Yes, you are probably right and thanks for bringing me back to planet earth reality. I guess I just want my son to feel good that he at least tried to appeal and a denial of more (or enough) aid might help him move on to more affordable choices. Many people tell him “you won’t know for sure unless you try an appeal letter” but on the other hand, it might make things harder if they throw a few thousand at us and we still have to back out. We have really good SUNY options at or under $20k and one private as low as $16k which is almost half of CWRU. So maybe it’s a no-brainer to just move on.
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Mine received no aid and $28k merit. It was a dream school but he has to decline.
FYI Wait-listed students get merit scholarships the same way ED/EA/RD students do
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What wild is CWRU is coming in as more expensive that other higher ranked programs… and its pretty uniform… and seems the have a higher relative price b/c of supply limitations at CWRU.
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I think all the schools… know what the others schools are offering… and there are huge algorithms in place… to set price points to control supply, demand, and maximize profit.
Almost like Progressive Insurance with the showing other rates… all they’re doing is forcing higher risk car drivers to the other auto insurers… off topic, but everyone knows what the other one is offering.
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Curious… what’s the major?
Going to CWRU Thursday for ONE DAY only. Any school visited has been one day.
We just finished GT and after 6-7 hours, we knew what was what!!! The first 90 minutes, all sales pitch, no disrespect, it was well run, all glitz and glamour about time to sign! They were honest, transparent, and fair. It was a very well run day. There was nothing staged. Etc. It was a bit of a TEDtalk atmosphere, so well put together. BUT, the tours, labs, libraries, students, just amazing. Random point, if GT wasn’t in a massive city, there’d almost be no drawback.
So, this gets me to saying one day is perfect.
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but forgeted the glitz - how does your student feel about the environment?
You don’t want to make a decision because of a sales pictch - because that sales pitch is gone for their four years.
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Psychology with possible minors or majors in Cognitive Science and Spanish. End goal is PhD in clinical psych so hoping to work towards a doctoral program that is partially or fully funded. Would like to work in the mental health field with Spanish-speaking populations. We weren’t even going to look at CWRU, thinking it’s more of a STEM focus but we were impressed with the social science programs and it would probably be helpful to be surrounded by all the medical facilities.
Ah… yeah, it was all shorthand typing while I took a break at work.
I’m not sure what decision he will make. The first 90 minute intro was “marketing” or “sales pitch”… genuine, authentic, but having students turn to their parents and saying thank you… I get it, great leader/director… no disrespect to him, but there was a hook there to shmooze everyone up. Slides showing starting GT salaries, etc.
After the 90 minutes… the tour, the labs, the students, the campus… had a great vibe at GT. Feels massive, but actually quite a bit fewer students then at PSU. As a parent, the 21:1 faculty student ratio is not great. GT will be hard, no doubt, but grind it out one can do well.
PSU Schreyer, definite tour vibe was the 300 kids admitted will be given “hands on” attention, they will get extra advisors, extra this, extra that… still have to do the work but no baloney, put your time in you’ll get a 3.8 to 4.0 GPA. You will learn. You will be pushed to succeed but not “weeded out” …
As a parent, I don’t think he can go wrong with either… GT will be harder… no doubt about it in my mind at least, and maybe in only one respect and that is at PSU honors college they will be there to ensure the kiddos succeed… the whole mission once into the PSU HC… once you’re in, if you work hard, you will succeed. At GT don’t get that same guarantee… good chance of success at GT… but not as much of a sure thing.
Anxious to see where he signs up for!!
And didn’t PSU wind yiu up with the We Are Penn State chant.
That’s how they started our day.
why is someone at PSU guaranteed a 3.9? You’ve said that a few times. I wouldn’t put much pressure on him that if he goes to PSU and doesn’t get a 3.9 in engineering that he’s doing something wrong? I would just let him go where he feels most comfortable and not worry about all these details, I think you are really overthinking all this…its not as life and death as you make it…all he needs to be is comfortable and happy and if he works hard and does his best he will succeed whether he has a 3.4 or 4.0…medical school and job recruiters want well rounded personalities not 4.0’s. Thats why many honors colleges don’t even look at class rank or SAT or ACT, but look at essays and interview and who you are…that is also what med schools and employers want…don’t overdo it, you’r gonna stress him out once he gets there if you set too many expectations and assumptions about how everything is going to go once he’s there…
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cUtE
Agree, we as parents need to learn to take a few steps back once they settle into any Univ this fall.
If you have watched the videos by Case Western professors on their site they even say 4.0 engineering gpa person might be smart but very hard to work with in the research lab. 
They recommend aiming for 3.4 gpa at case engineering.
