Another question--how do they decide?

[Jane in NC]

My son has just returned from an overnight visit/scholarship competition at a Midwestern college, a school that he "really, really, really" likes. Because he has had a similar experience at another Midwestern LAC, it was sort of straight forward to compare the two. School #1 had faculty that sold him on possibilities. School #2 did not resonate as well although he would be "quite happy" there. School #2 had better food. The student host at School #2 was definitely more personable, but my son won't hold that against School #1. There is the undefinable something about School #1.

 

This morning Dear Son announces he is cloning himself so that he can attend five colleges. And just who pays for this?

 

But back to the question. How do they decide? It is rational, emotional, financial? All three?

 

None of the five schools is identical to another. Each has merits and pitfalls. How does your student determine that the merits outweigh the pitfalls? Or am I just thinking too much about this? Does it all come as a revelation, an AHA moment of That is The One.

 

I'd love to hear your insight.

 

Jane

[Moira in MA]

I'm not sure, either. My sense is that any school can be right. But, if it's the wrong choice, they reevaluate and find something else. Where to go for college is an important choice, yes. But on the life scale it isn't really one of the biggies and to put it up there with marriage, children, etc. makes it scarier than it should be.

 

Dd doesn't have such a complicated choice as your ds yet, she's only heard from one of the three universities she's applied to.

 

She is leaning toward Dalhousie at the moment, primarily because they've asked her to dance first. Here to fore, McGill has been preferred. We'll have to wait and see.

 

It is good to go from 'will someone want me?' to 'how do I choose?'

 

Moira

[kmacnchs]

When I was choosing, I looked at what I was going to major in, the size I wanted, and where it was located.

 

My college was well-known to have a great Ed. program, so that was a plus for me. It was small but located in a fairly large city and we were able to take classes at the big university next door if our college did not offer a class for no extra charge.

 

The main reason I went was that I got a 3/4ths scholarship for academics and they recruited me to play ball there.

 

Just a side note, one of the (bigish) reasons I chose the college I went to is that they claimed to be a Christian college (they KNEW that is what I was looking for). Well, I found out within my first 2 weeks in my OT class that it is a "Methodist-founded" college and that it really was not Christian at all. In fact, I got my first B there because I would not say that all truth was relative (a philosophy class). So, just know that some of the things they are presenting may not be fully accurate.

[Jane in NC]

When I was choosing, I looked at what I was going to major in, the size I wanted, and where it was located.

 

 

 

Sorry, I did not explain myself well. My son has chosen the short list based on major and type of college (LAC). There now seems to be a new level of decision making that needs to be done based on schools that have comparable yet different programs.

 

He has been accepted at all four schools.

 

My question is perhaps too nebulous. I just wondered how other parents saw their students approach the final decision making process.

 

Jane

[creekland]

I've wondered the same thing - how do the kids make their final decision?

 

Mine has fallen in love with the department he wants to be in, and by default, loves everything else (it seems) about the place. He's very willing to overlook anything I point out as "things to consider."

 

I'm ready to let him go follow his dreams. His department more or less sold me on the place as being right for him when we were there for scholarship competitions. We're hopeful for good results from that - and otherwise - will be dealing with the finances.

 

He's still signed up for one more scholarship competition later this month which we may or may not go to based on the offer from his first choice.

 

I guess I'm still "fixed" a little on the $$. He's not though.

[Kareni]

How does the student choose when all options seem roughly equivalent? Good question.

 

For my daughter, visits were key. She had two schools that were tied for first place in her affections; it wasn't until she was able to visit both, attend classes, and stay in the dorm that one moved into definite front runner position. What made the difference? Not anything that she was able to quantify; it was all gut feeling.

