This student would have had to commit to the M-C by April 8th. Wondering if you know what that student chose?
I did not know that so I will ask!
My D24 will only let one of her 5 acceptances know she is declining, as she was awarded a scholarship at the school that maintains a waitlist. Sheāll just run out the clock on the others.
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Congratulations! Sounds like a wonderful place to land!
My D24 finally committed this week as well. Sheās declining acceptance at the #2 choice she was holding on to, so her generous merit $$ can go back into the pot and hopefully help financial aid appeals for others.
(Weāve heard this particular #2 school is able to reassign $$ as students decline acceptance. Not sure if thatās universally the case, but something to keep in mind if someoneās student hasnāt yet declined a definite NO school and has any sort of aid/merit offered.)
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congratulations! We have an appeal in at Amherst right now (similar situationāFA is good, but better at peer schools, so we figured it couldnāt hurt to ask)ā¦Iām currently trying not to be TOO obvious to S about how Iām hoping he ends up thereā¦maybe theyāll run into each other doing 5 college things!
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We had the same approach- helping my kid narrow down the list of colleges initially was sorely needed but then he took it from there. But now that he has narrowed his 9 acceptances to be between two schools, he is really struggling to decide. I am thinking we might need to get involved again. He is deciding between Syracuse and University of Denver (computer engineering). Cost is not a consideration since he got great $ at both (which is why he took them over the public schools). He loves both schools. I did the coin toss but he really would go with whichever came up. No gut reaction. We also did a pro and cons list. Any suggestions on how we can help him decide?
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Which is closer to home? If they are truly otherwise equal that would be my tie-breaker - whichever is closer. Everyone I know who is within a few hours drive is happy they are - still away but you can get there easily when you need or want to. It makes all the holiday and year end/beginning travel easier too.
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If he really doesnāt have a choice I would start to discuss less important things. Where is the weather is nicer for him, maybe Syracuse is closer to home, howās the food, outdoor activities better in Denver, etc.
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easy driving distance is SO NICE. I have one kid 4 hours away and one who went 1000 miles away; 1000 mile kid graduated last year and still half-jokingly complains that we didnāt come visit him as much as we do his brother. āYou went 1000 miles away! And you were only on campus 2 1/2 years anyway between study abroad and covid!ā
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Driving distance is nice, but distance isnāt the only convenience factor. Our two older kids both were 7-9 hours way by car. Our third is, on paper, 90 minutes away. But because itās in an urban setting that 90 minutes is sometimes 3 hours one way in nightmare traffic. Parking is always painful and at $55+ even for a short time. Parking near their dorm is impossible. And the campus itself is so secure that parents can never get into any buildings anyway, and sometimes not onto the entire campus grounds at all. We wanted to use our close access to move a few of the bulkier dorm items before move-out day (like a chair) and couldnāt even manage that because weāre not allowed on the grounds and the items were too bulky for the student to move half a mile on their own to reach where we could help.
While we really looked forward to having someone closer and move-in was admittedly easier, on balance I might trade the wonderful multi-day visits on the bucolic and peaceful campuses of our older kids for the close but otherwise unappealing experience of trying to visit the youngest. When we have visited itās usually been meeting him off campus at a nearby restaurant. Sadly despite thousands of restaurants in town, we have yet to land on a great one near the campus ā Iām sure weāll discover it eventually.
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You canāt win! One of ours is less than 3 hrs and the other is 4 or more depending on the day . The closer one complained we visited too much freshman yr. So we cut back. Then she seemed annoyed that we visited the further one āso muchā her freshman year (it was parents weekend and one other time in fall). Well, maybe because you were abroad, and she hasnāt asked us not to? So we ramped up visits again. We love visiting but also do not want to annoy either! Tough balance.
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I know what you meant but this very much made me chuckle!
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I agree various location factors could dominate such a decisionāand I would sure be tempted by Denver. Great city, fantastic recreation options nearby, easy to get to, or travel from (I think they are like a 30-40 drive from the airport depending on traffic) . . . really attractive.
