“Tuscaloosa only has a population of 90,000”
I guess it’s all based on perspective. I grew up in a “village” in middle Michigan that has a population of 1,500. So 90,000 seems large to me. But there are over 1600 students enrolled at DS17’s high school so he doesn’t seem to be concerned about the size of the city of Tuscalossa .
@MichiganGeorgia Absolutely depends on perspective. 1500, wow, that is small. You might really like Oxford, then. It definitely has a small town college feel.
I personally like suburbia. I like being close to amenities without having to live in a big city. I was in Charlotte for almost 2 weeks and I would hate that traffic. I would never want to live there. (And after visiting Chicago last yr, I have absolutely ZERO desire to go back. I used to think Atlanta was bad until I visited Chicago!). But, Tuscaloosa seems just about the perfect size. 
QOTDFwiw, I think there are 2 different categories.
1-Those that do not offer any merit $$ and you know based on their NPC that they will be unaffordable. (Even the really generous schools are too much for us.)
2-Those that offer extremely competitive scholarships, but are unaffordable without being awarded one.
We won’t do #1. Re:#2 We have learned we really need to investigate those awards and their $ amts. Far too many schools offer fairly large $ amts, but still not enough to make them affordable. We are far more picky about where they apply now after seeing the dust settle with older kids. We have learned to only let them apply to schools where those awards are large enough to make them work. (Case is an example from our ds’s applications. He got a huge “regular” scholarship, but it really only brought it down to our EFC which we couldn’t afford in the first place. He applied for one of their few full rides but wasn’t awarded it. Those are exceptionally difficult to win.) They can apply to a couple of those “rare” scholarship schools, but only a couple bc they are so unlikely.
@dfbdfb it does, you just have to get creative. It isn’t easily found, especially the energy aspect. Policy, sustainability, social justice are much easier to find as is mainstream environmental science/studies and engineering. Unfortunately the “mainstream” typical envs stuff is all ecology based and that really isn’t what he wants much as the word “environment”, to him, sounds like it should be. As a result we are looking at a wide variety of program types, dual majors, complimentary minors and including LAC’s with the option to create your own major.
Sadly many of the tippy top schools do have what he is looking for as a standalone program but tippy top is not our playground. And, S is fairly restrictive geographically speaking, as well as school type/culture which knocks some programs off the list as well.
There are many “good” options but not one program that seems to check all boxes. At least that I have found, yet.
QOTD: Merit Aid
Yes and no. We are very much in the donut hole. There is an outside chance that a private, PROFILE school will be flexible in terms of how our situation is interpreted for EFC purposes but my calculations are all erring on the conservative side.
The list as it stands today is matrixed by both admission chances and affordability ratings. Only 3 out of 10 are financial safeties. All the others are reaches. The probability of those reaches becoming matches (a livable stretch of the budget) based on merit $ is higher on some than on others. For all on the list there is an outside chance of them working which is how they were allowed to stay on the list. At S’s request we pulled anything that really looked like there was zero chances of costs coming into line. That said, there is one school that has come on and off that I could see him deciding to add back on. He is aware it is beyond a financial long shot and that I don’t support ED however, if he wants to apply, I will let him. They do not offer merit, it is need only so it will come down to their subjective opinion of our need should he be accepted (which is a high high reach) It is a burdensome application and at this point he seems to have let the idea go but it won’t surprise me if it comes back.
QOTD: Yes, D is being allowed to one school that is likely to be unaffordable. We own a business which means NPCs aren’t accurate, so we really have no idea if it would be affordable or not, but I’m not holding my breath on it. If we knew for certain that there was no way we could afford it, I wouldn’t allow it. Since there is a sliver of hope, I am letting her take a chance at the lottery. I’ve already talked to her about how much we can afford, so she knows that if it doesn’t give us enough aid, it is a no-go.
D15 visited Duke a few years back. She thought the campus was beautiful but there was too much of a focus on sports & how to get tickets to basketball games (camp out all night, etc.). Plus she ultimately decided to go ChemE, not Chemistry, which Duke doesn’t offer. It’s an outstanding school, just wasn’t right for her.
S17 visited Villanova, Lehigh & Lafayette last week. S liked all three, but Lehigh stood out for him because of its strong engineering focus, beautiful campus, and traditional/stone gothic-style architecture. Their original library is a preservation gem! He felt the “good fit” vibe almost immediately. There were quite a few students and a farmers market on campus, and it’s nice to see activity during the summer. I think the school is oddly divided between three campuses which required the use of shuttle buses. While the main campus hilly (but not too bad), some of the dorms, the Greek houses and the two other “campuses” are waaaay up steeply sloped hills with narrow roads. All I see is ice and slippery conditions, but that’s because I’m from New England! He’s a runner and is not afraid of hills, but those narrow roads don’t leave much room for passing cars!! S saw none of the downsides and plans to return in the fall when school is in session to see if he still feels as strongly.
