OT: Connecticut College

[freescooter]

All the NESCACs are very good. You know the faculty. They take interest in you and follow your careers And will contact you 10 years after you graduate with advice and contacts. An additional benefit is the alumni network. They do have a pretty extensive one and nationally it is NESCAC based, so if you are in Pittsburg they will hook you up with Middlebury and Tufts folks if Conn doesn’t have too many local folks.

One of my kids went to another NESCAC school. She was travelling in Europe and the person she was meeting in Paris got delayed. She got talking about it waiting for luggage with someone traveling with a group from another NESCAC Aand they invited her to join them for sight seeing and dinner until her friend arrived. There is a remarkable camaraderie among NESCAC alums that I have seen, not just with individual schools, but among schools.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

There are plenty of studies that show the exact opposite of this.

Business degrees are the refuge of the big partiers.

There have been studies that show through exit surveys and final assessments that the least was gained in business majors.

One caveat for the studies is that the results may be a corollary for the type of kid that takes business courses. Social, partygoing, etc.

We're always told in the Humanities that the classes are too hard (admissions, administrators tell us this) so students are driven away.

I do take your point about STEM.

But the rest of the college looks at Communications and Business in a different way.

Yeah. People on Wall Street don't get paid at all. You nailed it.

 

[Peacefrog]

I have a niece in CT who is just going through the admissions process and I was shocked at what was happening to her. Some of the stuff here at least explains it. Straight A's in high school with a high degree of rigor (8 AP courses with 5's on all the AP tests). 1550 on her SAT. Some extracurricular and ran X-country. Here's what she got:

Northeastern: denied admission
University of Washington: denied admission
University of Virginia: denied admission
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill: denied admission
University of Maryland: accepted, no merit aid
University of Wisconsin: accepted, no merit aid
Boston University: guaranteed transfer admittance after going somewhere else for a year
University of Connecticut: accepted, no merit aid
George Washington: accepted, $22k/year merit aid

I mean, who is getting into Northeastern if a student like this can't?

 

[UConnRock]

St Lawrence grad married to a Hamilton alum. We had mixed experiences at the small updates NY liberal arts schools. I had a great experience and made life long friends. St. Lawrence was in the middle of nowhere, but I didn't mind. My wife liked Hamilton, but after a couple of years wanted more out of the college experience than what a small college could offer.

Sent two very different kids off to college in the last 3 years. Son started at Northeastern but with COVID and a general dislike of the urban northeast campus (which he thought he would love) he decided to transfer. Daughter wanted nothing to do with cold and fell in love with the small campus/big city environment at Rice in Houston. Much to my daughter's dismay, my son got in as a transfer to Rice. She initially hated us for allowing it to happen, but has grown very comfortable with having her brother on the same campus.

My recommendations based on my kids experience. Don't put too much weight on the surrounding community or "things to do off campus". Your child will spend 99% of their time on campus. The small schools generally have very strong alumni bases that can be very beneficial to career plans. Things I have heard - Georgetown is a social and academic challenge. Clubs are selective, classes are tough to get into, dorms are not nice. A whole bunch of kids trying to pack their resume. Have heard much better things about Villanova. However, some majors at GT like international relations/foreign service top notch for obvious reasons. If unclear on the major I would avoid GT. Don't fret about small vs big. My daughter never sees my son unless on purpose. The small liberal arts schools also have great study abroad options which are fabulous for getting off campus for a while.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

My oldest got into UCONN - then he decided that he wanted to run in college. So ended up at Regis outside of Boston (D3) but they gave him $25K in scholarships/year so it was maybe $5K/year more than UCONN so I was ok with it. He got out in 3 years and is finishing grad school now at Evansville - passed his boards, and just got a job this weekend as a trainer for the Michigan State football program (and now I need to root for Sparty? ugh).

My youngest stuggles a lot with mental health and the pandemic was terrible for him, so he didn't go to school and he works full time right now (at 19) and is going to figure it out over time.

If you had asked me 10 years ago I would have demanded that both went to school. But you need to know who your kids are. Spending $80K/year when your kid might flame out is a complete waste of money. My youngest got into SCAD down in Savannah and just wasn't comfortable with going. I wasn't going to spend the money to "see" if it was going to work out. There are many paths - and you need to be flexible as your kids grow up. Try and make sure you aren't forcing your dreams on them.