 

All that said, finances played a major part in the decision making process from our seat. Both of the colleges mentioned above had about the same amount of merit aid and loan debt associated with them. There was a third school in the running that offered significantly better financial and merit aid in terms of the bottom line such that my daughter would have been able to walk away after four years being relatively debt free. She ultimately had to make the hard choice of whether to go to her number one choice (and assume a not insignificant amount of debt) or go with school number 3. We talked long and hard about this but ultimately left the decision up to her. She decided to go with her first choice school. She's had no regrets thus far.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[NancyL]

The only thing I can think of after all your suggestions is to check the different websites for rating the college faculty. I would think if you were particularly interested in Subject A, then seeing the across the board ratings for the faculty that teach Subject A. One that I know is Rateyourprofessor.com and there's another one with a similar name.

People here use them a lot for the community college classes where there's a lot of sections to choose from.

 

If you're really interested in a sport or club--contact the people directly and they will give your student insights if they have difficulties with the administration, etc. One local u. the administration gave her the phone number of the barn manager to call, (we left a message as instructed); the club contact person told her that the administration had closed the barn years ago, and they all had to move their horses off campus!! If they wanted to practice together they then trailered them down into the next town (a huge drop in elevation) to Lewiston, ID. I said, no way, are you going to be doing that, especially in the winter.

 

My friend had a similar experience with a famous cello teacher. The administration said she was on a "short medical leave" but she heard elsewhere that she was on hospice. She had flown all the way out there to audition on the hopes of getting to study with that teacher!

 

So Jane--if everything else rates evenly- for my d. the extra curriculars and clubs made the college experience for her. Her phone calls home were mainly about these activities I would say.

 

Also, can they amuse themselves without having to drive to the next town? One of my d's friends went to a small LAC and the kids were driving way out into the country for parties. (local kids knew other local kids) She was disappointed that that was the main social event. Her dad told her, that unless it's a religious college, this is to be expected!

 

I don't mean to lecture, but after the academics, really check into the campus activities to see what's offered.

[Nan in Mass]

I have had a number of people tell me it was aha. I sometimes find it helpful to make decisions in reverse: decide (but don't notify the college) and then wait a bit and see if you are unhappy. If you are, try a different decision. Sometimes your feelings tell you more than your reason. The other thing to keep in mind is that if he can't decide (and you aren't nixing any of them as unwise), then it probably doesn't matter; probably any of them would be fine choices. In that case, he will worry about the decision, of course, but you needn't.

Good luck!

-Nan

[Kareni]

The other thing to keep in mind is that if he can't decide (and you aren't nixing any of them as unwise), then it probably doesn't matter; probably any of them would be fine choices.

 

This is a very good point, Nan. I also felt that my daughter could have been happy at all of her choices. (We had tried along the way to encourage her not to have a "dream school" as there are many great colleges out there. Also, one makes ones own happiness to a large extent.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Brenda in MA]

How do they decide?

 

My son applied to 8 schools. Once the offers were in, it came down to 5 schools that we could afford. He dismissed the state U because during our visit and tour there, everything -- the student union & library particularly, seemed very crowded. After visits, he decided that he didn't like the very rural location of one or the very urban location of another. That left 2. We went to accepted student programs at both of them, and he really couldn't make up his mind. At that point, I think he was still a bit stressed over the whole idea of going away to college, so he had a hard time thinking things through. Since both of the schools were good for his major, dh and I worked on persuading him to choose the one that we thought was the better fit due to the location, climate, and available resources at the school. So far, he has been happy there, so it seems like he made a good choice.

 

Brenda

[TravelingChris]

WE had to convince my son that one school was better for him financially than the other. In one school, he got a renewable half tuition scholarship. IN the other, he got some kind of grant which was the same amount of money each year (lets say 8K). We had to use our logical skills to show our son that although both amounts were similar this year, in year 4, they would be very different. (He was admitted to about five but those were the two that he was left choosing between).

 

Then after he left college 1 due to medical withdrawal and we moved here, we basically forced him to go down and enroll in the local state college. He is now a senior and likes it a lot. My son was simply an undecisive person and we needed to grab the bull by the horns. NOw he is going to be applying to grad school and it is his decision solely. The most I am involved is reminding him that he needs to sign up for the GRE soon.

[Gwen in VA]

Financial considerations brought the choice down to two or three schools. Then the fun began.

