Son of AGDee's College Search Thread

[amIblue?]

Lol at the Latin. I loved studying Latin, but I can not imagine trying to speak it at lunch! (The best part of it to me when I studied it was that I could learn to read and write it without all of that pesky embarrassing conversational stuff you have to do with non-dead languages.)

[HQWest]

It depends on what area he is into as well. Im willing to bet that most of the 20% at K that doesn't study abroad or studies in a different state are in physical sciences. It is really hard to fit them and research into the abroad programs. Can't beat U of M for good ol' hard core sciences.

[AGDee]

The scholarship at Kzoo is renewable for 4 years as long as he maintains a 2.5. I do expect all financial aid packages based on need will cease to exist when Hypo graduates from Barnard. My income has been increasing at a very nice pace and one child will be off the books. I am sort of expecting to be full pay for the last years of Halo's college career. The scholarship at K brings the cost of attendance to very similar to Michigan's. But for these two years, the financial aid package is significantly different. Also, at Michigan, most kids move into apartments off campus after sophomore year and that is significantly cheaper than the the typical room and board. If we did have a dire financial situation suddenly, he could potentially commute to Ann Arbor, although it wouldn't be fun or ideal- especially in the winter.

Tomorrow is Michigan. The Residential College at Michigan is really like an LAC within a big huge university. Sort of the best of both worlds.

[adpiucf]

I see a lot of comments about this college or that college looking favorable to grad schools. Let's be realistic. All grad schools care about are undergrad GPA and your GRE/GMAT/LSAT score. Good luck to your kid choosing his school. Worry about the best price tag, job placement stats, and an environment he will enjoy.

[Sen's Revenge]

Although I am usually a college brand snob, I am really pulling for Kalamazoo for some reason.

I have been thinking a lot lately about my college experience and whether or not I attended my "spirit school" (think spirit animal). While I loved Georgetown a lot more than I disliked it, in the back of my head I will always think what could my life have been like had I attended Hampshire College.

[HQWest]

[Sciencewoman]

^^^ lol

Alum, I'm always amused when someone wears a clothing item from another school to a college night, orientation, etc. I think it's funny she spotted that!

I'm working on a W&L needlepoint crest right now, to frame for my daughter's room.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I hope Halo is happy, no matter where he decides to go. He does have two great choices. I will say that Michigan is always a great option for grad school, which K isn't, so he could do both. I think Michigan is a great choice for anyone who is a self-starter, and close to home would be great.

[AGDee]

He is no closer to a decision. He is, ultimately, not thrilled with either choice. I had hoped these accepted student days would give him clarity, but they haven't.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by AGDee

He is no closer to a decision. He is, ultimately, not thrilled with either choice. I had hoped these accepted student days would give him clarity, but they haven't.

Hang in there, Mom!

He has two great choices. Either choice will be a good one. He is going to have a great time at either school and get a great education, once he settles in.

[AGDee]

This whole process is just so different than what Hypo went through. She was tense about whether she'd get into her dream school but then she did. Halo told me he will be telling me to put the deposit down for Michigan but he's not ready to commit quite yet.

He applied to Michigan because "Everybody expects me to go there." I think he's choosing Michigan for the same reason. He believes it is the "better" school, but he's more comfortable at K College. At the same time, he says he thinks he will get bored at K and is concerned that there are only a few professors for each subject. That means he doesn't get a broad perspective and if there is one he doesn't care for, he's stuck taking their classes anyway. I think what he's really acknowledging is that he won't grow as much at K- or will outgrow K- so even though Michigan is really overwhelming to him, he knows he will experience more personal growth.

That doesn't mean he's excited about it.

[Sciencewoman]

What about starting at K and then transferring if he doesn't like it? Or applying to transfer elsewhere next year?

Has he pursued the wait list options with any follow up?

