<p>college4three - good questions. S2 is taking 1 AP and 2 honors classes this year - same for next year. I completely agree with you that he does not have the “most demanding” schedule.</p>
<p>Our EFC for the one year they overlap should be quite low - but you just never know how those FA packages will come out.</p>
<p>As far as what S2 thinks - I think he is confused. He seemed quite satisfied with his list until yesterday. Now he thinks maybe he should apply to some reaches. And as many have said - there’s really no harm in his applying to a few. I would not want him to have regrets later that he did not explore all options.</p>
<p>agreed. and you never want him to feel he’s been shortchanged in the process. But…you’ve been down this road already with S1. How do they compare? You have a very good barometer right there at home to help you assess the odds of success with the reachy reach schools.</p>
<p>Well - that’s why I just about fell off my chair when S2 showed me the list that included Duke as a reach for him. S1 - who was incredibly high stat - applied to Duke ED and was deferred. So if he did not get in - it is absurd to suggest it for S2. Duke, Vandy, Penn - absolutely nuts. </p>
<p>I am ok with the idea of going up a touch to Tulane, Miami and Richmond. I still consider those reaches for my B+/A- student - but our hs Naviance does show him having a realistic chance at all 3. I am not at all sure about the fit - but we certainly can visit Richmond if he wants and just apply to the other 2 and see what happens. </p>
<p>I really appreciated what socaldad wrote about his D picking UT Austin as a last moment whim - being accepted - and loving it. Now as a dedicated planner - that would make me nuts - but I get his point - it is the kid’s journey and they have to do it their way.</p>
<p>RVM, Now that I think I understand where you are coming from I am wondering why your S wants to look at some reachier schools. Is it the education they offer or the prestige or something else? I know we had similar experiences with our S1’s. Mine was going for the reachy schools because he wanted to be among academic peers and didn’t want to be among a few at the top of the class where he was in HS. Knowing his HS experience that seemed important for him. Sometimes it is just nice to know if you could have done it. If that is the case within reason why not? I don’t expect my S2 to be in the same situation as yours but for him I think that all I would have to do is point out that many of the students at a school would be like his brother and that would be enough to change his mind :). I think we both found with our S1’s that it is important for us as parents to know and communicate to our kids what the limits will be in terms of distance and cost. YOu don’t really know the cost until you apply but distance is a constant so its probably best that you have that resolved before applying. I will say that for us frequent flyer miles make all the difference but S does not come home very often and we visit even less. That works for him and I think part of the reason it does is because it was so important to him to go away. On the other hand I don’t think it would work that well for my S2 since he plainly says he wants to stay in Texas. I think it is important to know your kid and if a school seems to be a bad fit for him then you need to share what you are seeing that makes it seem so. In the end though as long has he stays within the parameters of what parents define as doable and acceptable then the choice is up to the kid. (S2 wanted to look at one school that from Jewish perspective for me was over the top, it is the one and only school I have vetoed.) My experience with reachy schools was that it helped to from the get go to express how compeititve they are and how many qualified students don’t get in and how its hard to predict what will tip the scales. That seemed to help S1.</p>
<p>spectrum2 - as far as I can tell - the only reason S2 wants to add some reachier schools to the list is because the GC told him he should consider doing so. Personally - I don’t think it necessary or financially savvy - but I don’t want to just quash the idea outright. He has made considerable academic strides this year - and if that is part of his thinking - I don’t want to rain on his parade. He really has not articulated this change in attitude very thoroughly - I still have lots of questions - but I know that right now - he is busy with hs and BBYO - and let’s not forget March madness - so trying to have an in-depth conversation now would be pointless.</p>
<p>RVM, I’ve found, with my kids and all their friends, that is an amazing quantuum leap of interest kids develop about college, starting in the Spring of their Junior year to the Fall of their senior year. They all suddenly start talking about it amongst themselves, comparing, trading (often incorrect) information and opinions. I’ll bet your S comes up with a few reaches all by himself that he will be interested in by late summer, early Fall.</p>
