<p>“Woo Woo!” for Wooster, HeavyLidded. Also, Mamaduck, congrat on RIT, my S has a friend finishing up his Jr year there & is very happy.</p>
<p>I remember having that “decision regret” after my older S made his final college decision, but one of my grandmother’s favorite expressions came to mind and I’ll pass it along to all here: BLOOM WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED.</p>
<p>My S still has one more accepted student’s day to attend before he gets planted.</p>
<p>I completely agree that OWU is at the top of our list of Best Admissions Offices. Interested without being annoying, generous with aid, and a good sense of humor. Fast responses to inquiries. </p>
<p>At the other end of our spectrum of experience was Loyola Marymount: never responded back to any of my kid’s emails, late with many many EA decisions, and some RD kids STILL have not gotten a decision from them (yes, it’s April 3rd…), misinformation and conflicting info given to students at every step of the process, a confusing mass email sent to every applicant in November but all addressed to “Dear Jorge,” containing more misinformation…on and on. The worst from our point of view.</p>
<p>Onesmom! I am not caught up on this thread at all so please pardon me if you already mentioned that your son was heading for U of Puget Sound! What a perfect fit for your son :). So happy for you both.</p>
<p>Heavylidded, College of Wooster was one of the most beautiful schools we visited. Both my daughter and I loved COW. What a great choice!</p>
<p>Agree that OWU’s admissions is incredibly well run. I also want to give a shout out to Warren Wilson admissions! DD felt the love after being admitted ED. They even sent her a Valentine :).</p>
<p>HL,
Doesn’t it feel great to have the decision made? Now you can focus on learning all about the school. I’m learning about Goucher from this thread! Thanks for the post about being able to take classes elsewhere. It’s all so exciting!</p>
<p>I, too, thank all of you for your encouragement and support. I talk about all of you and your kids and their decisions to my family and refer to you as my CC Friends. (They think I’ve gone around the bend for sure.) You are friends. Thanks!</p>
<p>HL…that is AWESOME!! COW is high on my DS’s list. We hope to get out to visit at some point. Please keep us posted on how your D likes it. I have just heard SO any great things about that school that is hard to not look at it…even when NO ONE on my So CAl area has ever heard of it… luckily my kids could care less about that.</p>
<p>HL–count me among the slightly envious that you’ll get to be a Fighting Scot parent. Through three kids, I’ve visited many schools–not so crazy about some, liked a lot, loved a few, really loved Wooster. Ennyhoo. . .</p>
<p>We have a decision here too. University of Montana. Go Griz.</p>
<p>For those of us considering CA schools, I would love to hear what people are deciding. Here is how it stacks up for us:</p>
<p>5 applications, 4 acceptances (UC Santa Cruz only rejection)</p>
<p>Parent order of preference is different than D’s, but that’s typical.</p>
<p>Sonoma State - D loves because it is small and in a nice community. Downside is it is programmatically the weakest. (D wants to be middle school teacher, and their focus is elementary ed.)</p>
<p>Chico State - Parents love, because it offers a great program for her major. D is concerned about size and the party school reputation.</p>
<p>UC Merced - D loved size. Financial aid makes it less expensive than CSUs. Concern is only offers BS in Chemistry, which is far more than D needs for her career.</p>
<p>U o Pacific - D and parents loved size and program. Offers single subject credential and BA in 4 years. However, financial aid leaves $15K gap beyond what we can pay, which pretty much takes it out of the picture.</p>
<p>We are visiting Sonoma State on the 13th for their admitted students day, and will make a decision then.</p>
<p>What about others here? What CA colleges are your kids leaning towards?</p>
<p>Crizello, have you talked with U of Pacific about closing that gap? It sounds like that’s the one school you all like, and it might be worth a face-to-face meeting with Financial Aid decision-makers there.</p>
<p>MyLB, congrats on the Montana decision! We know several students who are very happy there!</p>
<p>Another congrats on Wooster decision! It was D’s 1st choice school for a year (!), visited twice, had already decided to take up bagpipes this summer to get a jump start. Then she was rejected on Christmas Eve. Sigh. She and I both fell head over heels with that school. However, life goes on. She was accepted to Beloit, Lawrence, and OWU, and is very likely headed to Beloit. Which, in truth, is a much better fit for her than Wooster in many, many ways…but she never would have known that if she had gotten in to Wooster :)</p>
<p>MyLB, adding my congrats on the Montana decision. Go Griz!</p>
<p>We got our first look at Missoula over the weekend–I must say it’s a pretty amazing place. So yes–go Griz! :D</p>
<p>Done: Checked the right boxes and clicked the accept button 
(No more in the signed, sealed delivered era)</p>
<p>It is Ohio State finally. It came down to the school of music at OSU or University of Puget Sound. OSU offered better aid, will be cheaper and though further away. After a certain point may not matter much. He finally agreed that OSU may offer better opportunities if he wants a minor or gasp (a double major). I have given him an article that says musicians need to have a back up plan but when you are eighteen, parents know nothing.</p>
<p>Long hard journey to come to this point, there were several times when we thought all he would end up is community college or some vocational school, but I guess things work out in the end.</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you for your support. Yes we have other concerns now, will he concentrate especially as he is on his own, far away from home? He claims yes as he can concentrate on what he likes instead of learning who the 22nd president of the US was. But at least we want to savor and celebrate this moment.</p>
<p>^How exciting, mazewanderer! Go ahead, “savor and celebrate” you & your S have earned it. Go Buckeyes! (BTW, what exactly is a buckeye??)</p>
<p>Never thought about it and that is a very interesting question</p>
<p>Wikipedia says buckeye is a tree and but never said why the state of Ohio is nicknamed the Buckeye state. One could assume that the State of Ohio was populated by buckeyes trees and hence the name.</p>
<p>Then this site below says that is only the partial answer. The rest of the story is due to politics, negative campaigning and spin in the nineteenth century (yes there was all of that in that period also). CC rules will not allow me to post the answer so check out the website.</p>
<p>[Why</a> is Ohio called the Buckeye State?](<a href=“http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question20093.html]Why”>http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question20093.html)</p>
<p>Mazewanderer: Things have really come full circle now. Congratulations on your son…and the making of a decision (no small matter). You deserve a medal for starting this thread (or at least a couple of K in merit aid).</p>
<p>Jane345: haven’t yet talked to school about closing financial aid gap. I guess we thought it was just too big of a gap for them to even consider. We figured they might throw in another 5K, but not 15K. Is that really something worth trying?</p>
<p>crizello-</p>
<p>One thing to consider when doing a credential program is LOCATION. Your daughter will do her student teaching in a district that her school works with, which means a district located close to her school (so that her supervisor can come observe her). Performing well as a student teacher is a great way to build connections in a school district that can ultimately result in employment. So, if she is going to stay at her undergraduate institution to do her credential, she should consider:</p>
<p>1)where she wants to end up teaching, and</p>
<p>2)whether the district in which she will do her student teaching is likely to be hiring (Is enrollment falling? Does the district have a history of financial trouble?).</p>
<p>criz, good point made by Mirabile…</p>
<p>Fwiw, a number of Sonoma State grads student teach and/or are hired in Sonoma, Marin and San Francisco counties–nice areas!</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for info about credential programs. Do most people do their credential at the same school as undergrad?</p>