<p>My daughter is very happy with her safety, but I’m starting to wonder if we actually do have a financial safety at all. She’s going to apply to Hunter and New Paltz, but their admission rates are pretty low, so even though she’s a hundred and fifty points above their 75th percentile, I wonder if we should add another SUNY or find another financial safety. Which, of course, I have no idea how to do. This is the point at which I get disheartened. If schools are admitting 28% and 38% of applicants, respectively, how can you even know where you stand?</p>
<p>Liz, These might be worth looking at but I don’t know about their financial aid programs for foreign citizens:</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence
Bard College
The New School</p>
<p>zoosermom, I hear you. S’s saftey had a 15% rise in applicants and a 10% budget cut. Who knows how that will effect not only OOS admissions but merit aid as well? Very stressful.</p>
<p>Liz Lemon - why do you think your sister would be miserable at Dartmouth? The Greek scene? </p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I’m not sure about which schools give aid to foreign citizens, so I can’t help you with that at all.</p>
<p>zoosermom - I’ve been thinking that next year is going to be extra-competitive at the SUNYs and CUNYs. I still think kids like your D will be fine. Having said that, I would probably add another SUNY to your list - just to be sure.</p>
<p>I think you’re going to be seeing a lot of brow wrinkling and analyzing going on with the students who have the luxury of choosing among Cal/UCLA and some privates. This is because of the budget cuts, fee increasing and, still, increasing uncertainty of the state budget. While I’d like to think the flagship Cal is still well positioned in many fields to get some of the federal budget initiaitives, especially in the sciences, it’s unclear how well this will translate at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>Sorry about this prattling on but it may well be something my S has to be discerning about in T minus 365 days.</p>
<p>Everyone please remember how important fit is. I’m friends with our City Attorney, who’s son is passionate about being a vet. They were thrilled when he got accepted into UC Davis. Still hanging in the balance was Cal, and now he’s been accepted there as well, which is the City Attorney’s alma mater. So she’s taking him for admission’s days at both campuses but is still hoping he comes back to his passion and goes for Davis, despite the lure of Cal. After all, he can still have the bragging rights of saying he was admitted there, but decided on Davis because he wants to be a vet.</p>
<p>
Dartmouth’s social dynamic is to a large extent defined by the Greek houses and athletics, and it can be difficult to establish yourself socially if you do not belong to at least one. There are some alternative social outlets, but they’re almost too self-consciously “alternative,” if that makes any sense. So if you aren’t on a sports team, in the Greek system, or in one of those “alternative” social groups, you have to be extremely proactive to find a satisfying social life at Dartmouth. It’s absolutely possible, but you have to work very, very hard to make it happen. </p>
<p>I’m an unaffiliated nonathlete with a rather large social network, and I still feel pretty isolated here sometimes. </p>
<p>So that’s why I wouldn’t recommend Dartmouth to someone like me, at least not based on the social life (in other ways it’s been fantastic, as described a few pages ago). I would recommend it even less to someone like my sister, who is extremely shy – I’m not – and might be more reluctant to reach out to people if she doesn’t immediately find her niche.</p>
<p>There are a few other reasons, but I have to leave for a meeting. I’ll explain the rest later if anyone’s interested.</p>
<p>hey Liz, I am interested in hearing your follow up when you have a chance. D originally had Dartmouth as her first choice but I think that has waned. She is into athletics/outdoors without being a superstar, which is why I think a more low key DIII school may be better. And the greek thing is not her cup of tea on the surface, but it might be because of community service activities…</p>
<p>2010 National Merit Scholarship Program- Stats only- Georgia- Test taken in October 2008
PSAT:
SAT:
GPA:
Applied - Universities:</p>
<p>Liz, I’m also interested in hearing your follow-up. Dartmouth is close to the top of my D’s list at the moment (she doesn’t have a clear favorite).</p>
<p>A few more thoughts:</p>
<p>The social life revolves around drinking to excess followed – for the “lucky” ones – by sloppy, anonymous sex. In no way does that mean that there is nothing else to do here (there is!), but it would be dishonest to say that these activities do not constitute the mainstream of social activity on campus. I think it is a bit tiring, but I am not the kind of person who thrives on being seen as “quirky” or “alternative,” so your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I actually went through sorority rush last fall, but the house that eventually offered me a bid was not a good fit for my personality (based on my interactions with the sisters there), so I declined. I’m now involved in an initiative to establish a new sorority on campus, to balance the embarrassingly skewed frat-to-sorority ratio (I believe it’s 15:7), but it’s still very much in the beginning stages and not yet a certainty. I have many friends in sororities who say it’s an extremely positive experience, but it is by nature an exclusive process, especially for women given the lower number of houses.</p>
<p>I drink rarely and in moderation, and I’m in a long-term relationship. I would say that both of those are relatively rare here. </p>
<p>For more on this topic, [this</a> post](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061952380-post19.html"]this”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061952380-post19.html) and [this</a> post](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062119827-post29.html"]this”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062119827-post29.html) are worth reading.</p>
<p>I suspect part of the problem is that I’m secretly middle-aged and find all the debauchery and ensuing drama so uninteresting. I’d rather discuss the federal budget over dinner and wine, or play Scrabble, or something. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Thanks for the Dartmouth info. That’s really helpful.</p>
<p>Well, Liz, we are glad to have you here. You fit right in!! :D</p>
<p>Liz Lemon - good luck trying to establish a new sorority. That sounds like a huge endeavor.</p>
<p>Liz, I wish you lived closer, except I guess my son is a little young for you! He was shocked at the dance he went to recently. He just doesn’t “get it.” He wanted to DANCE, but the kids were grinding, drinking, etc. Maybe he SHOULD go to Grove City! Sigh.</p>
<p>Boy did CC take a hit at 5PM !!! Couldn’t be because the Ivy’s were posting decisions :)</p>
<p>Best of luck to all the 09ers who were applying…</p>
<p>scualum: I second the rec of Oxy, as well as everything momonthehill said. If you’re considering women’s colleges, as you obviously are, you should take a look at Bryn Mawr, as well as Haverford and Swarthmore–all are strong in English. Out of the schools I know, Boston College stands out the most; especially compared to, for instance, Hampshire. St. Mary’s College of Maryland is an excellent public LAC, but -very- rural and not geographically diverse; OOS COA is ~30k, though, much cheaper than corresponding privates. You look good for safeties (assuming UW GPA is 3.8+) as long as she likes the West coast religious private schools. If you’re willing to look in the Midwest, there’s a whole bunch more to consider: Carleton, Macalester, Grinnell, Oberlin, Knox. Of those, Oberlin and Knox also have exceptional creative writing programs.</p>
<p>Keilexandra:</p>
<p>Thank you for your suggestions - I’m adding them to the list to discuss/research with my daughter.</p>
<p>Well - that was a most difficult phone call… which I am sharing here as a potential lesson for all of us 2010 parents. </p>
<p>Sister-in-law’s daughter - very bright, top of her class (should be Val) , good SATs, did all the right things - had a great week last week, getting into UCLA and UC Berk… but her heart was set on the east coast. </p>
<p>Well the bloodbath got her today - 4 rejections - and then Stanford also rejected her. To make matters worse, the one letter she got confirming her acceptance made no mention of Financial Aid - and the school is now closed so no phone calls to sort this out…</p>
<p>For all of us - fast forward 365 days and think about how our students can be spared this kind of day…</p>