4.0, captain of everything, president of 2 clubs, volunteer of the year, 99 percentile SAT score, super outgoing. Apparently her older brother is full-pay at flagship U, the family can’t afford both of them, so the girl accepted a full ride to the commuter/directional (85% acceptance rate, 50% dropout rate) even before any big decisions come in. Why wouldn’t you at least wait until decisions, see if any surprise awards … something?
My jaw has been on the floor since finding out. I’m not a snob, it’s just a student of her caliber earned the right to attend a better match.
Local directional in my state means a state school, but not the flagship. For example, Kutztown or Millersville State University (used to be state teachers colleges) instead of Penn State or Pitt.
Wow. Wonder if it was the kid’s decision or the parents. Similar situation a year ago with a friend my daughter’s - the kid was taking the long view of her education to include medical school for which she will likely have to pay full sticker price. This is a wealthy family, living in very wealthy part of town. Brave and thoughtful decision, I thought.
You also don’t know the full future plan. Since the family is full pay…perhaps when the older sibling graduates, this younger one will transfer elsewhere.
or she could be perfectly happy at her directional university. You do know that many students do graduate from these colleges, right? There are very smart, high achieving students at many colleges…not just the elites.
ETA…most directional universities do NOT have early decision. So it is very possible,this student does still have pending applications…and will see what happens financially with them.
The rockstar kid at my school - 2400 SAT (!), National Merit finalist, perfect AP scores and grades - dropped out of an Ivy a semester in. Came back home and started her approach to college from square one. Maybe if she’d gone to a directional, she would still be there. Who are we to judge others’ choices? Even if someone has the “right” to attend a “better” school, who says they should?
She should have good merit aid coming at plenty of good schools with those stats. That is weird that she didn’t wait. Maybe there’s something about the state school that she likes.
None of this is your business or concern whatsoever. You have no idea whether this kid / family has health issues (physical or mental), financial issues or other constraints. You have no idea what the kid’s goals are.
Btw here in the Midwest there are plenty of good students who attend directionals. If this kid is such a rockstar, she’ll do fine in life.
We had a very near top kid who almost went to a directional until the school counslor leaped in and and directed him to other possibilities. He’s got a full merit ride now at a top 100 university. His family just didn’t really understand their options.
I think she should go to the least selective school that’s available to her and should study Psychology. That way nobody can accuse her of being overly concerned with school prestige or the practicality of her major. And she’s a smart kid, so she’ll still end up in the same place she would if she were to attend a much better school with amazing alumni connections and great job placement.
Holy smokes. This place is crazy.
For the record, I’m not the OP, but I’m pretty sure the OP wasn’t saying it was his/her business. NPRfan was simply saying that it was surprising. I didn’t see anything in the OP about calling the kids parents or contacting Child Protective Services.
Having attended both an elite public university and a directional/commuter school – unlike many posters here, I suspect – the difference between the two is often night and day, and well-intentioned posters can take the “bloom where planted” thing a little too far. Motivation is all well and good, but it does not always make up for serious deficiencies in a school.
Presumably/hopefully she has weighed her options carefully and run EFC calculators. I do think it’s quite odd not to apply anywhere else in the hopes of a merit scholarship at a more rigorous school.
He was fortunate. Public school counselors are often overworked and/or clueless about college admissions. My counselor senior year (many of us had a different one each year) didn’t even know about the major scholarship program at the state flagship. Good grief.
@warblersrule my husband attended an elite school also. But it just was not a great place for him despite being a legacy, blah blah blah. He graduated from what some might call a TTT (folks from Pronceton Revoew will remember that term)…a college which is very much less than prestigious.
He thanks that school every day for giving him the skills, and degree to have a very successful and lucrative career in his field.
I wonder if the OP misunderstood the announcement. How does one even know a student has committed to a college already? I see kids making the announcement “I’m going to college!” when they get their first acceptance letter but it doesn’t mean they are attending that particular college.
I don’t think anyone said anything about Harvard, but it fits in with a lot of the black and white thinking I’ve seen in my short time here. If you’re not a huge fan of the local directional, then you must be shooting for Harvard, and willing to pay full freight.
There are a whole lot of schools in the space between Harvard and the local directional.
If the kid is a top student of the type the OP described, she probably has SAT scores that are 250 points higher in all sections than the kids at the local school. And her GPA is probably a full point higher than most kids there.
Of course, there are probably other reasons for choosing the school, but from an academics standpoint, the local school is probably not a good fit. Will she be challenged in her classes? Will she meet kids who challenge her intellectually? Probably not. Or not to the degree these things will be true at a school that is a better fit academically.
Why is it so surprising that a kid selecting a school way down the ranks academically is surprising?
Ummm… Directionals have a full spectrum of students and those who work hard end up in fine careers and leadership positions. It is a myth that a fancy name college is what hands you your success.