Author Topic: How did you choose a college?  (Read 24727 times)

pbkmaine

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #100 on: July 17, 2016, 07:12:49 AM »
Decided to study engineering.  Went on visit to best school in the UK (Imperial)  10:1 male/ female ratio, no thanks

Went to visit 2nd best school (Cambridge)  They had Saturday morning lectures.  No thanks, and Cambridge was too much a small town

Went to 3rd best school (Oxford)  The place was buzzing.  No Saturday lectures.  Sold

As for my college - went for the one which had it's own deer park.  Because why wouldn't you...?

LOL. Please tell me that you regularly refer to Oxford as a "third best school".

okonumiyaki

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #101 on: July 17, 2016, 07:19:58 AM »

LOL. Please tell me that you regularly refer to Oxford as a "third best school".

Heh - well, for engineering Cambridge & Imperial are better... :) 

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #102 on: July 17, 2016, 07:44:43 AM »
Sure - I'd be sold on the deer park too :)

SoccerLounge

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #103 on: July 17, 2016, 08:41:47 AM »
Decided to study engineering.  Went on visit to best school in the UK (Imperial)  10:1 male/ female ratio, no thanks

Went to visit 2nd best school (Cambridge)  They had Saturday morning lectures.  No thanks, and Cambridge was too much a small town

Went to 3rd best school (Oxford)  The place was buzzing.  No Saturday lectures.  Sold

As for my college - went for the one which had it's own deer park.  Because why wouldn't you...?

LOL. Please tell me that you regularly refer to Oxford as a "third best school".

Imperial College is kind of like a cross between an Ivy and MIT/Caltech. It's the place a lot of the really smart nerdy kids go to do engineering, science etc. If I were over there and wanting to get myself an engineering degree, it'd be higher on my list than Oxford. Just saying. ;)

chasesfish

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #104 on: July 17, 2016, 08:49:40 AM »
Only 1 said "yes" to me

DCKatie09

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #105 on: July 17, 2016, 10:46:46 AM »
This is such a fun thing to think back on (and my decision-making process was very different for college vs. grad school vs. law school (yeah yeah, I took a long time to get through school). My college process started with me thinking that I wanted to study neuroscience and thinking about small liberal arts schools - but then I visited some and realized they were way too small for my taste. I grew up in a midwestern college town with a state school of about 30,000 students, and that definitely formed my sense of what a college should feel like. Had great test scores, lower-middle class parents, and applied somewhat broadly to larger prestigious but not necessarily Ivy schools (Wash U, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, etc.). I had a couple state schools in the mix as safeties, but was pretty determined to get out of my home state. Then in March, I got a packet from University of Kansas saying basically "Hey, it's not too late to come here for free, national merit finalist!" - so I went down for a campus visit focused on the honors college and scholarship halls (amazing sub-communities at a big school) and really loved it. Ended up needing to decide between Northwestern and KU, and my folks steered my prestige-conflicted self towards the free option. Great decision.

Post-grad choices in a nutshell: grad school (psych PhD) - went to the best school I got into for my area of focus (psycholinguistics). Handily, this was also the program that I liked best, and in a town that I felt very comfortable in. 2 years later realizing that I'm not cut out for academia, I applied to joint degree programs in law and public policy, and went to the best school I got into (slightly complicated by differing rankings for law vs. policy, but the law rankings won out). Again, this also luckily lined up with the school I liked best. No regrets (4 years left to go on student loans...).

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #106 on: July 17, 2016, 11:15:49 AM »
That's awesome! I was just on-line looking at merit aid for my son (and his SAT/ACT, grades, etc.) and National Merit Finalists look like they have great options!  Free is awesome!  Really scattered merit aid for my son - SAT's just under 1400 and ACT 31. He may re-take to see if he can bump them up a bit. He wants to go out of state and there are some schools that are cheaper than in-state we are finding (even with travel).  Anyone know much about WVU? He's like the feel of Coastal Carolina - but that is far away.... loved UVM - but costs there are so high - makes it hard to consider.

EscapeVelocity2020

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #107 on: July 17, 2016, 03:29:27 PM »
Wanted to go out of state (independence), good engineering school reputation, affordable.

Rural

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #108 on: July 18, 2016, 06:08:16 AM »
That's awesome! I was just on-line looking at merit aid for my son (and his SAT/ACT, grades, etc.) and National Merit Finalists look like they have great options!  Free is awesome!  Really scattered merit aid for my son - SAT's just under 1400 and ACT 31. He may re-take to see if he can bump them up a bit. He wants to go out of state and there are some schools that are cheaper than in-state we are finding (even with travel).  Anyone know much about WVU? He's like the feel of Coastal Carolina - but that is far away.... loved UVM - but costs there are so high - makes it hard to consider.


Yeah, everyone should look at national merit if it's an option. It's a much better deal now than it used to be. (Was a National Merit scholar, and that's not how I got the full ride back in the day.) Now being a finalist will get you through at a lot of schools, enough to have options.


Also, with that National Merit finalist, have a look at Harvard, Yale, Princeton if you don't have a high income. These days the big Ivies have a policy where low income students who meet the admission standards don't pay, and they define low income as under 60k or so, plus a sliding scale as incomes increase.

