Target lower tier schools for merit aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a very top student I would send them to the top college if they get in. It increases your families social capital pretty much forever. Our dad went to a top school and grad school and excelled and if neant great jobs for him as well as friendly intelligent colleagues and their families for us to socialize with. It meant that our parents could also afford good schooling options for us kids as well.

When dad died young and all of those things largely dried up our lives changed drastically and it was not good. We ended up going to state schools, including the Maryland ‘flagship’ and maybe it’s changed, but we encountered indifferent and sometimes outwardly hostile professors, many classmates who didn’t care much for school, a job track to a place where I faced discrimination and sexism in my field (another woman from a top school did not face similar discrimination) professors from top universities who just assumed that we were dumb and inferior compared to students at their schools and who weren’t shy about saying so. I still enjoyed my education, but my child now has the chance to take her brains and study skills elsewhere for a better education and future and we figure that that is what money is for, much like my grandparents invested their precious resources in my father.

I think that the people who discourage spending money on a child’s education don’t have children with that option and they want to discourage you from taking that opportunity to equalize things for their can children.

+ 1. This is the attitude that most Asians have. Sure they start earlier than others in terms of educating their kids but the end goal is the same (of course everyone else calls it prepping but that's another thread). I remember my father borrowing money from his retirement savings to pay for private school for us (there were no good public schools where i come from). My parents would sit late at night and discuss how to make ends meet. The objective of every generation should be (1) to take care of the previous one (2) ensure that the next generation is better intellectually, financially and influentially better than their own.

Non-Asians often wont do the sacrifices Asians will do for education. First our Parents would be our slaves in retirement and move in with us to watch out kids so both the husband and wife and work, provide free child care and blindly hand us their social security checks each month. Plus we don't kill our unborn children. Many Asians will have only 1-2 kids so to focus on their education and have money for top schools. I am a first generation non-Asian and my parents had four kids, no family in country to watch kids and did not pay for our colleges. They had limited funds and their own retirement to worry about. Sure Mom and Dad could have dragged Grandma to the USA, made her watch kids while both parents worked than my parents could have got rid of my brother and sister and myself and send the first born to Harvard. But honestly I am glad they did not do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a very top student I would send them to the top college if they get in. It increases your families social capital pretty much forever. Our dad went to a top school and grad school and excelled and if neant great jobs for him as well as friendly intelligent colleagues and their families for us to socialize with. It meant that our parents could also afford good schooling options for us kids as well.

When dad died young and all of those things largely dried up our lives changed drastically and it was not good. We ended up going to state schools, including the Maryland ‘flagship’ and maybe it’s changed, but we encountered indifferent and sometimes outwardly hostile professors, many classmates who didn’t care much for school, a job track to a place where I faced discrimination and sexism in my field (another woman from a top school did not face similar discrimination) professors from top universities who just assumed that we were dumb and inferior compared to students at their schools and who weren’t shy about saying so. I still enjoyed my education, but my child now has the chance to take her brains and study skills elsewhere for a better education and future and we figure that that is what money is for, much like my grandparents invested their precious resources in my father.

I think that the people who discourage spending money on a child’s education don’t have children with that option and they want to discourage you from taking that opportunity to equalize things for their can children.

+ 1. This is the attitude that most Asians have. Sure they start earlier than others in terms of educating their kids but the end goal is the same (of course everyone else calls it prepping but that's another thread). I remember my father borrowing money from his retirement savings to pay for private school for us (there were no good public schools where i come from). My parents would sit late at night and discuss how to make ends meet. The objective of every generation should be (1) to take care of the previous one (2) ensure that the next generation is better intellectually, financially and influentially better than their own.

Non-Asians often wont do the sacrifices Asians will do for education. First our Parents would be our slaves in retirement and move in with us to watch out kids so both the husband and wife and work, provide free child care and blindly hand us their social security checks each month. Plus we don't kill our unborn children. Many Asians will have only 1-2 kids so to focus on their education and have money for top schools. I am a first generation non-Asian and my parents had four kids, no family in country to watch kids and did not pay for our colleges. They had limited funds and their own retirement to worry about. Sure Mom and Dad could have dragged Grandma to the USA, made her watch kids while both parents worked than my parents could have got rid of my brother and sister and myself and send the first born to Harvard. But honestly I am glad they did not do that.

Not everyone with less than four children killed "unborn" children. In general, Only the very poor, rich or people of "radical" religious tendencies have 4 kids. Most everyone else has 2 or less. Average children per family in the US is less than 2 (1.87). Similar number for most western and developed countries.

Poor, illiterate, radical parts of the world have high number of children per family. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2127.html

Wonder where you are from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she is not opposed to all female schools then I would suggest Mt Holyoke. They offered my DD a generous merit award. They are part of a consortium which gives you more flexibility in taking classes at Amherst, UMass, and a few others.

Thanks - we have just started researching the women’s colleges. Can you tell me what sold her on MH versus her other choices?

Sorry...my response implied that she attended but she actually chose a school in the UK which had an accelerated program for Veterninary Med. She did however, get good merit at Mt Holyoke and we took a second look at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NMF/NMS status won’t get you merit money at those schools unless you go to Alabama, Oklahoma, Kentucky or Kansas and such.

The University of Kansas is a good university in general.