Same story here – Cornell and Carnegie Mellon both have programs that are perfect on paper – but her reasoning is that she just doesn’t want to grind in college. And fair enough, I’ve seen her fall apart this year in an extremely challenging class that has a heavy workload, so she knows herself well. It kills me a little, though.
We have this going on with Georgia Tech. She still applied at my insistence – they are launching a new major that’s perfect, plus it’s so cheap for in-state applicants – but so many students from her school land there, and she wants a fresh start.
Well, that stinks. I have a high school friend who is a sociology professor at Bryn Mawr – he’s a great guy. I could try to connect you if you think it would be helpful.