Congrats @eandesmom - what a nice surprise!!
Ouch @dfbdfb that is rough! D took travel time into consideration as we looked at schools. My alma mater was a definite no when she realized it was 2 flights then a 3 hour drive. DH did it when he went there but she was not up for it.
Nice @eandesmom !!
@dfbdfb
Yeah, Seattle is a mere 2,408 miles from New York! You got us beat by over 1,000 miles, lol!
I sometimes joke and tell people from other parts of the country that Seattle is South Alaska.
@JBSeattle, and I joke that Anchorage is simply a (far) outlying suburb of Seattle. 
Yeah just those Canadians between us ?!
@dfbdfb Holy Cow. That is really far.
My S20 will be applying RIT and we plan to visit in April. Congratulations to your S19! Would love to hear your thoughts? My S19 is choosing between Univeristy of Kentucky and Appalachian State University if anyone has any thoughts?
@Warrenless We visited App State. The campus is beautiful. Lots of great programs. My son crossed it off his list . He felt it was a little too granola for him.
What a great thread, just spent 45 minutes parusing through the past few weeks worth of messages. Congrats to all that have made their decision. My D19 is looking to study special education next year and have narrowed it down to 5 ish schools. All signed up for accepted student days in the next few weeks to try and make a decision, but would appreciate any insights and thoughts anyone has on the following list.
Manhattan College
St Johns (Queens)
St Joeās (Philly)
West Chester U
Catholic U
SUNY - Cortland
@Warrenless - I havenāt been to App State but Iāve heard nothing but good things about it. Itās not a popular destination from NJ, but I know lots of people in VA/NC and they all rave about it. As do many CCāers who refer to it as a hidden gem.
@Novacat9191 - Similar to my comment above, I personally donāt have experience with your schools, but do know several people who attend(ed) a few of them. Everyone loves(d) St. Joeās and Iāve heard good things about Catholic. Canāt speak to the others.
App State is high on my S21ās list (though still 1.5 years to change his mind), weāre from NJ. Some interesting programs there that donāt seem to be at a lot of the schools weāve started looking out.
@Novacat9191
My D will be attending admitted studentās days at Manhattan College in 2 weeks. She likes the internship opportunities and the ROI when compared with other schools as well as the Lasallian mission. We have not visited the school in person so it will be interesting to see what she thinks. It is across the country for us. I also was surprised to find out the school is not very diverse. The vast majority are caucasian from NJ or NY.
@Novacat9191 Welcome! My D19 in is the final process of choosing a school after admissions decisions and the folks here have been so helpful! Iām sure you can get lots of good info here! For me, this thread has been refreshingly down to earth and a place for calm amongst the insanity 
@JBSeattle: Not sure where you are looking but the reported numbers for Manhattan list only about half white. I do think you will see a big % from NJ//NY/CT. Weāre going to the first admitted students day a week from Wed, Iāll let you know what we thought.
@rfm512 Thanks for the words of encouragment. Wish I found this thread 6 months ago!!
Am a bit stunned that my (very) low GPA but very high-ACT scoring kid got into 11 out of 14 colleges applied to and waitlisted at two others. Four of the safeties offered substantial (unrequested) merit aid, two offered entrance to their Honors Colleges, and some admittances came from early action as well as regular decision. I donāt want to name the schools, but five of the acceptances were from northeastern LACs with low 20% admit rates according to the common data set. Did not get into first choice ultra competitive LAC via ED1, but that one was a real reach lottery anyway and the final choice makes my kid very, very happy. Being able to have some choice at all was an amazing confidence booster for our kid. And if kid is happy, we are happy. This particular forum was an inspiration all along and a place to read a lot of common sense instead of the usual insanity that prevails. Thanks to all the kind and thoughtful parents who offered so much invaluable advice along the way. There are some very smart parents around here. My final take on all this is that ED1 and ED2 are terrible systems that put too much pressure on kids not ready to decide and that I am so glad it is all over, the stress and anxiety was just awful- and somewhat contagious! Good luck to all.
@collegemom102 Congrats to your son! Its so nice to have success and choice. Would you be willing to share the schools? I have learned so much from these boards and added schools to my Dās list from the suggestions here.
Congratulations @collegemom102! I agree- I have learned so much from this forum and appreciate all of the thoughtful and kind posts.
@TwinMom2023 We will be at HWS on Thursday/Friday too! Only 2.5 hrs for us but my S19ās #1. He had a great initial tour and we are going back to confirm. I can see us giving a deposit if all works out.
@Collegemom102 Congratulations on all the success! So great that your kid is so happy with the final choice. Hope we can be there soon too. What an exciting time!
@Novacat9191
I donāt know what source I saw. On niche it say 57% white but also some unidentified and international so that is much closer to what you said.
We are going to the admitted day on the Saturday, a few days after you. I also hear the Arches freshman dorms are highly recommended.
@Novacat9191 , Iām outside Philly. My StJoeās colleagues are very devoted to their alma mater. The school is highly respected .
In my limited experience, they few folks I know who attended Catholic U, most transferred out.
West Chester is one of the best PASSHE schools, but, in our experience, private schools have a better 4 yr graduation rate and are priced after merit in the same area.