 

One kid made the decision based on the fact that calculus 1 was a 100-level class at one school and a 200-level class at the other. (Kid thought calculus should be a 100-level class).

 

One kid made the decision after visiting school B. It was more expensive than school A and he decided that he didn't see a lot of difference between the two, so he went with A.

 

So our decisions were made based on finances, trivia, and gut reactions.

Edited February 2, 2010 by Gwen in VA

[Kathy in Richmond]

.

This morning Dear Son announces he is cloning himself so that he can attend five colleges. And just who pays for this?

 

Oh, Jane, this is so very much what is going on right now at my house:001_smile:.

 

But back to the question. How do they decide? It is rational, emotional, financial? All three?

 

My son was so lucky: the financial, rational, and emotional considerations all converged on one school. Done.

 

My daughter, on the other hand, is torn about her choices...and to top it off, she won't hear from her last four schools until late March/early April. She's having doubts about the suitability of her long-time favorite, which she's spent oodles of time at and always thought would some day be her home. Now she has three top picks, none of which is perfect, and each of which appeals to her greatly...the math classes here, the classics, studio art, dance troupes there. Specialized technical education or more well-rounded education?

 

So in the meantime, my little mathematician has made a spreadsheet listing out all of the things she's looking for in college (academic, extracurricular, & practical factors like distance from home and weather). In her 'spare time', she's cruising the school websites and quizzing her friends at these schools, filling in her chart as she goes, assigning numerical scores, and making special note of questions that arise. It's making her think carefully.

 

When all the decisions are in and financial aid awards have determined what's possible for us to afford, she'll go on two or three college visits in April. I expect that will help a lot. The school that at the present moment seems to be winning her over is the one school she's only visited for a walk-through years ago. If she visits in April, she'll check out some classes, extracurriculars, dorms, etc...

 

Meanwhile, she told me that she actually hopes that the acceptances and finances will make the decision for her. I imagine that April will be a fun month!

 

~Kathy

[emubird]

We haven't found ratemyprofessors.com to be all that helpful. The ratings seem to mostly be made by students who just want to complain -- without taking any responsibility for their own failings. Based on classes my daughter has taken, it seems that easy profs seem to get high ratings. Ones who require more automatically get low ratings, even if they are excellent teachers.

 

If every student in a class was required to submit a rating, I think you'd get a much better view. Also, I would pretty much discount any ratings that are based on just a few responses -- say, less than a hundred.

 

And for a couple professors, while there might be accurate comments, my daughter has found that things other people complain about didn't bother her at all. Some she has even found to be positives, but there was no way she would get that impression from reading the brief comments on that site. I'd be leery of making any major decisions based on that site.

 

As far as deciding is concerned, it should probably be based on whether, first, the school has an adequate department in whatever the student wants to study -- with adequate backups if the student changes majors -- second, on finances. After that, most colleges are all going to be pretty similar and the student would be happy at any of them, unless there are some specific extracurricular things or classes that they're interested in. If there are things that are going to be a problem, you probably won't know about them until you're already there anyway.

 

Keep in mind that most colleges do a perfectly adequate job of educating most kids. But if there are specific things about a college that a student is looking forward to, by all means, be sure to check if they really have those things. Circumstances change so quickly sometimes.

[Karen in CO]

 

But back to the question. How do they decide? It is rational, emotional, financial? All three?

 

None of the five schools is identical to another. Each has merits and pitfalls. How does your student determine that the merits outweigh the pitfalls? Or am I just thinking too much about this? Does it all come as a revelation, an AHA moment of That is The One.

 

I'd love to hear your insight.

 

Jane

My ds visited and applied to and was accepted at many, many colleges. He received merit aid and all that stuff. We had a pre-paid college plan that would cover it all. My ds just wasn't committed to any particular place - he was like some teenager with a short attention span that I just didn't understand. One day out of the blue in APRIL of his senior year, he texted me from his Japanese class at the community college with a the URL of the school he was going to attend - in Japan. He received some merit aid, but not nearly enough to make up the difference between this school and the others. The pre-paid tuition plan doesn't cover the cost. It really didn't matter to him. He had his heart set on it.

