It doesn’t. It’s possible to get to Logan Airport by commuter rail + bus, but traffic + transfer probably means up to 2.5hours. And you probably also need to pick off peak hours to avoid gridlock. The other option for college students is to share an Uber to keep the time under 1.5 Hou’s. Given all of this, it probably makes more sense to just fly out of Worcester and deal with the transfer from a connecting flight.
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@HCPP20 how do kids from Holy Cross College (also located in Worcester) get to Logan Airport? Or do they choose to fly out of different airports?
RE colleges in this vicinity…University of Hartford, and Trinity (Hartford) might be worth a look see.
But really, I think your original list looks pretty good.
@anniebananiee Did your son check out University of New Mexico yet?
From Union Station kids take the MBTA train to South Station and then to whatever bus or rail connection they need. You can get to Logan from there on a T line nearby. There’s direct bus service to Boston as well
From Holy Cross most take advantage of a van service (Knights Limousine Service) to Boston Logan International. They schedule multiple vans around vacation and holidays and that seems to be quite popular. Schedule thru the company. I would imagine WPI and Clark have similar arrangement with Knights Limo.
There is the Worcester Regional Airport about 15 minute Uber ride away that has direct flights to NY LaGuardia, Philly, Orlando among other cities.
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It’s the commuter train, I misspoke. But I did it last year in an hour. It was easy.
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FWIW the commuter rail IS part of the MBTA system…so you can very much argue it is still the T (I have indeed heard locals call it part of the T (sort of) and is not infrequently jokingly called the purple line)
So after a college fair and some discussion and soul searching, we have a new updated college list that is pretty close to final:
Extremely Likely: Cal State LA, UC Riverside
Likely: Cal Poly Pomona, CU Boulder, WPI, Oregon State
Target: Santa Clara, Minnesota, UC Santa Cruz
Reach: Purdue, UC San Diego, Cal Poly SLO, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, Lehigh
Highly Selective: UC Berkeley
Please let me know your thoughts on how I’ve categorized these schools for him.
He removed a lot of the schools that are further away, with a few exceptions for those that he is more interested in. He realized that he really wants a more mountain/forest/outdoorsy type location, so he added in CU Boulder and OSU. He also removed SJSU in favor of Cal State LA, on the reasoning that if he is going to a commuter type school, he might as well pick one that he can actually commute to.
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I think it’s fine but I do think there is some rejection in - the reach and down except maybe Lehigh. If he’s ok with rejection. Some get very frustrated by it.
I think WPI is extremely likely as is Oregon State and CU as well (although he might get exploratory vs. engineering, but it’s not a hard hurdle to move over).
Guessing 2/3 on targets but 3/3 possible.
So I’d say you are in good shape - but you do have a large size variety - which is ok - but he doesn’t have a preference?
Good luck - but I’m sure he’ll be fine..
Has he considered UBC? (Vancouver BC, Canada)
I cannot believe the amazing pictures my daughter is sending me every day of the forest / ocean / mountains.
It’s a great school too, she is loving it so far.
Of course maybe he doesn’t want to go so far away.
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Missed this. Many on your list seem off for this - like he’d be disappointed. How about Schoop of Mines, SD School of Mines, Montana State, Reno etc. What’s the point of attending a school that won’t have the environment he wants, that seems many?
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Although it is larger than a place like WPI, Virginia Tech has a reputation for much more of a collaborative environment than most engineering schools. Like WPI, its approach is experiential, hand-on learning. Tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains region of southwestern Virginia, it is surrounded by rolling hills and dense forests with access to the Appalachian Trail and New River for whitewater rafting, kayaking, fishing, and rock climbing.
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We attended Santa Clara’s open house this weekend. S27 is pretty sold on it, and frankly so am I. I’m just hoping he doesn’t get a rejection, but am feeling cautiously optimistic. His 3.71 GPA is within the middle 50th percentile for engineering (at the lower end, but just within it), and he actually improved his SAT score to 1480 during his last retake.
Anyone have any thoughts on his chances? Or do I need to encourage him to fall in love with some of his Likely/Extremely Likely schools as well?
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Is he applying to Santa Clara ED? EA? Will you pay a considerably greater cost as compared to UCs/CSUs?
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I would expect an offer of admission. Looks like S27 found his school where he wants to spend the next four years pursuing his undergraduate education. But remember, the financial aid offer will also matter - coming next April.
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He is applying EA. We would have to carefully consider it, my hope is that he gets enough merit to get it down to a similar cost as to the UCs. (The NPC did show some approximate/possible merit aid when I included his stats).
My husband is pretty determined to make it work (and since we own our own business it’s not just a matter of budgeting a known income).
Does anyone have any experience with negotiating for more merit aid? e.g. X school offered us this much, would they be willing to match?
Private colleges and smaller universities are usually much more flexible with merit adjustments to meet enrollment goals than public state schools. Santa Clara’s overall admit rate is around 50% & their yield rate has been under 20% (4 out of 5 that get admitted opt not to enroll). Did S27 apply for the honors program?
