Landed at Safety - Happy or Transfer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid chose her lowest ranked school (Juniata) and it turned out to be a great decision. She gained confidence (which had taken a hit at a competitive/snarky W high school), stood out in the eyes of Juniata’s very attentive faculty. That helped her get highly ranked National internships (think one kid selected per state), resulting in additional scholarships as she advanced through college and admission to multiple funded grad programs.

This is exactly what I did many years ago … turned down Ivys, selective SLAC and Cal for a lower ranked SLAC where I got alll the stuff.

[Anonymous]

My first two are now 27 and 29. 3rd one is now Junior.

Kid 1: Dartmouth undergrad. Didn’t do well in school and graduated in bottom 50%. Worked for 3 yrs before MBA and did not get in to any top 10 MBA program despite great GMAT scores. Ended up going to Europe for a Masters.

Kid 2: t100 State University. Graduated top 5% of his class. Worked 2 years and was accepted at 3 top 10 MBAs (including Harvard) with the exact same GMAT score….

So much for the “prestige” of your undergrad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the student goes in with the mindset that they deserve to be somewhere else, they will be unhappy. If they spend the summer getting excited about where they'll be and decide to take advantage of being a big fish there, they will be much happier. Bloom where you're planted.

I'm watching this happen now. He thinks he's too good for the only school that accepted him and is applying out. We'll see what happens with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One kid I know ended up at VCU. Was dying to leave because HS Classmates judged and cut the kid totally off after graduation because of college choice. It was really hard for them, lost basically all friends. Now at a selective school, hopefully doing better.

If that is true, good riddance to those people. They sound awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid chose her lowest ranked school (Juniata) and it turned out to be a great decision. She gained confidence (which had taken a hit at a competitive/snarky W high school), stood out in the eyes of Juniata’s very attentive faculty. That helped her get highly ranked National internships (think one kid selected per state), resulting in additional scholarships as she advanced through college and admission to multiple funded grad programs.

I've heard a lot of really good things about Juniata. I would be delighted if my son chose it.