Welcome @goldenstatecat. I’m another with no Naviance or Maia. In fact, my Ds school only sends about 50% on to 4 year schools and all the top kids stay in state, so there is little to no insight available to help guide my D as she considers vastly different schools than all her peers.
@3kids2dogs What a great trip! Tulane was on our summer visit list, but we were only going to make it there from the East Coast because D had a conference to attend in Houston in June and we were going to tour Tulane and Rice. We were in New Orleans for a competition the summer before her freshman year when colleges were the last thing on either of our minds and we didn’t even consider looking at Tulane, despite being mere miles away. At least she remembers the city. UA is WAY too big for D21, but I think D22 would love it. Glad to continue to hear good things!
Count us in as another household that is not a fan of online sessions. I have scheduled 3 schools today for D to listen to at 2, 4 and 5. Hopefully she pays a little bit of attention.
More vibe questions to augment my reading of old threads. On cultural vibe for friendliness, stress, collaboration, if anyone wants to share about Tufts, please feel free to do so (in comparison to some other school can be helpful too).
@3kids2dogs I have been pushing Bama on my D21. I had to visit planned to go there and FSU but the Rony destroyed that trip. Of course my Clemson daughter is not very happy about my pumping up Bama with her sister or FSU for that matter. But got to chase the merit money with her wanting either Nurse Practitioner school or Medical School.
@burghdad I am a Nurse Practitioner and it is a great career. D21 and I will see BAMA in 4 weeks (walking campus even if closed) , but she needs Presidential Elite to make it affordable and her 1590 SAT won’t make the Prez Elite. Wonder if BAMA will have any changes in score requirements with RONA interference with testing.
And welcome new comers. Count us also in with the school district that does NOT have Naviance or the sort.
@burghdad My daughter is also interested in Clemson, but we haven’t visited yet (it was part of our Spring Break trip that got canceled. We’re planning a NC/SC visit trip sometime in the fall), but after seeing Alabama and knowing she also already likes UofSC, Clemson is dropping fast because it will cost so much more than either of them! Never say never, of course!
@mm5678
It’s interesting - my daughter is looking at both USC and UCLA (OOS) and may also be eligible to receive NMF merit. While the difference with the scholarship is significant, it wasn’t as large as I thought. I think its about $16K/yr differential from full UCLA OOS cost of attendance. USC’s tuition-only figure is so high ($57256) that the discount of half of that still leaves a pretty hefty tuition figure. I think I calculated it around $48K cost of attendance with the merit scholarship if you didn’t receive any additional merit.
@goldenstatecat our school uses College Kickstart instead of Naviance.
I appreciate the vibe comparisons! We are struggling to complete the list and with whether or not to send him clear across the country. We toured Santa Clara over here and I loved it for my son but on the reach side we are intrigued with Cornell (that campus!) and he’s a bit fixated on Duke. I have the Fiske guide - which I recommend - but it’s hard to know what these schools are like.
My son is STEM and his dad and I want for him a school where it’s hard NOT to get socially involved, and where students are academic but not cutthroat. We were thinking Midwest - Purdue, Notre Dame - would be a good fit for him. U Washington tour left us with some social concerns plus he probably can’t get into CS coming from out of state. We’re also wrestling a bit with the vibe at the small techie schools - RPI, WPI, Colorado School of Mines - being 2/3 boys and maybe socially difficult, plus the first two being far away.
@NateandAllisMom, I have no personal connection or knowledge, but just from absorbing stuff on CC for four years I’d say WPI would be the most positively social of the three small techie schools you mentioned. WPI seems to be described as intensely, creatively collaborative with students working almost constantly in teams. Honestly, it seems like a fun place for those students who are truly “into” their STEM projects and like to work with others. I’ve even read it described as a mini-version ( obviously less selective and intense) of MIT in its focus on innovation. If I had “that” kind of kid, that’s the one I’d be checking out. I haven’t heard the most positive things about campus culture of the other two, but I’m sure there are students who love them. The concern about Mines had more to do with responses to a female student asking about it. but, honestly, I wouldn’t want to want a son to go to a school that doesn’t have a welcoming culture for females, either. Don’t take my word as law, though, as I admit this is all second- and third-hand info.
@NateandAllisMom we did a self-tour of Lehigh during this shutdown. Campus is so beautiful! But living local, they definitely have a hard partying, heavy Greek rep. The town didn’t look great - not dangerous, just not great. Greek life was suspended before all this hit so not sure what will come of that. Stories from a coworkers daughter were enough to turn my D off, but she loved the campus.
@3kids2dogs - did you drive to Tulane/LSU/Alabama? My S21 is trying to convince me to do a roadtrip to see a number of schools on his list. We could definitely drive there and we would take all precautions - but I am still a leery of traveling and wanted to hear about your experience getting there. Thanks.