'There are many paths - and you need to be flexible as your kids grow up. Try and make sure you aren't forcing your dreams on them.'

this. x 1000. burn the rest of the thread.

as far as undie-uni, and since my childhood plan of heading to cali was delayed til pro school time by family inputs ('can't u wait til extra school times, if u chose to go on?'), my geographic choice range was sorta limited to the northeast, and so i set aboot to picking where, as in location.
boston and it's environs is the planets' college central, for very good reasons. it's fun and swimming in opportunity. so then i sez to the college pres at a meeting, 'i'll come here, on one condition - i want to live in that dorm.'
boston and it's environs is the planets' college central, for very good reasons. great choice, clif.
Conn College is a great institution, in a nice place, and attending it will garuntee that the graduate sees pals when they go into zabars, or spago. gilley's? notsomuch. to review,

'There are many paths - and you need to be flexible as your kids grow up. Try and make sure you aren't forcing your dreams on them.'
and in these times of volcanic change, moreso than ever.

(and for the truly coherent parents out there, well, let's just say that a hs grad today can walk into the training programs at pw or eb, and walk out a year later into a 60k or 70k job with the company. noice.)
i like Connecticut. pops sez that there is way more broad opportunity here today for a youngster than ever before in his time.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I mean, who is getting into Northeastern if a student like this can't?

Northeastern has gamed the rankings as well as any school in the last 30 years. That place was a dumping ground for potheads and idiots when I was applying to college.

 

[UConnRock]

I have a niece in CT who is just going through the admissions process and I was shocked at what was happening to her. Some of the stuff here at least explains it. Straight A's in high school with a high degree of rigor (8 AP courses with 5's on all the AP tests). 1550 on her SAT. Some extracurricular and ran X-country. Here's what she got:

Northeastern: denied admission
University of Washington: denied admission
University of Virginia: denied admission
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill: denied admission
University of Maryland: accepted, no merit aid
University of Wisconsin: accepted, no merit aid
Boston University: guaranteed transfer admittance after going somewhere else for a year
University of Connecticut: accepted, no merit aid
George Washington: accepted, $22k/year merit aid

I mean, who is getting into Northeastern if a student like this can't?

Northeastern had an admissions nightmare last year. Over 1000 more students accepted their admission to Northeastern than expected. They are in a huge housing crunch (turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples). The school has not handled its growth in popularity very well. The infrastructure (housing, dining, ect..) is not handling the influx of students. It is one of the reasons my son transferred. Northeastern's admission rate for last year was 18%. The admission rate for this year was 7%. They are scrambling to recover from the miscalculations of last year.

As for the other schools, many are probably going through the same post COVID re-shaping. The lack of requirement for standardized testing and diminishing relevance of AP courses makes things more challenging for students with great numbers. Sometimes the numbers don't matter when taking the "holistic approach" to admissions. I think your niece had the bad luck of graduating in the wrong year.

 

[aburks41]

I graduated from Storrs in 2018, I don't think I would have even got accepted to a branch campus if I tried to apply today after seeing some of these kids' stats. The common app is the worst thing to ever happen for students. Colleges get overwhelmed with applications from kids who have zero intention of ever attending, so it takes away admission spots from kids who actually want to go there.

I remember some of the top kids from my high school were applying to middle of the pack BIG 10 schools when they were getting accepted into Ivies or other elite schools...like why? You're not attending Michigan State when you have a full ride offer from Duke already. It's crazy now

 

[Drumguy]

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.

If you can afford GT, it's a great school and she'll be academically challenged. That said, if you aren't wealthy, then it is not worth going into great debt, that is the shame of these college tuitions today. She can go anywhere for post grad studies.

btw, a study a few years ago determined that the education a person gets in college is dependent on the student, not the school. You get what you put in.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Northeastern had an admissions nightmare last year. Over 1000 more students accepted their admission to Northeastern than expected. They are in a huge housing crunch (turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples). The school has not handled its growth in popularity very well. The infrastructure (housing, dining, ect..) is not handling the influx of students. It is one of the reasons my son transferred. Northeastern's admission rate for last year was 18%. The admission rate for this year was 7%. They are scrambling to recover from the miscalculations of last year.

As for the other schools, many are probably going through the same post COVID re-shaping. The lack of requirement for standardized testing and diminishing relevance of AP courses makes things more challenging for students with great numbers. Sometimes the numbers don't matter when taking the "holistic approach" to admissions. I think your niece had the bad luck of graduating in the wrong year.

