Brilliant!!! Why didn’t I think of that?!?
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Just got an acceptance from CUBoulder. C25 is studying for day 2 of 1st semester finals, so can’t muster excitement. But, the parents say “WOO”!
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This is familiar. BUT #1 is now $22k more than #2. As much is #1 is loved, it is hard to say no to $88k of savings even though it fits just under the max budget we set. At #2, loved the school, more of a standout. At #1, more average student. There is another school tied for #1…, but no word from them until March 31 and I expect a similar price to #1. There were 7 other schools, one of which was even cheaper and the others are all between…but I think we are really down to these 3.
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Thank you. I don’t think so. I think she just wants to be able to hold conversations with people that are interested in the same things (academics). She wants to fit in. She hasn’t fit in in high school and I think she believes she’ll fit in at #1 school.
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She’s been to school #2 3 times now and it’s 9 hours away so another visit there isn’t feasible. She is hoping to do an over night at school #1 before end of February but it’s the height of Mock Trial season so it will be tough. The March 15 deadline is so the school can give the scholarship she won to someone else if she decides not to attend there. She got her final financials last night so we have all the numbers for top 2 schools now.
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It sounds like your daughter is carefully thinking this decision through. I think this is the time for all kids to be really honest with themselves about what is important to them when it comes to their college education/experience.
Is standing out academically most important to a student?
Is saving the most money most important?
Is the rank of the school/prestige most important?
Is being close to home most important?
I don’t think there are any right or wrong answers to these questions because it is so specific to each student and the resources they have available. If budget isn’t constrained, saving money (while nice) may not be the most important issue, etc. But there are trade-offs to every decision, and realizing there might not be one optimal choice is essential.
I hope your daughter figures out what she really wants from all the permutations she can create (that’s an issue for smart kids - they can hypothesize way beyond what they need to) soon and be happy with her decision.
One thing we told all three of our children is that there are very few decisions you cannot remake. If they chose a college that wasn’t right for them, they still would have options (transfer, take a gap year, etc). It was very anxiety relieving for our kids as they went through the process because the ‘final’ decision was only final if it worked.
Wishing your daughter the best.
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I can’t imagine that big price difference! We have the final costs and they stand at around $8k difference. Of course there is also #3 which would be completely free, but she hasn’t even visited ( a stipulation for the scholarship) and doesn’t really seem interested in doing so. I don’t think she has the mental capacity at this point to even think about #3.
I don’t know how any of you that have kids back to back can deal with this. I have 3 years between my 2 kids to get a little breather with all of this.
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take this as a sample of 1 - well 2 since i have 2 kids: our child at an ivy loves it but also is shocked how many students have zero life skills and blames parents micromanaging their learning to get into the school. In a 400 level history class about politics in America, she said several students ask why should they vote, as the president/electoral college number was locked in this blue state - and she remained shocked that students had no clue about “down ballot” candidates or issues. So many more examples to list. She has also found like minded peers and is happy - but also eye opening.
Our other child (same stats as the other kid) fell in love and attends a LAC with a much higher acceptance rate - guess what - she also has so many amazing peers that also entered the school with top stats - and they also fell in love and picked the less prestigious college. So many amazing self motivated peers and we are happy she did not let prestige drive her decision - as we believed this was the right fit too.
Amazing, interesting students are out there at every school 
They both felt they had only a small group of like minded peers at their HS and we are thrilled both found their people and professors at their respective colleges.
Edit to add - the parents facebook groups are also night and day - very eye opening for us.
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I wish your daughter the best in making this tough decision. Ultimately, it’s important that it’s both within budget and that she’ll find a place where she’ll succeed and feel comfortable.
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D25 also in at Boulder!
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Congratulations!
S25 admitted to CU Boulder Engineering w/ small scholarship. Huzzah! We have so much research to do…
On a less positive note, I finally saw his fall term report card with my own eyes and, well…it’s good that we have so many nice options from the EA round. Spring could be pretty hairy. (yes, I’m annoyed with my kid for getting a B- in English. My dude, this is not the time for these shenanigans!)
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We need the ability to post 2 reactions - a post like this is definitely a 
and a 
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Keeping in line with the “Pack” in “MidwestPack” I vote red, assuming I get a vote.
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I had a feeling that option would make you happy @MidwestPack 
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Thank you. I don’t believe either school has a parent page. College #1 has an admitted student Instagram which my D loves. It would be so helpful if school #2 had one also but we have been unable to find one. She did ask her admission counselor yesterday if there was an admitted student page somewhere.
Congratulations! CU Boulder seems to be a really popular topic and college pick on the boards.
our college counselor said basically they do a cursory read and the obvious accepts and deny get sorted and everyone else is like “we’ll come back to these later”
My nails are currently Carolina blue but my kid didn’t apply to UNC, so I got you…
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We are expecting THREE admissions decisions today. Everyone in our little household has butterflies, although only one school is near the top of the list. Luckily, my son has off from school this week because it would be super hard to focus.
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