Advice Please - College Choices

advantagious
Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:47:43 +0000

Well, if Georgetown plain doesn’t have what she wants to study, then that pretty much eliminates it. However, if she likes Georgetown, and if she could realistically (not killing herself) study what she wants to study (understanding that that is likely to change anyway), and since money is not an issue, it is tough for me to say “Turn down Georgetown, no big deal.” I don’t believe in being prestige-crazy, but at the same time, I think that there should be some decent reasons (money, fit, academic program availability) to turn down a school as excellent as Georgetown. Not that there’s anything wrong with LC, but (as far as I know) it is not really a peer institution to Georgetown, or a close cousin.

There is more to an undergrad experience then preparation for grad school. Your D should choose whichever school will provide her with the best undergrad experience, but understand the pros and cons of her choice. If that is LC, that’s fine, but she will obviously have to work hard and might not have the same advantage in grad school placement as a Georgetown grad. If that undergrad school is Georgetown, her degree will have a greater degree of prestige, but if she half-kills herself w/ academics and athletics and grades suffer, she might still not have a big advantage with grad school placement.

Just my two cents–again, I’m not saying to blindly pick Georgetown because it’s Georgetown. I’m just saying don’t totally devalue the opportunity for a Georgetown education.