<p>alliasforparent,
Sorry, I have no idea about tier of my D’s school. It is not state flagship. It keeps her and her Honors friends extremely challenged. However, if you keep it up, there are tons of opportunities that are open for the ones who stand out.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, I’m assuming the in-state you’re talking about has an Honors program? since you mention her Honors friends. I called the college, and they don’t offer any Honor programs 
</p>
<p>Anyhow, I know some programs at tier 3 and tier 2 in-state are highly competitive. Only the top students get in. But for our particular situation, D still needs to decide her major @ our tier 3 in-state. So this is a general question. How to support my D to get a world-class education in a no-so good college. I know it must be a way. I just need to know how. So far, I’ve received great suggestions from all of you wonderful parents. Thanks a lot. Please keep the ideas coming.</p>
<p>aliasforparent: No sure what your D’s stats are, but we found many OOS state school that offered extremely generous merit aid. They also had outstanding Horors Programs and incredible programs within departments. Prehaps too late for that…but many offered merit aid for transfer student too. </p>
<p>Visiting the schools on her list and meeting with the professors of departments she may be interested in can potentially open up a whole new world. IMHO…there are opportunties at all colleges and universities. It just takes more searching…</p>
<p>^^ i’m affraid a little bit too late. What we have so far is really good private colleges that we can’t afford (even with merit $$) or a tier 3 in-state. We’ll are still waiting to hear from the top tier public colleges, but I don’t have a lot of hope. D gpa is competitive but average SAT scores.</p>
<p>I was up front with my girls (finance wise). What I asked of them is to keep an open mind thoughout the process. We met with some very impressive professors that changed their minds about the quality of education/opportunties at many of the schools we visited. Just a suggestion.</p>
<p>aliasforparent I’d second the advice about jumping in with both feet and networking with professors. Right away. (Many first year students wait to “feel out” the situation at college and end up missing valluable opportunities. Be brave and ask questions - profs are delighted and student organizations are looking for enthusiastic new members.)</p>
<p>Three years ago, in July, a student called our department, said he was thinking of coming to the school, could he sit in on a class? I happened to be teaching the only summer class running at the time, so he showed up. Very nice kid, nothing particularly memorable but we chatted a little bit about the school and the department.</p>
<p>Fast forward to fall semester. Kid reappears and reminds me that we met over the summer. I’m now his advisor. He’s interested in a field that happens to be the bailiwick of the guy in the office next door. I introduce kid to prof. They chat. Kid enrolls in class, joins student club, puts in lots of hard work. Becomes indispensible to prof next door. Gets great grades.</p>
<p>Time passes. Kid takes initiative to get an unpaid internship in school PR office. Uses opportunity to network with other departments on campus. Works hard. Gets into honor society. Builds nice portfolio of professional work. Get summer job in field. Etc. Kid is now a senior and very well positioned for finding work.</p>
<p>Why? Because he put in the effort that it takes. He didn’t sit around and wait to be invited to do things. </p>
<p>That’s how you get a world class education, no matter where you go.</p>
<p>[/sermon]</p>
<p>stradmom, thanks for the example. Motivation, self-initiative, and hard work are the main variables in a public or private colllege. By the way, it doesn’t sound like sermon. Again, thanks for your reply.</p>
<p>stradmom, I’m still thinking about your advice about networking. I wonder how my D will get some networking skills. She’s really sweet, polite, easy-going, sharp (maybe a little bias here) but she tends to be shy. Hmmm…i’m thinking.</p>
<p>Our DD was a bit on the shy side as well. She tended to “fly under the radar screen” in high school. She excelled at some pretty impressive ECs and was top 5% of her class. BUT she was not the kind of kid who jumped in with gusto to every sort of thing. Fast forward three years…she is a fine college student. She has learned to advocate for herself. She has organized study groups, found professors office hours and study sessions and attended them, worked with the tutorial office at her school, studied with a roommate on a particularly difficult subject…and has really made a name for herself as being a strong advocate for herself. OH…and she is the organizer for the expenses of her off campus house too (where 7 students live). Things change. Sometimes kids just rally because they either have to, or they just grow up in a way that they didn’t or couldn’t at home. I’ve been very impressed with DD’s independence and ability to do the things she is doing with a VERY challenging major. And she doesn’t need me to hound her…she’s demonstated that she is fully capable of taking care of herself. Sometimes going away to college forces that issue for kids. Let’s face it…my kid really can’t “depend” on me…and I really can’t do the organizing from across the country!!</p>
