<p>Bay, why on earth would you ask her to discuss this? Based on everything you’ve posted you’re going to think she’s lying if she said she’s very satisfied with the intellectual environment at Baylor; you are convinced it doesn’t exist. According to you, though, she’ll showcase her “extraordinary” personna if she says she’s somehow dissatisfied. She’s a happy, very intelligent young woman who simply attends a Christian university. No oxymoron – very smart kids actually do exist at Baylor much to your disbelief. Furthermore, they’re getting a solid education, and many are quite content with the level of challenge. I know this shocks you, but the ivies don’t have a corner on this market.</p>
<p>A major purpose of this board is to share questions about college choices, right?
A popular formula for choosing a college is to apply to schools you like that span a safety-match-reach range, then pick the most selective (or highest “ranked”) college that accepts you with adequate financial aid. Snowbound apparently broke from this formula (though I haven’t read all these posts thoroughly enough to understand what role money might have played, if any). So, it’s an interesting choice (made more so by the particular schools involved).</p>
<p>Our philosophy was to select that best school that was the RIGHT school (based on personal preferences). For us, financial aid was not a factor, but I realize it is for many people. My older son was accepted to schools that were higher ranked than the one he is now attending, but we all knew that they would not be a good fit for him.</p>
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<p>Grcxx3, I am curious about the fact that your older son applied to higher-ranking schools, when they would not have been a good fit. Did this become apparent from information after application season was over?</p>
<p>Generally, I would think that admissions personnel would tend to make fairer decisions overall if they had a smaller group of applications to read. Obviously, one more application makes no difference at the margins. </p>
<p>And some of the posters on CC think that the decisions are fair enough as it is. Or who decides what is “fair”? . . . etc. I am not really going there at the moment. I think that whatever your ideas of a fair outcome (balancing all considerations that you think should be important), fairness would be promoted by dealing with a more manageable number of applications.</p>
<p>Is it just me, or is this thread spent? If so, I’m going to miss y’all! :(</p>
<p>But … There’s still what some of us believe to be the open question of wis75’s Venn diagram depicting the relationship between the sets “religious people” and “nonthinkers.” Where have you gone, wis75? Come back, come back …</p>
<p>If wis75 doesn’t answer the call, we could also regroup on one (or more) of the other topics that emerged over the past week. (Has it only been a week? I feel I’ve known you forever!)</p>
<p>Submitted for your consideration:</p>
<p>Can one keep her feminist card while still welcoming Barbie into her household? More than one Barbie? Is there such a thing as a feminist card?</p>
<p>Who’s armed (I’m sorry, I meant “carrying”) and why?</p>
<p>Where can you find the best barbecue in Texas? In the United States? (Possible spin-off topics, 'cause you know how we roll here on CC: Are chili cookoffs rigged? What about armadillo races?)</p>
<p>And because we need something to keep QuantMech engaged: Is quantum mechanics really the best approach to theoretical physics?</p>
<p>QuantMech - He wanted to pursue a major (Architectural Engr) that is not offered at very many schools. So, we asked him to expand his options and apply to schools that were highly ranked in civil/structural engr and would also offer him the option of a minor in Arch. </p>
<p>The higher ranking schools he applied to were all “fits” in terms of his field of study (or something reasonably workable), size, and to some extent geographic location. But in the end, he chose a school (Penn State) that is tops in his field and also offered him the small, college-town atmosphere that he really wanted.</p>
<p>So, he COULD have attended Purdue or GA Tech or UIUC - but he wouldn’t be getting the major he really wanted and I don’t think he would be as happy as he is at PSU, where he is in the honors college and the band.</p>
<p>I don’t presume to know what other people are thinking; I am just looking for answers. The entire purpose of this website is to help others choose colleges. My questions are perfectly consistent with that goal.</p>
<p>There are posts/threads on this site about honors college students being disappointed in the rigor/environment of their program, but I haven’t seen one about Baylor yet. Here is a young woman who announced that she had just about every top US college at her fingertips. It would be valuable to many to know whether she is challenged at a lower-tier program.</p>
<p>I would also really like to know whether she visited those other campuses before making a decision. With many so convinced that her decision was based on <em>fit,</em> the implication is that none of those other colleges <em>fit</em> her; but that could be completely untrue if she never saw them.</p>
<p>I am always amazed at posters who exhort others to stop asking questions. If they don’t want to know anything more, just stop reading!</p>
<p>As the Mom of a kid who chose to turn down Harvard for Carnegie Mellon, he’d be the first to say that the academics outside of Comp Sci probably weren’t as good as he could have found at Harvard. That wasn’t an important factor for him, though sometimes as a parent I wish it had been. There would be no need to lie. And he loved the social life at CMU, hanging around the Linux Cluster with a bunch of kids who like board games and comics is his idea of heaven.</p>
<p>Aren’t you glad that he has such a strong individuality to seek and identify with his interest not influenced by prestige? I think that’s laudable.</p>
<p>I am on another thread where a parent is wondering why adcoms from Harvard are telling students that students at Harvard take three easy classes and one hard class while they spend a lot of their time on ECs.</p>
<p>If Harvard is so great for academics, why are the adcoms providing this type of input to future students?</p>
<p>But Bay, you’re not going to get any answer beyond “that’s what she preferred to do when faced with these choices.” It is what it is. It’s rather like asking someone why they chose vanilla over chocolate and strawberry. All in all, the total package of Baylor appealed to her more than the total package of Harvard, etc. You might come to a different conclusion – and I certainly would if it were me or my kids – but there’s really nothing to explain.</p>
<p>No, PG, that is my point - there is no evidence thus far that Lizzie visited Harvard. If she did not, it is inaccurate to say she chose one “total package” over the other.</p>
<p>If you were interested in buying a new car, and your friend said, “I could have bought a BMW, but I bought a Toyota instead, and I love everything about it!” A logical follow-up would be, “what didn’t you like about the BMW? or why did you like the Toyota more?” If your friend said, “oh I never looked at the BMW,” does his decision help you much?</p>
<p>Especially when someone makes a public announcement about choosing one college over others, I think most people would expect the person to have given them all equal consideration.</p>
<p>If she had visited Harvard, and hated it - and THEN chosen Baylor - would you be satisfied?</p>
<p>So, is it necessary to visit EVERY college you apply before making a decision? For most families, if the geographic distances are big, it is not logistically or financially feasible. As such, you have to make the BEST decision you can based on the information you have.</p>
Armadillo races are clearly relevant to Baylor.</p>