<p>Mch48: Mazel Tov on an acceptance to Miami U of Ohio! I know nothing about it, but hey it’s an acceptance, so congratulations! :)</p>
<p>spectrum: Mazel Tov on your S2 earning his driver’s license! My S2 will be 15 in February, so I still have another year…</p>
<p>Levrim and mch48: Do you guys have sons or daughters? I’m trying to keep everyone straight!</p>
<p>RVM: two sons
me: two sons
Umich: two sons
spectrum: two sons
Yabe: one of each?
momjr: two daughters
slitheytove: two daughters
Linymom: one of each?
college4three: two sons?
FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THE COLUMN! </p>
<p>Umich: I didn’t realize kids took practice plan tests as a freshman! My S1 took his as a sophomore…uh, I better go check on that for sure. My S2 is a freshman and hasn’t mentioned anything about it yet. Linymom said her S (a sophomore) got his practice PSAT test back…isn’t that the plan test? So confused:confused:</p>
<p>Linymom & RVM: We’re all addicted! My S looked at me the other day and said, “mom, I got into college for next fall, so why are you still on college confidential?” :D</p>
<p>Choc, yes, one of each
Levirm, I am sorry you feel that students who are struggling will not get noticed anywhere; I know that it is not true.</p>
<p>For those worried a little while (in days, not in pages on this dynamic thread) about coed floors, I was on one in the 1970s (with the bathrooms inside the rooms) and my son is on one now (with boys-only and girls-only bathrooms on the hall). In both cases, it made for much healthier relationships between the sexes. It was much more like brothers and sisters or friends, while the single sex dorms and floors subjected opposite sex visitors to constant “checking out”. </p>
<p>Watching girls emerge from the bathrooms in robes with no makeup and unkempt hair, they seemed very unselfconcious and relaxed seeing the boys on the hall. </p>
<p>All-boys floors, in both cases, also tended to be much more like Animal House–the girls are definitely a civilizing influence.</p>
<p>Just adding myself to the list:
Seiclan: Two daughters, one son
RVM: two sons
me: two sons
Umich: two sons
spectrum: two sons
Yabe: one of each?
momjr: two daughters
slitheytove: two daughters
Linymom: one of each?
college4three: two sons?
FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THE COLUMN!</p>
<p>Awesome, Seiclan! The list may help everyone remember who has what kids! ;)</p>
<p>Anyone feel free to update list with your kids! Psychmom: Are you still out there? What’s the update on the “college in the city” search?!</p>
<p>I also stayed in coed dorms. Well actually all girls for the first two years and coed (by room) the last two years…yabe is correct: the coed dorms were much more easygoing…I do remember the girls watching each & every guy that came into the girls dorms…did not have that feeling at all in the coed dorms.</p>
<p>collegeseeker101 - thank you very much for that tidbit on Muhlenberg. I would love to visit the school - but my son is losing interest as far as visiting more colleges - so I don’t know if we will get there this spring or not. My reservations are the small size and the high price tag. I also think it might be to artsy for my sports-minded son. But - it is a good fit academically and certainly in terms of Jewish life and has such a wonderful reputation for being a friendly, caring community. I would like to visit so we can get a better feel for these various issues. But until then, I welcome any additional comments you have.</p>
<p>chocchipcookie…I think this is the first year that the freshman have taken the PLAN (practice test for the ACT). In fact, my older son never took the PLAN. He just took the PSAT (practice test for the SAT) as a sophomore for practice and then as a Jr. for real. I’m not sure if next year (as a sophomore) my S2 will be taking both the PSAT and the PLAN or just one.</p>
<p>He will also be turning 15 in Feb. Not looking forward to going through the driving thing again…I’ve finally gotten somewhat comfortable w/ S1 driving.</p>
<p>My S1 also says to me…why are you on that College Confidential thing still? I already got into college…also. I’ve learned so much, though, that will apply to him when he starts next fall, and am in preparation (way earlier) for his brother.</p>
<p>I was also on a co-ed hall in college…loved it. Separate community bathrooms across the hall from each other. It was like living w/ a bunch of brothers down the hall.</p>
<p>Sorry…in my post, I should have said that it’s the first year that freshman have taken the PLAN at our school. My kids are at a private school, which gives them some flexibility in when or if they give those tests.</p>
<p>I think it is very valuable for those of you who are done with the process - either completely (lucky you) or for the time being to stay on the thread and help guide the rest of us. There’s nothing like a seasoned parent to talk a newbie away from the cliff edge when they hit a bump in the college admissions road.</p>
<p>Confirmed CC addict here. You won’t be getting rid of me any time soon.</p>
<p>Levrim: Thanks for the concern about my daughter. She’s actually a little bit better today. She left the house for the first time in days.
