The Best Choice?

SoCal18 · 07-18-2007, 06:46 AM

University of Miami
Loyola Marymount University
University of San Diego
Pepperdine University
San Diego State University
Indiana University Bloomington
Washington State University

Where would you want your kid to go, and why? Which school do you feel will offer the most?

Northstarmom · 07-18-2007, 07:01 AM

My selection would be based on what my kid was like and what he or she wanted out of their college experience. Depending on those factors, any of them could be ranked #1 by me.

MomOf3Stars · 07-18-2007, 07:18 AM

Speaking as a Mom right now, I would want my child to be close enough to come home a couple times a semester (if only overnight) and be able to use mass transit to do so. That said, I am hoping my D chooses a college within 4-5 hours away and with easy Amtrak accessibility.

Another factor in my decision would be (and I don't know how California is with this) is that the in state tuition rate at your state schools is so much cheaper than going outside of the state. Also, does your state offer a lot of FA on the state level as well. In NY if you go to an in state school you are eligible for state aid. Out of state out of luck.

Overall, I would want you to go where you think you would be happy and graduate with the least debt. That is more important to me than any ranking or prestige. Lots of very successful people have graduated from lesser known U's.

What do your parents say?

LilyMoon · 07-18-2007, 09:51 AM

Well, first off, my s goes to U of Miami, so that would be my choice.

Reasons I like it:
Diversity - students from all over the country and the world, you don't find this at State U's
Medium sized - not too big so student's feel like number and not too small so as to see the same people all the time and not get a chance to grow socially
private - while I don't know this is true for all state U's, from talking to friends who have kids at state U's, the private U's seem to want to please more and have more amentities. For example, the lobby's of the dorms at UM are fully staffed and friend's state school are not staffed at all. Another example would be orientation, most state schools have a very limited orientation for freshman and most privates pull out all the stops, same with parent weekend. At UM I always get a live person who answers my questions when I call, at state U's nope. You get the idea....more services, more personalized concern.
Good location - surrounded by the nice area of Coral Gables and close to malls, shopping, restaurants, hotels, beaches, movies, nightlife. I didn't want s in a rural area where there is nothing to do. I think that kids who are bored can get into trouble.
Beautiful campus - Nice to spend time in an upbeat atmosphere that is pleasing to be in.
Good academic standing - UM is rising in it's academic standing every year. Lots of bright kids with bright futures. Lots of scholarship kids and kids who take their studies seriously.
Good choice of majors - as s went in undecided I wanted him to have a large selection of majors.

We found out the hard way that there is good medical care. The Doctor's hospital is basically on the campus and has excellent medical facilities and care.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them.

JHS · 07-18-2007, 10:00 AM

I have to say, that's a list where it's almost impossible to guess what you are getting at, to infer what kind of person would be attracted to each of those schools.

Two urban SoCal Catholic schools.
One very suburban Church of Christ SoCal school.
One semi-urban SoCal public state college.
One urban private university clear on the other side of the country with something of a reputation for well-heeled partying.
One flagship midwestern huge state university in a famous college town.
One large second-rank state university in eastern Washington, the lentil capital of the nation.

Huh?

Three religious (but one very different from the others), three public, one expensive private.
Two LA area, two SD area, three thousands of miles away.
Three urban, two suburban, two middle-of-nowhere college towns.
Size ranging from 3,000 undergraduates to 30,000 undergraduates.

What is it, exactly, that you're looking for?

historymom · 07-18-2007, 11:56 AM

it's like^^ said, these are all very different schools. To narrow their choices I had my Ds go to princetonreview.com , fill out a profile and click on Counselor-O-Matic. It compared quantitative data about schools, religion, size region etc. with my Ds expressed preferences.

Is Diversity important to your D? Then, Pepperdine, Loyola, and USD are proobably not the best choices. However if you are Catholic and wanting your child to be able to live on a campus that nurtures her faith LM and USD are good choices. Counselor-O-Matic helps her refine/ really think about what she wants.

For us we wanted:

Somewhat selective
Small
West of the Mississippi
Catholic
Less than 9 hours from hom by car
Good FA

Not all of the schools that ended up on their current list fit all of these criteria but they all had many of these things.

Best of Luck!

SoCal18 · 07-18-2007, 03:20 PM

Okay well I'm a rising senior, and I'm just looking to get more information on these schools. I posted it in the parent's forum because your guy's answers are usually more thorough and informative. And since you parents, I asked where you would want your kids to go. But anyways, I was hoping the rest of you would follow LilyMoon's example and describe what you like/dislike about on the schools on my list.

And here is why all of those schools are on my list.

University of Miami is my #1. It is perfect. City life, beaches, warm weather, nice and compact campus, amazing social life, hurricane football and school spirit, tons of options, great business school, communication, and sport management. It is the perfect size. 10k.