<p>Well when he does - I will surely let you know! To date - I don’t think he has looked at any of the guide books or done any research on the Internet. And that stack of brochures taking up a corner of the dining room - has not been touched. </p>
<p>But it’s very interesting that a few of you have said something along these lines - because I asked S1 for his opinion on the list over winter break and he thought it entirely possible that S2 would end up at a school not even on the list. So - who knows?</p>
<p>Yup, I agree with you RVM timing and approach are everything. Maybe he’ll come up with some other good options on his own or maybe the whole idea of reaches will fizzle on its own.</p>
<p>University of Richmond - using our naviance, very few from our high school is accepted. Many denials at the “A” level student with a 1360 SAT. For us it would be a reach academically and with a price tag of 54,000 - I really don’t see the point of reaching.</p>
<p>UT- Austin. From our high school this is a solid B+/A student. Weighted GPA is 6.4 so there is rigor in courses. The cost of attendance for OOS varies from 17-22,000 per semester. That’s a big range.</p>
<p>If I could determine what our costs would be, I would consider offering a look to Austin as a reach.</p>
<p>I went to Stony Brook also several decades ago, and although people always said that students left on the weekends, there were a lot of us who stayed on campus. And we were all from LI or the city. There was a lot to do on campus (concerts, etc.) all the time. It’s what you make of it – it did not feel like a mass exodus. But of course, that was a long time ago!</p>
<p>rockvillemom- In my experience with D1 there was a lot of peer pressure/competition among the kids about which schools they were considering applying to. I know I got a bit upset when m D1 told me that her best friend thought that she was not “reaching” high enough and scoffed at the some of the schools on her list “you can do better than that” Both teens and parents can be swayed by the “reputation” factor in school selections. Now that your son has achieved a higher test score that might qualify him to “reach” for some of these more “highly regarded” schools he (and you) may feel that he is somehow selling himself short by not reaching higher. But, if his prior academic track record does not show him to be a high achiever (B student) then I don’t see that you should necessarily push him to reach higher just because of that standard test score. Why encourage him to attend a school were most of the students are super-overachievers (UPenn etc)? Trust in yourself that you originally knew that his match schools were the right match, I don’t think you should change your opinion just because of that higher test score. What’s great about the test score is it helps ensure admission and may qualify him for some merit money.</p>
<p>Agree with Pamom about the merit money, but there does seem to be a phenomenon of boys who lazied their way through high school only to wake up at some point and shine. I am anxious to see where RVM’s son ends up. I’m secretly hoping for Tulane with lots of merit money!</p>
<p>Minor detour: there was apparently a major St Patrick’s Day riot at SUNY Albany. They spilled out of a Kegs and Eggs party early in the morning and of course, cellphone videos wound up being postedall over the web (just google Albany and riot). Now several have already been arrested and around forty more kids are being told to turn themselves in to police. My D had applied there as an in-state saftey as most of her friends had and several of her friends have been planning on going there. Seems like just one more nail in the coffin of SUNY reputation in general and Albany’s party school rep in particular.</p>
<p>p.s. - not one mention in the SUNY Albany forum.</p>
<p>SUNY Albany is an interesting and unusual case of a school that had an incredibly good reputation for decades and just went downhill rapidly…</p>
<p>any thoughts? I must have slept through it, lol, but it does surprise me (as a SUNY Bing grad who knows MANY, MANY very successful, extremely bright people who graduated from Albany in the 70’s and 80’s)…</p>
<p>I grew up in New York and until we started the college search process with my now-senior, I’d never heard the term “state flagship.” I found the idea of their being ONE “University of Virginia” perplexing! However, if pressed to try to recall which of the many SUNY options people thought of as the best, the most selective, the “flagship,” back in my high school days (Class of 1980), I think I’d say Albany. I’ve been so surprised to see how the SUNY deck has re-shuffled.</p>
<p>SUNY Albany does still have a great honors program. I know several students in it and they have had fantastic opportunities for travel/research/internships etc. So I don’t think you can write off the whole school (says the SUNY Albany class of 82 alum…)</p>
<p>Rodney & Holliesue, my sister is another one of those very successful '70s Albany graduates. When we started talking about colleges she touted it to my D. Which is another one of the reasons why the present status of the school is so dissappointing.</p>