Hopkins lacrosse is a lot of fun. I can’t remember any specific cheers other than counting down the goals - “1,2,3…we want more.” My daughter refused to visit because she wouldn’t attend a school where the big sport was lacrosse, and my family laughs at me when I watch the NCAA games on TV.</p>
<p>Adding to the list and yes, I am a CC addict. I check 3 threads constantly - this one and the two for parents of my D’s classes (College '13 and High School '12) </p>
<p>PRJ: two daughters
Seiclan: Two daughters, one son
RVM: two sons
me: two sons
Umich: two sons
spectrum: two sons
Yabe: one of each?
momjr: two daughters
slitheytove: two daughters
Linymom: one of each?
college4three: two sons?
FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THE COLUMN!</p>
<p>Still working with D2 to develop her list and this thread has been quite helpful. It was much more straightforward with D1 - she wanted a small to medium size school, in or near a big city, with a Jewish Studies major. It was a pretty short list ;)</p>
<p>I’m happy to know that I’m not the only one accused of being a CC addict. S2 likes to tease that I’m working toward becoming a senior member of CC and that he can’t believe that I’m just a junior member :). While I have lurked on CC for a long time, this thread is more addictive than most!</p>
<p>Where is that A+ schools for B students list?</p>
<p>Adding myself to list:
Seiclan: Two daughters, one son
RVM: two sons
me: two sons
Umich: two sons
spectrum: two sons
Yabe: one of each?
momjr: two daughters
slitheytove: two daughters
Linymom: one of each?
college4three: two sons?
levirm: two daughters, two sons</p>
<p>Yabe, I am not saying that a struggling student will not get noticed anywhere. I am just saying that we need to really teach our kids to be proactive and go after help if they need it, and to go after activities. The resources are there at large and small schools, and the students can get an excellent education, but they have to make the effort.
I’d like to point out, though, that my daughter at Penn State found the culture very welcoming in terms of activities. She was constantly “invited” to participate in activities and found it very easy to assume leadership roles.</p>
<p>This is my second time through. Older boy, younger girl. The two times were so different. We’re nearly done.</p>
<p>My son applied to elite schools but because he is severely dyslexic as well as smarter than your typical top-of-the-high-school class kid, it really was unclear which schools would embrace him and which would just cut him without consideration, he applied to 16 schools. He did a very thoughtful triage to choose where to visit after being accepted. I am an extremely thorough researcher and strategist so I’ve thought through a fair bit of this.</p>
<p>My daughter, who is also very bright but can get anxious and found the pressure of the college application dance extremely off-putting, chose only to apply to two schools in Canada. She was a B student freshman year, B+ student sophomore year, A- junior year, and her senior year performance seems like it is going to be even stronger (I’d guess A’s in Physics, Math, Dance, A- in AP Environmental Science and B (hopefully not worse) in English. She’s into one of the two schools and waiting until her fall semester grades get sent in to the second. She’ll be happy with either, although the one to which she’s already been admitted, which in some ways would be a great fit, has a very small Jewish population. [Interestingly enough, we’ve been watching our son spend time with a girl he’s known since middle school who clearly likes him. She’s smart (goes to an Ivy), cute in a sexy librarian kind of way, sweet, fun, a real doer, and really nice to our son. It seems as if both sets of parents are rooting for something to happen and the interesting thing is that she’s not Jewish. Our son clearly likes her and she comes over to read fantasy books to him in front of the fire he makes after serving her hot apple cider. From the Jewish parental standpoint, it’s a bit of a dilemma, but as an outside observer, it’s hard to understand why they aren’t a couple]. Anyway, she has one scholarship application left for the school to which she’s admitted and than she’ll wait to choose if she gets into the other school. So, our life is surprisingly simple. She thinks she wants to take a gap year, which we heartily endorse. Post-gap year, we’ll be empty nesters.</p>
