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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thanks for your observations OP. I have a junior in HS. Hoping I can manage expectations. It seems incredibly tough out there.[/quote]

Managing expectations is key.  Don't get caught up in the status-chasing rat race.  Quality is illusory, and almost all colleges are doing a poor job at educating students for a life of enrichment -- a life liberated from the humdrum and the mundane.  But that's what a LAC education was intended to do:  liberate the individual from the dreary aspects of life, so as to appreciate the higher things -- and to consider things beyond the demands of our mere animal instincts.

So here's what I'd recommend.  Consult the USNWR ranking scheme for liberal arts colleges, and focus on those ranked between about 30 and 100 -- because they'll all fight over your kid, and discount their sticker price in order to land him.  He'll get an education that is qualitatively about the same as the supposedly elite LACs, at about half the cost (or at about the cost of tuition, room and board at your flagship state university).  And the college experience will be virtually the same as at the stuffy, elite colleges -- except your kid will be surrounded by students that come from more diverse backgrounds economically.  And there will be less anxiety.

Just be sure to visit all the schools your kid is interested in attending.  You'd be surprised how much you can get a feel for a place by visiting it and talking to professors and students.  Then, just to be sure, visit the finalists on your kids list again before making a decision.

And never apply anywhere ED.  That just telegraphs a willingness to pay more than you would otherwise have to pay.

In the end, you'll save a bunch of money.  And maybe your kid can get through college without assuming any debt.

The goal should be for your kid to get through college well-adjusted (and, if possible, unencumbered financially).  If you can help your kid do that, he will spend the rest of his life recalling his college years fondly.  And he'll appreciate your wisdom.[/quote]

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