<p>So everything is in place for child #3. He was NOT easy to deal with in the college hunt. He would not read the literature, was unreceptive, would not talk about the colleges. But he knew exactly what he wanted and that did make it easy for the search. We could have kicked him twice. Two fab merit scholarships came along which made the tuitions easy for us. Both he rejected. One was for a university known for their co op programs. Wonderful opportunity including making over $14,000 for 6 months employment IN HIS FIELD half the year.He cast it aside without even consideration. I could throw up. So he will be going off to a large engineering program. I’m sure he will make a success of it. But we could have had it easier-none of the kids ever cooperate.</p>
<p>So now the hunt is on for child#4. I’m afraid of the LAC’s but this may be a wise choice for him. He IS receptive, DOES talk about the colleges, IS a hard worker who DOES NOT complain. I am so blessed #4 is like this and the opposite of #3. Amen. However, I am afraid of this LAC 's. Son MUST become employable after his 4 years. Maybe he will be offered someting and become involved in something which he ends up not liking after 1/2 semester? And all the mail is coming again.He looked at the first 6 but after that it remains unopened. And I am starting to spend way to much time looking for a good fit already. And this is WAY EARLY! UGH. Here we go again.</p>
<p>My daughter will be attending an LAC next year, and I understand your worry about employability. Some of the LACs are very strong on internships - they can be done for credit sometimes during the school year. I think this would be more likely at schools located in or near cities than the rural schools (like the one my daughter will attend.) I think I remember that Macalaster was strong on this, from my readings, but I’m sure there are others.</p>
<p>I don’t have much to offer in the way of advice, but please know that if only for the fact that this is your fourth round of this, I totally sympathize with you! And I wish you and your son the best as you begin this college hunting journey! ~berurah</p>
<p>Thanks berurah! ANd please let us know how it goes for your daughter Motheroftwo. I’m interested to know.
I wish son had wanted the co op.These co op programs can be GOOD. Graduation is extended to 5 yrs but the tuition is reduced, and they make quite a lot in big cities during their working periods.(for a college student) When I actually looked at the breakdown of how many students in the college were in my son’s intended major and who actually take advantage of the co op, it was very small. Maybe if I had encouraged the working and he had gotten a taste of it, he may have wanted a co op. But if he had done that, the working, he wouldn’t have gotten the grades he did and would not have qualified for the merit scholarship.Vicious cycle, always the same choice, work or schoolwork, I admire the kids who can do it all.</p>
<p>bhg - My older son had no interests in LACs and they would not have been right for him, but they seem to be exactly right for my daughter, so I know what you are saying.
What is your LAC-bound son interested in studying?</p>
<p>He id getting fine grades in honors Cal., Physics, English, and Social Studies. Coming upon a wall right now when asking him about a career, but I can tell he is thinking about it.And he does not want AP Chem next year so that means eliminating a lot. Frequently going to a LAC means a professional school afterwards, and we could go that route, but I don’t want to think about that now- I think that puts a lot of pressure on a kid. And right now he is not thinking Education, being a teacher.</p>
<p>I wish everyone didn’t want their kids to go to school as freshman to focus o business or whatever willl get them that job. Freshman year is for figuring stuff out. Some of the best people I know have LAC educations and are real thinkers and do excellent work, while others who went business route, are cookie cutter types. Just my humble opinion.</p>
<p>I think a graduate of any reputable college who has worked hard and done reasonably well is employable after graduation. The level of pay and quality of employment will depend to some extent on the larger economy, but in my experience the college counseling offices and internship programs at small schools work very hard to help students find appropriate opportunities. Many students do ultimately go on to grad or professional school, but many don’t (think of those I-bankers!), but even those who do plan to get an additional degree often work for at least a year or two before returning to school. My feeling is that a student should go to the type of college or university where he or she is most likely to do well and have an overall positive experience–the employability flows from there.</p>
