Choosing a university in the USA

[monster]

oh help!!!!!

is the University of Virginia any good? William and Mary sounds quite Scary...... how on earth do we do this? A zillion websites ranking universities in a zillion different ways.

[Clodfobble]

What's the planned area of study? That makes all the difference in the world. Different schools have different strengths.

[gvidas]

The first decision you need to make is: are your kids well-funded enough that a top-ranked school is important? If not, can they pull in a scholarship that makes it possible?

The smart money seems to have it that college education right now is overpriced. From where I sit, major college debt is worth avoiding. Starting adulthood with >20$k in unbankruptable debt seems simply crazy, yet it's being sold as normal.

The most tangible benefits of college seem to me to be: calling another city/town home for 4 years; passing into adulthood with a safety net that is hung much lower than most households, yet still present; learning critical thinking, time management, prioritization, and other fundamental skills; proving to future employers that you can tackle a 4-year project and complete it.

If you're lucky/brave/wealthy enough to get a big-name degree, maybe reputation is worth something. But the point is, the tangibles are pretty much available anywhere, yet clouded by the cult of personality that schools project to make their essentially interchangeable commodity stand out. I'll concede that in some schools it's easier to fall into a community of serious-minded students than others; some places certainly have more peer pressure towards beer pong and football than study. But that has as much to do with the student in question as it does with the environment they are in.

What I'm saying is: look hard at scholarships and state schools. It's too bad you're in AA, since UMich is close enough the kids probably don't want to go despite it being almost certainly a great deal. If they do want to go there, let them move out.

Maybe the actual first question is: what do the kids want in life? Most paths are broadly laid out, anyway; the anxiety and depression come when you're on the wrong one (Johnny T. Welder goes to Med School is just as tragic as the inverse.)

[Lamplighter]

Very well said !

[monster]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

What's the planned area of study? That makes all the difference in the world. Different schools have different strengths.

NFI. She likes Latin. And Spanish. She has a 3.9something and letters of interest from colleges with swim teams no-one has ever heard of. Well I haven't. Not Ivy league anyway. Although she's actually more noted in Water Polo circles, but they don't recruit in the same way, especially up here because cali is the center of all things WP. Does that help?

[Gravdigr]

University of Kentucky - now that you're finished laughing...oh, not yet? Ok, I'll wait - you could do a lot worse.

[Big Sarge]

Seriously consider Ole Miss (University of MS). It is always rated in the top 5 party schools. Four generations of my family have graduated from Ole Miss and we all have excellent partying skills. It is always important to choose a school that focuses on the important things in life.

Will she be going Greek?? Also Ole Miss is in the SEC, the only football conference that counts!

[glatt]

UVA is good, but a bit pretentious. It's all "TJ this" and "TJ that." TJ is Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the school. And they won't let you forget it.

Plus, I'm bitter because my kids will never get in because we live in Arlington. They have unwritten quotas they follow.

[Happy Monkey]

My sister's a MD/PhD student at UVA. Very pretty campus.

[Chocolatl]

If you can swing it, road trip around to the top choices. Most universities offer open houses several times a year. While a lot of it will be their sales pitch, you'll also have a chance to get a good feel for the campus and the atmosphere.

[Griff]

Sort by who has the program your kid needs, then visit them so you get the vibe of the campus.

[monster]

Thanks guys. We'll certainly be road-tripping, but I just have no idea what's good and what's not. Is it really not that big a deal as long as you get a degree?

U of M would be fantastic were it not right on the doorstep. literally walkable. It's closer than all her schools.

[Chocolatl]

Originally Posted by monster

Is it really not that big a deal as long as you get a degree? .

In my experience, this is correct. Some schools may have more prestige, but its kinda like paying extra money for the name brand product when the store brand is the exact same thing without the fancy marketing.

The Princeton Review website has a best fit college search. I started my high school juniors there, and used it myself when it came time to choose a college.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by monster

Thanks guys. We'll certainly be road-tripping, but I just have no idea what's good and what's not. Is it really not that big a deal as long as you get a degree?

In my opinion, as long as your daughter takes advantage of opportunities and remains top of her class, she will most likely be fine no matter the University or degree. However, I would just argue that some degrees and schools provide more opportunities than others.

If she is undecided of what to do academically, which is completely understandable at 16, going to a school that has a lot to offer is a good idea. It can be surprising what fields people eventually choose. I would push her to research different fields and get an idea of what she likes and is good at, which makes the decision process easier, but options are likely the best bet right now.

There is nothing wrong with going to a school specifically for sports but she must recognize that if swimming does not go as planned, her options are more limited. This is only a single instance, and I know of happier stories, but my best friend from high school went to a school specifically for football, didn't like it, and now regrets wasting two years at that school because of the lack of options.

Price tag is important. Sometimes more expensive school (private schools) are the way to go but make sure there is a clear vision if you do that. A lot of expensive private schools are very good in a few fields (worth it) but no better than cheaper schools in most other fields (not worth it). The same can be said for top state schools versus smaller state schools but to a lesser degree.

All in all, there is no single "best path" to take. Just be adaptive and open to opportunities. I know this is vague advice but I hope it helped. To give some background of where my perspective is coming from, I went to a Big 10 school (University of Minnesota) for undergrad with no idea of what I wanted to do when I got there.

U of M would be fantastic were it not right on the doorstep. literally walkable. It's closer than all her schools.

Agreed. The best decision of my life was going to a school 5 1/2 hours away from home. Nothing wrong with saying close, I know a lot of people who did it, but I am very happy with my decision.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That's bullshit, every school is a party school if you want it to be.

Very true. I am at the #3 party school in the country right now and it really isn't much different than Minnesota. It is all about who you hang with.

My advice on partying...be smart and don't let it control you. It is very possible to get very good grades and be ambitious while get trashed three or four times a week. However, to do that, you have your shit together and know limits. Many people are able to balance work and drinking (work hard play hard...) but other people fall down the rabbit hole. Just be careful and know priorities.

[monster]

Originally Posted by monster

NFI. She likes Latin. And Spanish. She has a 3.9something and letters of interest from colleges with swim teams no-one has ever heard of. Well I haven't. Not Ivy league anyway. Although she's actually more noted in Water Polo circles, but they don't recruit in the same way, especially up here because cali is the center of all things WP. Does that help?

Originally Posted by monster

Thanks guys. We'll certainly be road-tripping, but I just have no idea what's good and what's not. Is it really not that big a deal as long as you get a degree?

So.... I really was very, very clueless when I started this thread. I'm getting better.

I now know which schools are the Ivy League schools (that was a throw-away hignoramus comment before) ...I learned that Stanford is in California and is not one of them! I learned that a 3.9+ GPA is actually very good -good enough to consider Ivy League. Sorry for being such a wazzock before, I truly had no idea. And I learned that the ridiculous tuitions fees of the top universities are not actually what students end up paying because many get Financial Aid, not just the folk who qualify for free lunches. And that the big$$ universities often have big endowments so have more scholarships to offer.

So it turns out our first road trip will be to look at Harvard because they have a D1 Women's Water Polo Team and have been soliciting her academically after she took the ACT. Which is awesome but also very scary. But nothing to lose, right? Right? it is times like this when I kind of get homesick because I knew how it worked there and then.... but of course the whole water polo thing (and the swimming thing) wouldn't even be a consideration.....

interesting times.