Here in the south, there are only two weeks of school left. Just did DD18 signup for her senior pictures this summer which suddenly made the oncoming senior year for my first born seem very real. Wanted to hear some experienced parent thoughts on her college plan. She wants to leave the south and go west. Financially we are in the position to make this dream a reality regardless of financial/merit aid (still want her to get merit of course).
We visited a number of schools in California and Colorado and she fell head over heels in love with University of Colorado – Boulder. Loves to the point that she doesn’t want to look at or consider anywhere else. They don’t have ED but do have EA. She wants to try and get her app done in August when it opens. Presuming she does this by September (buffer for procrastination and for elements out of her control like recs) and based on past few year’s posts about Boulder admissions process – seems like she could know by Oct/Nov if she got in.
She is waiting on an ACT score from her second time but her first was a 29 and her GPA a 3.9 weighted and 3.8 unweighted I think, has taken 4 APs to date and plans to do 2-3 more next year. In other words – Boulder should be a safe bet. She should even qualify for their OOS lower merit award.
Trying to decide if we need to make her apply to other schools in the fall or if we can let her wait and see (and if she hasn’t heard by November – she would go ahead and apply to a few others).
The other school she loved was UCLA but when I asked her which she would go to if she got accepted to both – her answer was Boulder. When I asked why – she said because she didn’t love the competitive vibe at UCLA (actually said “I’m not about that life”) and that while she loves LA – she thinks it is too big a city for her to navigate at this point in her life. Both good answers and I think she really means it. I personally struggle with the “but you might be able to get into a ‘better’ school’ viewpoint but am fighting against it because I think she is right that Boulder is a place where she would thrive and be happy. She is a laid back, creative, liberal child who wants to be somewhere with beautiful nature and other smart but laid back people.
Boulder is a great school! If she likes it, why not apply EA? Just have some other options in mind in case she has to put in some last minute applications elsewhere.
Have you run the numbers to determine if Boulder is affordable? Financial aid typically is limited for out of state students. She’d also get no aid whatsoever from UCLA as an out of state student and it’s increasingly difficult to get in.
If Boulder would be expensive for you, there are other Western universities with great access to the outdoors that are not expensive for out of state students. Wyoming, Utah, Washington State, Western Washington, and New Mexico are among them, and would be somewhat less competitive for admission than Boulder.
I also recommend that she apply to at least one in-state option where admission is likely. Should some financial catastrophe happen, it would be nice to know that you have an affordable option.
Hmmmm, my concern would be a change of mind between August/September to May. I’d have her apply to Boulder EA but also some other places, both out west and closer to home also. She may decide she’s not ready to go so far away.
She should hear from CU before thanksgiving, so would still have time to apply to other schools if it was bad news.
CU is great, I went to CU, but I’d suggest not getting too invested. There are other good schhols. I’d suggest U Utah, ASU, etc. Montana is gorgeous. Wyoming is cheap.
@mamaedefamilia - we have determined we can afford Boulder OOS even if she doesnt get merit. Part of what she loves about Co is the number of sunny days and the relatively mild winters compared to places like Utah and Wyoming. I also must admit I like that Co. is only a two hour time difference compared to the three hours the west coast is. @suzy100 I have no concerns that she will not want to go far away - she is my wanderer and spends almost every summer far away from us! @twoinanddone why do you suggest not getting so invested? Am I wrong in thinking her qualifications (and the fact that she is full pay) make her a good candidate?
You never know. Essays and recommendations count, too. Why chance it? If she is not admitted, or if she is deferred, she will not be in a great state of mind to start thinking about and applying to other colleges. Have her prepare three or four more applications and set them aside, ready to mail, in case she doesn’t get in.
CU is need blind, so they consider everyone full pay. They do have a limit on the % of OOS students, but it is high. Wyoming is colder, but just as sunny. Utah is also Mountain time zone.
I don’t think it is wrong to only apply early to CU, but have others in your pocket, ready to go. If you/she think “CU, CU, and only CU” and come November CU says no, it will be very hard to find other choices, complete the applications and get excited about them. CU might be the first choice, but shouldn’t be the only choice. Fine good things about other schools too.
I think it can happen! A safety might be Northern Arizona university if you are picking from a climate/location perspective. She would be high up stats wise for incoming first year students. We,too, liked u of Utah but it gets smoggyish in the Salt Lake City valley…
As a parent, I would agree that UC Boulder is a very good school, and you can certainly feel proud and comfortable having her go there. Being happy and successful at a school is more important than a name.