 

I chose my college because of the mile and a half of waterfront and the full scholarship - my other scholarship was at some place really cold and as far as my thinking those were my best two choices because of the scholarships. I have no insight into how my ds made his decision. My next is only in third grade, but she has already decided that she is going to go to school in Italy.

[AuntieM]

I am just starting down this road, but here is one tidbit I've come across. (Forgive me if it's been mentioned, I am just dashing in and out for the moment).

 

*IF* your student is planning on post graduate studies in the same or related field, and has an inkling of where he might want to pursue a terminal degree, compare the undergraduate acceptance rates for each of the colleges now under consideration.

 

Just my humble pair o' pennies... I'll be reading all the replies here later, when I've got my notebook, cuppa and an uninterrupted block of time. Great question.

[Nan in Mass]

The hive mind at my father's workplace said that the undergraduate school didn't matter much, so send them to the state university for that and save the money for graduate school. Some fathers also said, "I will pay for state u but if you want to go someplace else, you have to pay for it." I can see multiple flaws with both these ideas, but they were common.

[Guest Katia]

Once accepted to the colleges you applied to, I think the hardest part is the actual decision on where to attend. It is really tough.

 

My ds only applied to one college, and then as a transfer student from cc, so he didn't have it rough at all.

 

Dd, otoh, applied to five colleges, all of which accepted her. We went to visit and audition at all, and those visits pretty well narrowed it down to three colleges. She did an over night stay at #3 on the list and that easily narrowed it down to two colleges.

 

What ensued next was weeks and weeks of back and forth as to the pros and cons of each....and tears. Many, many tears. It just shouldn't have to be this hard, kwim?

 

But, in her heart, and in my heart, we knew all along where she should be going. But, when you have a PhD that wait-lists others in favor of you.......and the preferred school only has an MA that has never taught a major student (and dd would be her first).......that makes it very, very hard.

 

Dd finally had to call the PhD and decline her generous offer. And that was very, very, VERY hard. But it was the right thing for her. She LOVES her preferred school. It is simply the best for her, and we all knew it all along. It was those other offers that made it so very hard.

 

What we finally decided was to not look at any of the scholarship offers or financial aid; just look at how dd liked what the school stood for, how the students on campus interacted with each other, what classes were taught, why and how, and did dd think she could live with that full-time for 4 years.

 

That was what made the decision simple.....even though it was hard.

 

Youngest dd has only applied to two colleges. She's only heard back from one so far, but I can't imagine that the other wouldn't accept her. Her problem is this:

 

College #1 is her dad's Alma Mater and he is pushing her to attend there. She loves her dad and doesn't want to disappoint him.

 

College #2 is where her sister attends and sister is begging her to come...telling her how well she'll fit in and how much she wants her there....and sister's friends on campus are emailing dd and telling her how they can't wait to meet her next year as a student......Dd loves her sister and really likes the college....

 

No matter what she decides, someone that she loves will feel slighted. Sigh.

 

College decisions shouldn't have to be so hard! I feel for you.

[Jane in NC]

May I just say Thank You to everyone who has responded in this thread. I have learned about you and your children. Most interesting!

 

Stay tuned. I'm confident that many of us will report on the decision making process as our students weigh pros and cons in the months ahead.

 

Jane

[Starr]

I rather like the notion that so many of them decide by the food and the student that shows them around. We're about to get started down this road; can't wait.

[creekland]

May I just say Thank You to everyone who has responded in this thread. I have learned about you and your children. Most interesting!

 

Stay tuned. I'm confident that many of us will report on the decision making process as our students weigh pros and cons in the months ahead.

 

Jane

 

Along the lines of staying tuned... my oldest will have to be considering money whether he wants to or not. This economy has really hit us and he just found out he didn't get one of the top merit scholarships from his dream school, so it's likely to be out of the question financially. We've got another scholarship competition to his 2nd choice school later this month. Hopefully he'll like it there as they've already offered more and are less expensive to begin with.

