This is good to know! Thanks!
As far as the academic job market goes, the success rate in general is so low that itâs pretty much impossible to sayâdetermining whether differences are meaningful at the extremes of a distribution is hard at best.
I have no insight into success rates outside of academia.
ETA: Also complicating this, of course, is the fact that someone holding a baccalaureate degree and a PhD from the same institution is rare, making sampling tough.
3 Likes
Thanks for sharing your insight.
In the U.K. the attitude was very different, it was generally easier to get a PhD place where you did undergrad, so you only moved if you got into somewhere better. If there was nowhere better than your undergrad institution then why would you want to go elsewhere, unless you werenât good enough to be offered the chance to stay. So it was very common to meet people whoâd spent their entire academic career in the same place. Much like the lifers at MIT mentioned by @tamagotchi.
1 Like
My D struggled to make a decision to attend a less-selective school than others she had been admitted to. It was hard to watch her struggle with it. Hugs to you.
Sheâs at Muhlenberg now and it had always been one of her top choices throughout the process because it offered her exactly what she wanted in terms of theatre, dance, and music opportunities. But when it was time to actually commit to a choice, she struggled. She had been accepted to more selective schools and while prestige had not really been a part of her process of choosing schools to apply to, she was definitely cognizant of their relative selectivity. I also think there was a bit of âwell I worked really hard in HS, shouldnât I be somewhere more selective?â that entered her head as well.
We ended up going to the ASD for two other schools - Sarah Lawrence and Mount Holyoke - and while there were many things she liked about those schools, she realized that Muhlenberg did really offer her the best options for her for staying involved in theatre, dance, AND music along with classes that sounded interesting in all of her chosen academic areas of interest.
She did wait until the very last day to decide, but once she decided, sheâs been 100% happy with her choice. Sheâs had some ups and downs at school this year but sheâs never regretted her choice. She even did have other students say âYou got into X, why are you here?â But that doesnât bother her because she knows the answer. It was just the right school for her. She made Deans list in the Fall, loved her classes, has made several good friends, got a job in the Costume shop, and has been involved in all of her chosen activities. She was elected to be an officer in the Pep Band and was asked to run for a position in the Dance Association. Theatre auditions have been challenging but there are so many shows that she had a lot of opportunities and was in a show (and stage managed another) in her first semester.
We tried not to influence her choice too much while she was trying to decide (we gave her an overall cost range that we could cover and all of her acceptances but one fell into that range) but I was certainly happy that Muhlenberg was also our least expensive choice. She received a Tuition Exchange scholarship which made it less than our state flagship which she was also considering.
Having said all of that, she did end up waitlisted at her other top choice which was Vassar. She did choose to stay on the waitlist but was never offered a spot off of it. I think if she had been, that might have been a harder choice for her.
Good luck to you and your son on making this tough decision. I agree with others that visiting any that are still under any kind of consideration can be helpful.
12 Likes
I think this is common - and she might have gone to the others and same thing - 100% happy.
Thereâs not necessarily just one school that can work. In fact, there likely is far more than one!!
2 Likes
My oldest just graduated from Muhlenberg this past May!
(It had always been her top choice from the start, so we were very happy when they came through with a good scholarship that left it effectively tied for our most affordable choice.)
5 Likes
Itâs rush week for S23. Shockingly he has been quite communicative about it so Iâm learning a bit about the process.
Food services there are under investigation for making several people ill so thats not good. Hoping its remedied quickly.
And Im trying to find his adhd med for under $500. Itâs not easy. Him being off them this week isnât helping. I may have to bite the bullet soon.
2 Likes
We think we have a list for D23âs transfer apps, which I am not going to share until after the whole process. Canât believe weâre going through this again. It contains one repeat for a wait list from last year. One Hail Mary no way sheâll get in but the app is free that she was rejected to last year. And 4 solid (still selective) choices never researched last year. If none of those work the plan is to take a full load this fall locally while applying to the state school that she turned down full tuition at last year 
âŠ. And S25 starts the military academy/ROTC apps in about a month.
13 Likes
Iâm glad to hear the update! Iâve been think about you all and wondering how it was going.
3 Likes
I had mentioned in an earlier post that the biggest challenge for my D23 during her first semester was budgeting her money, that after spending her savings on endless concerts and Starbucks, she was going to run out of her spending money before the end of spring semester. Luckily that hasnât happened yet, but this week her school reached out to her to offer her a job! The school needs a notetaker for some classes that sheâs taking, and because she had a 4.0 first semester, she was contacted. Sheâs going to be paid $15/hour for doing what she is already doing.
23 Likes
My daughter is also struggling with budgeting and Starbucks is her favorite waste. She actually ran out of money first semester and had to dip into her savings. I think sheâs doing better this term, some things she has to do the hard way.
2 Likes
Our D works a total of 8 hrs. per week and tries to keep weekly spending to that. She has two jobs and I joke that one of them âpays to do her homework.â Front desk at the library or school gym during quiet hours are great for this.
âCost of Livingâ is too often overlooked. I remember asking students what they do for fun during a visit and they talked about going to Chinatown for dinner and going to a lot of concerts. There is definitely something to be said about a rural campus. And some schools are much more insular than others.
3 Likes
Definitely true. D23 is at Trinity in San Antonio and in a group of kids who seem to be going out on the town pretty often. I went to W&L and I spent maybe $100 my entire freshman year 
1 Like
My D works about 8 hours a week at her on campus job and then made some money over break subbing. We also give her $100 a month via transfer from our account to hers. So far she seems to be doing OK keeping her spending under control but I notice that sheâs found a few online stores - like Depop - and is starting to spend more there.
We also do this, but she tries to stick with the work money for daily expenses and save the rest for especial purchases - the occasional concert, a jacket, etc⊠And REALLY tries not to touch her summer job money/invest it. She is doing a much better job than I ever did at that age.
Maybe why itâs best to go to school in the sticks - although they have cool restaurants right down the hill in Lexington. At least today they do.
Mostly just The Palms when I was there, itâs much nicer now.
D23 saved 10K working in high school and in the summers, we donât supplement her spending money but weâve also made it clear that if she runs out of money, itâs her problem. We pay for a meal plan and she wonât starve. Sheâs a cheerleader, which makes a campus job difficult, but she already has something lined up for the summer.
1 Like
I agree. Our D goes to college in Boston so thereâs always a concert or show in town. She loves theatre too. Although when I think about it, I did my undergrad at Syracuse, so I probably went to a concert a month at the Carrier Dome. But back then, tickets werenât $150+.
Mine is a D1 athlete. I donât know how much she fits all her stuff into the days, but she does. Thatâs why she only works a few hours, but I get it.