<p>Hi sbjdorlo.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m pretty sure that my son would have made a different decision if he were the oldest with siblings close behind. It makes me kind of sad when I think about it that way. It doesn’t seem fair. In fact, the kids still tease me about it because for about 4 weeks I guess I kept repeatedly bringing it up: “Are you sure you want to do this?” “I can make it work if you want to go to MIT.” “We can take it one step at a time. I can commit to making any of those options work.” He got sick of it – to the point that they still laugh at me and mock me.</p>
<p>He is solidly happy with his choice, though. And he’s already experienced several special perks, due to his status as one of their top “recruits.” He did a great job choosing his safeties, so this school really is a great fit for him. It’s got a great reputation in his intended major. The more we learn about it, the more it seems to really fit! He’s at their orientation camp now, and he’s having the time of his life.</p>
<p>If your kids are likely to get lots of scholarships, they may well find themselves with the choice between several little-to-no-cost and some-cost schools. Each of my kids was faced with this same sort of choice. Each could have attended their financial safety for free or very close to free. Before this son, none of them chose to do that. None of them has attended their true “first choice dream school” either, because the dream school was always one of the highest Cost of Attendance schools after scholarships. </p>
<p>The thing that made this kid’s choice different was that he was the first to get huge GRANT-aid packages, as opposed to pure merit scholarship money. He was the highest achieving, best all-around kid of the bunch. I don’t know if it was the economy that drove down merit scholarships in the past several years, or if the grant aid was more of a sure thing than the schools could let on, or if they didn’t find this highest achieving kid worth the pure-scholarship money, or if the competition was stiffer this year, or what. But no granting school we spoke to would guarantee that kind of money for each successive year. With merit scholarships, as long as your kid meets a certain gpa (or other concrete objectives), that money is theirs and can be relied upon. With grants, it can change from year to year. And my son didn’t want to deal with that lack of certainty.</p>
<p>Anyway, I hope that answers your question! Good luck to you! It’s a wild ride! :)</p>