College advice for someone living in the Midwest!

[Anonymous]

Why is she unhappy about the options? Someone must be influencing her and telling her that her life will be ruined.

[Anonymous]

Can also chasing ROTC money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s some great advice already here, but it would be helpful to know just why your daughter isn’t happy with the instate options in Missouri. If we know what she doesn’t want, it’s easier to point you toward something she might.

OP here. She just wants to be back on the east coast (or west coast she says). It’s been a difficult few years for her here.

So the problem is her thinking she is better than her classmates. Where did that idea come from?

[Anonymous]

We lived in Missouri and Mizzou has an honors college that highly regarded. A few of my friends sent their brilliant, assertive daughters to the honors college and they are doing very well.

You should also look at SLU. WashU is nearly impossible to get into.

We're not wealthy, and I told my DS that unless he knocks it out of the park on an out of state option (in terms of quality and merit money), we won't consider it. Some of this jockeying for out of state schools is a silly waste of money. Who cares if you go to University of Missouri vs. University of Iowa or Indiana? Unless your choices are University of Missouri vs. Stanford, I wouldn't sweat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s some great advice already here, but it would be helpful to know just why your daughter isn’t happy with the instate options in Missouri. If we know what she doesn’t want, it’s easier to point you toward something she might.

OP here. She just wants to be back on the east coast (or west coast she says). It’s been a difficult few years for her here.

So the problem is her thinking she is better than her classmates. Where did that idea come from?

This is quite the leap in logic. Because she has a geographical preference, she therefore feels she is “better than her classmates”?

[Anonymous]

I think some are being unnecessarily harsh. OP’s DD doesn’t feel like she fits in as a Missourian and wants to go back to the familiar. It’s an understandable human impulse. OP, there are some LACs in PA that may give merit as well, Muhlenberg is one and you might look at Gettysburg and Ursinus, too. If she’s open to Catholic schools like St. Joe’s there are more options in PA that give merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved from Virginia to Missouri a few years ago, and now DD (current junior) is unhappy with her in state college options.
We cannot afford to pay out of state tuition. We have done some research and it looks like we will not qualify for financial assistance.
Is there a solution to this? Besides going into debt for DD? Every time we talk about college she ends up in tears.
Please help!
4.1 GPA and SAT 1350 but she’s planning to take it again.

OP, have you done any college tours yet? I think your DD needs to be realistic about resources. I know a lot of kids who could have gone to school anywhere, but family resources are a driving factor. Many ended up at honors/in state. I found that college tours helped a lot with DS- it's less about the location and more about the school/campus, college town, vibe.

The midwest has some great college towns that really do not reflect the remainder of the state. I went to University of Kansas and those were some of the happiest years of my life. I also went to grad school in an urban area on the coast and it was not as "happy" - expensive, impersonal, and the school wasn't in the safest area. I actually became depressed my first semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some are being unnecessarily harsh. OP’s DD doesn’t feel like she fits in as a Missourian and wants to go back to the familiar. It’s an understandable human impulse. OP, there are some LACs in PA that may give merit as well, Muhlenberg is one and you might look at Gettysburg and Ursinus, too. If she’s open to Catholic schools like St. Joe’s there are more options in PA that give merit.

It's because it initially came across as entitled-- "too good for Missouri" vs. trying to find the right fit. OP explained further in later statements and it made more sense. I mentioned previously that college visits make all the difference. College towns vs. "rest of the state" are often night and day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s some great advice already here, but it would be helpful to know just why your daughter isn’t happy with the instate options in Missouri. If we know what she doesn’t want, it’s easier to point you toward something she might.

OP here. She just wants to be back on the east coast (or west coast she says). It’s been a difficult few years for her here.

What size school? LACs vs large vs mid-size? LACs are not everyone's cup of tea. Large publics, look at ones that are not selective and offer merit OOS. Mid-size, is she open to Jesuit schools? There are several that may offer various levels of merit.

Get the SAT score up and find a school where the score is high for that school, above the school's 75th percentile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Tulsa for a few years, and the University of Tulsa drew in a lot of students from the Saint Louis. They have very strong merit, even for rich kids. (I know of a surgeon's kid who got a full-ride!). University of Arkansas and University of Oklahoma are strong choices, too. /// Indiana might be a good choice with Butler University (strong merit), so might be Purdue/Indiana. /// University of Kansas and Kansas State are strong options, too.

Agree with this. Add Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Texas Tech. I’ve visited all of these. Don’t know about merit aid at Indiana or Purdue, but def merit aid at all others. Check the small print, as sometimes the merit aid is given in addition to a waiver of the out-of-state tuition.

According to current scholarship charts showing what out-of-staters get, your kid would get $13,000 per year at Oklahoma State. At Texas Tech, you would pay the in-state rate for tuition AND get about $11,000 or $13,000 per year(depending in unweighted gpa).

All of the colleges mentioned here & in previous post are reachable in a half-day’s drive. Check them out & see how nice they are.

[Anonymous]

Find the schools that give generous merit aid to applicants with her stats.

The DCUM search function isn’t the easiest to use. I go to Google instead. Search:

DCUM “merit aid”
DCUM “merit money”

Also, if she’s seeking merit money, the two things that matter most are her GPA and her SAT score.

Getting her SAT score up 50-100 points may indeed be worth A LOT of money. If she wants out of Missouri, tell her to focus her time there. Methodically, a little every single day. She can self-study using free resources on-line.

[Anonymous]

Right now Tulsa is economically doing quite well, and there several NYU, Harvard, MITT, and Brown grads, as well as University of Oklahoma, University of Tulsa, University of Arkansas, and other strong college grads in the city. It's quite a great dynamic for young people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved from Virginia to Missouri a few years ago, and now DD (current junior) is unhappy with her in state college options.
We cannot afford to pay out of state tuition. We have done some research and it looks like we will not qualify for financial assistance.
Is there a solution to this? Besides going into debt for DD? Every time we talk about college she ends up in tears.
Please help!
4.1 GPA and SAT 1350 but she’s planning to take it again.

How much per year can you afford?
Because $25K is different than $40K. With those stats, there are many schools in the 60-120 range that could be only 35-45K with merit.
So don't rule out Private schools---many give merit to help with costs and if your kid is at/above the 75% they should get decent merit

What is desired major(s)/areas of possible interest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can't afford outside the Midwest, look at schools that have a lot of students from across the country and around the world like Macalester.

+1

Also, Minnesota is very different than Missouri, especially if you are in MSP or Rochester areas. Very different

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some are being unnecessarily harsh. OP’s DD doesn’t feel like she fits in as a Missourian and wants to go back to the familiar. It’s an understandable human impulse. OP, there are some LACs in PA that may give merit as well, Muhlenberg is one and you might look at Gettysburg and Ursinus, too. If she’s open to Catholic schools like St. Joe’s there are more options in PA that give merit.

Because the daughter clearly thinks she is better than everyone else in the Midwest. She spent year mocking flyover country. No slac is going to change her mind.

Karma is real.