Girlie AGDee's College Search Thread

[AXOmom]

I saw someone on tv this month - some financial aide expert on a talk show I think, that said a college education at most schools will probably pay for itself in the long run up to $50,000 assuming the student majors in a "typical" (my words - not hers - I can't remember what phrase she used) field which were things like business, economics, etc. Above $50,000 and she said it isn't usually worth it anywhere unless you planned on lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc. as a career.

Between 2 kids we are right at the $50,000 mark which probably wasn't our wisest finanacial move, but I'm okay with it and right now we can handle it (knock on wood). I felt like their undergraduate education was our responsibility although my son did pay for part of his and daughter will pay me back the loan amount (I won't charge her interest) for this last year (since she changed schools and ended up going longer than her 4 year limit).

We had a friend who's 4.0 daughter (or close to it) went to University of Washington and majored in....ready for it....dance. I have no idea whether they paid out of pocket or got loans. I know they put 5 kids through college in under a 10 year period, and if any of them had scholarship money, I didn't hear about it. I believe in supporting your children, but 4 years away at college to major in dance....I would've...well, never mind what i would've done. Admitting to it would get me arrested.

[Sciencewoman]

*sigh*

Still keeping my fingers and toes crossed for Barnard, but she does have two great options so far. I was at a conference at DePaul two years ago. We stayed in a boutique hotel in the neighborhood and walked everywhere. I think it had a similar feel to Ann Arbor, but less busy.

Guess what? Northwestern's admissions portal/link crashed tonight, too...before my daughter was able to see her's. The link doesn't work, and a message pops up that their outside vendor has "all hands on deck" trying to fix the problem, but "please don't keep refreshing". Good luck with that! I'm sure there will be even more irate posts on the NU boards when College Confidential comes back on-line!

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

*sigh*

Still keeping my fingers and toes crossed for Barnard, but she does have two great options so far. I was at a conference at DePaul two years ago. We stayed in a boutique hotel in the neighborhood and walked everywhere. I think it had a similar feel to Ann Arbor, but less busy.

Guess what? Northwestern's admissions portal/link crashed tonight, too...before my daughter was able to see her's. The link doesn't work, and a message pops up that their outside vendor has "all hands on deck" trying to fix the problem, but "please don't keep refreshing". Good luck with that! I'm sure there will be even more irate posts on the NU boards when College Confidential comes back on-line!

She had a hard time getting onto the portal earlier, but finally got in. But that was around 6:30 our time.

I thought it had a similar feel to Ann Arbor also. We ate a great restaurant right there for lunch and really enjoyed the atmosphere around there. The weekend we were there, a bunch of students were hanging out on the lawn, hula hooping and playing frisbee, enjoying a pretty fall day. It was a huge contrast to U-Chicago where we didn't see a soul anywhere. I'm glad she didn't bother applying there!

I've had my little meltdown and I'm ok now. I know she will be ok and will thrive wherever she ends up.

ETA: CC is back up.

[Sciencewoman]

OK...I'm going to go on CC now and then we'll give NU another try!

Good news on our end is that she received her acceptance to Colgate today...but no mention of any financial aid, and their portal is inactive until they're sure all snail mail letters have had a chance to be received. My hunch is that it will be too expensive, though.

[AGDee]

They are saying that 32,000 people applied to Northwestern, for 2000 slots. Of course they accept more than the 2000, but still, that's crazy.

[IrishLake]

My cousin just got accepted to Northwestern for grad school. She was so happy!

[Sciencewoman]

Technical difficulties still plaguing NU...we continue to wait. Ugh. You know, this really is pretty bad PR for them. People on CC are reporting that they've been trying for hours.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

Technical difficulties still plaguing NU...we continue to wait. Ugh. You know, this really is pretty bad PR for them. People on CC are reporting that they've been trying for hours.

How incredibly frustrating for you and your daughter.

hypo just stopped by and we chatted. She said she didn't even cry about NU and she's ok. She realizes that Brown and Columbia are extremely unlikely. We discussed financial aid packages and looked at the offer from DePaul again. She doesn't think the amount of loans required for either American or DePaul are worth it. For Barnard, she'd be willing to take on that debt, but not for American or DePaul. She did say she'll be upset if Barnard can't happen, but she's sounding like she's leaning toward Michigan now.

I should probably do the Michigan Resident Classification form since they have her estimated annual fees set at $50K instead of $25K.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by AGDee

We discussed financial aid packages and looked at the offer from DePaul again. She doesn't think the amount of loans required for either American or DePaul are worth it. For Barnard, she'd be willing to take on that debt, but not for American or DePaul.

Your girlie has a good head on her shoulders! I'm not a praying woman, but I'm sending lots of positive thoughts about Barnard. Worst-case scenario? She's in at Michigan, which is awesome.