Thought S would love Villanova, but he was lukewarm. Lafayette’s engineering program may be too small but the campus is very compact and nice. We toured the engineering facilities at both schools. Good labs and wind tunnels, particularly at Villanova, but Lafayette had solid resources as well.
Each time someone posts a good report of a school that was once on our list, I quickly review my notes to remember why it fell off the list and research again to make sure it’s still not a good fit. I need to stop doing that.
QOTD: Another donut family here. Currently I know S has 2 schools on his list that I affectionately call “pointless.” One I don’t think he can get into, and the other I think he’d get in but we cant afford. I have spent the last couple of years throwing away mailings from HYP-etc type schools so that S doesn’t look at one and get silly ideas (more an admissions issue that renders cost moot).
I run NPCs for every school people talk about on CC. I worry about getting “sucked in” by a private promising great aid, us committing to $20-30k a year in agony, then that inflating later, especially when D graduates. I’d rather be the asshole that doesn’t let their kid apply to $choolX than the one who has to suggest their kid transfer in 2 years because we’ve maxed out loans.
Joining many of you in drumming my fingers waiting for ACT scores tomorrow.
@Atyraulove @thermom @snoozn Our daughters must be pretty similar! We are also very interested in Smith. D will be spending three weeks there in July for a summer program to see if it still seems like a good fit for her. I will join her at the end of July for a few days with her younger sister to look at other colleges in the area. I know summer is not an ideal time to visit but it’s the best we can do coming from Montana. I’d love any advice about how to structure our visits efficiently. We’d like to take a look at Amherst, Holyoke, Brown-- all the usual suspects.
@BlueAFMom Thanks to the previous discussion I can’t read your user name any other way now! But it makes me smile every time. I’d be interested to hear what you think of the CO schools you mention. The University of Denver contacts us regularly, and any school in Colorado would be easier for us geographically than those back East.
@dfbdfb I think you’re sort of right about getting a PhD-- it can be very isolating. I have a PhD in a biological science but don’t work in academia. I followed my degree up with a specialized program that launched me into my career in science writing in which my previous background as a researcher is very helpful. So there are ways to parlay that PhD experience into non-academic tracks that can be both fun and fulfilling. But I freely acknowledge that I am pretty dang lucky in my career path!
Good luck to all with school tours, test scores, etc. We’re visiting Whitman and schools in the Portland area over the July 4th weekend… All this travel planning is making me tired already!
@picklesarenice when I first read your user name I thought it was 2 words, pickle sarenice which I had no idea what that was. It took my brain a moment to finally see 3 words! And I will still see blueafmom as I originally naughtily thought and can’t go to air force as much as I try. I still chuckle every time too.
D17 ACT page now says tested so I guess I will find out what no effort from my daughter looks like tomorrow!
QOTD: Well, that really is the $64,000 dollar question these days!
We are also in the donut hole. We are allowing one reach where merit exists but the chances of getting it (as well as getting in at all) are extremely low. Think Wash U or Chicago.
Mostly, it’s LACs or small Universities where merit possibilities are reasonable. She’ll also apply to the state flagship and one WUE school which would be affordable without merit money.
Honestly, I am still on the fence if an Ivy or equivalent is really worth the upcharge.
I like Jelly donuts (really) so no holes in our donut 
Question is it worth spending that much money esp given DS’s planning to go to med school. Recommendation we got is stay in-state for both UG and Med school but getting into UC Med schools (esp SF and LA) is tougher than Ivies now a days
@BlueAFMom I have to admit, I read the slang version immediately but then also considered the possible correct one. There is a third use for that term but I discarded that one immediately as it didn’t go with either blue, or mom.
LOL
Think Blue Angels! (Guessing most of you have never been to an air show. 
) http://www.navy.mil/viewGallery.asp?id=29
Abercrombie & Fitch?
QOTD
If a family who is not eligible for need-based aid but cannot afford the full price is in the donut hole, I wonder where we are. My family is lower end of the middle class. We get pell grant and if my D is accepted to a 100% need-met school, it’s going to be affordable. So our choices are either top need-met schools or in-state public schools. Unless it’s a full tuition, no merit aid can cover the gap for us. No, we are not allowing D to apply anywhere that Net Price Calculator says that we cannot afford.
So the families like mine are standing on the donut or hanging on to the donut like a life saving devise? How about the super rich who can easily afford the full price and then some? Where are they around the donut? I don’t quite understand the donut metaphor!
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For the longest time S wanted to go to Stanford. He did a camp there and fell in love. But it has fallen off of his list now, mainly because of the cost, but also because of the intense application. Also, I think he decided that he really doesn’t want to be in a pressure cooker. He is much too laid back for the type of competition at an ivy-type school. So much of his current school selection is dependent on getting the NMSF score, so we wait until mid September to begin submitting apps.
Anyone else cringe when a school’s NPC asks you about your home equity? I expect to submit that page and get a message “sorry, even selling your house you can’t afford to go here.”
DS is a big fan of AF i.e. Abercrombie & Fitch