when your child likes a college that you don’t think much of

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a lot of speculation in the first post. You perceive it is less prestigious and you assume its students will not be a good peer group? How do you know?

This is a good question. There's not as much distance between elite colleges and their backups as people think.

[Anonymous]

I know you said it’s not Dickinson but I understand your concerns. We toured Dickinson with my high stats DS and I would not have wanted to send him there. In general we found that there was a drop off/big gap between the top 20-25 SLACs and below. (There may be individual schools below that that would’ve work). My kid only looked at SLACs and it was very hard to find safeties that would’ve been a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No ED unless both student and parents are 100% supportive.
Tell kid no ED, because you don’t want to limit any merit aid options. No student should expect their parents to pay $80,000\year for college. First lesson in real world decisions for them

+1 I would definitely support student choosing the school they like best. A top 50ish LAC is certainly going to have enough of an academically inclined peer group and there are benefits to being one of the stronger students.

IMO the only reason to ED is if it helps with admission and money is no object. Sounds like this school is a highly likely admit so they don't need the ED boost. Just be sure to demonstrate interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No ED unless both student and parents are 100% supportive.
Tell kid no ED, because you don’t want to limit any merit aid options. No student should expect their parents to pay $80,000\year for college. First lesson in real world decisions for them

+1 I would definitely support student choosing the school they like best. A top 50ish LAC is certainly going to have enough of an academically inclined peer group and there are benefits to being one of the stronger students.

IMO the only reason to ED is if it helps with admission and money is no object. Sounds like this school is a highly likely admit so they don't need the ED boost. Just be sure to demonstrate interest.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP and the school is not Duke! It is a small liberal arts college, ranked in the 40-50 range.

Let your kid go to Brandeis (that's the only SLAC in the 40-50 range). It's a great school and if they have your kid's major (Ie. your kid doesn't want to be an engineer), let them go. That is a school that is either a great fit for your kid or not. IMO, your kid needs to go where they are happy. It's not really up to the parent

I’m not the OP but another PP with a kid strongly considering Brandeis. Any insight?

[Anonymous]

Another thought - how much of the interest is because of this particular activity they enjoy? On the one hand that could be a good reason to pick the school but you might want to drill down on that a bit further to make sure the activity really is as good at the school as DC thinks, and whether there really is that much difference in the activity at other schools. If it’s a sport, eg, and DC got injured and couldn’t do it does DC still want this school?

I think it also matters what they think they want to do. Law school? No issue - do well and rock the LSAT. Investment banking? Well, OCR may not be so robust.

I lean to thinking your DC will be just fine at his choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP and the school is not Duke! It is a small liberal arts college, ranked in the 40-50 range.

So relieved! Cuz Duke would have made you certifiably insane!

For the SLAC....
do you mean ranked 40-50 among SLACs? Like DePauw?
or 40-50 among national universities? Like Tulane?

This is OP. This is a LAC ranked 40-50 among LACs, like a Dickinson. My DC’s stats place them well in the top 25th quartile for said college they like, it is a guess but probably in the top 5-10th percentage if that data was available. Doesn’t the fact you are asking, though, mean that you, too, make some value judgment about relative colleges?

Ok---so 25% at Dickinson is 1383 SAT score. That's still in the 91/91% of all students nationawide. Not like your kid is picking a school where the 25% is 1000. The difference between 90 and 98% is minimal.

I don't think most people fully appreciate how many students are in the top 10% of all students attending 4-year colleges and how many colleges can fill a class with those top students, especially considering that no school is only accepting top academic students to fill a class. The top 10% of academic students fill a very wide range of colleges. People seem to think that if they are in the top 10% of SATs/ACTs they should have a shot at the top 20 schools, and they do; however so do 1.4 million other students.

14.08 million students attend 4-year colleges. That means the top 10% of first years = 352,000 first years (note that all Ivies combined have only ~18,000 first years, or .005 of all first years attending 4-year colleges -- and none of them are taking only the top testing students of course). So when you are told that hundreds of colleges have a strong cohort of academic peers for your kid, it is true.

[Anonymous]

I think you definitely need to let your kid decide and we had almost the same experience. My DS chose a school almost solely for an activity that was really only available at the school he picked. My DH and I sort of wanted him to attend the higher ranked school without the activity for several reasons (including academic and prestige, to be honest). He chose the school he wanted, thinks he chose correctly and loves the activity.

Agree with all the PPs that this is their decision and prestige is not the reason to pick a school, even if you think it is.

And he is an adult that needs to decide for himself and own the decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP and the school is not Duke! It is a small liberal arts college, ranked in the 40-50 range.

So relieved! Cuz Duke would have made you certifiably insane!

For the SLAC....
do you mean ranked 40-50 among SLACs? Like DePauw?
or 40-50 among national universities? Like Tulane?

This is OP. This is a LAC ranked 40-50 among LACs, like a Dickinson. My DC’s stats place them well in the top 25th quartile for said college they like, it is a guess but probably in the top 5-10th percentage if that data was available. Doesn’t the fact you are asking, though, mean that you, too, make some value judgment about relative colleges?

