Son of AGDee's College Search Thread

[AGDee]

It's time to face this like recruitment. Michigan and Kalamazoo have both been showing him lots of love- sending us stuff almost every day. These two schools want him to attend. Now we just have to get him to understand that, feel the love, and figure out which one he will make work (even if he isn't enthusiastic about either). This is why we have safeties, right? Both schools still have accepted student days he can attend over Easter break. He has refused to do any formal tours or anything at both schools until now because he really didn't expect to go to either.

Hypo is more emotional about all of this than anybody else.

I cannot find his Kzoo financial aid letter anywhere. What the heck did I do with that??? Ugh.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by AGDee

It's time to face this like recruitment. Michigan and Kalamazoo have both been showing him lots of love- sending us stuff almost every day. These two schools want him to attend. Now we just have to get him to understand that, feel the love, and figure out which one he will make work (even if he isn't enthusiastic about either). This is why we have safeties, right? Both schools still have accepted student days he can attend over Easter break. He has refused to do any formal tours or anything at both schools until now because he really didn't expect to go to either.

Hypo is more emotional about all of this than anybody else.

I cannot find his Kzoo financial aid letter anywhere. What the heck did I do with that??? Ugh.

Michigan is nothing to sneeze at and I'm sure he'd have a great 4 years there. It's hard to get excited about in-state schools. I remember not being excited about University of Illinois. It seemed like a boring choice. Now I look at it and see that I would have had a great 4 years there.

[sigmagirl10]

I was accepted to my "reach" schools (Pitzer, Bard, and another one I can't remember because it was 7 years ago...) and wound up attending my 2nd safety, which was also 2nd to last on my list of colleges in order of preference.

That 2nd safety was UC Santa Barbara, a huge public university that initially seemed totally overwhelming and "not me" (I came from a very small high school with a graduating class of 29 and lots of individual attention). I ended up there because the financial aid from the private schools was either nonexistent or inadequate, and the affordable schools I had to choose from were all large public universities (UC Santa Cruz and Oregon were on the list too) that I'd had as safeties.

What made the biggest difference for me was visiting the campus. I was determined to find SOME way to pay for private school, but I spent a week in Santa Barbara and a full day on campus with a tour, etc. and that sealed the deal. I'd really encourage your son to visit both Kzoo and Michigan and spend some time on campus, really trying to imagine himself there--it may completely change his mind.

I'll note that UCSB was not all roses, and though it didn't fulfill all of my hopes/expectations for a college, I made it work and created a wonderful experience for myself. Greek life helped a lot

I'll be crossing my fingers for you guys for an acceptance and great aid package from Brown!