OT: Connecticut College

[Fishy]

Good question. On the other hand, my youngest daughter is a senior. Her academic stats are not as good as those. Despite that she applied to 11 schools and got into 10 (including UConn) including several merit scholarships. I think it’s the program. She applied specifically into programs for speech & language pathology.

Interesting. I’m hard of hearing and my sister in law is a speech pathologist. My daughter was somewhat Interested in the field. Northeastern has its own clinic. But I thought the lifestyle was not for her. It’s massively in demand though. Not nearly enough people.

My wife is a speech pathologist. (Her lifestyle is pretty normal.)

There’s a huge shortage of them, so a good field to get into.

 

[fatlucy]

My son was also accepted at Union with a big merit package. It’s not his first choice but that school has a 7% acceptance rate so we’re heading up to see Union maybe this weekend. He wants to study Mechanical Engineering and their program looks amazing. Only drawback is he’s a D1 level rower and they are D3. But he ain’t going pro so it’s ok to be a big fish with a great education.

I have to say I’m impressed with everything I’ve seen at Union particularly regarding Engineering.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

My son was also accepted at Union with a big merit package. It’s not his first choice but that school has a 7% acceptance rate so we’re heading up to see Union maybe this weekend. He wants to study Mechanical Engineering and their program looks amazing. Only drawback is he’s a D1 level rower and they are D3. But he ain’t going pro so it’s ok to be a big fish with a great education.

I have to say I’m impressed with everything I’ve seen at Union particularly regarding Engineering.

Great major to choose. I work in the manufacturing industry and there is a huge shortage of mechanical and electrical engineers which is only going to grow as the aging industry retires over the next 10 years.

 

[UConnRock]

Northeastern had to limit their incoming class to 2500 students rather than the Norman 3500 due to the large admission error the previous year. Also, the concept that they “force” freshmen to start their college career abroad is a bit harsh. NU has a different approach to college, having the students do 2 or even 3 semester long co-ops that are part of the students transcript. Hence, they have thousands of students leave campus in the Spring for co-ops. Rather than have empty dorm rooms they fill the rooms with the freshmen that were overseas. It is appealing to some, but not to others. The co-op program is one of the reasons NU has become so popular.

 

[Blaneylover]

The merit aid is substantial - essentially makes Union and Conn about half the cost of Nova or Georgetown. Holy Cross and Syracuse are somewhere in the middle.

So basically, $30K for Binghamton/Buffalo instate, $40K for Conn/Union, $50K Syracuse, $60K Holy Cross and $80K Georgetown/Nova.

The college admissions process right now is horrible. It’s a meat grinder for these kids.

The college application/selection process is brutal for the student and the parents. The merit aid game is maddening. For my two daughters, two years apart in school, both wound up at their second choice schools due to financial considerations. We told them that we would send them to their first choices, tuition free, but then would be largely unable to help them on different things, going forward.

Each of them had a great undergraduate experience and each will have zero undergraduate debt. Their decision to go to their second choice schools saved us $260,000.

A friend of mine knows someone in the admissions/financial aid business. He was told that the entire underpinning of the merit system is that "some families deserve the opportunity to pay full price" for attendance. For some families, getting in is the only consideration. There are abundant funds to pay, regardless of cost. For others, the first issue is getting in and the second issue is affording it. We were committed to leaving our girls with no undergraduate debt and we were able to do that. Now, thanks to the mature decisions that they made at 18, we are able to help them with postgraduate opportunities, leases on apartments, and perhaps, a future wedding or two.

As your daughter makes her choice, trust that wherever she decides to go will turn out to be the place she was meant to be.

 

[UConnRock]

The college application/selection process is brutal for the student and the parents. The merit aid game is maddening. For my two daughters, two years apart in school, both wound up at their second choice schools due to financial considerations. We told them that we would send them to their first choices, tuition free, but then would be largely unable to help them on different things, going forward.

Each of them had a great undergraduate experience and each will have zero undergraduate debt. Their decision to go to their second choice schools saved us $260,000.

