Anyone’s kid still undecided??

[Anonymous]

Mine was down to two. Went to admitted day and left seeing himself at that school but went to the 2nd school today and had decided to go with that one. East coast vs West. West coast won.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s so hard because while we followed the advice of not letting our DD “fall for”/apply to a school we couldn’t afford, it is so hard to predict merit d as if amounts do this crappy situation can happen anyway.

It’s hard to balance encouraging them to “go for it” and reach for their dreams vs. telling them to actually only apply to fairly easy to get into schools so the price is acceptable.

Yes, very hard to balance - we focused our DC on "go for it" schools that were known to give merit, even though they weren't necessarily his dream schools. His dream schools were the likes of Vandy and Cornell (rejected by both), followed by lesser ranked schools that he was accepted to but no merit. Ultimately, I think a lot of this is his ego b/c he wants to tell friends he's going to X school. I've told him what he does at school is much more important than where he goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still deciding. They are upset because their top two schools did not give any merit, so we said they need to decide between the other schools. They have other options that we feel are good but a little less selective. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? We have two younger children and just can’t justify an extra $100k for these schools. We feel like we would have to spend the same amount on their siblings.

Yes - we are turning down Ivy for an out of state public school. Not as prestigious as Ivy, but public has smaller class size and better career placement opportunities. Also public less $$$. Total of $145K for public vs $332K for Ivy. It was a no brainer

Public with smaller class size than an Ivy and better placement? And 35k a year oos? Are you for real?

[Anonymous]

DD also can't commit. We have 2 visits left, but honestly she did not get into any of her top 3 choices so I think a lot of this indecision is really just feeling sad about those 3 schools.
I believe she will pick based on prestige and I'm really nervous about that. I do not think that is the best fit. But it is her choice in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD also can't commit. We have 2 visits left, but honestly she did not get into any of her top 3 choices so I think a lot of this indecision is really just feeling sad about those 3 schools.
I believe she will pick based on prestige and I'm really nervous about that. I do not think that is the best fit. But it is her choice in the end.

Similar here too - we've told DC to forget the rankings and prestige and pick where she thinks she can be successful, and maybe have a little fun too. It is college, after all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still deciding. They are upset because their top two schools did not give any merit, so we said they need to decide between the other schools. They have other options that we feel are good but a little less selective. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? We have two younger children and just can’t justify an extra $100k for these schools. We feel like we would have to spend the same amount on their siblings.

Yes - we are turning down Ivy for an out of state public school. Not as prestigious as Ivy, but public has smaller class size and better career placement opportunities. Also public less $$$. Total of $145K for public vs $332K for Ivy. It was a no brainer

Wow! which public is this (or at least which part of the country)? Does the $145K total include some merit?

It is a public school in a state where it is easy to go in-state after the first year.

Yeah, right, where it is easy to game the system state. No wonder you don’t want to name the school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still deciding. They are upset because their top two schools did not give any merit, so we said they need to decide between the other schools. They have other options that we feel are good but a little less selective. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? We have two younger children and just can’t justify an extra $100k for these schools. We feel like we would have to spend the same amount on their siblings.

Yes - we are turning down Ivy for an out of state public school. Not as prestigious as Ivy, but public has smaller class size and better career placement opportunities. Also public less $$$. Total of $145K for public vs $332K for Ivy. It was a no brainer

Wow! which public is this (or at least which part of the country)? Does the $145K total include some merit?

It is a public school in a state where it is easy to go in-state after the first year.

Yeah, right, where it is easy to game the system state. No wonder you don’t want to name the school

And… if you were never going to send your DC to IVY, which it’s obvious that you were not, why apply in the first place? For bragging rights? You took someone’s seat !!!

[Anonymous]

How to decide between two schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still deciding. They are upset because their top two schools did not give any merit, so we said they need to decide between the other schools. They have other options that we feel are good but a little less selective. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? We have two younger children and just can’t justify an extra $100k for these schools. We feel like we would have to spend the same amount on their siblings.

Yes - we are turning down Ivy for an out of state public school. Not as prestigious as Ivy, but public has smaller class size and better career placement opportunities. Also public less $$$. Total of $145K for public vs $332K for Ivy. It was a no brainer

Public with smaller class size than an Ivy and better placement? And 35k a year oos? Are you for real?

Ivies are not great at every subject, you know. There are many schools ranked above them for many specific areas. Sometimes a kid knows exactly what he wants to do and can tell when a school won't help him get there.

[Anonymous]

Visiting on Friday. Will decide after that.

[Anonymous]

DD got accepted to a "second-tier" IVY, ie. not HYP, and she's turning it down for a much, much cheaper in-state option. Sorry, but we can't justify the expense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still deciding. They are upset because their top two schools did not give any merit, so we said they need to decide between the other schools. They have other options that we feel are good but a little less selective. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? We have two younger children and just can’t justify an extra $100k for these schools. We feel like we would have to spend the same amount on their siblings.

My two older kids got into highly selective colleges, but had to turn them down because of cost. It was heartbreaking, but the FA was not there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still deciding. They are upset because their top two schools did not give any merit, so we said they need to decide between the other schools. They have other options that we feel are good but a little less selective. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? We have two younger children and just can’t justify an extra $100k for these schools. We feel like we would have to spend the same amount on their siblings.

Yes - we are turning down Ivy for an out of state public school. Not as prestigious as Ivy, but public has smaller class size and better career placement opportunities. Also public less $$$. Total of $145K for public vs $332K for Ivy. It was a no brainer

Public with smaller class size than an Ivy and better placement? And 35k a year oos? Are you for real?

Ivies are not great at every subject, you know. There are many schools ranked above them for many specific areas. Sometimes a kid knows exactly what he wants to do and can tell when a school won't help him get there.

Public universities are not known for small classes you know or better placement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We finally decided yesterday, after an admitted student visit on Saturday. The admitted student was at his ED school where he initially was deferred and then later accepted.

DS was pretty sure where he was headed going into the student visit, but wanted to do his due diligence. The visit confirmed his decision and he pulled the trigger yesterday. DS also waited listed at two schools that could change his decision.

All I have to say is the ED school should have accepted him early. The deferral gave him space and time to find an even better fit in the end.

It sounds like it worked out great for your son. The deferral gave him the time and space he needed to make his decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We finally decided yesterday, after an admitted student visit on Saturday. The admitted student was at his ED school where he initially was deferred and then later accepted.

DS was pretty sure where he was headed going into the student visit, but wanted to do his due diligence. The visit confirmed his decision and he pulled the trigger yesterday. DS also waited listed at two schools that could change his decision.

All I have to say is the ED school should have accepted him early. The deferral gave him space and time to find an even better fit in the end.

It sounds like it worked out great for your son. The deferral gave him the time and space he needed to make his decision.

This was the same scenario for my DS who just committed to his original ED school. Although the original ED school gave him a full tuition merit scholarship, he had a hard choice to make since he was not rejected by any schools he applied to. He ended up with some great options and on a waitlist for a dream school (which he accepted). The deferred acceptance gave him the time and the space to weigh pros and cons and the acceptances built up his confidence. He is motivated to work hard in undergrad and aim for his high reaches for grad/law school.