<p>For those of you who have young adults in college some where what was the school you let get away? Which one finished second? You like it or loved it but it didn’t win the prize?</p>
<p>Feel free to share why if you want. Just for fun. </p>
<p>My son isn’t in college yet but there are two schools, well, really three that are hard to not put at the top of the list. I love almost everything about them and can’t rule them out yet although we are leaning heavily in a different direction. </p>
<p>Wake Forest
Davidson (reach)
Elon</p>
<p>All in NC, obviously. </p>
<p>I could see my kids growing into amazing people at each of these places. I’d be really curious as to which schools your sons and daughters almost went to again just for fun. </p>
<p>I can’t explain why these three school are probably nto going to be where my kids are going to go other than, after thinking about everything we could think about, another option is just a little better in the final analysis. Even though there are thinsg about each of these schools that I like better, it is the overall analysis that leaves them finishing second.</p>
<p>We also really like Mercer but at this point we don’t know as much about it and it doesn’t have that romantic image in our minds that Wake, Davidson or Elon has. </p>
<p>There is almost nothing wrong with Davidson. It is almost the perfect place to go to school. Almost perfect. And for all the great things one can say about Davidson, well, Wake Forest is that plus it is bigger. It isn’t huge but it is certainly not tiny like Davidson is. </p>
<p>Elon is almost the perfect blend of Wake and Davidson. The right size and not impossible to get into.</p>
<p>For DS who is graduating next month from USC, the school was Dartmouth. Man, when we drove into Hanover during their accepted students weekend, I started to drool, the campus was so beautiful! 70 degrees, the sun was shining, kids were lolling about or playing Frisbee on big lawn area, the building were stunning- it was the “perfect” college town! 2 days later the temp had fallen to a hi of 45 ,my son was freezing because he had not brought sox, too many of the students partied both nights he was there, and on the long plane ride home he decided it was not as perfect as we had hoped. Oh well. We were all glad that he went to college here in Calif.</p>
<p>ACCecil - we have similar tastes in colleges! My older son’s final 3 were Wake Forest, William & Mary and Elon. We loved all 3 - he ultimately chose Wake Forest (more sports oriented) and is very happy there. I had a hard time letting go of the other two - literally. It took a few weeks before I was ready to walk their folders of info to the recycling bin and wave good-bye.</p>
<p>Interesting replies. USC is amazing. I don’t recall it being generous with FA (it doesn’t have to be it is USC) but otherwise it is a home run. </p>
<p>Rockville,</p>
<p>Yes, we absolutely think alike. If I was in the Virginia area I’d be freaking out about W&M or U. of Vir. </p>
<p>I’m am happy your son is loving WF. Like I said it is one of the places I can get completely out of my mind.</p>
<p>My older son got to agonize between Harvard (parents’ alma mater) and Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. The bigger, better and incredibly dynamic Comp Sci department at CMU won the day. We regret the easier drive and the opportunity to relive our college days, but he definitely made the right decision. He’s a senior, and had a great job offer already this fall.</p>
<p>My younger son agonized between U of Chicago and Tufts. Although my Dad is from Chicago, my cousins lived in Evanston and my Dad had gotten his masters at Northwestern so I’d never actually seen the UC campus. It was drop dead gorgeous! (I am a sucker for collegiate gothic.) I wanted to go to college there. My son really liked the class he sat in on, but in the end “Active Citizenship” won over the “Life of the Mind”. A budding interest in International Relations and a presentation by the Global Leadership Institute didn’t hurt either. He’s just finishing up his freshman year and I have to say that Tufts has been everything promised and more.</p>
<p>Mathmom… my daughter is in a similar situation. The final 2 were Northwestern and Tufts. She loves the Tufts vibe, campus, the students and overall atmoshphere was her kind of school hands down. Looks like thats where she’ll be in the fall. I hope she loves it as much as your son does.</p>
<p>Final two were Vanderbilt and Syracuse (Newhouse); she is a junior at Newhouse…</p>
<p>when she attended accepted student day at Vandy back in 2008 there was a session in arts and sci discussing prospective majors; when she was asked what her interests were and she responded, the professor running the session laughed at her; didn’t go well at all…that kind of sealed the deal…made her feel like two cents; she didn’t want to spend the next four years defending her decision to attend…</p>
<p>For my S it was between U Michigan (with $16K/year scholarship) and Cornell for Engineering.</p>
<p>He agonized for weeks - LOVED U michigan campus, rah-rah, and they had Aerospace engineering as a major. LOVED Cornell campus and was much closer to home (being an Ivy didn’t hurt either). Ultimately he chose Cornell and is loving every minute of his freshman year.</p>
<p>D had narrowed it down to Franklin & Marshall and WPI - 2 completely differnt colleges. In the end she followed the $$ ($22K/year scholarship) and has loved every minute of her 4 years there. She is a bio major, but had a bunch of the engineering ‘nerdier’ schools on her final list. She just felt comfortable in that crowd - her intellectual peers.</p>
<p>Can’t wait to see what S2 (junior) will have to choose from…</p>
<p>Son applied to 7 schools and was admitted to all. Received great merit money from all but 1. He is interested in a very specific program. In the end, he was debating USC School of Cinematic Arts for Interactive Media and Southern Methodist for its 5-year BFA/MIT program. In the end, he chose SMU because the program was more to his liking and the size and feel of the campus appealed to him more. Friends think he is crazy to turn down USC SCA, but he is completely satisfied and confident in his decision. I am happy to have him in Dallas, and I just hope that a year from now, when he has finished one year, he is still as happy as he is at this moment.</p>
<p>ACCecil - I always wanted to send a kid to Davidson too. That would be my choice if I was 18 again (though I loved Wake Forest when I went there). D1 was won over by Davidson but ultimately got into Harvard, and I couldn’t second-guess her choice to go there. D2 really wanted a more urban experience, so she never considered Davidson, and my 11th-grader (for whom Davidson would be an ideal match) is determined to play snare in a big-time marching band, so Davidson’s off the list. Maybe I’ll convince a grandkid to give it a shot some day!</p>
<p>I really wanted D to look at the U of Washington. She was accepted to the honors program there and they have a great program in her relatively unusual major. I was about to book our flights to go out and look at it and she said “Let’s wait until we get back from Texas.” And then we went to visit the University of Texas, which also has a great program in her major. After a taste of sunshiny Austin during a snowy gloomy Northeastern Ohio February, D just did not want to visit Seattle. (Hey! I would not have minded looking at it!)</p>
<p>I was really pushing Scripps (great weather, beautiful campus, co-ed schools literally across the street, experience a diff part of the country), but D applied ED to Smith (stronger academically, open curric, house system instead of dorms, great college town, closer to home).</p>