Following on my previous post…while we put the deposit in at MaryWash for D20 she is having 2nd thoughts based on the dark horse in the race…
…D20 applied to safety school…that surprisingly has great education program… including a 5-yr Masters in Special Education program…and they have American Sign Language classes which D20 would love to continue as she is taking ASL now in HS…and…offering aid so cost would be $10K less per yr than UMW…of course you’d have to factor in 5th year masters…but having Master’s in Special Education would be great…but it’s Radford University which doesn’t have the best rep in No. VA.
It ticks all the boxes… except D20 knows it has a bad rep among our crowds - known as easy school to get into, party school, etc. Plus surrounding town isn’t as nice a college town as Fredericksburg.
Ugg…saving $10K a year isn’t something to just ignore…plus getting Masters in SPED.
@scoutmom2002 Radford is my D’s dark horse second thoughts too. She is also elsewhere committed but she just keeps going back to how much she likes their ballet program.
@taverngirl Wow! It’s been a long crazy ride and here we are both with our sons still deciding! Friday afternoon will be eventful.
In your shoes, I would check the College of Engineering’s avg GPA and better yet his major’s GPA if he is in a tough major like Chem E or EE. (With apologies to the Industrial Engineers our there, it’s easier to get a good GPA). Make sure his money is tied to the relevant GPA. Congrats and good luck!
@1stTimeThruMom I wish it would all be over tomorrow, but the two schools left on his list extended their deadlines to June 1. So it may be a while before a decision is made, sigh. I am in the process of getting average gpas. I heard from one school, which was 3.26 for all engineering. He’s a civil major which is supposed to be “easier” engineering, lol. Waiting to hear from the other. I also asked for engineering department retention rate.
@Friar92 he was admitted for communication. Go for it! My son was admitted to 3 reach schools. He had 3 match/safeties that he would have been very happy to attend
@scoutmom2002 A $10,000 per year savings is worth thinking about. Your daughter is very smart to reflect on that option. As an education major where beginning salaries are low, one would be extremely wise to incur as little debt as possible (not that I know your financial situation) or evening use the save money to start a better financial foundation into adulthood.
There are so many schools known as party schools until I truly don’t even pay attention to those comments. In my opinion, people are often being judgmental and frowning on schools because they fall in the trap themselves of what society thinks.
Best of luck to your daughter in deciding what’s best for her and I applaud her for being able to take a step back and revisit her options.
@scoutmom2002 we had the same issue with D15, she had a full ride at ECU which has a great nursing program but a party rep. She is out now and doesn’t regret her decision but people still question both of us about why she turned down UNC for ECU. But she loves having no debt, left us with more funds for her brother, S20, and she landed a great job, so sometimes it works out. But go with your gut.
D20 sticking with MaryWash.
Deciding factors…
(a) Location – MaryWash 1 hr from DC/home and 1 hr from Richmond - with ability to take train to/from…versus Radford 4 hrs from home. Also, surrounding town of Fredericksburg more appealing to D20.
(b) Campus – from the very first visit, D20 thought MaryWash “felt right” and liked the small campus.
It’s a done deal. Ordered MaryWash garden flag, pennant and teddybear!
As for financial status…it will be harder on us…but grandma already noted she’d help out if needed for D20 and S20. We are blessed.
I’ve been jealous of all the final decisions being made. I’m glad that DS has finally made his. I’m also posting this in another forum, but because this thread has also been an incredible resource and shared experience for me, I wanted to share here as well.
After a long journey, it came down to a four-way race. Wooster offered a fantastic FinAid package that brought the COA within the low end of my budget. Ursinus didn’t match Wooster’s offer but came close, and I could make their offer work if that was son’s choice. The University of Dayton, like Wooster, improved their offer a couple of times and joined the frontrunners.
Then there were three instate (NC) schools that I’ll clump as one option. They really were one option because they all held the same allure of being close to home and affordable. He had high school classmates who would be friendly faces at all three universities. He’d be happy attending all three.
In the end, while DS took a last consideration of Wooster, he decided that he’d rather attend a school with a larger enrollment. The FinAid offers at Wooster and Dayton were more or less identical, with Wooster offering a lower COA, but Dayton offering perks that swayed the actual costs savings in their direction.