<p>Good morning. Yes, one S and one D for me (not in that order).</p>
<p>I’m going to visit Hopkins this spring with S - he’s athletic but not into spectator sports as much (just watching tennis) - so he doesn’t care whether the big sport at a college is football, lax or whatever. He’ll be more interested in checking out the chemistry labs (big switch from my first time around!). Will see what else we can hit while we are down there. Hoping to visit RPI during midterm week towards the end of January (he’s only got two that week), but that will be last minute decision based on the weather. Still watching this B student thread for him because he will need back-ups for sure! Especially where he may be able to get merit aid at a good fit school.</p>
<p>S has his camp friend here now for the rest of the week (from his URJ camp). Love seeing him so happy. So much for starting to look at the chem subject test book… oh well… there’s still time…</p>
<p>LINYMOM, if you are going to check out Hopkins you might also want to check out U of Rochester. My daughter and I thought that the schools were very similar.</p>
<p>Linymom: You might want to check out Northeastern for a possiblity with merit aide. If you look at the Northeastern EA thread, you will see how generous they are. My daughter applied because she wanted another option in Boston, but we never visited. She wasn’t really interested in the co-op option, but it’s a great opportunity. I’ve also been very impressed by our correspondence with the school.</p>
<p>Wow, Levrim: So far you take the prize with four children! :eek:</p>
<p>Linymom: Although Hopkins was on my son’s list to apply to, we never made it to visit before applications. It would have been one to visit if he was accepted and ED denied him. We did however visit Univ. of Rochester and really loved it a lot! They have an underground tunnel system for kids to use during the snow and icy months…the only concern I would have about Rochester is that college ******* rated it as an A- for academics when we were looking and now it’s rated B+…hmmmm…how come?
We do have a friend there now studying Biochem engineering and loves it very much, but from what he says it’s a pretty quiet campus and even though there is a lot going on, people are very academic and no competetiveness. (all good in my eyes)</p>
<p>Momjr: Your D leaving the house is a great sign! Hope she continues to get stronger. Yeah, the timing was good for her to be home and rest.</p>
<p>Shawbridge: Glad to hear my “B” freshman has lots of room to improve as your D did! :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the recs! Northeastern and U of R were on my radar but S already knows he does not want to be in the city (visited UPenn and nixed it, so we didn’t even visit NEU when we were in Boston for Chanukah) and he absolutely HATES the snow… (although one of my college roommates lives outside Rochester and her H is a prof at U of R, so maybe we will visit anyway - will give me a good excuse to visit her!) You never know, priorities change. I hate the snow/cold too and went to Evanston, IL. LOL. The Hopkins visit is a definite because we can stay in Newark, DE, and visit D on the way down and/or back. I’ve been to the hospital/research labs there because of the work I do - but never to the undergrad campus. Tulane is on my list for him, too. I hear they are generous with merit aid… </p>
<p>Momjr: Just want to add my good wishes for your D. I’m sure it was so disappointing to be sick and miss the trip, but at least there are other opportunities. Glad she is feeling better.</p>
<p>^alright, I can’t help myself. I have to make one more comment before I head off for the day (so addicted to this thread). If your son likes warm and you like merit money, how about U of Miami?</p>
</p>