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100% agree, sometimes it takes a third party, with a different lens, to help one reflect on unintended consequences, it can be easy to go down a rabbit hole and get lost in the weeds with all of this…don’t lose the forest for the trees…
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I know Case is pickier about taking college credits from high school, but assuming they take 18 out of my son’s potential for 30, do you think he could graduate in 3 years by taking 18 credits per semester? He would only have one major-Psychology. The 3 year goal he has is to save money and to get on the PhD path faster (clinical psych.) Just not sure this is realistic at a school like CWRU with such intense rigor. If he works, it would be minimal hours and he may want to be involved in some clubs or band ensembles but nothing that requires a huge time commitment. He currently must balance 20 hrs of gymnastics, academics, a part-time job, volunteer work and band-so he’s pretty good at time management and organization. Thanks for any experience with taking more than 15 credits or trying to graduate in 3 years from Case. I know many students who graduate in 4 years with 2-3 majors so I THINK 3 years is possible for a motivated student.
You need to find out what they will take credit wise (not guess) and no that the smartest of the smart get overwhelmed in college. My kid WD two classes and my daughter one (so far). Some classes (if impacting the major) should be taken again. Depends on the kid but my son was told this at a student panel and should have listened.
You should not count on 18 credits a semester. Kids are overwhelmed at 15. At 18, most will be miserable and emotionally strained beyond even the norms.
That’s a general comment - each kid is different - but that does not sound like something you should count on. If it’s going to impact future plans from a financial POV, I’d find something more affordable up front.
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Great points! I think we can make an appointment to have them review transcripts to tell us what will or will not be accepted (some will depend on his May AP scores.) We already know his other top choices (including a few SUNY’s) are pretty liberal about taking his credits and he could easily graduate in 3 years. He’s also more apt to get better grades at his other choices, which might be advantageous when applying to grad school, even if his other schools aren’t as “highly rated” as CWRU. He is a strong student but, as you point out, even the best students can stumble. He was accepted into honors at his other schools so I think he’ll still find the rigor he wants (he disagrees of course and really wants Case.)
Look at Harvard Law. You’ll see the SUNYs and Boise States.
If you are of quality you are of quality no matter where you go.
Many more go from higher pedigree schools of course but they were of higher quality to begin with. Hence they got in as undergrads.
But SUNY B or Buffalo or Albany etc aren’t the hinderance or help to grad school other than maybe at that school if you want to stay.
The kid - what they accomplish academically, test wise and non academically are what matters.
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I must say CWRU really showed the love throughout this process.
If you asked me a few weeks ago I’d say CWRU was out of reach financially and my son was poised to go with his 2nd choice U Albany or 3rd choice, Rollins, both much more affordable and schools he would be happy at. Case Western was $7k over budget. Case was definitely my son’s top choice so he decided to write an appeal letter to see if they could offer more merit or FA. It was heartfelt and sincere, but we were told they never say yes and often give a “polite no.” But he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. They responded saying they could not give more merit (since he had the max of $43,500) but they said they’d take another look at FA. To our surprise, they got back to him by the end of the day on 4/10 and offered an extra $5k in FA and $2500 in work study. Since our goal was $7k more, we were shocked that they actually came down in price to our budget goals! He is interested in being an RA so that could save us more money down the line. And they will stack outside scholarships to a certain limit which we don’t expect he’ll surpass anyway (he already won a $1000 scholarship with potential for a few more including Hispanic Scholarship Fund.)
He was invited to an exclusive yearly event-the diversity Unity banquet where they honor current minority students with scholarships for study abroad, etc. and have great guest speakers. So we decided to attend that the evening of 4/14 and signed up for the admitted student day before the banquet event. Let’s just say my son fell more in love with Case Western during the admitted student day and-wow-the banquet was a 5 star event! During the banquet my son was invited to their first ever diversity weekend (if he commits) with fun events which takes place 3 days before orientation and he would get to move into the dorm 3 days early-quite a nice perk! I know my son’s stats arent tippy top for Case (1450 SAT & 97% unweighted GPA) so I am quite sure he benefited from his National Hispanic Merit Scholar status and being a minority as CWRU clearly prioritizes increasing diversity and outreach to underrepresented groups-which is great! But I also don’t want to take anything away from my son working so hard and being a strong student overall, with some unique community service and social justice involvement that also helped him stand out. I’m just so proud he knew what he wanted and made this happen for himself! CWRU is definitely on the higher end of our budget range and his other choices are still a few thousand less but it IS within budget now and my son has our blessing to commit! He hasn’t made it official because he has a trip to Boston this week with band and wants to focus on that and put college stuff aside for a few days but, pending any unexpected twists, he will be heading to Cleveland for college! It’s only 3 hours from home so we are thrilled! Truly can’t believe it all somehow came together like this, but it seems to be a sign he is landing in the right place! Thanks to everyone who offered feedback and help for all my posts.
Also:
*We did learn that they will take 18-21 college credits (out of 36 total) so that was disappointing but not unexpected
**He applied for a non-music major scholarship for drums and didn’t get it but was invited to be a music major based on the audition video which is tempting since he wanted to continue with music in some capacity and he’d get free lessons from top-tier music faculty at CIM which is VERY cool…so he’s thinking about it
***He definitely plans to double major in Psychology and Cognitive Science because it only requires 3 extra classes for the 2 majors (several psych classes double count.) So he THINKS a triple major with music might work…but I’m thinking it might be crazy
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