<p>SDT: [The</a> University of Kansas Panhellenic Association - Sigma Delta Tau](<a href=“KU Panhellenic Association Information”>KU Panhellenic Association Information)</p>
<p>SOCALDAD - forgive me, what majors are you looking at? </p>
<p>Your visit to Kansas sounds wonderful. So happy for you that you are having honest and productive tours :)</p>
<p>Socal. Wow what a great trip. So happy for u and D. Sounds like a fit. We were on KU last year for a tourney and thought it was nice. Most surprised at the city being so cool. Great report.</p>
<p>Just got back from a two-day college trip with DS (Jewish “A” student). While we are visiting different schools than I did with DD (Jewish “B” student), I still want to share with you – since now I have the “male experience” of college visits.</p>
<p>Since DS is not as verbal about what he likes and doesn’t like, we need to attack this like a trip to the eye doctor. Which is better, A or B? Is it better like this or like this? So the two at a time approach is the way for me to go with him. After two, I think he would be sleep-walking.</p>
<p>Another non-verbal cue I picked up this week: does he try to keep up with the tour guide? This, I found, is really telling. Reminds me when we took the kids to the White House in April 2011 - he was about six years old and ran to keep up with the tour guide. Huge group at Princeton on Wed - they were either not prepared or didn’t care because they are Princeton - and DS was not fighting to get to the front of the humongous tour group. Yesterday at Johns Hopkins, he was walking next to the tour guide. Really related to the student and wanted to hear it all.</p>
<p>The book store visit is no longer that helpful - he loves getting t-shirts or sweatshirts with XXX Tennis on it. However, we did plan to skip the bookstore at Johns Hopkins yesterday --but he loved the school and asked if he could please get a t-shirt (he rarely asks for anything at home, so I obliged).</p>
<p>I’m happy to have started this early with DS; we will not have to kill ourselves next year (junior year) visiting colleges. Which is good because I think I am swearing off info sessions and tours during spring break, especially for colleges that don’t ask for reservations ahead. Without an idea of how many people are coming, they are likely not able to have enough tour guides for meaningful tours (UMass with DD a couple of years ago; Princeton this week. Never heard those two in the same sentence, right?). Maybe we can use next spring break to meet profs and sit in on classes, do an overnight in the dorms.</p>
<p>Kudos to all of you who visited many schools this week. I have no idea how you did it. It is exhausting and if you hit traffic while driving (the NJ Turnpike was a horror yesterday afternoon) it is even more exhausting.</p>
<p>I’m thrilled for all of you whose D/S are getting clarification on their decision (or their list). When one college starts bubbling up for a student, it is thrilling for the parents. There are some great finds here (Kansas!) and great comparisons (Miami OH vs. UD). One more week till the decisions have to be made! I will be following you all with great interest!</p>
<p>(levirm - going to pm you about jhu)</p>
<p>Today is the last day to register with late fee for May 7. I was going to wait to see what the April ACT score was but it comes out Monday (and with writing, who knows how long?)</p>
<p>If he scores like I hope, I was going to forgive the May SAT and only do June but not knowing the ACT score, May it will be. I am sooooooo glad I thought to check.</p>
<p>socaldad: great description of Kansas; it has been on my radar for a couple of years now ; so glad you had a good visit…</p>
<p>We have relatives who live in Lawrence and have been visiting KU since the girls were babies. (Wife from KS). Lawrence is a great town and KU is a fine school. More sports minded folks will love it. The night KU won the national championship was wild but fun! The school is big but well managed and feels safe to us. It was my D’s safe school and she was accepted into the Honors program.</p>
<p>socaldad, you make Kansas sound great. In the fall a (Jewish) student intern of mine went to visit friends there and told me about it in similar glowing terms. Just looked it up on the map and after the comparatively short trips I’ve been taking to Michigan, Ohio, NC, realize just how far Kansas is (from either coast). My concern would be about how college can shift a child’s center of gravity to another part of the country. In terms of post college jobs, friends…meeting a future spouse? I’d thought about that in passing in terms of my D going to Miami, but holy cow, Ohio is a lot closer than Lawrence.</p>
