Anonymous wrote:In general I think there will be a push to schools perceived as fun but with good educational rigor. The northeast schools will drop because they are perceived as grim grinds filled with backstabbing, unfriendly people. Political moderation will be appealing. I think this generation of kids, who suffered through covid, has little patience for schools where, fair or not, there is a perception of tolerance of drama queens and waste of education. This will also go with an increasing demand for good ROI.

Excessive drama, misery, and petulance is headed out, solid education, fun, and good ROI is in.

What schools are those, though? That is exactly what my DD. Wants and she is having trouble figuring that out. Right now she is at a party school in the south where kids care more about their hair style than their GPA. Any suggestions welcome.

I'm a contrarian, but I'm also often right re: trends, and I see a real pushback to the STEM factory method of education on the horizon. I think East Coast SLACs may actually do quite well, at least those who can afford to give merit aid, as more families seek a more intimate and insular college experience over giant flagships.

Also, with climate change, the rust belt will rise.

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Well, yes, a child visiting someone she knows will indeed have a different experience. But in general, these campuses have become dreary and dead.

I would submit that the reason kids visit students they know is to get a real look at the school, beyond the generic walk around the campus, what they heard from their next door neighbor's cousin's boyfriend, & the admissions office pitch. We've visited all the Ivy League schools in the last 1.5 years and UPenn is the only one that I would describe as "dreary and dead." I think it's funny a few people are trying to tear down the Ivy reputations. They are and will continue to be highly sought after. Yale recently had to institute a pre-screening process to address the increase in apps and I won't be surprised if other schools follow. I agree with a PP that B1G 10 schools are currently very popular - NU and MI have been popular for decades, but WI, MN, IN, Purdue, and OSU are also top choices.

Oh, the Ivies will still be highly sought after. But that doesn’t mean that the environment on campus isn’t grim.

There is a reason Yale has come under so much recent criticism for how it handles mental health issues and why so many students there have have mental health struggles. Elite? Yes. But decidedly grim, dreary, and unfriendly.

I think this is largely true. You have to recall that the New England Ivies were absolutely awful during COVID. Miserable places. No 18 year old wanted any part of that. Every day seems like a purity test up there.

For the standout schools, Duke, Vanderbilt, Rice, Northwestern, MIT, and Stanford will become the desirable schools - much more than Harvard and Yale and the other dour NE schools.

Public Honors programs will become ever more popular. There aren't a lot of families that can drop $400,000 per child on college. There's a number when it gets ridiculous, and we've reached that. A lot of talent is going to stay in-state. People seem to want a rah-rah go college experience. And they want good STEM. UIUC, Indiana, Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin - are all going to do fine. So will the SEC schools. They've been very smart with offering good merit.

Small LACs in unpleasant areas in Ohio or Pennsylvania or New England are going to have a hard time. The Ivies will always be desirable. But the quality of their students is going to continue to go down.

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Anonymous wrote:

Well, yes, a child visiting someone she knows will indeed have a different experience. But in general, these campuses have become dreary and dead.

I would submit that the reason kids visit students they know is to get a real look at the school, beyond the generic walk around the campus, what they heard from their next door neighbor's cousin's boyfriend, & the admissions office pitch. We've visited all the Ivy League schools in the last 1.5 years and UPenn is the only one that I would describe as "dreary and dead." I think it's funny a few people are trying to tear down the Ivy reputations. They are and will continue to be highly sought after. Yale recently had to institute a pre-screening process to address the increase in apps and I won't be surprised if other schools follow. I agree with a PP that B1G 10 schools are currently very popular - NU and MI have been popular for decades, but WI, MN, IN, Purdue, and OSU are also top choices.

Oh, the Ivies will still be highly sought after. But that doesn’t mean that the environment on campus isn’t grim.

There is a reason Yale has come under so much recent criticism for how it handles mental health issues and why so many students there have have mental health struggles. Elite? Yes. But decidedly grim, dreary, and unfriendly.

Yes, Hamas University and others will be just fine.

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Anonymous wrote:Any college in the depressing Rust Belt. There are too many better or equal options in growing regions with good weather and scenic surroundings.

You keep saying that yet Big 10 universities in the so-called Rust Belt are enjoying a surge in applications. Lots of kids don't want to go south for different reasons and can get the big school, big time sports, fun party experience in the Big 10.

+1 Many of these midwestern schools are on fire: Purdue, Chicago, U Mich, U Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, etc. The small LACs in tiny towns in the Midwest, ok, I agree that many are struggling. But that is true almost anywhere. More of the college-bound population is being raised in urban areas, and they don’t want to live in the sticks at college.

+1 The flagships and highly rated private schools (say, <= 50 on US News) are generally doing well. It's the regional privates and directional state Us (e.g., Eastern Illinois, Indiana University at Kokomo, Ferris State and what have you) that I'd be very leery of.

I totally disagree. More and more bright kids from MC and UMC homes are attending these schools because they give great merit scholarships. I’ve been surprised by the “seller” schools that have been turned down in favor of these lesser known schools.