Pepperdine, LMU, and USD are all extremely similar schools. The only difference is Pepperdine is more religious, but it definitely isn't overwhelming. I have visited Pepperdine and LMU and they are basically the same school. I just liked the community feeling at a smaller school, and the location, weather, beaches, campus, and business majors are all great, and these schools are all D1 and have pretty good sports. And while the administration may be strict, the students are way more lively than one would think. With great proximity to clubs, bars, beaches, mexico, and a pretty strong frat scene....these schools are full of social opportunities as well. But I would give the edge to LMU for being the most laid-back.

SDSU is my instate option. It has a good business major, and it is just a fun school in a major city, with a nice campus, weather, beaches, and social life. And the school is D1 and has great basketball.

^^^Are you starting to notice why I like all of these schools.

And then there is IU and WSU...most people don't get why I like these schools either. The reason is..why I would like to go to a school with a nice, clean, compact campus, with warm weather, near a major city, close to beaches, good city life and social life.......I also think going to a college town would be a great experience, and I don't think there is a better school than IU for that. And I just added WSU on there because I know I would get a nice scholarship and the school would be less than an instate school.

Thanks...and if you have anymore questions about my schools feel free to ask, but I'm just hoping you will do as LilyMoon did, and pick a school and explain why you like it. Thanks.......

Northstarmom · 07-18-2007, 06:33 PM

Is money a consideration for your parents?

Since money is a consideration for my family, if you were my kid, my #1 choice would be SDSU because it's an excellent school and also is in-state. California residents are fortunate to have some of the best and most affordable public universities in the country, and I wouldn't see any reason to go out of state or to a private university with such good instate public options.

Tied for first choice would be WSU because it would allow you to have an affordable out of state college experience.

dragonmom · 07-18-2007, 10:55 PM

I'll go to bat for WSU since it's usually overlooked on this forum:
Atmospere: it's a big campus in a small town. Most students are happy to be there and love the school. Breeds the most loyal alumni on the west coast. Four seasons - wonderful golden fall, cold snowy winter, beautiful spring, short hot summer. Depending on your major the departments vary from good to excellent, and although there is emphasis on grad studies/research the school is committed to undergraduate education. (Will you have a science TA whose English could be better, yes. Will it be as many as at UW or a UC? no)

wis75 · 07-18-2007, 11:30 PM

Most of the qualities LilyMoon found at U of Miami can be found at some public U's- UW- Madison, for example, no need to argue which ones; the point is that both public and private can give you many of the same things, and depending on which feature you pick you can say one or the other is better. You need to prioritize your wish list and look for a best fit of the highest priority items. If you want the midwest I would take UW over IU any day, for many reasons...

A2Wolves6 · 07-19-2007, 02:16 AM

The problem with that is that the typical UW admit would be getting a 6-7K/year scholarship at IU. Over 4 years that's a savings of 24-28K if you are OOS at both schools. And for what, a school with a slightly better reputation than IU? Not to mention the fact that IU ranks similar if not better than UW in many subjects. For Business, Journalism and Music, IU outranks Wisconsin. The schools are the same, both in college towns, both party schools. There isn't a reason for an OOS student to pay that much more for UW. Perhaps that's why IU has 37% of their students paying OOS tuition, whereas UW only has 25% students paying OOS tuition. The cost isn't worth it. In addition, the OP is looking for a major that UW doesn't even offer (Sport Management).

BTW - I agree with Northstarmom. I think that for financial reasons, SDSU and WSU should be the top 2 choices here. The difference in cost between those 2 schools and the rest of the schools is extremely significant, and it's not worth going into tens of thousands of debt when you have affordable options that you like.

bookworm · 07-19-2007, 07:53 AM

U Miami is generous with merit scholarships, so SoCal can still include this school. He's been posting for some time, and has seemed to narrow his list to 7 schools.

my-3-sons · 07-19-2007, 09:13 AM

SoCal-Keep in mind that you don't don't have to have an order or top choice at this point. You have done your research and seem happy with your list of schools, this is great. Relax and focus on submitting the best applications you can. After acceptances and FA packages (if applicable)are in, evaluate the options and a clearer picture may emerge. Decision day is a long way off and you will continue to mature over the next year. Don't rush the process, you are in great shape.

A2Wolves6 · 07-19-2007, 01:43 PM

U Miami isn't going to give a merit scholarship to the OP. The smallest scholarship they have requires a 1280 SAT, the OP had a 1100 on their first try. I know posters here who were from CA like the OP, got into UCLA (an affirmation of their statistics), qualified for higher scholarships other than just the lowest one, and didn't get them.

SoCal18 · 07-19-2007, 03:00 PM

Yah there is no way I would ever get a scholarship to UMiami. But I'm not going to eliminate any private schools because of cost. My FA package will determine if they are worth the extra money over SDSU.

Even though I feel I have narrowed my list down, I'm just not 100% sure. I want to find the best 6-8 schools to make my list and I think I have, but I just wanted to hear more about the schools, so I could put all of my worries to rest.