 

I did suggest he could stay home a year and work - saving the money. I don't think he even seriously thought about it at all. He's so eager to go somewhere!

 

I went to my 2nd choice school due to finances way back when - and I've never regretted it. Hopefully the same will be true for him.

[Nicole M]

Oh! Oh! I've been dying to tell this story, and finally, an opportunity!

 

The director of admission at the small college where I work is actually something of a jerk, if you'll excuse my French. He comes across, often, as a used car salesman. But he does have one funny story that he tells the parents and students on "admitted student day" -- the day we try to lure the students who have been accepted, and their parents' checkbooks, to the college.

 

Anyway, he tells the story of visiting one of the schools where his own son was accepted. His son was kind of moping about during the tour, and afterward, dad asks, "Son, what's the trouble?" Son hems and haws and fially says, "Dad. There aren't any cute girls here." Dad looks at his watch and says, "Son, all the pretty girls don't get up until after ten." Sure enough, later in the day they were in the cafeteria, and a cute girl struck up a conversation with the lad, and he was in.

 

Bottom line, I have no idea. Neither do directors of admission. I think it's a combination of factors and the personality of the kid. Sometimes a kid walks onto a campus and knows: this is the place. Other times, they have to make a hard choice.

 

I just pray my son gets into a school on the national tuition exchange list and gets to make a choice. Gah. The waiting is killing me.

[kiana]

We haven't found ratemyprofessors.com to be all that helpful. The ratings seem to mostly be made by students who just want to complain -- without taking any responsibility for their own failings. Based on classes my daughter has taken, it seems that easy profs seem to get high ratings. Ones who require more automatically get low ratings, even if they are excellent teachers.

 

If every student in a class was required to submit a rating, I think you'd get a much better view. Also, I would pretty much discount any ratings that are based on just a few responses -- say, less than a hundred.

 

And for a couple professors, while there might be accurate comments, my daughter has found that things other people complain about didn't bother her at all. Some she has even found to be positives, but there was no way she would get that impression from reading the brief comments on that site. I'd be leery of making any major decisions based on that site. .

:iagree:

 

Very rarely do colleges have uniformly either good or bad teachers. You *can* get some useful information from that site once you're attending, but pay attention to the comments, not the ratings. Read between the lines as well, a comment such as 'he just hates his students' may very well be an excellent teacher who has the unmitigated gall to attempt to ask that his students check the reasonableness of answers.

 

(If this sounds irritated, it is. My favorite professor ever has dreadful reviews on these pages. Why? His courses are required for majors, and the ones who just want to slide through HATE him because he doesn't give any partial credit if the answer is completely bone-headed (such as, if one is calculating a mortgage payment on a 250k mortgage over 30 years, one's answer should be neither $343,320.04 nor $5.40. If one is calculating the probability of such-and-such an event happening, the answer should not exceed 100%, nor should it be negative.))

[Michelle in MO]

I was just going to start a new thread on a similar topic this morning, when I saw this thread! My question was, "Do first impressions from college visits matter?"

 

I went my own college tour last year with our oldest daughter, and today my husband is taking her back for a second visit to our top choice school.

 

My mind understands that first impressions aren't everything, and how a college presents itself to you and your child shouldn't be the "be all and end all" of the Big Decision.

 

However, I'm finding that, so far, I seem to be going in the direction of my first impressions, and so is our daughter. We visited Colleges A, B, C, and D. College A is our first choice, and was our first campus visit. Everything was very well-organized; the campus tour was excellent and personal; and the admissions office answered all of our questions and even some we didn't think of! College B was good, but the visit was a bit chaotic (it was a Junior Visit Day), and it was very difficult to hear anything on the campus tour. College C had an excellent tour, but still did not have that "personal touch" that somehow happened with College A. College D had a good tour, but dd didn't care for the campus that much.

 

Overall, though, I'd say that there are several things we're taking into consideration:

 

1. Cost is definitely one factor. Although we could try to fund a more expensive education at fancy College C, honestly I've become convinced that she can get every bit as good of an undergraduate education at the less-expensive College A.

