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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why does it feel "bad" OP?

Big party school? large impersonal campus? Recent school shootings or sex scandals? High crime area? Very homogeneous student body?

Depends on the reason.[/quote]

OP here- It feels like a bad fit for a few reasons..it is a large state school when all the other schools DD looked at were small to mid-size liberal arts schools. DD is not a big party type and this school is known for great tailgating and a thriving greek life. It is an SEC school and we live right outside of Chicago. Traveling there will be less convenient than other schools she is considering.   We will not be paying for a sorority so she will not be pledging.  I don't think the networking will be as beneficial up here as it would if she were planning to live down south after graduation.  Also, we are Catholic and really would like to see her at a Catholic college. I believe the culture will be pretty different than what she is used to and I would rather her not be looking for a new school if it can be avoided.

I was just wondering what type of parameters other parents set (if any) when their DC was looking at schools. We have been fairly specific in pointing out how the other schools she is looking at might be a better fit.  She is revisiting her top three choices as an admitted student in the next few weeks so maybe she will come to that conclusion on her own. She is our oldest so this new to us.[/quote]

One virtue of those big state schools is that there are all kinds of people there, not just the more immediately visible greek/tailgating kids.  IMO, if she visits the top three and can clearly articulate why she wants the big state school experience, and it works financially, then let her go.

My kids are only in MS right now but they know their main constraint is cost.  We can afford to pay for a VA public c
ollege (in-state).  If they want to go elsewhere then they need to get merit aid to bring the cost in-line with in-state public cost, including transportation costs (DS's dream is to go to college in CA).  We are not allowing them to take on debt for undergrad.   Otherwise, I figure they are the best judge as to the college environment that appeals to them.[/quote]

This makes sense to me, PP.  She will be in the Honors College there which might have kids with similar interests/study habits.  The cost is actually cheaper than the other school that we would like her to attend so that is not an issue. We got on the FB pages of those schools admitted students and the posts from the southern school kids just looked/sounded very different from her and who she is friends with now.  Lots of posting with lots of pics and talk of rushing and tailgating.  Her two other choices FB pages had postings from kids who sounded like she would have a lot in common (no pics at the other schools so don't know what they look like). 
[/quote]

Yeah, I agree.  The thing about the big state schools is that they attract all sorts.  You can find your niche of people in a group as big as Ole Miss or Alabama or whatever.  And the honors program may help with that.  A friend teaches occasionally in the honors college at South Carolina, for example.  It is a straight awesome program.  FWIW, I think there is something to be said for getting outside your expected social comfort zone as an undergrad.  [/quote]

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