Syracuse, NY, is nice in a different way, and I think in fact some people could prefer Syracuse for various reasons. But absent such a compelling reason, again I would find Denver very, very tempting.
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Bubonicā¦bucolic - six one way, half dozen the other 
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College Combat might be helpfulā¦you can choose what factors are most important and see how they rank the colleges against one another.
I have to admit, Iād lean away from Syracuse just because I know how cloudy and gloomy it is for large parts of the year (especially while school in session). But weather might not matter at all to your son.
All three of my kids went basically with vibes in the endā¦your son has two great choices - he wonāt be making a bad decision either way. Good luck.
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After reviewing orientation videos for last yearās admitted freshman, some ideas for consideration - housing (# years guarantee, difficulty in getting off campus housing for years after), advising process for registering for classes, policy for accepting A/P credits, difficulty in getting required courses, difficulty in getting prescription medications routinely filled, availability for peer mentors especially for first time freshman, availability of clubs/interests.
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It is so interesting to see how different students/parents think about things, what works for them in terms of process/decisions and what they value. This is our second time through this crazy college application process - but different as my older oneās ED choice worked out so done a lot sooner but also then didnāt have the same options where decisions were then required. This is my biggest take away from this whole process ā ask questions, take input but at the end of the day what every one wants/values is so individualistic that only you and your child can figure out what is the best choice - so often have to tune out noise/voices around you to make the right decision for yourself.
One of the reasons that I love this board is that I think a lot of people here realize that and the āadviceā is more nuanced and less absolute. Iāve been surprised how many people around us and on other blogs are so willing to give āof courseā advice - in terms of āof course you would/ should choose college x.ā
In terms of our journey this time, my son finally decided at the end of last week. He had a different decision process than I would have chosen (I like all the information and he felt he needed much less and that it would ultimately come down to a āfeelā). Other schedule commitments made it so he has not able to do any admitted student days, and this made me much sadder than it made him! He has surprised us in this process. In September I would never have thought he would have chosen our āsafetyā state flagship over a āreachā mid-sized āeliteā that was in his top 3. I think he always had a vision of what type of place he would go to and ranking and prestige were important to him. But then he found out in January he was a finalist for the big merit scholarship for our state flagship and then actually got it after interviewing. And we have watched what he values and wants change over the last couple of months, as this option that he didnāt really seriously consider became more and more compelling as he realized all the benefits of the personalized attention/benefits he could get from this scholar program.
We are fortunate that we can afford to send him wherever he wants, but it turns out in the final analysis he values different things than what he thought he valued in September. We also told him all along that we would be happy with any of his final choices and they were all equally great options, just each had their different pluses. Here too we were different than him (I thought for what he wanted we should seriously consider 5 of his options, he quickly narrowed it to two). A few days out from his decision, he seems happy and content with his decision. And I have been amused to see otherās reactions. Half the people are āof courseā he would have chosen the merit scholarship and the other half are surprised that our kid chose our state flagship over other more āprestigiousā colleges. Different strokes for different folksā¦
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Another thing to consider is if he has some idea of where he might want to be after he graduates? In terms of network both for jobs and social life. Iām assuming (but not sure) that there might be more benefits in post grad life to Syracuse if he wants to settle in the northeast and to Denver if he wants to settle in the west?
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This has come up as a point in the journeys of several here on this thread, but I think worth emphasizing. SO MUCH learning comes from the actual process of applying to schools. So no wonder that any number of preferences can and do change for kids as they move through the process.
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Totally!
At the start of senior year, D24ās #1 pick was Univ of Arizona because she was afraid that she wouldnāt know anybody, wouldnāt have friends to hang out with. School counselor told me basically, āDonāt worry. Many seniors find that what they felt was their #1 in August of senior year is not always #1 by the time mid-to-late March rolls around. Thereās a lot of personal growth that happens in those months.ā She was totally right.
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