<p>thumper1, so glad to hear such a success story about your D. Independent life is a great thing for our kids. I know what you mean. I remind myself everyday that my D is capable and will be able to deal with her college life. Well, D will be living with us since her future college is in the same city we live. We’ll find a way to let her be an independent college student.</p>
<p>I doubt the classes, especially the introductory ones, differ much from the private colleges. This is very major dependent. Your D’s attitude will ultimately control the quality of the education.<br>
The quality of the experience is another matter, but the difference in tuition can buy some nice vacations that can be used as a reward for high grades.</p>
<p>Things have changed for the better. D got accepted to the top tier in our in-state. We have 3 tiers in our top tier system, so far D got accepted to the 2 tier. This is a much better outcome than to go to the very bottom of our in-state system.</p>
<p>I strongly believe that quality of college education and overall college experience depends much more on student than institution. I never investigated tier system in our state.<br>
Aliasforparent, yes, D’s college has Honors program. They accepted top 200 of applicants into Honors. However, they take mixture of Honors / non-Honors classes and what they get out of them depends a lot on kids. For example, D was hired as assistant by Chem. prof in non-Honors Chem class - awesome job that is preparing her for Chem portion of her MCAT. </p>
<p>Opportunities are endless for hard working kids who are involved in campus life outside of academics and actively pursuing other activities (research, volunteering, etc.).</p>
<p>GIGO = Garbage in Garbage out</p>
<p>You only get out what you put in.</p>
<p>If she does everything everyone is telling her to do in this thread she could end up with a paid for masters at one of them “brand name” schools.</p>
<p>Alias, congradulations ! I think getting into better school means it will be easier to find friends who are serious students – not that it can’t be done anywhere. </p>
<p>I am a little unclear, did your D get accepted to top tier or middle tier?</p>
<p>Also, my personal projection (which of course is worth as much as my basketball picks) is that students applied to an ever increasing number of colleges this year and schools will be going down the waitlist all summer. I know you are on a budget, but giving up a deposit of 300-500 if your child moves from 2 ot 1 is worth it. IMHO.</p>
<p>fendrock</p>
<p>“winchester, I feel cautious about your #2, as I would fear that the long lines are for the easy courses that do not meet in the morning or on Fridays.”</p>
<p>You’re absolutely correct to be cautions about selecting courses. You want to get in the lines that is long <em>for the right reasons</em> (i.e., not because the course is easy or solely because it is required). </p>
<p>But still, I’d wager that there are such lines in every college. The key is to ask around and find them.</p>
<p>Thanks MiamiDAD, Japher & winchester. Yes, the advice provided here still applies whatever college my D attends. The quality of her education depends on her.
kayf, i know it’s confusing. The in-state in CA
top tier - UC system - The golden ones are UCB and UCLA.
2nd tier - Cal Poly
3rd tier - CSU
My D got accepted to the UC system - UCD, UCSB, and waiting to hear from UCB.</p>
<p>The in-state school you are worried about is a UC? My, that changes things. She’ll be just fine.</p>
<p>Not-so-good?-</p>
<p>For those who care about such things (USNEWS), the UC’s named are the 12th ranked public institutions in the US (44th overall). </p>
<p>OP, if she takes advantage of all (or even a large part) of what is offered at those schools she will be better than fine. If it ends up she attends one of these, the limiting factor in her career will NOT be the UG school she attends. Now if the issue is fit, that should have been decided before the applications were sent.</p>
<p>Good luck to her.</p>
<p>curmudgeon, i’m sorry i was not clear enough. When I started this conversation, I thought my D will attend a CSU (3rd tier). However, we got good news yesterday. D was accepted to UCD and UCSB. At this point, we’re just waiting to hear from UCB. I feel much better know. Usually studenst who get into UC have decent gpa and sat scores. What is the meaning of that? I don’t know, but at least I know she’ll be encountering studnest who are motivated and want to learn (I hope). D still needs to be proactive, assertive, and work hard to make sure she gets the best possible education.</p>