@NateandAllisMom - do a search on CC for Carleton and you will see a lot of posts talking about the vibe. One recent string is called: Help with decision - Mac or Carleton. My daughter toured in the Fall and loves the school, she thought smart, nice kids (based on the couple that attend from our area), cooperative, more STEM focused and she is a theater/film kid - but they have a lovely big building dedicated to the arts - but arts not the focus of the campus (like how she felt at Vassar, Wes).
Students were friendly, a couple joined us for lunch when they saw us sitting there and the campus is very similar to a New England LAC including a pond that freezes in the winter for ice skating. Lots of green, paths and very cute small community of Northfield. Trimester system - so tends to move faster - pros: more classes per school year, con: seem to always have a midterm or final. They are trying to work on diversity and talked very openly about it during the info section and called themselves a PWI - I had to look it up: Predominately White Institution and have eliminated merit with more $ put into need to diversify the student body. Ultimate frisbee is king and lots of other D3 and club sports opportunities too.
We know two sisters at Mines and they LOVE it - never heard them or their parent’s mention an issue. WashU - St Louis tends to attract the kids that are known to grind away at academics - and not super social around school - but just based on the kids that attend from our school. (or maybe you meant University of Washington Seattle - and yes, CS hard for everyone to gain direct admit and nearly impossible to transfer in?) From our school stats - Carleton kids tend to have a slightly higher GPA/Test score over Santa Clara - but similar nice kids.
For comparison tools, our school is transitioning away from Naviance and uses Scoir and College Kickstarter - both new this year.
Thanks for the info! Yes, UW I meant. He’s showing reach for Carleton in Kickstart but hopefully will get an ACT done; grades are good. It would only take a small negative to get Lehigh off the list. I have one more - U Mass Amherst from his list of targets. Need to look into that one still.
Has anyone heard if counselors are thinking merit aid from privates (eg Tulane) will still be available for our kids? I know all schools have taken a hit financially due to covid.
Well…we lived on the edge and flew and then drove a rental from place to place. Masks on from the moment we stepped in the airport until we got in the car and took other reasonable precautions (and we had layovers both ways, a total of four planes and four airports were involved - mask use varied with O’Hare and New Orleans being virtually universal to Birmingham being less than 50%. Houston was somewhere in between). Planes were relatively full but they kept the middle seats open throughout.
We brought plenty of disinfecting wipes and wiped down from airline seat armrests/tray tables, to rental car high touch surfaces, to the hotel room. Washed hands when we could and used hand sanitizer when we couldn’t. Elected to use self park instead of valet at the hotel; never paid with cash; used QR menus. Masks on during the Tulane tour and whenever we were indoors somewhere (and not eating), but not on when outside/in the car/in our hotel room. All employees we encountered were wearing masks except for one gas station employee somewhere in Mississippi. College campuses were obviously quite empty and virtually all buildings were locked, so it’s not even the full summer tour experience of old. But it was still valuable for our purposes.
We were fine with it, but it’s all in your comfort level. Being from Illinois which is one of the harder hit states, I think we are just jaded and figured we can catch it at home, we can catch it on the road - may as well make the trip. I’m so glad we did.
@nanosec total COA for UCLA OOS is $64K. As you said, 1/2 tuition at USC brings COA down to $47K-ish. We are full pay and that $68K over 4 years would make a significant difference and squeak us into being doable. Plus she’d have the possibility of competing for the full tuition merit there. She would love being in LA. Either is a long shot admission-wise regardless!
@NateandAllisMom – My S21 is planning on doing engineering and is interested in WPI b/c of its collaborative, project-based curriculum and global focus. It also seems like for a STEM school is has a better selection of humanities courses than some others he has looked at. That appeals to him.
We were supposed to visit in March, but alas. . . We did the virtual tour and it looked nice. Not an amazing campus but nice enough. Would love to hear from anyone who’s been there. I’ve read the food and dorms are not great, but it sounds like many students only live on campus for a year.
We live in NC and no one around here has hardly heard of it, but my S doesn’t seem to mind that.
We were also supposed to visit Lehigh on the same trip. It’s still kinda on my S’s list but I worry it’s too Greek, social-oriented for him. He hasn’t mentioned it recently, so I’m not sure if he’s going to apply or not. It’s not a college I’m pushing at this point. It’s kinda hard to get to for us, and I’m just not feeling it compared to others on his list.
Does anyone know anything about Rice engineering? I’m trying to get my S to consider it as a reach, but don’t know much other than the engineering is small compared to most places, of course. My H has always had a soft spot for Rice and tried to get my D18 interested but she didn’t want to be in Texas for college.
(in comparison to some other school can be helpful too).