A friend of mine knows someone in the admissions/financial aid business. He was told that the entire underpinning of the merit system is that "some families deserve the opportunity to pay full price" for attendance. For some families, getting in is the only consideration. There are abundant funds to pay, regardless of cost. For others, the first issue is getting in and the second issue is affording it. We were committed to leaving our girls with no undergraduate debt and we were able to do that. Now, thanks to the mature decisions that they made at 18, we are able to help them with postgraduate opportunities, leases on apartments, and perhaps, a future wedding or two.

As your daughter makes her choice, trust that wherever she decides to go will turn out to be the place she was meant to be.

Blaney,

That is a great post. The college decision for HS senior is one of the first decisions with serious long term implications. The pros/cons, debt/no debt, and parental financial situation conversations are important. I found that the best question to ask a student is "why is this college your 1st choice". The answer to that question provides insight as to whether it is worth extra $$.

If possible, graduating with no debt is a wonderful situation. A student can go into the real world with no financial handcuffs. If they want to pursue graduate studies they can incur debt when their field of study and career goals are much clearer. Glad I only had two kids. If I had to go through the college app process with a 3rd or 4th child I don't think I would survive.

 

[upstater]

When tuition was cheaper, people never used to ask 16 year olds what they were going to do, what they were going to major in. Now students are forced into it. Amazes me to think I went to university without an idea of what I'd be doing, I took a variety of classes and gravitated to what I liked most. It was a more pure learning experience.

For those with children younger than HS seniors, there are indeed some tricks to the admissions games, but it's mostly for people of means.

1. Private colleges need to lock in their full payers quickly, so if you have an athlete or artist, make contact with coaches or fine arts faculty early so they can send your kid to the special admissions pile (which is done by summer before senior year). This is the easiest way to be admitted for those who don't have grades or scores.

2. If your kid doesn't have high SATs, apply test-optional but do NOT fill out a FAFSA form for aid-- this signals to the schools that you are willing to pay full price.

3. Do not fill out a FAFSA form if you're rich and can afford to pay full price.

4. Show the school you have a very high level of interest in the school in a variety of ways. Go on school tours, take interviews at the school, do an interview locally with alumni. Visit the school webpage frequently and investigate the department you want frequently (the schools track your visits, they know you're visiting, they know your level of interest). Also, click and read every single email they send you--they know whether you are reading their emails.

5. Apply early decision: schools like to lock in their full payers early so they know exactly how much they can dole out in aid in the spring.

For the rest of us who don't have $360k to spend on each of our multiple kids, do #4 and then cross your fingers.

One more for those needing aid at private schools, go to the DOE database and look up the total amount of aid granted to incoming freshman, divide by the number of freshman. Then go to that same school's numbers for sophomores. Look up the same numbers: total aid / number of sophomores. Is there a great divergence between the average award to freshman and sophomores? If so, that school is practicing a bait-and-switch approach by bringing in freshman to game their acceptance rate, but in the ensuing years it's giving less money to continuing students. Totally unethical and disgusting, but it happens.

If the 40% of students admitted to Boston U. were testing optionals last year, they did NOT receive any financial aid: this means that there will be a lot of pretty rich kids making up the class. Maybe they were already there so BU can justify it since this is what they were doing anyway, but now the kids without the scores won't drag down the average SAT.

 

[8893]

A propos of nothing to do with the OP, but somewhat related to the topic of college choices and the changing college landscape, I can't say enough about the kids I know who graduated from and are attending Eastern Connecticut State University. From what I understand, it has made the most strides among the Connecticut State University System schools in the past 10-15 years. Again, only a handful of kids, but all who graduated are debt-free, well-employed in a field related to their majors and they all liked it there. One niece who is graduating this year will probably earn summa cum laude in a double major; she has already had internships and has job offers upon graduation.

Our youngest is still a sophomore in high school and it's not clear where she is heading yet, especially after the past two-plus years, but we are definitely keeping it in mind as a potential option.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Blaney,

That is a great post. The college decision for HS senior is one of the first decisions with serious long term implications. The pros/cons, debt/no debt, and parental financial situation conversations are important. I found that the best question to ask a student is "why is this college your 1st choice". The answer to that question provides insight as to whether it is worth extra $$.

