So right now DD has 3 acceptances. She has decided she likely wants to stay closer to home so it is likely if she gets into the remaining 2 she will not go to those schools. She is favoring UConn however she did not get any merit money. She got significant merit money at UVM and URI which would make both $20k per yr less expensive. I’m not sure I feel that she is fairly evaluating the other two.
She has agreed to go to Accepted Student Days at all. She has been to UConn more frequently and likely has a friend attending (unless the friend gets in at another school and gets more money there). URI we did a tour but she was not feeling well which colored that visit. She did go see the campus again and was positive about it and knows the surrounding area well. We went up to UVM but she applied regular decision and it happened to be accepted students day for early applicants so there were no official tours and she was reluctant to go into many buildings due to the accepted students everywhere. Her initial take was she liked it and would go back again if she got in. DS has two friends on the soccer team there one of which is visiting us now. I’m hoping she will get to chat with him but they are ships passing in the night as she is in school and the boys are on spring break so they are catching up with former teammates. My other qualm ably UConn is that she did not get into her accepted major. She can apply in to the school later. Her field would require grad school but now she is saying that maybe she doesn’t want to do that. I would be ok with her changing course but it feels like that it is more of a justification for UConn than anything sincere. She has wanted to pursue her field since Ms and did an internship in that field and liked it. Our current financial picture is not one where we would qualify for financial aid. We live in a hcol area and are not rich but our assets are in the wrong areas. To me merit makes the costs much more feasible for our longer term financial health.
Ok sorry for the long preamble:
*any feedback on any of these schools
*any recommendations on sites with real student feedback? Tried skimming college confidential but couldn’t find what I was looking for
*is there any way to use existing merit awards to see if UConn will offer anything?
*anyone have a child who applied to health sciences at UConn after being undeclared?
*She is concerned about pot smoking rep of UVM. DS’s friend said it happens but did not consider it more than other schools.
*She hs concerned about Greek life impact at URI. I went there (no push from me for her to go there) and from what I am reading as typical with many schools it is easier to be a girl who isn’t Greek than a guy and there is also off campus living in later yrs.
I feel like dd is making judgments on surface level things and is being swayed by her friends. I also feel like since getting into UConn she is less open minded about the other 2. She is acting like she is the lone decision maker. I just want her to go to the accepted students day with an open mind. I am not pressing her in any way right now and will wait till after the accepted students days to really discuss. In the meantime I am trying to find other sources of info on the real student experiences etc.
Thanks for reading all of this!