<p>I do not sympathize with your college hunt days. Thank goodness mine are over. My #3 child, who is probably the smartest but the least disciplined, only wanted to go to college to play football. And, he would not make a committment to any school until two weeks before going to football camp. I must say that I did admire his reason. He was not going to make a committment to a school and then drop them if a better offer came along. He believes that when you make a committment to a team you follow through. So, he is in his third year of college, loves playing football, and after changing from Chemistry major, History major, he is now majoring in Business Administration with an Accounting major (and seems to thrive in this environment.)</p>
<p>As parents we should be thankful that we are blessed with children who are capable of going to college. My #1 son teaches school in Las Vegas (understand here is a country bumpkin who had no clue what poor white students encounter) and he called me one day to simply say Thank You for being around to keep him focused. The biggest problem he facing in teaching these kids is that he cannot find a parent when he needs to! I am also grateful that he and his wife have had the opportunity to see this side of the world.</p>
<p>So many of us on CC seem to be more into the college search than our kids. Even mine, who is one of the most focused kids I’ve ever known, didn’t have the time to really get into the search aspects. I think he left it to me to have all the “fun” of having a suggested long list for him that gave him a starting point and then he would narrow it down from there. In some ways, it was frustrating because that should be his job, but in others, why should he spend time (when I enjoyed it) looking at schools that didn’t even have the majors he was interested in? My problem was that the longer I researched, the LESS I felt like I knew. However, it DID give me a chance to research financial options and figure out the places that we could afford or that gave merit money. So, in the end his Mom and I had come up with a list of places for him to then begin to narrow down and we went to visit those schools east of us. I did have my own several favorites that were at the top of MY list, but I was careful not to try to influence him towards those. One of them (yay!!) was the one he’s made his decision for.</p>
<p>I was a co-op student in school. It was the best decision I ever made; actually, I didn’t have a choice - my parents gave me $ZERO for college (another good thing for me) so I had to scramble for money. Yes, it took 5 years to graduate, but extremely well worth it, the least benefit of which was to tell me I really didn’t want to be an aeronautical engineer. Two of the schools on my son’s list promised co-op programs, but in visiting one place and talking to a student in the other, it was harder to do that than the literature suggested.</p>
<p>I’m interested in this Co-op possibility. Son (now a Freshman in HS) is interested in Business and is doing well with Pre-AP for a few classes in a public middle range school. He will probably not test super well for SAT’s - not the best test taker. Are there business Co-ops? Any info helpful.</p>
<p>backhand - i go to a LAC, and we have coops for our engineering majors… as well as internships for all majors. i have done an internship, and two of my roommates have too… so they are out there, you just have to find them :)</p>
<p>and to whoever asked about business coops - i’m not sure, but i had a business internship that I did for six months, and it was awesome… I learned a lot.</p>
<p>BHG,
I think it’s very common now to find internships and co-ops at Liberal Arts colleges. When doing the college search for my kids I always investigate the job placement rate in their particular major and also internships. My daughter is an ed major at a tiny LAC and their placement rate is 97% of the ed majors within 6 months of graduation. Education is one field where an internship has always been mandatory. My oldest son wants to do something with computers but I’m not sure a big technical school is right for him. We’re visiting both LAC’s and techie sort of schools to find out what fits. </p>
<p>Here’s something interesting that I found out about RIT and Drexel. Both colleges have co-ops for their computer and engineering students but at Drexel, you still pay college tuition while they’re co-oping but you don’t pay it at RIT.</p>
<p>BHG, would a co-op school work for #4? I think you have done wonderfully for #3–I wanted to congratulate you and him on acceptance to such a fine, competitive program. I am assuming that you are out of state for the school which does make it pricey, but you know, he’ll be so employable once he is out even not in a co-op school.</p>
<p>The reason I ask about the option for co-op for #4 is that a friend of mine’s child went to Ithaca College, not quite a LAC, but not a national uni either. She transferred after a year to Northeastern , and just absolutely loves it there, and her parents and she were sure she was LAC material. In fact Ithaca was the largest school she applied to, the first time around and they gave her a very nice award. Also, a school like Antioch which is LAC + co-op may be an option.</p>
<p>Why thank you Jamimom, appreciate hearing that from you! I could see how anyone may like Ithaca, that is a very nice college, heavy on the music and arts, with Cornell just down the road, what a great college town. A really fine college.
