the DMV are looking to send their kids to schools like Mankato State, UM Duluth, Winona State, etc. (i.e., regional schools in Minnesota) but those schools are certainly on the radar screen for lots of high schoolers of all social classes in MN (and WI/IA).

All universities have a regional element to them.

Nearly 40% of Harvard’s entering class is from New England or the Mid-Atlantic. Only 14% from the west coast.

In contrast, 36% of Stanford undergrads come from California alone.

One big function of the US News list is to draw full-pay New York and California money out of the region, to top ranked schools in other areas. The result is downright comical at some schools, where it can seem like everyone is from New Jersey and California.

This is why Vandy is so upset about dropping a few spots in the rankings — they dropped from above to below UCLA and Cal. There are a lot of California parents who will quite sensibly refuse to pay for a lower-ranked private in Tennessee if their kid gets in to UCLA or Cal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't a lot of it regional though? Plenty of middle/upper middle class families in the DMV send their kids to places like UMBC, Towson, CNU, Radford, St. Mary's MD, etc. But you're probably not going to find a lot of families from say, Minnesota sending their kids there or considering them as options. Likewise, not many families in the DMV are looking to send their kids to schools like Mankato State, UM Duluth, Winona State, etc. (i.e., regional schools in Minnesota) but those schools are certainly on the radar screen for lots of high schoolers of all social classes in MN (and WI/IA).

Funny enough, I ran across several of these schools looking for a particular performing arts program for my child - wish those MN regional schools actually worked for her!

Instead, she has 2 MI schools in contention.

We even considered schools like Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Wichita State, and Utah Tech, but ... not happening.

Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College have great performing arts programs and K is generous with merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't a lot of it regional though? Plenty of middle/upper middle class families in the DMV send their kids to places like UMBC, Towson, CNU, Radford, St. Mary's MD, etc. But you're probably not going to find a lot of families from say, Minnesota sending their kids there or considering them as options. Likewise, not many families in the DMV are looking to send their kids to schools like Mankato State, UM Duluth, Winona State, etc. (i.e., regional schools in Minnesota) but those schools are certainly on the radar screen for lots of high schoolers of all social classes in MN (and WI/IA).

All universities have a regional element to them.

Nearly 40% of Harvard’s entering class is from New England or the Mid-Atlantic. Only 14% from the west coast.

In contrast, 36% of Stanford undergrads come from California alone.

One big function of the US News list is to draw full-pay New York and California money out of the region, to top ranked schools in other areas. The result is downright comical at some schools, where it can seem like everyone is from New Jersey and California.

This is why Vandy is so upset about dropping a few spots in the rankings — they dropped from above to below UCLA and Cal. There are a lot of California parents who will quite sensibly refuse to pay for a lower-ranked private in Tennessee if their kid gets in to UCLA or Cal.

I think you are REALLY overestimating the stock that the average person puts into these ratings. I would be really surprised if there were parents who, a week ago, would've paid for Vandy over UCB/UCLA, but now wouldn't because it dropped a few spots on the rankings. The average person just doesn't think like that.