I'm coming across a lot of men and women in their early 20s who took out serious debt at high interest rates to attend regional schools that are far inferior to their state schools. I don't understand taking out a ton of loans for a private school that's going to open fewer doors and cost more than the public school a few hours away.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Your girlie has a good head on her shoulders! I'm not a praying woman, but I'm sending lots of positive thoughts about Barnard. Worst-case scenario? She's in at Michigan, which is awesome.

I'm coming across a lot of men and women in their early 20s who took out serious debt at high interest rates to attend regional schools that are far inferior to their state schools. I don't understand taking out a ton of loans for a private school that's going to open fewer doors and cost more than the public school a few hours away.

I know. And in the worst case scenario, she could commute to Michigan if things got dire for us for some reason. It's a 45 minute drive, but she could try to schedule classes a few days a week. That's a nice fall back option to have and I would only encourage that if things were really dire, but it's an option.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Pretty much. Obviously it's cheaper for in-state kids, but one of the factors in why I didn't apply to Berkeley as school #5 was that, after all was said and done it would have ended up being more expensive than Brown or Emory.

I think the high amount of applications is more of a coastal thing--kids in DC, NYC, Boston, LA, and SF are in a super-competitive pool and they have to cast a wider net. Like I said, in 1998 I applied to 4 schools. In 2008, I interviewed kids who applied to 14. I was in a smaller school district and had an excellent state school to fall back on. The kids I interviewed? Not so much.

Being a San Francisco kid I didn't apply to a lot of schools, I got into Cal and for family reasons applied to schools in Washington and Oregon, and Colorado College. I was so unhappy at Cal, both times I tired it, and I probably would have done fine at Colorado College since it is smaller like Idaho is. The kids from my high school aren't overall applying to a ton of schools as they know CSU and UC schools are always there for them due to credentials. We consistently represent in the Ivies, but not regularly at Stanford. I'll completely own that I started out in a preschool that people try to get on the list for when the stick they peed on turns blue, as did a lot of my classmates K-12, so that is likely a factor into applying to less schools.

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

The fact that so many kids are applying to so many schools now is probably what burned your daughter as well as Dee's with NU. My ex graduated from NU and well, to put it nicely, didn't have anywhere near the credentials that Dee's daughter has.

That's just insane but count me among the generation where applying to more than 4 schools was considered a lot.

I think College Confidential is part of the problem as people put all of their information out there and spend too much time comparing themselves to others. I thought it was a joke how crazy that site is until people actually asked me about moving to Idaho or Alaska to increase the chance their kid will be admitted because it makes them more unique or something. Picking up everything and moving to either of those places for prep school or college admission is really questionable.

[Sciencewoman]

10:45...my daughter went to bed. We have to drive to Big Rapids (yea!!...not) in the am for her state choir solo. I'll keep checking for a bit.

Michigan had my daughter listed as OOS, too. All I had to do was call the number that was on the form and talk to the very nice receptionist. She took care of it and I didn't have to fill out that awful form.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

10:45...my daughter went to bed. We have to drive to Big Rapids (yea!!...not) in the am for her state choir solo. I'll keep checking for a bit.

Michigan had my daughter listed as OOS, too. All I had to do was call the number that was on the form and talk to the very nice receptionist. She took care of it and I didn't have to fill out that awful form.

I just printed the form. I don't know where they get that she might be from out of state. They know her highschool...

We have state solo & ensemble tomorrow. Hypo is in a clarinet quartet and a clarinet/flute duet. One performs at 11 am, one at 4:35. They have to be there an hour before their performance time so we have to leave the house at 8:30 am. I wish they could figure out their scheduling better. We're going to be there all day :/

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I just printed the form. I don't know where they get that she might be from out of state. They know her highschool...

We have state solo & ensemble tomorrow. Hypo is in a clarinet quartet and a clarinet/flute duet. One performs at 11 am, one at 4:35. They have to be there an hour before their performance time so we have to leave the house at 8:30 am. I wish they could figure out their scheduling better. We're going to be there all day :/

The Michigan receptionist told me that the NU summer/on-line classes triggered my daughter's, due to NU being in Illinois. The Barnard program might have done it for your daughter.

What a crappy schedule for you tomorrow!

Here's the message that is now posting for NU. At least it looks a bit official now, and gives some reassurance that they're working on it:

As you read this message, we have a team of very skilled human beings looking into this issue. We're so sorry, we know you're really eager to view your admissions decision. Extremely high traffic has slowed down our servers, and we have all hands on deck to solve this problem ASAP.
Thank you for your patience.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

The Michigan receptionist told me that the NU summer/on-line classes triggered my daughter's, due to NU being in Illinois. The Barnard program might have done it for your daughter.

What a crappy schedule for you tomorrow!

Here's the message that is now posting for NU. At least it looks a bit official now, and gives some reassurance that they're working on it:

As you read this message, we have a team of very skilled human beings looking into this issue. We're so sorry, we know you're really eager to view your admissions decision. Extremely high traffic has slowed down our servers, and we have all hands on deck to solve this problem ASAP.
Thank you for your patience.

They should have just put their decisions in the email.