You always encourage someone to “love” a school they’re certainly going to get into and that you can afford. If you don’t think Santa Clara is certain, then it can be one of several favorites.
I personally have pause with the school based on data they published. The web pages are deleted but I snapped data from the school in 2024 and wrote this below the link. I’d ask why? I don’t even know the questions they ask - just what they labeled. I put the requisite page at the bottom. You can see when you click on it, the link is dead. Honestly, they asked an interesting question and there is nothing to compare it to because I don’t know of any schools that ask the question. Perhaps, they didn’t like the result so they don’t post the question anymore? I don’t know but I’d ask (that’s me).
I’m not saying not to attend, etc. but I would dig deeper on career outcomes to ensure they are placing to the level you expect given such a large likely cost.
You’ll see the dead links after you open this and click on a department.
As for negotiating for more aid - first, of course, you have to get in. Different schools have different policies. Some may offer for a stud but not for someone they consider on the cusp. Some might offer to someone who - can assuredly pay the bills. But to get to a UC, you are asking for - in essence half. The big thing is to ask - but you need offers to compare it to, etc. And of course, with his stats, you can go out of state - for lows 20s and up - so even cheaper than UCs. But if he likes SCU, might he like other Jesuits - a U Portland is supposedly very aggressive, as an example. Gonzaga may be as well. And like any negotiation, you need to sell - why would your student be additive to the school community, so much so that they should work hard financially to get them there. What two or three bullet points can you make selling him? And then, of course, offering to commit on the spot if they hit a certain #. I suspect most don’t negotiate, but you never know. The other thing some schools are doing, not saying SCU, is coming up with more money to those who don’t commit. So maybe you plan to commit April 29th and they’re worried, the class isn’t filling up and on April 15th, they offer you $5K more. It happens at some schools - not saying SCU. The downside may be, depending on housing policies, that you’re later in line, etc. for certain things.
Good luck.
Social Justice - Santa Clara University
If you look at the career outcomes I posted above and I’m not sure how they determine this - they have a metric called good to excellent prep for a career and life.
For business, both are 83%.
For engineering, it’s 73% and 50%. So engineers aren’t feeling prepared for life, etc.
I’d reach out to career services for more data. Job types, companies, locations.
That’s how you determine - you want the entire picture vs one off anecdotes.
Their report is very high level, incomplete so demand more info. It’s their job to sell you on attending.
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Generally, of the schools that will entertain appeals, they will only ‘match’ offers from peer schools. Private schools would never consider a public school a peer. I don’t know which schools Santa Clara considers peers, but if he gets in one can ask.
Owning your own business can result in highly variable financial aid offers across CSS schools. For example, many schools will add back tax deductions that people take for their business…including depreciation/amortization, home office deduction, self retirement plan contributions, auto expense, etc.
Santa Clara’s NPC does not ask about that info in detail, so I would treat the NPC results as suspect. If accepted EA, the financial aid package should be available a couple weeks after the admission decisions are out in late Dec. Make sure to make their FAFSA and CSS Profile EA deadline of Nov 15.
Is this a business that has to be reported as an asset on FAFSA? Note that you always have to report business income on FAFSA: Federal Student Aid
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To add to MWfan’s fine point- a little semantics and a little mind shift will help you.
NOBODY wants to engage in a “negotiation” over money, whether need based or merit. So I’d suggest thinking of a possible dialogue down the road where you ask- respectfully- for them to reconsider their aid package in light of:
1- new information about your finances, assets, investment losses, hurricane blew down your garage and the insurance company won’t cover wind damage.
2- new information about your kid- new awards, higher GPA second semester, he’s been nominated to the Governor’s council on STEM education in elementary schools, etc.
3-New information about your kid’s choices- Santa Clara is his first choice by far, but Holy Cross and BC have both awarded him the “Provost’s scholarship” which guarantees full tuition (or whatever it guarantees) as long as he maintains a 3.2 GPA.
So in light of the new information- you’d like to discuss revisiting the generous award they’ve already given him…
The people I know IRL who have increased their aid have done so with humility, with facts (a chart showing your investment losses in the 529 which was supposed to cover four years of tuition) and without going NEAR the word “negotiation”.
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It’s less than 100 employees, so I don’t report it on the FAFSA. I did include it under the CSS Profile though.
The NPC estimated around 19k in “Institutional grant” under estimated grant/gift aid. I know it’s just an estimate and definitely not guaranteed in any way.
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Thanks for the links, will definitely dig deeper into it.
His other favorite is SLO, but it’s a reach based on his stats. He’s the type that likes to visit a school in person in order to form an opinion, but an out of state college visit is not in the cards currently, unless he receives an acceptance and we go to check it out.
I don’t think it’s necessarily the Jesuit aspect that he likes, more of the good engineering program reputation, the Silicon valley location (and corresponding internship opportunities), the focus on community. He has a friend currently at Gonzaga, but is not hearing the greatest things as said friend is having to take easy math classes that he should have tested out for. Not necessarily Gonzaga’s fault, but S27s impression isn’t the best.
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