Ok---so 25% at Dickinson is 1383 SAT score. That's still in the 91/91% of all students nationawide. Not like your kid is picking a school where the 25% is 1000. The difference between 90 and 98% is minimal.

Op again. DC has above a 1550, so the top quartile of 1383 is not even close. I realize the SAT scores are one small part of a student profile, this is just to give you a sense of my concerns.

Wrong. It is very close. The actual testing difference between the 1550 and 1380 is a few questions on one test on one day. Also, the BOTTOM of the top quartile is 1383. So at a very small school, over 3000 students reported SAT scores that were at or above the top 8% of test takers. Honestly, what are you fretting about? Do you really think the 4.5 kid with 1383 and the 4.5 kid with 1550 are significantly different in the classroom? Your kid will not be the smartest student there -- and so what if they are? Great opportunities will come their way.

[Anonymous]

NP with no issues about my kid going to Dickinson, but that’s not true - the difference between a 1500 and 1550 is a few questions, the difference between a 1380 and 1550 is not. Also most students at Dickinson did not get 1380s, just the “top” group.

[Anonymous]

I’m the PP whose kid is looking at some similar schools and one other thing I’ll note is that if your kid wants an SLAC or similar, character snd fit of the schools may mean you can’t go by rankings alone. My DS is looking at some in the 40-60 range. I would think he has a shot at higher ranked ones, at least in the teens and 20s but a lot of schools don’t interest him - too fratty/preppy, too SJW (he’s kind of looking for the sweet spot in the middle). Needs to be strong in the sciences and not just humanities, would prefer not too cold or too isolated or too far from home. Soooooo, put all that in the mix and it rules out a bunch of schools.

[Anonymous]

List actual schools and interested field.

[Anonymous]

The reality is that there are kids applying early to Princeton who will end up at, say, Brandeis. It’s not all that different a pool. There is something to be said for circumventing months of stress and waiting. The outcome might be no different.

I sympathize, kind of, as my kid’s favorite right now is a regional school, not well known, and I think he’d be a competitive candidate at much more “name” schools. But in the end it’s his decision. I went to HYP and it was not a great experience overall. It really is about what you do in college, not where you go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP and the school is not Duke! It is a small liberal arts college, ranked in the 40-50 range.

So relieved! Cuz Duke would have made you certifiably insane!

For the SLAC....
do you mean ranked 40-50 among SLACs? Like DePauw?
or 40-50 among national universities? Like Tulane?

This is OP. This is a LAC ranked 40-50 among LACs, like a Dickinson. My DC’s stats place them well in the top 25th quartile for said college they like, it is a guess but probably in the top 5-10th percentage if that data was available. Doesn’t the fact you are asking, though, mean that you, too, make some value judgment about relative colleges?

Ok---so 25% at Dickinson is 1383 SAT score. That's still in the 91/91% of all students nationawide. Not like your kid is picking a school where the 25% is 1000. The difference between 90 and 98% is minimal.

Op again. DC has above a 1550, so the top quartile of 1383 is not even close. I realize the SAT scores are one small part of a student profile, this is just to give you a sense of my concerns.

Wrong. It is very close. The actual testing difference between the 1550 and 1380 is a few questions on one test on one day. Also, the BOTTOM of the top quartile is 1383. So at a very small school, over 3000 students reported SAT scores that were at or above the top 8% of test takers. Honestly, what are you fretting about? Do you really think the 4.5 kid with 1383 and the 4.5 kid with 1550 are significantly different in the classroom? Your kid will not be the smartest student there -- and so what if they are? Great opportunities will come their way.

NOPE
1380 and 1550 is a big difference in admission and colleges probably think that. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OP and the school is not Duke! It is a small liberal arts college, ranked in the 40-50 range.

So relieved! Cuz Duke would have made you certifiably insane!

For the SLAC....
do you mean ranked 40-50 among SLACs? Like DePauw?
or 40-50 among national universities? Like Tulane?

This is OP. This is a LAC ranked 40-50 among LACs, like a Dickinson. My DC’s stats place them well in the top 25th quartile for said college they like, it is a guess but probably in the top 5-10th percentage if that data was available. Doesn’t the fact you are asking, though, mean that you, too, make some value judgment about relative colleges?

Ok---so 25% at Dickinson is 1383 SAT score. That's still in the 91/91% of all students nationawide. Not like your kid is picking a school where the 25% is 1000. The difference between 90 and 98% is minimal.

Op again. DC has above a 1550, so the top quartile of 1383 is not even close. I realize the SAT scores are one small part of a student profile, this is just to give you a sense of my concerns.

OP, FWIW my DC had a 1600 SAT, 4.0 UW GPA, 10 APs, and lots of ECs, and went to a LAC ranked in the 30s, where DC had lots of opportunities to shine including paid research, paid internships, a one-on-one class with a professor who specialized in a field of interest, and lots more. DC is now in grad school (fully funded PhD program) at an Ivy League school and doing great.

It's about your DC and his capabilities and where he'll do well. When I was at your stage of the process, I didn't fully believe that, but I certainly do now.