NESCAC Opportunities?

[Anonymous]

DS is about to pick Kenyon with $30K in aid over Bates, Mac, and Carleton. He didn't apply to Wes.

[Anonymous]

Good decision! All good schools but you can save the $120K for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Similar conversation in our house - Kenyon with $35k vs. Bowdoin. We can afford it, but $140,000 is a lot of money. Would a real town, in Maine, at excellent school (one of the top SLACs) be worth it? I think so . . . But on the fence.

[Anonymous]

One additional interesting aspect to Wesleyan, depending on major, is that the possibility of getting an MA during a 5th year, tuition free. That is effectively equivalent to a ~70k merit (I know, not exactly) award over four years. Maybe that is enough to change some of the thinking about the finances.
https://www.wesleyan.edu/grad/graduate-programs/bama_program.html

[Anonymous]

I had no idea about that program at Wes! Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is about to pick Kenyon with $30K in aid over Bates, Mac, and Carleton. He didn't apply to Wes.

Congrats. My DS is a first year at Kenyon and having a great experience. Although we're paying full price .

Your DS is sacrificing nothing by choosing Kenyon over those other schools. Maybe Carleton is more "elite" and the average SAT score is 20 point higher but whatever.

[Anonymous]

I’m curious about the PPs who think Kenyon is a waste of money. What’s the story there? I don’t know tons about it other than remembering it as a great school when i was college hunting. My 10th grader is very interested in visiting Kenyon and I’m curious about why some people in this thread are so negative about it. Is it just the higher-than-bowdoin acceptance rate or is there some other concern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Similar conversation in our house - Kenyon with $35k vs. Bowdoin. We can afford it, but $140,000 is a lot of money. Would a real town, in Maine, at excellent school (one of the top SLACs) be worth it? I think so . . . But on the fence.

There is no appreciable difference between those schools other than location. Why do you believe Bowdoin is a better school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Can’t understand why you’re asking this without giving the specific school names. None of the answers are meaningful without knowing this.

I actually disagree with this. There are perceptions created by which schools people were more familiar with back in the day, mostly a locality thing and where 'people" you knew went, and then the dumb "lists" that magazines publish, but really a LAC is LAC and they are all excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Similar conversation in our house - Kenyon with $35k vs. Bowdoin. We can afford it, but $140,000 is a lot of money. Would a real town, in Maine, at excellent school (one of the top SLACs) be worth it? I think so . . . But on the fence.

There is no appreciable difference between those schools other than location. Why do you believe Bowdoin is a better school?

Bowdoin is objectively a better school. T-5 ranking vs. outside of T-30 is not the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is narrowing down her college list. Making the cut are two of the NESCACs (no merit aid), a highly selective midwestern SLAC (some merit aid) and a selective midwestern SLAC (most merit aid out of the bunch). Rounding out her list is a mid-size university with good merit aid so different from the others.

Looking at it from a parental, objective eye, I see it only makes sense to strongly consider the mid-size univeristy with good merit aid and selective midwestern SLAC with good merit aid. Maybe also the highly selective midwestern SLAC with some merit aid.

she be missing anything if we urge her not to strongly consider the NESCACs? Are there opportunities/better connections/anything that would make the NESCACs at full pay worth it over her other options?

No, and no.

~NESCAC grad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools are Bates and Wesleyan (full pay) vs. Grinnell, Denison and CWRU (varying amounts of merit at those schools). She also got accepted to Kenyon and Oberlin but they didn't make her final cut.

Obviously, she has to decide if she wants smaller or mid-size.

What does Bates/Wesleyan offer to justify the $30k price difference? Would they offer more opportunities? Better connections? Something else?

My kid chose Denison over some of the schools you list and was (and is) highly successful.

There is no reason to pay full price at NESCACs over these other choices unless you place a very high premium on the New England location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Similar conversation in our house - Kenyon with $35k vs. Bowdoin. We can afford it, but $140,000 is a lot of money. Would a real town, in Maine, at excellent school (one of the top SLACs) be worth it? I think so . . . But on the fence.

Kenyon is also an excellent school. Bowdoin is an excellent college, but not $140K more excellent, unless you are rolling in money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Similar conversation in our house - Kenyon with $35k vs. Bowdoin. We can afford it, but $140,000 is a lot of money. Would a real town, in Maine, at excellent school (one of the top SLACs) be worth it? I think so . . . But on the fence.

There is no appreciable difference between those schools other than location. Why do you believe Bowdoin is a better school?

Bowdoin is objectively a better school. T-5 ranking vs. outside of T-30 is not the same.

Bowdoin is a more selective school. That doesn't make it a better school.

[Anonymous]

I agree with that. But not everyone does. Besides ranking, Bowdoin has an actual town, better food, and, I gather, is more outdoorsy and many would prefer Maine over Ohio. I wouldn’t pay $140k more for it, but some would.