<p>mhc - how’s Miami vs. Delaware going - will you be down to the wire? Two years ago - S1 did not decide between Wake and W&M until April 30th. If you have gotten to know me at all - you can appreciate how crazy that made me! :)</p>
<p>[Hillel</a> helps Jewish college students connect | The Salt Lake Tribune](<a href=“Westminster helps Jewish students connect - The Salt Lake Tribune”>Westminster helps Jewish students connect - The Salt Lake Tribune)</p>
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<p>Not that anyone on this thread has mentioned going to college in Utah - but thought it was an interesting article just the same.</p>
<p>Where did they decide? Wake or W&M? Our choice is between W&M and Lafayette-no movement on this decision with 8 days to go. Just looking for clues!</p>
<p>Re KU: If you’re flying anyway, KU is an easy drive from Kansas City (about 45 minutes from the airport). The Kansas City metro area is also convenient to KU for concerts, shows, museums, pro sports, nice restaurants (or KC barbecue), shopping…</p>
<p>Towson visit:</p>
<p>My son is committed to attending Towson. We went up to Towson for another visit this week. The Hillel had a delicious kosher for Passover lunch. The campus now feels easier to navigate-neither too big nor too small. One thing that came up on this visit was finding out about the many general ed. requirements. Has anyone here really looked into the core requirements of the schools they are considering? It looks like 11 required core classes plus 2 writing classes. I am hoping that my son will get some AP credit. How is there time for study abroad and a minor with so many required classes?
Of course, my son is still going to Towson, but just would like to know if anyone here knows anything about the many required core classes–how are these classes? Son is still happy with his Towson choice.</p>
<p>frankur - my older son chose Wake and is finishing up his sophomore year - very happy. So - you have a W&M vs. Lafayette decision - I went to Lafayette - although obviously a long time ago. I found it to be too small. If I had a do-over - I would choose W&M in a heartbeat. I am sure the area around Lafayette has changed and improved since I was there - but I would still consider that issue carefully. I felt very trapped and confined to campus. I would rate them fairly equivalent academically and both are very attractive campuses with fine amenities. Just consider the area around Lafayette and what there is to do. I am kind of a “wanderer” and it drove me crazy that there was absolutely nothing I could walk to.</p>
<p>mdcissp - you raise a very good point and I see this as an issue at many schools. My older son is struggling with this issue right now. He went in with considerable AP credit - and is still having to plan very carefully to complete his distribution requirements - about 12 classes including 1 year of foreign language, 1 English class, etc. and be able to complete a major and minor. He is not going to study abroad - in part because he’s not all that interested and in part because he just can’t fit it in. He actually wanted to double minor - but that would require several summer classes and I don’t think the cost/benefit works out - so he has abandoned that idea.</p>
<p>When we visited Virginia tech - the Pamplin business session talked about this issue quite a bit - and they stressed working closely with your advisor to find ways to make a class count twice or even 3 times. In some situations - a class could count towards the requirements for a major, for a minor and towards a distribution requirement. It was rather confusing and I appreciated the fact that they would help you lay it all out. They also had semester abroad programs designed for business majors so that you earned as many as 18 credits towards your major while in Switzerland for the semester so that you would stay on pace to graduate in 4 years. All very interesting and it highlighted how much planning is involved if you want to accomplish all of these different goals and graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>This also reinforced in my mind how much I appreciate shorter study abroad options - like the January option at Elon or the Go Short at Susquehanna - so that you can have a study abroad experience without feeling stressed about credits.</p>
<p>Distribution requirements can really get in the way of study abroad if not planned perfectly.