No, #4 probably will not do a co op program. He really is liberal arts material and is looking for a tennis team also. This isn’t saying he will not do an internship, like Fendergirl. That’s possible, who knows.
Outwestmom; if you ever consider Philadephia, and it is a big student town, Drexel University really has a great co op program. I wish my son would have considered it.Initially we were scared off by the tuition. But as time wore on, we received the most generous, no forms merit scholarships from them, plus recommendations from the university for additional scholarships, and this plus the thought of son making excess of $14,000 for 6 months in his field right down the street, kind of blew my mind. I’m real disappointed son didn’t pick up on the significance of it all. Also, yes, you have to pay the U. while working but the tuition is reduced all 4 yrs.He could have lived in the dorm and commuted a short distance to his job- it could have been nice. I’m bummed, I vented. Time to move on. Sign.</p>
<p>S1’s best friend got a $20K+ scholarship from Stetson. He was a tennis player. The school was also on list initially for S2 as it has an excellent music dept. The southern schools tend to be good deals on tuition and room and board.</p>
<p>Dig - With S, I have pretty much spread my velvet cape gallantly across the puddle for him to step on.</p>
<p>When the C-word comes up, the most frequent response is or “I don’t want to talk about colleges” or “I’m too busy.” Since he is one of the only people I know who is truly busier than I am, I did all the prelliminary research and all of the admin work, not to mention putting on my corporate marketing hat and ensuring that the necessary level of “application theme packaging” was successfully achieved. His main effort has been to pick the final app list, visit, interview, and do essays. My expended effort, including research, must top 1000 hours by now, his probably adds up to 20 hours - plus standardized tests and minus visits.</p>
<p>It has been engaging but also a huge effort. Each of us has to parent the child we’ve got - if I had not been willing to shoulder much of the burden, a very intelligent and talented individual would have many fewer choices. So like many on this board, I get an intangible “Above and Beyond” award from the Lord of the Universe and the satisfaction of knowing that my parental doorstep is “clean.” But soon, very soon, the rubber will meet the road for S and he will have to flex those decision muscles, flabby with long term procrastination, and decide which door to walk through. (Muscles are muscles, and his are his!)</p>
I always wondered whether I did too much in this area (pre-list research looking into colleges and programs for my son), but an incident Saturday night made me glad that I did do it. I found what I thought was the perfect program for him. It not only made it onto his list, it became number 1 after we visited, and now that’s where he’s going (decision card and housing deposit already sent). It’s a program he NEVER would have found on his own, given his limited time to search. </p>
<p>Anyway, on Saturday night, my wife and I were - at the last minute - roped into chaperoning a HS dance. One of his friends, a NM Semifinalist, straight-A student, and valedictorian came over and talked to me. She wanted to know where my son had decided to go to school. The more I talked to her about Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College (especially the tutorial part: one-on-one classes with the professor), she looked genuinely sad. It broke my heart to hear her say, “I wish I could have found out about that program earlier. It sounds perfect for me.” We know her well. It would have been an absolutely perfect match.</p>
<p>How many kids (without the time or without parents as involved or informed as many of these on CC) will miss some of those perfect matchups? </p>
<p>So thanks, yulsie. I won’t be ashamed of doing the early research “that my kid should have done.”</p>
<p>BHG - CC has brought the LACs into my sphere of colleges to consider. </p>
<p>Being a liberal arts major is just fine for pre-med, pre-law, consulting, wall street, or a management development program … in my experience, most of these openings would rather have, for example, a liberal arts person from a top school than an undergraduate business major or finance major. In the cases mentioned above the schools or companies are going to select the smartest kids - most acomplished kids they can get a hold of … and that can be achieved as a history major at a LAC. Even if a kid eventually decides they want to be an engineer or scientist they can chase that down during grad school. I’m all for LACs if is the right fit for the kid … and it is a top LAC. I think the first of the 3-to-go may well end up being a LAC kid.</p>
<p>So companies are knocking down the doors at AWS and the other top LACs … for me, it gets a little scarier when you get into the mid-level LACs … I think these kids will get a great education but then the initial employment picture gets tougher for the history / political science majors. That said, a well educated person who knows how to analyze situations and communicate well will eventually find their path.</p>