Last night, Son committed to the University of Dayton. UD included $1000 every year for books, and will pay the expenses for him to do a study abroad semester/year. On Niche, UD is listed with a FinAid rating of 95, and I have to say our experience exceeded even that high ranking.
I don’t know about him, but I’m immensely relieved this search and selection part of the journey is complete. I’m even more relieved my next child won’t graduate high school until 2024. I might need that long to recover.
Congrats @EconPop. Dayton is on the list for my S21 to consider. We had a scheduled tour back in the fall but had to cancel due to a family emergency that made the trip difficult logistically. Now, of course, I’m kicking myself we weren’t able to make it out there with all that’s going on.
Hi all… Posted several months ago. My daughter is scheduled to be a Freshman at U Idaho in the Fall of 2020. Excited about this and she’ll be in the College of Natural Resources, which is one of the top ranked programs at the university.
However, I cannot get the whole idea of COVID 19 thwarting plans. Also, I see it hard justifying going to an OOS school (we’re from CA) when she could take many of those “feeder” classes at a fraction of the price. For her, it’s as much the school “experience” and if she starts her academics in a virtual environment, then I have a harder time justifying the tuition bump vs. the CA CCs which are really inexpensive.
As of today, Idaho is saying it will be business as usual. But what else would they say?
How are others handling this uncertainty? Would their be an issue if we simply enrolled her @ the CC concurrently to cover all bases? The idea would be that once it’s truly safe to go back in the water, she has credits that can be immediately transferable to Idaho. She’s even tossed around the idea of sticking with CC as the easiest route to xfer to UC Davis, which was her # 1 choice (that she didn’t get accepted into as a freshman).
@Damon389 I don’t have answers to your questions. My take is that colleges and universities will do everything they can to have students on campus in the fall but won’t really know how possible that is until mid-June. I’m not listening to anything they say until that timeframe. My older son is a rising college junior and will be heading back to school in the fall in whatever form it takes but I do think it’s different for incoming students who don’t yet have relationships formed with professors and friends.
But U Idaho is on my S21’s long list and I’d love to hear about it from your perspective! It’s hard to get info on it on the east coast and am hungry to get any insight from a prospective parent.
@Damon389 so hard to know what to do. We are also in CA (in the Bay Area), but my son had already decided to do cc for 2 years and will then transfer (likely out of state).
Our local cc has already announced they will be online for fall and the entire CSU system made the same announcement today. CAL also made the same announcement (but other UC schools have not yet apparently). I know other schools are saying they will be in person in the fall, but I strongly believe many of them will revert to online once we get closer to the date. They all seem to follow each other and I’m not sure any school is going to want to be the one to open up fully, if they then end up with sick/dead students or faculty.
If your daughter really wants UC Davis, you can TAG there from a California cc which means you get guaranteed admission as a transfer student if you meet certain requirements.
Hey, thanks so much and really great advise. My daughter did really love U Idaho. The campus is beautiful, and the size is fantastic for her (not too big, not too small). She’s looking to live in a floor of others in the Environmental Science program. She also visited WSU and felt it to be way too big and they seem a bit over-obsessed talking about the accomplishments of the WSU football team vs. the school’s academics.
The only thing that I didn’t love about Idaho was how big the Greek system is there. I remember from my college days going to a school w/such an emphasis on the Greek system that if you chose NOT to go that route it takes a bit longer to find your place on campus.
All that said, we’re just trying to figure it all out. Does she just go with “door #1” which is a great choice w/Idaho or “door #2” at cc then looking at UC Davis as a transfer. Davis is for sure a higher ranked school, but it’s not just about academic rankings. Also, call me nervous but I have a sneaking suspicion that Fall 2020 will see more schools moving online. I can only imagine the potential class-action lawsuits sprouting up if universities say “it’s safe” only to have an outbreak.
@Damon389 That kind of insight about the Greek system is incredibly helpful. Thank you! We’re in the middle of virtual visits at a lot of schools and that’s the kind of information that just won’t ever come up. I love the size of Idaho for my S21 as a potential “big school” to consider–knowing it’s small for some other kids.
I feel for kids like yours who have to figure it out for next year for the first time. What I keep reminding myself is that there is no one path, no one option, no decision that is “forever” for any of them. If Idaho felt like the right place for your D, then hold onto that for now until you have information that tells you otherwise. And then…make a different choice. That’s the best you, and she, can do right now. You can’t go wrong doing that.