 

2. To me, as a first-time mom going through this college application process, the "personal touch" is a big issue. College A has, so far, always been organized in every contact we've had with the institution. They take care of lining up visits with faculty members, visits to on-campus activities, etc. For this busy mom, that is a tremendous help!

 

3. College A prides itself on trying to be the best undergraduate institution that they can be. Not every school is going to do everything well. For our purposes, the fact that this school focuses on really servicing and following their incoming freshmen class, making sure that they stay on track with credit hours, giving them personal guidance counseling, matching them up with a faculty adviser in their major field---all of that means something. At this point in time, we don't need the best graduate institution---although dd may well get a graduate degree---but we do need an excellent undergraduate institution. Since I graduated from a school that was akin to a "student factory", with 50,000 day/evening students, it's important to me that dd not replicate that experience. She needs more guidance, I think.

 

4. Academic excellence is important, and since College A can give my daughter as good of an education as College C, which is more than twice the cost, why not choose College A?

 

5. One very important point, which I forgot to mention, is that College A also had an excellent academic program in our oldest daughter's most likely choice for a major, English. This school offers both a B.A. and a B.F.A. in English, plus they have a strong music program and a very good choir.

 

All of these factors, combined, are tipping us in the direction of the first school we visited. :)

 

Good thread, Jane! There is a lot to these considerations, and so far we haven't made a final decision. However, we are finding that we tend to be going in the same direction as our initial impressions from a year ago.

Edited February 12, 2010 by Michelle in MO
additional info.

[Laura Corin]

A mistake I made: I was seduced by a particular brilliant course at a less-than-famous university. I chose to study a joint major, so was studying with students from the brilliant course (highly exciting people to bounce ideas off) and from a more standard course, that was easy to get into (full of people with no drive or spark).

 

I will be advising the boys to choose universities that more closely match their own academic level - it's more fun and looks better.

 

Laura

[JFSinIL]

My ds has been accepted at 9 of the 12 he applied to so far - ALL gave merit scholarships of one kind or another, so that the expensive ones (Wooster, for example, which gave the biggest award) would so far cost the same as the state schools (which gave less...but were cheaper to begin with).

 

It will now come down to how the schools look at the FAFSA, etc. and what else they come up with in terms of work study, grants, loans etc. THEN, with luck, there will be more than one school within our realistic budget and ds can make a choice.

 

So far the one school he visited and absolutely refused to consider, the biggest problem was the food was AWFUL. Yes, food is very important to the young ;)

 

(Hoping he goes to Sewanee - best food of all we visited!!!)

[creekland]

We're done - we've decided - we've burned bridges. My son's first choice school came up with enough $$ to make it affordable with a combination of merit and need-based aid (only a little in loans, some in work study).

 

We're absolutely thrilled and told them, yes!

 

To top it off, when my son wrote a company doing what he wants to do letting them know of his final decision (he had been in contact before to see what they thought of the school and various majors), they told him congratulations and to be certain to apply for an internship in a couple of years! Eventually, he'd love to work for them, so it all seems like it's setting up nicely.

 

He picked the school based on their having excellent majors in his planned field of work (he'll be double majoring in business and community development with plans on becoming a microfinance manager in third world countries) as well as loving the small college Christian atmosphere on campus.

 

Getting used to "small" was tough on mom and dad as we both went to Big Name U and loved it, but we're fully convinced his decision is right for him both for his future job and his preferences in life. It's nice seeing it as affordable as Big Name U.

 

PHEW! It's so nice having it done and settled and being happy with his choice. Now to come up with the EFC... nah, I'll wait and think about that after the snow melts at least. I can't believe we're getting MORE on Monday! Somebody turn off the faucet and start the heater!

 

In two years we'll be doing this again with middle son... 'cept he wants Chemistry or Biomedical research. Keep the comments coming so I can read and glean in the meantime. Next year we'll have to be doing college visitations for him to get the process started.