[OPhiAGinger]

But what would transferring do to his scholarship possibilities? He would leave behind whatever scholarship package School A provided. And unfortunately, transfers have very few (practically zero) scholarships available to them. So unless School B was willing to hold whatever scholarships they are offering Freshman-Halo in 2014 and make them available to Transfer-Halo in 2016, transferring two years from now could really hurt the pocketbook.

[AGDee]

I really think he's going to be fine at Michigan. I think he will come to love it after that first Saturday in the student section in the Big House. I also think that it will greatly increase his confidence once he gets comfortable there. He will get comfortable there. Some of this may have been happening even if it was Brown because, honestly, he's the kid who has always had a hard time dealing with change. In some ways, Michigan will help with that because he'll be close enough to come home whenever he wants.

He had joked a few weeks before those final decisions came in that if worse came to worse, he would go to Michigan, be in the RC and marry JS- last year's valedictorian and homecoming queen. We met up with her after our tours were done and she showed him around the dorm, the classrooms, the cafeteria, the theater, the gelato shop and the coffee shop. She showed us her room and he met one of her friends who will probably be in a class with him in the fall. They were really nice and talked about how much they love it there.

The girl who lives across the street from his dad is also in the same program. Even though he "married" her when he was 4 and she was 5, in her backyard, under a tree, he doesn't care for her now. He did mention that he wished she wasn't there. It's not like he has to hang out with her.

Ironically, he really liked the girl he knows at K a lot at one point too, but then she dated one of his best friends so she became off limits...lol. She looks a lot like Hypo and people actually used to get them confused because they were in the same band section.

In another funny twist, my best friend since kindergarten had a baby girl two week after I had Hypo. When I called her to tell her I was pregnant with Halo, she laughed and said she was pregnant too. Our boys are a few weeks apart in age also. Her son is going to Michigan too.

Michigan is also our most economical option and is cheap enough that I can afford his football tickets and also fraternity dues. At the point when Hypo graduates, I probably won't qualify for financial aid anymore and at Michigan, his housing costs could really drop because he'll move out of the dorms and into an apartment or house. OR, he could apply to be an RA. Overall, this could be a very affordable education for him, leaving him with very little debt on graduation and in a good position for grad school. If we had some sort of financial disaster, he could commute to Michigan- another real bonus. It wouldn't be fun, but it could be done.

He has accepted his spot on the waitlists although he's not sure he'd go to Oberlin at this point. I think they hurt his feelings. He would definitely go to Brown and he has written the admissions counselor, updated some of his activities, let him know he would definitely attend if accepted off the wait list and finished the letter with a note that if he can't get off the wait list, Brown will be #1 on his list for grad school. But realistically, they haven't used their wait list in 2 years.

[GammaGirl1908]

Awww, even if he's going to be a slightly reluctant Wolverine at first, I'm happy we're (...probably...) getting such a great kid and wonderful student. Tell him I said Go Blue!

Originally Posted by AGDee

The girl who lives across the street from his dad is also in the same program. Even though he "married" her when he was 4 and she was 5, in her backyard, under a tree, he doesn't care for her now. He did mention that he wished she wasn't there. It's not like he has to hang out with her.

One thing I was a little bit surprised to discover was how many kids who went to high school in Michigan **didn't** want to hang out with people they already knew. I was the only kid from my high school class who chose UM, and so I didn't know a soul when I stepped on campus. I had no choice but to start from scratch, and I was kind of expecting a lot of the kids from Michigan high schools to arrive with many classmates and acquaintances in the same class, and their peer groups pretty much set from high school, and thus I'd have a bit of extra work to do to make friends. To my pleasant surprise, most people were looking to have a different experience than they'd had in high school, with different people. To quote a friend of mine from Rochester Hills, "Whatever, I spent 4 years with them. I know them. I'm ready to move on."

There will be plenty of other people for him to meet. He might not like that one girl, but there will be 6,998 other freshmen who aren't her.

[AGDee]

Right- and she'll be a sophomore! So it's 6999

He did note that the male to female ratio in the RC is 1:2. The odds are definitely in his favor.