If possible, graduating with no debt is a wonderful situation. A student can go into the real world with no financial handcuffs. If they want to pursue graduate studies they can incur debt when their field of study and career goals are much clearer. Glad I only had two kids. If I had to go through the college app process with a 3rd or 4th child I don't think I would survive.

Yes, it's complicated and different for every student and family. Since I only have the one, and had 529 money we were able to choose the least affordable school. But the Co-op at Northeastern factored into that. My daughter had no idea what she wanted to do, but I was fairly confident that Co-ops would help her gain meaningful employment after college. She's picked a hybrid major now (International Business/International Affairs), and actually had to interview me for it, which was perhaps eye opening for her. But when she was briefly considering law school, I suggested she transfer. No point paying $$$ if you need grad/law school after.

I do think surroundings matter to some kids. Mine lives in the wooded suburbs, can't walk to anything and went to school in a different town. She wanted a more urban environment. I was the opposite as a kid, wouldn't consider a school in a city. Unfortunately, as much as I like UConn, the public school options in New England have only one flagship that's in what I'd call a small city/big college town: UVM. Durham NH was the most disappointing college town I've ever seen. I've seen a trend of New England kids heading to SEC, ACC and B1G schools, and it makes sense that they would.

 

[Umami Zen]

My wife is a retired executive recruiter and has frequently commented on the general lack of professional guidance provided at colleges for their students re: career development and preparation for pursuing their career of choice. There are outliers-of course- an extremely focused student who knows their area of interest and that specializes/excels in that major. Or colleges with huge endowments to assist in this effort. Colleges are in the business of selling their classes to students.--Make no mistake about that. They love five and six year students. LOL

Why bring this up?? The undergrad decision is an important and fundamental building block towards establishing the basic criteria for that first job out of college. It is not the end of the road. Having a positive experience for the kids at an affordable price that allows them to grow and mature as people/students is key. Once they're out in the work world and/or in a Masters Program (hopefully paid by their employer) ..That's when the rubber meets the road. Advanced degrees.. ie MD/JD--even more so.

Nothing earth- shattering here but I thought it might be of interest to some parents to hear what recruiters are experiencing in those initial sessions with graduating seniors looking for employment after graduation. Many times- Clueless.. Takeaway-Enjoy and grow at school.. Challenge yourself. Becoming an adult will come soon enough.

Project yourselves out 10-15 years --after your kids are out of school and have strong careers and starting their families. The conversations you will have with them are priceless and can add some context to this process. My son enjoyed college immensely but has frequently said the real world is where its at.(after college)

Enjoy the ride.

 

[husky429]

A propos of nothing to do with the OP, but somewhat related to the topic of college choices and the changing college landscape, I can't say enough about the kids I know who graduated from and are attending Eastern Connecticut State University. From what I understand, it has made the most strides among the Connecticut State University System schools in the past 10-15 years. Again, only a handful of kids, but all who graduated are debt-free, well-employed in a field related to their majors and they all liked it there. One niece who is graduating this year will probably earn summa cum laude in a double major; she has already had internships and has job offers upon graduation.

Our youngest is still a sophomore in high school and it's not clear where she is heading yet, especially after the past two-plus years, but we are definitely keeping it in mind as a potential option.

The reality is education is 95% up to the student regardless of where you go. Kids at NESCAC schools do nothing with themselves, and kids like your niece make a great life for themselves coming out of ECSU. CCSU/UConn/ECSU or any other number of cheaper schools can get you the same opportunities as the 80k a year private school. Shoot, some of the best professors I know are working at community colleges.

People paying 80k a year for their kids to go to school don't like to hear it, but it's true. It's a total and complete waste of money unless you have cash to throw around that won't impact your life substantially. The parents I know paying that kind of money just want to make their kids happy no matter what--even when it's a waste.

They also don't like to hear that rich white kids are not in high-demand. 1000s upon 1000s of applicants have As in their classes and extracurriculars. Your kid isn't special when admissions looks at that piece of paper. Mine won't be in 16 years when he's applying to colleges either.