Interesting. Where do you live? I'm in MoCo (kids in public, HS classes of '15, '19, '21, and '23) and I have seen a shift to state flagship/state flagship equivalents (both in-state and out-of-state), probably or possibly due to costs, but I'm hard pressed to think of any kids going to somewhere like IU Kokomo or University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh (i.e., out of state/out of region directionals). So they'll go to IU in Bloomington or Purdue, but not Purdue Northwest or IU Fort Wayne. U of South Carolina/Clemson? Yes. Increasingly very popular. USC Aiken or USC Upstate? Not so much.

I’m the pp, also in MoCo. We sent our son to one of the US News top regional schools (not because of that ranking at all; just so you get an idea of where to find them). A friend of mine from our top 30 alma mater sent her very bright daughter to Central Florida because she got a full scholarship.

I don't know. I see a lot of schools being dissed here. Reality is, outside of the UC and UMC bubble, most people go to school wherever they can afford to go without much debt. Yes, certain schools will have more applicants, but most of us are just keeping our heads above water.

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Anonymous wrote:- The top 20 national universities will be seen as peers. HPY will lose some prestige, while schools like Chicago, Duke, and Vanderbilt will become their peers.

- The best SLACs (not including the military academies) will grow in stature and size as more kids want a quality education - not just a name - and STEM requires more economic scale.

- The best state universities will also become more coveted, grow, and accept more OOS students. 50% OOS will become the norm for these schools.

Sadly, I disagree with this. More kids will want ROI rather than a quality education.

I agree that SLACs will build out infrastructure and grow in student population -- though not too much but that only makes them more selective. At Colby, the current president has probably doubled the square footage of facilities in recent years. Massive performing arts and athletic centers, four new dorms and more dorms coming.

Anonymous wrote:Everything in the Rust Belt is fading. Kids don’t want to be in a freezing cold dying region outside of perhaps Catholics at Notre Dame. You can’t pull the wool over their eyes, they pull up YouTube instagram and TikTok and see how cold grey and dreary those regions are most of the school year.

Interesting take-- my DC kid is having a blast at Wisconsin. Third year there. No regrets. Maybe you don't consider Madison "rust belt"? I don't consider South Bend, IN as "rust belt", but maybe it is?

Anonymous wrote:If either of my kids went into private equity, I would feel like I failed instilling any sense of morality into my kids. But yeah I’m sure the pay is great.

What's the difference in "morality" between working in private equity vs. a quant fund or tech firm?

Anonymous wrote:

Well, yes, a child visiting someone she knows will indeed have a different experience. But in general, these campuses have become dreary and dead.

I would submit that the reason kids visit students they know is to get a real look at the school, beyond the generic walk around the campus, what they heard from their next door neighbor's cousin's boyfriend, & the admissions office pitch. We've visited all the Ivy League schools in the last 1.5 years and UPenn is the only one that I would describe as "dreary and dead." I think it's funny a few people are trying to tear down the Ivy reputations. They are and will continue to be highly sought after. Yale recently had to institute a pre-screening process to address the increase in apps and I won't be surprised if other schools follow. I agree with a PP that B1G 10 schools are currently very popular - NU and MI have been popular for decades, but WI, MN, IN, Purdue, and OSU are also top choices.

Oh, the Ivies will still be highly sought after. But that doesn’t mean that the environment on campus isn’t grim.

There is a reason Yale has come under so much recent criticism for how it handles mental health issues and why so many students there have have mental health struggles. Elite? Yes. But decidedly grim, dreary, and unfriendly.

Funny. Penn was the only place my son truly hated. Thought half the buildings were ugly, and the kids looked depressed. He got in, but did not go.

Well, yes, a child visiting someone she knows will indeed have a different experience. But in general, these campuses have become dreary and dead.

I would submit that the reason kids visit students they know is to get a real look at the school, beyond the generic walk around the campus, what they heard from their next door neighbor's cousin's boyfriend, & the admissions office pitch. We've visited all the Ivy League schools in the last 1.5 years and UPenn is the only one that I would describe as "dreary and dead." I think it's funny a few people are trying to tear down the Ivy reputations. They are and will continue to be highly sought after. Yale recently had to institute a pre-screening process to address the increase in apps and I won't be surprised if other schools follow. I agree with a PP that B1G 10 schools are currently very popular - NU and MI have been popular for decades, but WI, MN, IN, Purdue, and OSU are also top choices.

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Anonymous wrote:Going to take contrarian view: with AI developments I think colleges that attract the future Steve Jobs’ - like a Reed or a St John's, Annapolis will become highly coveted.

Remember, no more coding jobs…the computers will code themselves but how technology and tech integrate into our lives - the way Jobs chose glass over plastic from his class on calligraphy at Reed - will be highly valuable skills: liberal arts for the win.

umm sure ... you should try using chatGPT to write some code sometime

Give it time…

Probably not so much for UT Austin as they are bound by law to take in-state residents.

Rutgers has lousy merit aid for both in-state and OOS. It is one of the worst in the northeast in this regard, behind UMass, UConn and Delaware.