Don't I know it. My daughter has been at the Sheraton next to the Prudential all year. Not that she minds it. She had some challenges with classes filling up as well. Not only did they admit too many, but the usual number who would go overseas for study abroad or Co-op abroad didn't, because of Covid. That meant far too many were in Boston.

That said, she loves being in Boston, likes the school and has found a hybrid major that suits her and the school well. We will see what happens when she's in university housing next year.

 

[husky429]

I have a niece in CT who is just going through the admissions process and I was shocked at what was happening to her. Some of the stuff here at least explains it. Straight A's in high school with a high degree of rigor (8 AP courses with 5's on all the AP tests). 1550 on her SAT. Some extracurricular and ran X-country. Here's what she got:

Northeastern: denied admission
University of Washington: denied admission
University of Virginia: denied admission
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill: denied admission
University of Maryland: accepted, no merit aid
University of Wisconsin: accepted, no merit aid
Boston University: guaranteed transfer admittance after going somewhere else for a year
University of Connecticut: accepted, no merit aid
George Washington: accepted, $22k/year merit aid

I mean, who is getting into Northeastern if a student like this can't?

Where is she from? These state schools are way more competitive out of state.

GW seems like the no-brainer here to me.

I have no idea about your background, but you've also gotta realize that wealthier white kids are a dime a dozen fir these colleges. They can be as selective as they want. EVERY kid has exteacurriculars and As in their classes. APs don't mean diddly--every school has them now. Shoot, the median GPA at some suburban schools is like a 3.8.

Not saying your niece isn't awesome. Just on paper... there's 1000s of kids with exactly the same profile. It's one of the many reasons why I wish SAT/ACT was required.

 

[UConnRock]

Don't I know it. My daughter has been at the Sheraton next to the Prudential all year. Not that she minds it. She had some challenges with classes filling up as well. Not only did they admit too many, but the usual number who would go overseas for study abroad or Co-op abroad didn't, because of Covid. That meant far too many were in Boston.

That said, she loves being in Boston, likes the school and has found a hybrid major that suits her and the school well. We will see what happens when she's in university housing next year.

And now that tourism is expected to pick up the area hotels are no longer an option for overflow housing from Northeastern. Hence the overcrowding of the dorms. I assume more students will be moving off campus but the rental rates are likely to rise due to demand. My son had a combined major he was enjoying. The academics were fine. The other factors drove him to transfer.

 

[QDOG5]

I graduated from Conn College in 96. Played basketball for Glenn Miller there for 3 years and soccer under Bill Lessig for 4. Was one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my life. Could have gone to a larger D1 school to play soccer, but obviously not basketball. For athletics, I got the best of both worlds and I received a first class education. The campus has a large school feel because it’s fairly spread out and the grounds are meticulous. The facilities and faculty are are top notch, and continue to improve every year as the endowment continues to grow. Yes- the student population is fairly small, but there are benefits to that as well. Small class size, your own room after freshman year and personalized career and post graduation guidance. I could go on- but again, it was perfect for me.

@Exodus, do you know the guys from the 98-99 CC bball team? One of them lives in my hometown in Illinois.

 

[HuskyHawk]

And now that tourism is expected to pick up the area hotels are no longer an option for overflow housing from Northeastern. Hence the overcrowding of the dorms. I assume more students will be moving off campus but the rental rates are likely to rise due to demand. My son had a combined major he was enjoying. The academics were fine. The other factors drove him to transfer.

Where did he go? My daughter may luck out on housing. Her roommate from TN is evidently wealthy enough that her family may buy a place near campus for her to stay and rent to roommates.

 

[pepband99]

I have a niece in CT who is just going through the admissions process and I was shocked at what was happening to her. Some of the stuff here at least explains it. Straight A's in high school with a high degree of rigor (8 AP courses with 5's on all the AP tests). 1550 on her SAT. Some extracurricular and ran X-country. Here's what she got:

Northeastern: denied admission
University of Washington: denied admission
University of Virginia: denied admission
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill: denied admission
University of Maryland: accepted, no merit aid
University of Wisconsin: accepted, no merit aid
Boston University: guaranteed transfer admittance after going somewhere else for a year
University of Connecticut: accepted, no merit aid
George Washington: accepted, $22k/year merit aid

I mean, who is getting into Northeastern if a student like this can't?

