App State

We live in Tampa. My daughter loves the state of North Carolina but we are priced out of Wake and while she's an excellent student, out of state admissions to UNC are unlikely. (Plus, it's UNC, so....meh).

I don't want to judge App State based on the childish snobby outlook I had as a Wake student in the 1990s. What is the school like now? Pros and cons? What has improved in Boone during the last 25 years or so?

Boone >>>>>

ETA: I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Boone and would love to move back within a year or two. I enjoyed my education, made tons of friends, and some of my favorite memories are from boone. Gamedays are extremely fun, too.

My younger sis is way smarter than me, but my folks spent all their money sending me to Wake (even with a big discount and tuition assistance). So my sister, who had far better grades, went off to App State. She graduated debt free in 2013 with a double major, loved her time in Boone, made loads of friends, went on to get a PhD at Emory, and now has an excellent job. Highly recommend!

App grads absolutely LOVE their school and their experience there. They are trying to walk away from their rep as a pothead school (imminent marijuana legalization probably will not help them here). They are still known as a UNC safety school. They have an honors college and "regular" college within with dorms for each. There is tons of student academic support (student paid tutoring). Among the campuses we toured for my daughter, App seemed to have the best food. It is cold and snowy there (much more than VT, due to differences in altitude), and really, really windy - like hurricane force winds sometimes. Have a really warm coat and boots. Few dorms have A/C bc it is so cool up there.

If your daughter is a UNC-Wake caliber student, but funds are limited, check out Duke. They limit student debt to $5k/year. But $20k max debt from Duke is not bad. Totally different caliber student there - Ivy League. It is crazy competitive, and she'll have to commit early to have a decent shot (early admission acceptance ~30%; regular admission ~3%). They say Wake will discount itself meet those with financial needs (as low as UNC, I've been told). I do not know how much debt is associated with that though. Wake posted online that it's average student debt was $40k, and that factors in those who are paying with zero debt. That $40+k debt was a deal breaker for us. My daughter will graduate UNC debt free, but App was her safety school and as parents we were totally OK with her going to App had she not been accepted to UNC. The App grads I know are good people.

yeah it gets really cold there. in-laws have a place in Blowing Rock and it is consistently 10-15 degrees colder than in Asheville and they get a lot more snow than we do. also, lots of fog.

bruh, don't send your kid to app

send the kid to wake on some loans. They'll likely be forgiven by the time they're out once the libdems get their way.

TownieDeac said:

My younger sis is way smarter than me, but my folks spent all their money sending me to Wake (even with a big discount and tuition assistance). So my sister, who had far better grades, went off to App State. She graduated debt free in 2013 with a double major, loved her time in Boone, made loads of friends, went on to get a PhD at Emory, and now has an excellent job. Highly recommend!

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But what about the marching band?

App's a good school. Kids aren't pretentious, and Greek life isn't the key to a social life. From an outdoor/health/lifestyle perspective it is second only to WCU in the south.

Also I think they let you rent text books which is a big saver on cost.

Seems pretty expensive relative to quality as an out of state student. Do you anticipate her receiving scholarship money?

WRS said:

Seems pretty expensive relative to quality as an out of state student. Do you anticipate her receiving scholarship money?

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What are you looking for in reference to "quality". In 99% of professions nobody cares where you went to school once you get a job and App has good job placement programs. Also a cheap and easy way to get into an elite graduate school.

The only benefit Wake offers over app is the ability to network with a student body that are stupid wealthy and connected.

WFcatamount22 said:

What are you looking for in reference to "quality". In 99% of professions nobody cares where you went to school once you get a job and App has good job placement programs. Also a cheap and easy way to get into an elite graduate school.

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Okay I guess I’ll rephrase. Paying $35k/year as an out of state student at App when she could go to, say, UCF for significantly less.

Getting into an elite grad school from a second tier state school is not as easy as you make it sound.

This may be a dumb question, but why wouldn't she just go to UF? It's right up there with UNC, rankings wise, in terms of public school quality. I love NC too, but even FSU appears to be ranked as a significantly better school than App. Plus much bigger time sports, better Greek Life (if she's into that), etc. etc.

plus you'd have to live with the knowledge that you've been a failure as a father if you went to wake and your kid goes to app

It’s also weird to say loves the state of North Carolina, we are priced out of a location in an area completely different than App.

BarcaDeac said:

yeah it gets really cold there. in-laws have a place in Blowing Rock and it is consistently 10-15 degrees colder than in Asheville and they get a lot more snow than we do. also, lots of fog.

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Also not hot as ballz in September and May like it can in other parts of NC.

Send her to NC State, have her major in a tech field and by the time she graduates she’ll have a plethora of great job opportunities right in the Triangle (Google, Apple, SAS, Red Hat, Epic and so on).

WFcatamount22 said:

Also I think they let you rent text books which is a big saver on cost.

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What school doesn't allow you to rent textbooks?