I am thinking of sending younger son on an equivalent study abroad in Israel next summer (university, volunteer, we will look into the programs) and skip study abroad during the year. Towson study abroad in Israel is at the U. of Haifa and is comparatively expensive. With wanting to be an accounting major, not sure if study abroad for a semester will really count and would it mean graduating in longer than 4 years?</p>
<p>Advised son to take a distribution requirement equivalent at the local community college this summer, but does not appear interested.</p>
<p>RVM: Sounds like Elon is the right fit, but explore Towson and maybe U. of Delaware–didn’t you already see Delaware? Did your son see Delaware? I like your idea of having your son go with a friend to tour Towson–maybe send him on an overnight if possible to see the Hillel on Friday night.</p>
<p>Saw Delaware 3 years ago with S1 - we were lukewarm - but different kid with different expectations. I’d be happy to take S2 to Delaware if he wanted to go. But I agree on future visits - bringing a friend and letting the boys do their own thing might be the way to go - the more I think about it - he might just have a better time without a parental audience.</p>
<p>Rvm ,</p>
<p>Always enjoy many pov’s. Please share your Delaware concerns for s1 a few years back. The more I hear, the better… I like to hear all views</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>socal - there was really nothing wrong with Delaware - it just wasn’t in the range of schools S1 was looking at - he was applying to Wake, Duke, W&M, and UVA - and I was trying to put some safety schools on his list - and he was not having it. So - it is a different experience for an “A” student looking at it as a potential safety school vs. a “B” student looking at it as a match.</p>
<p>My fuzzy recollection was that we started with a majors and activities fair type of program in a large gym - which was fine - went around to tables and collected info on majors. He was interested in sports mgmt and they were in the process of relocating it from one school to another - and did not have anyone present to discuss - so that made a bad impression. </p>
<p>Then we were to ride buses up to the main part of campus for tours - but there was a some problem on campus - small fire in the food court building - and they kept us waiting outside - it was hot - for about 30 minutes. They could have put us on the buses and just toured around the campus - but the fire disrupted the plan of what we were to do next and they seemed to have no plan B. Anyway, we finally got up to the main part of campus and toured - it was fine - but did not exceed what we had already seen at the other schools on his list. So by the time we left - he was not applying.</p>
<p>But again - this had more to do with how he wanted to craft his list and a somewhat chaotic visit - which is really not a reflection on the experience one would have as a student at Delaware.</p>
<p>Rvm,
Thanks for sharing. I understand how your experience that day could shape your view. Also, your s1 is a very different student. I only hope that del is open to b students. My perception is it is now more ofna b+ place.</p>
<p>socaldad, Thanks for your Kansas review. It was one of the first schools to accept our d. Our college consultant (private, Jewish and worth every penny) was also high on the school and its theater program. Our d (black/Jewish) will be a theater major and leaving S. Cal for Muhlenberg in Allentown, PA. Odd to have a Lutheran founded school with a student body that’s 30% Jewish (4% black). We did a grand college tour this summer that started in MN with UM and Macalester, moved to my alma mater, UW/Madison, on to Northwestern (way too much of a reach and the snoot factor on that beautiful campus was just too much to take for the three of us), Emerson, U. Mass, Hampshire and Wheaton (where a classmate was just starting). Her top five rankings were: MN, Muhlenberg, Drew, Kansas (just to mock me I’m sure), UW. Muhlenberg was 2nd even before we visited this February. A warm lovely campus where she connected with her admissions advisor and the founder of the theater department. Accidently running into the Dean of Students, a black woman, in the Union was fortuitous. The banner in the Union entrance inviting the campus to a Shabbat dinner was another welcome sign. The theater program is exceptional. She was waitlisted at MN, accepted at the other four and rejected at Macalester, Emerson and Pitzer (none of them in her top five and we won’t even discuss the UC’s because she had no intention of staying in CA). MN finally said no even though a theater professor pushed Admissions hard for her. She’s happy about Mules. Perhaps coming from a HS of 120 total students, the transition to a smaller college (that’s still 20x larger than her HS) will be easier.</p>