There is a dirty flipside to this, too. @nelsonmuntz mentioned gaming the system, and he's right.

Northeastern is an outlier on that list. There is absolutely both admission and aid collusion going on. It's entirely possible NU saw that school list, and denied simply to boost their "competitiveness," knowing that the likelihood of getting your niece to go was small.

 

[Exodus]

@Exodus, do you know the guys from the 98-99 CC bball team? One of them lives in my hometown in Illinois.

@QDOG5 , i knew the seniors on that team very well. Chris O'Leary, Zach Smith and Dwayne Stallings (great shooter and New London guy). That team was loaded with talent. Zach could have played at a much higher level if he chose to. That team accomplished great things under Glen. I didn't really know any of the underclassmen.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Don't I know it. My daughter has been at the Sheraton next to the Prudential all year. Not that she minds it. She had some challenges with classes filling up as well. Not only did they admit too many, but the usual number who would go overseas for study abroad or Co-op abroad didn't, because of Covid. That meant far too many were in Boston.

That said, she loves being in Boston, likes the school and has found a hybrid major that suits her and the school well. We will see what happens when she's in university housing next year.

'That said, she loves being in Boston,'
well now, imagine that.

 

[UConnRock]

Where did he go? My daughter may luck out on housing. Her roommate from TN is evidently wealthy enough that her family may buy a place near campus for her to stay and rent to roommates.

Transferred to Rice.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

Seeing the prices for colleges now has only confirmed that I will push my 3 year old to be an electrician or plumber. I do not want to even think about what prices will be in 15 years if this contjnues. Go to trade school work as an apprentice then open your own shop. Far too few plumbers, electricians, and other tradesmen nowadays.

 

[Peacefrog]

There is a dirty flipside to this, too. @nelsonmuntz mentioned gaming the system, and he's right.

Northeastern is an outlier on that list. There is absolutely both admission and aid collusion going on. It's entirely possible NU saw that school list, and denied simply to boost their "competitiveness," knowing that the likelihood of getting your niece to go was small.

Do they have the ability to see/know the other schools to which she applied? Incidentally, Northeastern was her top choice. She would have gone if accepted.

 

[drayenob]

Ranking colleges by ROI

Top 10 by 40 year NPV:

1​	University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis
2​	Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
3​	MCPHS University
4​	California Institute of Technology
5​	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6​	Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science
7​	Harvey Mudd College
8​	Bentley University
9​	Babson College
10​	University of Pennsylvania

 

[HuskyHawk]

Transferred to Rice.

Wow. That's a hell of a school. Don't think mine would be interested in Houston.

 

[upstater]

Yeah. People on Wall Street don't get paid at all. You nailed it.

Oh yeah wonderful, every business major works on Wall Street, and every English major sells at least 1/100th as many books as Stephen King!

 

[Chuck]

There is a dirty flipside to this, too. @nelsonmuntz mentioned gaming the system, and he's right.

Northeastern is an outlier on that list. There is absolutely both admission and aid collusion going on. It's entirely possible NU saw that school list, and denied simply to boost their "competitiveness," knowing that the likelihood of getting your niece to go was small.

First, I assume Fishy knew this was going to go sideways! You're lucky if 20% of the posts mentioned Conn College.

I have outdated opinions on the school. What I've learned having a couple kids heading towards the application/decision process is that my past knowledge is useless. Schools in general are much harder to get into for whatever reason. And some schools that were safety schools for rich kids are now accepting 10%.

I've been told that we need to use "game theory" when we apply. And then I learned about Pepband99's theory above re "yield protection." We have a friend going to a top 15 liberal arts school that got denied (not waitlisted) from Maryland. Another got into an Ivy and got waitlisted at Northeastern. Finally, we have a friend that got denied from 6 Ivies. Number 1 in his class with all the AP/Honors stuff from highly ranked school, student president for two years, 1580 SAT, debate captain, captain of the football team.... Wound up at Georgetown.

It's all leading me to push to my kids that there is a great school out there for them. Like real estate (not falling in love with one house), they shouldn't fall in love with one school because their acceptance may hinge on something out of their control.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

It's all leading me to push to my kids that there is a great school out there for them. Like real estate (not falling in love with one house), they shouldn't fall in love with one school because their acceptance may hinge on something out of their control.

And in 20 years any angst they felt over the process will seem ridiculous.