<p>We have had a password for 3 years for S to go on and take surveys, look up college stuff etc. His PSATs are listed. They probably do it over the summer.</p>
<p>I have been waiting for dear S to tell me that his GC asked him to come to the office to sign his course requests. Guess what? happened yesterday. S told the GC that he had been looking at colleges and applications and saw what the GC had to answer. He asked her how she would answer when she really didn’t know him!! G-d bless him. She told him that at the end of the school year, she gives the students a form to fill out so that she knows what the student wants her to focus on. That’s encouraging.</p>
<p>Have decided not to pursue UMiami, Tulane or Richmond. I don’t want that level of cost and he thinks they would be too much for him academically. He is pretty honest in his assessment that he does not want to work “that hard”! :)</p>
<p>He is not interested in adding Delaware or Maryland CP - no intelligible reason given.</p>
<p>Might want to consider Virginia Tech - reasons having to do with fun and rah-rah.</p>
<p>It’s amazing how hours of research and thoughtful deliberation on my part are digested by him in 5 minutes with a few grunts - yups - nopes. Scintillating conversation? Not really. But at least I know where we are and are not headed.</p>
<p>RVM: laugh of the day…honestly, though, from what I have seen of kids at UM, I think it is harder to be admitted (due to popularity) than it is to particularly do well…I know that the kids from here have much higher GPA’s there than they did in high school…</p>
<p>collage: from what I have been told, Tulane has a no-hand holding type of environment with some weed-outs in certain areas of interest…even fallenchemist (who will chime in I’m sure) has reflected that it is not the type of place where the professors necessarily watch out for the kids; if the kids need help or assistance, they better fess up and get it themselves (with the professors help of course)…Elon has been conveyed a little differently in that regard; not necessarily hand-holding, but more collaborative…I hope I am communicating this the way it was communicated to me when we were looking at these two schools…</p>
<p>fwiw, the only school at Richmond that I have heard is very competitive is the business school…haven’t heard much about the rest…btw, isn’t Richmond much smaller than the other schools as well? 2500?</p>
<p>That’s my impression as well (Elon vs. Tulane) - and it may have to do in part with Elon’s smaller size. I also have the impression that a lot of high stat kids who are aiming for the Ivy League/Duke/Tufts type of schools use Tulane as a safety - end up getting great merit money - perhaps don’t get into their more selective options - and find themselves at Tulane. I don’t think you would see that phenomenon at Elon. I’m not saying Elon is easy or that he would not find himself challenged there - but he would be above the 75th% based on his test score - so just using that as an indicator that he might be a better fit academically at Elon than at Tulane.</p>
<p>Richmond is about 2800 students. It’s close - but other than that - not sure - and there is that pesky cost issue again. I’d love to go see it - S2 - not that interested.</p>
<p>On a completely unrelated note - I just read that Charlie Sheen has announced he is Jewish! Do we want him?</p>
<p>rodney i like your description of the difference you observe with tulane and elon. i get the sense just from the marketing material and the college coffee that profs are more accessible at elon.</p>
<p>rvm, it is scary how similar our thought process is and how our S’s think. my s says the same thing about not wanting to work too hard!! it is amazing that i can’t suggest to S what shirt to wear, but picking out colleges, he says great job mom, i trust you!!</p>
<p>I would say Tulane is much more academically challenging than Elon. And while the faculty may not hand-hold, they are certainly accessible at Tulane (though some more than others).</p>
<p>^^jym: Tulane is 15,000 students? nahh…Elon is 4,900 undergrads; maybe you were thinking of Richmond…?</p>
<p>and, no, we don’t want Charlie Sheen; when I heard that yesterday I almost barfed…and then he says, “yea and my ex, Brooke, is Jewish too!”…yuch…</p>
<p>and btw, I wasn’t referring to accepted stats when I posted comparison but rather my impression of academics…there are a number of kids here who have been accepted with lower stats to Tulane (more like 27, 28 ACT w 3.X GPA’s) early on this year…with very few honors or AP classes</p>
<p>Was looking at part and fulltime stats. Tulane is definitely bigger than Elon, and academically more challenging. As for Sheen, whoever wanrts him van have him</p>
<p>rvm: I think your analysis is spot-on. I think the strategy of using the new ACT score as a catalyst to merit money is much better than moving into a new category of schools altogether. Your son has the right idea. How amazing it will feel for him when all of the acceptances roll in!!!</p>
<p>I concur with college4three. BTW, RVM, if you want to add another school, have you considered Ithaca College? I know of a few B/B+ students who have considered the schools that your son is considering for business, and Ithaca was also on their list and that is why I am throwing out there.</p>
<p>northeastmom - I had Ithaca on the very first list - months ago - but S2 will not head into NY. Prefers to head south. I also have heard Ithaca is a little artsy - which would not appeal to him.</p>
<p>samtalya - yup. You have to know I have every conceivable college guide published - has he ever opened one? Nope. I have a dining room chair piled with folders of material from every college that has ever been on his list - has he looked at one? Nope. I feel like I am preparing briefing books for the President - boiling tons of info down to a few quick facts. Except I don’t think the President would have “rah-rah” as a category.</p>
<p>Yes, about artsy, but it also has plenty of students who are not artsy. I know of some guys there that are mainly into sports. I can understand about not wanting to go to NY though. Ithaca can have some cold winters with lots of snow! In fact we visited mid November and it was so cold that my face actually hurt from the cold wind!</p>
<p>There’s actually a few schools that would have been of interest - Ithaca, Binghamton, Vermont, etc. - but the weather was a deal breaker.</p>
<p>It is rather interesting to watch a boy go through this process - my 2nd time doing this. My impression from my friends with girls is that the girls like to talk about it A LOT and have constantly changing ideas. Boys - a few grunts covers a lot of territory.</p>
<p>“My impression from my friends with girls is that the girls like to talk about it A LOT”…</p>
<p>Both of my girls acted like boys during this process; grunts and all…we had to have “college talk free” time periods or they would refuse to eat dinner with us…</p>
<p>I’ll chime in on Tulane. I know 3 kids with exceptional stats who applied to places like Duke,Vanderbilt and Penn this year who also applied to Tulane as a sort of saftey and will be going to Tulane with high FA offers. One applied ED to Vandy. After a visit she hated it and withdrew her ED app a few days before acceptance. She visited Tulane and loved it, her parents loved the huge amount of FA she was offered since in their bracket they expected to be full pay. Looks like all three will be going to Tulane. My D was deferred there but even if she got in a week or so from now, I’d be concerned about her competing with kids like that.</p>
<p>RVM, you may have the right approach; the only thing I’d say is that since your son is a Junior, wait to see how he fares this Spring and early in the Fall, maybe the high ACT was a harbinger of growing academic maturity and better grades all round. If so, you wouldn’t want to keep him in a procrustean selection of “last year’s” colleges and limit his potential developement.</p>
<p>mhc - very valid point - and that’s where I am a little uncertain. But - nothing we have to decide today - we’ll see how our spring visits go and final grades in June and then re-evaluate. But on the other hand - if he still loves Elon and still wants to apply ED - I’m not going to veto that decision.</p>