I live with a woman with a law degree from a top-20 program and a PhD from Yale who started at a community college while she commuted from her dad's trailer. My best friend went to CCSU and makes 180k a year. Another friend of mine went to ECSU and is a D1 strength coach. Another buddy of mine went to Harvard and drives uber now.

Is there a better chance of getting that better internship that launches a career at a NESCAC school? Well, yeah. Is it worth a 200,000$ gamble. Yeah, no. Big name, high-level schools like the Ivies are probably the exception.

 

[Skies17]

Graduated from Union in 2018 - I'm biased but would strongly recommend Union for those looking for a small liberal arts setting.

Trimester system in addition to small class size gives you access to professors and you can tailor your schedule if you plan ahead. Going abroad is huge at Union but most programs are selective to specific majors, ex Mechanical Engineers almost exclusively go to Prague.

Lots of alum connections in NYC and Boston (with some DC) so that might be a consideration if you specifically do or specifically do not want to end up in those places after graduation. Also some pipelines with specific companies post-grad.

@fatlucy Congrats to your son. If you do end up visiting, make sure to check out the new S&E Building and I believe there's a new rowing setup in the Gym from an alum donation that's specific/preferred use for Men's & Women's crew. Had a few friends in Crew/MechE feel free to DM me if you want some additional info.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

game theory. pretty funny how sum here yak on aboot game theory and the schools, instead of game theory and their kids. ya know, productive and useful thoughts as opposed to more venting on how it's all 'so unfair.'
a poster mentions that their kid has a high acceptance rate prolly cuz the program that they are interested in isn't widely applied to.
game. set. match.
if there is a super duper school that ur kid desperately wants to get in, well, spend some time deep in the bowels of offerings and programs that school has, and u may just find some unpopular or oddball offering that could be their invite. once ur in, ur in, and no one at special u will care iffn a year later, u decide to laterally transfer. no one.
game theory.
and speaking of game theory, i see ol elon 'He dropped out of Stanford after two days (phd),' just took over twitter. justice! rumour has that he just tosses his kids into the pool and yells "swim!,' as the only thing he does of a helicopter nature, is ride in them. or buy the company. mebbe im wrong, mebbe he tosses them into the pond, cuz you know, the world is full of snakes too, and the sooner u learn, the wiser u'll be.
he used to work in a lumber mill. great education.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Just in case anyone isn't aware of this. For kids who know what they are interested in, it can provide some savings. The New England publics allow reduced tuition for out of state students taking a course of study not offered in their home state school. » Tuition Break

A good friend of mine has a daughter my daughter's age and I told him about this. She really liked UConn and was able to use this to get reduced tuition at UConn.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Just in case anyone isn't aware of this. For kids who know what they are interested in, it can provide some savings. The New England publics allow reduced tuition for out of state students taking a course of study not offered in their home state school. » Tuition Break

A good friend of mine has a daughter my daughter's age and I told him about this. She really liked UConn and was able to use this to get reduced tuition at UConn.

game theory!

 

[husky429]

Is this the gun fire you're talking about? Says it happened back in February. Only reason I'm asking is my wife grew up in that neighborhood and she was curious.

Police: Hartford man charged after fight leads to gunfire in Middletown

Police said the man allegedly pulled out a gun during a physical altercation, hit the...

www.middletownpress.com

No, I remember that one too though--lol. My notifications just told me you responded to my post... weird.

This week was just some jackass shooting at the gravestones in the cemetery I believe. Nothing even worth reporting I would think.

I like the north end. Lots of really solid people... we have great neighborhood cookouts every year, and there's community gardens all over. Being able to walk to anything on main street in town is amazing. I play basketball with the kids all summer at the park (when they started calling me "OG" I knew I was getting old... that hurt lol)

Liberty street to the homeless shelter and Salvation Army in particular just has some of the typical stuff you see with poverty and drugs. It's really no threat to anyone if you keep your wits about you and know who to ignore.