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #109 on: July 18, 2016, 10:37:02 AM »
That's awesome! I was just on-line looking at merit aid for my son (and his SAT/ACT, grades, etc.) and National Merit Finalists look like they have great options!  Free is awesome!  Really scattered merit aid for my son - SAT's just under 1400 and ACT 31. He may re-take to see if he can bump them up a bit. He wants to go out of state and there are some schools that are cheaper than in-state we are finding (even with travel).  Anyone know much about WVU? He's like the feel of Coastal Carolina - but that is far away.... loved UVM - but costs there are so high - makes it hard to consider.


Yeah, everyone should look at national merit if it's an option. It's a much better deal now than it used to be. (Was a National Merit scholar, and that's not how I got the full ride back in the day.) Now being a finalist will get you through at a lot of schools, enough to have options.


Also, with that National Merit finalist, have a look at Harvard, Yale, Princeton if you don't have a high income. These days the big Ivies have a policy where low income students who meet the admission standards don't pay, and they define low income as under 60k or so, plus a sliding scale as incomes increase.

My understanding is that entry into the National Merit Competition is a one-shot deal, judged on the PSAT scores. Has this changed, or am I just wrong? Internet seemed to back me up, based on my 2 minutes of research. On the other hand, only 2 minutes of research.

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #110 on: July 18, 2016, 10:53:46 AM »
That's what I know about National Merit/PSAT testing too.  My son is a senior now - did well, but not that well...  It's amazing the differences we are finding with colleges offering merit aid. He is close to 1400 on SAT's and will got $10K+ at some schools and zero at others.  It brings some out of state colleges lower than our in-state that doesn't offer any merit aid.

Rural

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #111 on: July 18, 2016, 12:57:47 PM »
That's awesome! I was just on-line looking at merit aid for my son (and his SAT/ACT, grades, etc.) and National Merit Finalists look like they have great options!  Free is awesome!  Really scattered merit aid for my son - SAT's just under 1400 and ACT 31. He may re-take to see if he can bump them up a bit. He wants to go out of state and there are some schools that are cheaper than in-state we are finding (even with travel).  Anyone know much about WVU? He's like the feel of Coastal Carolina - but that is far away.... loved UVM - but costs there are so high - makes it hard to consider.


Yeah, everyone should look at national merit if it's an option. It's a much better deal now than it used to be. (Was a National Merit scholar, and that's not how I got the full ride back in the day.) Now being a finalist will get you through at a lot of schools, enough to have options.


Also, with that National Merit finalist, have a look at Harvard, Yale, Princeton if you don't have a high income. These days the big Ivies have a policy where low income students who meet the admission standards don't pay, and they define low income as under 60k or so, plus a sliding scale as incomes increase.

My understanding is that entry into the National Merit Competition is a one-shot deal, judged on the PSAT scores. Has this changed, or am I just wrong? Internet seemed to back me up, based on my 2 minutes of research. On the other hand, only 2 minutes of research.


Yes, that's how it worked many years ago, too. I just meant look into what being a scholar or finalist would get your child if he or she is one; it's a lot more now than it was when I was in school.

ender

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #112 on: July 18, 2016, 07:14:14 PM »
That's what I know about National Merit/PSAT testing too.  My son is a senior now - did well, but not that well...  It's amazing the differences we are finding with colleges offering merit aid. He is close to 1400 on SAT's and will got $10K+ at some schools and zero at others.  It brings some out of state colleges lower than our in-state that doesn't offer any merit aid.


Man I was so annoyed when I learned that the PSAT was actually an important test.

I got "commended" or whatever their "you were good but not good enough" was. But when I took it I had no idea it was a $50k-$100k test!

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #113 on: July 18, 2016, 07:57:48 PM »
No kidding ender!  I think it could come out to be even closer to $200K at many schools (or more - how scary is that!!!)  I saw full tuition, room and board, books and a STIPEND for travel, conferences - etc. at a few schools...  Juniors hardly understand what an AP course is let alone a full ride...

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #114 on: July 18, 2016, 08:24:03 PM »
No kidding ender!  I think it could come out to be even closer to $200K at many schools (or more - how scary is that!!!)  I saw full tuition, room and board, books and a STIPEND for travel, conferences - etc. at a few schools...  Juniors hardly understand what an AP course is let alone a full ride...
I prepped for the PSAT for so long, did really well on it the year before it counted (they let you take a practice year) and then I was in the hospital the day of the test when it counted- and there's no make up tests! Still a bit sad about that.

FINate

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #115 on: July 19, 2016, 09:39:38 AM »
My PSAT score was terrible. Neither of my parents went to university and I had no idea what the test was, other than someone said I should take it. If I recall correctly (that was 20 years ago) I signed up the week before. Never took the SAT, but didn't seem to matter for me after three degrees and ER.

mm1970

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Re: How did you choose a college?
« Reply #116 on: July 19, 2016, 10:13:42 AM »
That's what I know about National Merit/PSAT testing too.  My son is a senior now - did well, but not that well...  It's amazing the differences we are finding with colleges offering merit aid. He is close to 1400 on SAT's and will got $10K+ at some schools and zero at others.  It brings some out of state colleges lower than our in-state that doesn't offer any merit aid.


Man I was so annoyed when I learned that the PSAT was actually an important test.

I got "commended" or whatever their "you were good but not good enough" was. But when I took it I had no idea it was a $50k-$100k test!
Yep, same here.  I mean, I did okay (780 on the math, duh), but my verbals were terrible.  I brought them up for the SAT, but really didn't "get" how important it was at all.

So, ROTC was my ticket really.