 

Then in 4 years comes son #3. Agh! I'm just going to relish the moment of being DONE (for now). :)

[KnitWit]

My dd is done. She has had something *very* specific in mind for advancing in her love of piano and she found *exactly* what she wanted at Belhaven University. It appears that all her aid will come in, but just in case, she has a back up plan at U of MS.

 

I think it has been fairly easy for us because she was so focused on exactly what she needed. It helped us to eliminate conservatories and schools that focus purely on performance or purely on teaching in PS. I can see where it would be a different animal all together if she didn't really know what she wanted to do yet.

 

We even have a ROOMMATE...and she lives 15 minutes from us! It has been neat letting them get to know each other already.

 

This dd is the eldest of 6. This whole process with her has really spoiled me. I know it is not likely to be so smooth with all of them! LOL!

[creekland]

I think it has been fairly easy for us because she was so focused on exactly what she needed.

 

I think this is what helped us decide fairly easily too - coupled with needed $$. And I feel as spoiled in the process as you relate. I don't think it will be as easy the next time around. :)

 

Congrats to you and your daughter!

[Jane in NC]

We're done - we've decided - we've burned bridges. My son's first choice school came up with enough $$ to make it affordable with a combination of merit and need-based aid (only a little in loans, some in work study).

 

We're absolutely thrilled and told them, yes!

 

 

My dd is done. She has had something *very* specific in mind for advancing in her love of piano and she found *exactly* what she wanted at Belhaven University. It appears that all her aid will come in, but just in case, she has a back up plan at U of MS.

 

 

 

Congratulations all around -- to you and your children! How thrilling to find schools that fit and the means to fund them!

 

Jane

[Moira in MA]

She is leaning toward Dalhousie at the moment, primarily because they've asked her to dance first. Here to fore, McGill has been preferred. We'll have to wait and see.

Moira

 

Well decision is made. dd has accepted the McGill offer -- McGill is her heart's desire; she got this look on her face the moment she set foot on campus last August and loved her experience as Student for a day in October.

 

She wants to explore her Canadian side, she'll have the opportunity to learn French, she'll not have to be on the meal plan and will get credit for her AP work plus a major scholarship. What more could one ask?

 

Now she is trying to withdraw her remaining application; this is proving harder to do than she anticipated. :lol:

 

I must say that I'm rather relieved. She got the Dalhousie offer after a trip to the emergency room and the McGill offer after 3 days in the hospital. Where would she have had to do to get the third?

 

~Moira

Edited February 20, 2010 by Moira in MA
correct type of scholarship -- it's for all undergrad years not just the first

[Jane in NC]

Well decision is made. dd has accepted the McGill offer -- McGill is her heart's desire; she got this look on her face the moment she set foot on campus last August and loved her experience as Student for a day in October.

 

 

~Moira

 

Well I am envious of all who have found resolution. I fear that our saga will continue a while longer...

 

Glad that your daughter has found her heart's desire. I wish her well!

 

Jane

[Kathy in Richmond]

Happy endings are wonderful to hear about! She is lucky to have her first choice work out so well and to be done already. My dd wishes she could also be free of meal plans...she'd rather cook for herself.

 

I fear that we are in the same boat as Jane. It will be several more weeks till dd's decision is made.

 

~Kathy

[mcconnellboys]

I'm sorry that I can't help, as we're still in the middle of all this, too!

 

I can tell you what an acquaintance of my son's who attended Dupauw last year did (to make you laugh - or cringe more). He had all his admission letters under his bed. He took them out, shuffled them up with closed eyes, and drew one. That's where he went to school. Of course, he discovered this past fall term that he wasn't happy there, so he transferred back to a different school near here.

 

And I'll tell you never to underestimate the power of food to sway the male of the species, LOL. When my son was a freshman we toured my alma mater, a large state school, so that I could show him things I thought he would NOT want in a school; and so he could later juxtapose such large schools against the mostly smaller, liberal arts schools we've mostly looked at. After seeing all the eating options, the dorm rooms, and the bowling alley in the student center, he was ready to go there. Oy. Or maybe, just Ugh. (He did NOT apply there, by the way, so there is hope....)