I would just suggest she apply EA to some other schools. The rationale: she sounds like a likely candidate for UC Boulder–though I don’t know how marijuana legalization has impacted OOS applications in the last couple of years. However, the process can be unpredictable. Would she rather complete a few more applications and get the advantage that the early phase of the application process offers, or wait until the RD round, which might be more competitive?
I would also suggest Northern Arizona University and Colorado State as alternatives, just in case. Flagstaff, like Boulder, is a very cool, outdoorsy Rocky Mountain city. The drive to Sedona is one of the most beautiful around. The same with Fort Collins. I’ve visited both of those. I haven’t been to the University of Oregon, but it seems to me like it might be a good fit as well. That is one that, if she thought it was also a good choice, she might want to put in an EA application (if it has EA, not ED).
What about Colorado College in Colorado Springs? One class at a time, which would be great for some, not for others. It is more competitive now than all these other schools, except perhaps UCLA OOS.
I would go with EA at Boulder but suggest she do one safety (not just an “I can get in here” one, but an “I would be happy attending here” one) at the same time.
My kids did marching band so fall was always a huge time crunch for them with football season. We had both turn in college apps before classes began in the fall, and both only applied to two schools (like your D, by then they had the “this is it” school and a safety). Both got into their targets but I think having a safety in-pocket was good psychologically, too.
As a “laid back, creative liberal” child, does she want/dare to hear new and different ideas? Does she desire to grow and learn by having her views challenged by other ideas? Or does she desire only like minded campuses that serve to reinforce her ideas now? Those are some questions you may want to answer for yourself.
@younghoss she has spent her whole life in the south around a lot of conservative people and can’t wait to be somewhere where she doesn’t feel like an outsider. @TTG and @momofthreeboys thanks for the suggestions - will have her look at northern Arizona as she has not. Colorado College not for her - too small and she doesn’t like the one at a time approach. She liked University of Denver when we were there (smaller than she likes but had a lot of things that appealed to her). Colorado State is worth a look too - we didn’t get a chance to look at it.
We visited these schools eons ago. Boulder looked like it was trying its best to be Berkeley in the mountains without the strong academics. Fort Collins on the other hand was much more like a modern, Western city. Colorado State is also somewhat cheaper with better merit aid.
My daughter just finished her first year at CU Boulder - engineering. We live in the Northeast. She absolutely loved it there. Her stats were similar to your daughters. She applied before the end of October and was accepted before Thanksgiving. We had not visited campus yet but after a visit in January - she was sold and we put down a deposit before she had even heard from the 10 other schools (all in CA and WA) that she had applied to. We had visited most of them btw. I have nothing bad to say about CU other than it is a big school and all of the help and support you might need is there but you have to seek it our. Classes of 200 - 400 students are not uncommon but my daughter made it a point to get to know all of her professors. I am happy to answer more questions if you want to reach out to me. I think you can message me here.
@ylimekcaj - not sure I know how to message you separately … am glad to hear she loves it. Did she do any of the the housing options where you then have at least one small class with that group or the honors program where I understand you can take 1-2 small classes each semester. I am worried about the size and dd’'s ability to navigate the bigger classes. Our deal is that for at least freshman year she will do what she can to be in at least a few small size classes (so housing and honors assuming she qualifies). If you can figure out how to message me - I’ll figure out how to respond:)
To message just click on the name of the person you want to email and a page will pop up with a ‘message’ box.
CU has plenty of big classes like bio and math. Plenty of smaller ones too, especially in writing or English. Is your daughter applying to Arts & Sciences or a different college? That will control which courses she’ll be in. My nephew is a junior and did live in an engineering dorm, and had his original class schedule assigned to him. He had quite a hike between a class in engineering area and Chem 140 (a well known large lecture hall), but so did a dozen other kids who were assigned the same schedule.
Both my kids did apply early (rolling) to only one school each, but understood that if anything went wrong (couldn’t afford it, withdrawn acceptance, no financial aid, no longer wanted to go) she’d most likely have to take a gap year. Both agreed to that, but nothing did happen and each started at the only school to which she had applied.
I know it’s highly unlikely, but you might want a financial safety just in case someone loses a job, gets ill or some other unexpected expense comes up. I also would say my kid grew up a lot between spring junior year and spring senior year. He’d thought about doing ED at Vassar, by spring senior year he was sure he didn’t want to go there. (Too small, not urban enough.)