 

[bendm]

One of my good friends went to CC… she was a WASP from Westchester who partied hard and studied art history while reading fiction for fun on her nights off. She worked for a non profit after school and then got an MBA at Yale and now she’s a ECM banker. Many of her closest friends are from CC…… and like her, they’re sensational.

flora or jocina?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

game theory. pretty funny how sum here yak on aboot game theory and the schools, instead of game theory and their kids. ya know, productive and useful thoughts as opposed to more venting on how it's all 'so unfair.'
a poster mentions that their kid has a high acceptance rate prolly cuz the program that they are interested in isn't widely applied to.
game. set. match.
if there is a super duper school that ur kid desperately wants to get in, well, spend some time deep in the bowels of offerings and programs that school has, and u may just find some unpopular or oddball offering that could be their invite. once ur in, ur in, and no one at special u will care iffn a year later, u decide to laterally transfer. no one.
game theory.
and speaking of game theory, i see ol elon 'He dropped out of Stanford after two days (phd),' just took over twitter. justice! rumour has that he just tosses his kids into the pool and yells "swim!,' as the only thing he does of a helicopter nature, is ride in them. or buy the company. mebbe im wrong, mebbe he tosses them into the pond, cuz you know, the world is full of snakes too, and the sooner u learn, the wiser u'll be.
he used to work in a lumber mill. great education.

hey runtrunner! junior aarp! seems like u been chasing around lately hanging the red thumb on me! noice, mebbe i can break some record here for those, so thanks for the help.
whatever. elon still runs twitter. change has come!
im guessing it all stems from youse having to sit around waiting for some college to offer you, instead of deciding which place shall have the pleasure and honor of ur company. sumthin to do with increasing their endowment, i think.
bbc 4 had a great program last week, talking aboot the science of grey hair. turns out that iffn u reduce ur stress, the greys can turn back to their original color. now u know.

 

[Fishy]

Wife and daughter are off to Florida for a week - dropped them at Tweed earlier and then drove out to New London to see Conn College myself.

Lordy, what a pretty little campus.

 

[CL82]

This. There is not 1 perfect school for everyone. My general impression is that once kids go to a school, most of them end up loving it. And all schools have lots of things that students can take advantage of. As someone said in this thread, you get out of your college experience what you put into it.

That was my advice to other parents, and sometimes seem to be stressing more than their kids. In the end your kid will find a school will love it. Don’t swear the details too much. Guide rather than tell. And definitely enjoy the process. There is a lot of quality parent child time to be had in the search for colleges. Relax and enjoy it.

 

[CL82]

Wife and daughter are off to Florida for a week - dropped them at Tweed earlier and then drove out to New London to see Conn College myself.

Lordy, what a pretty little campus.

You would send your daughter to school with a pictures naked women painting on the buildings? What? Are Sodom and Gomorrah not taking new applicants?

 

[WrenchFan69]

View attachment 75450

You would send your daughter to school with a pictures naked women painting on the buildings? What? Are Sodom and Gomorrah not taking new applicants?

Idk if this is a bit or something but that's an art gallery/event space in downtown New London, rather far from campus

 

[uconnfan68]

Great major to choose. I work in the manufacturing industry and there is a huge shortage of mechanical and electrical engineers which is only going to grow as the aging industry retires over the next 10 years.

That’s what outsourcing does. I hope the supply chain mess acts as a wake-up call for manufacturing here.

 

[sledog]

I used to interview HS kids for an Ivy. Most were Asians who wanted to major in bio. One kid I remember who did get in presented as an Astronomer. Heady stuff, and interesting supply / demand dynamic.

wrt Northeastern, it's a co-op program school. Since NU grads have direct in major work experience, they get jobs. Admissions states that 99% grads have either a job ot go to grad school - #1 in country. With the co-op program, the $$ (good salaries) earned on the job has paid for many tuition bills. Also, employers provide scholarships for their co-op students - a double ++ whammy. Especially so the sci/engrg side. Given NU ranking, grad schools love the grads. Not a bad option.

 

[8893]

Wife and daughter are off to Florida for a week - dropped them at Tweed earlier and then drove out to New London to see Conn College myself.

Lordy, what a pretty little campus.

I will meet you at Dutch Tavern.

That little half block has a pretty interesting history; iirc correctly it’s one of the only parts of downtown that was spared when Benedict Arnold ordered New London to be burned to the ground.

Eugene O’Neill also hung out there.