<p>If Rec letters are likely to be either outstanding or to address a possible weakness in the application, I would send them. I doubt they can hurt and they might help, not just with admissions, but with merit aid.</p>
<p>LINY, I think not limiting a search based on weather is very wise; after all, this is a college search, not a vacation search</p>
<p>yabeyabe - I agree with you - they certainly can’t hurt! I could see not sending them to large schools like Virginia Tech where it truly is a numbers game and they are not going to read 20,000 letters of rec - but for smaller schools - why not? I think S2 is going to ask his AP Psych teacher next week after the exam - I’d like him to at least have one - and maybe from his BBYO advisor as well.</p>
<p>Yabe: I’m totally with you. Remember, I went to college in Evanston, IL! Just a little chilly there!!</p>
<p>Sent from my ADR6300 using CC App</p>
<p>Just wanted to chime in and share that my D chose…Bucknell! It was one tough decision for her but she is very excited. I can’t thank everyone who helped me along the way, with answers to questions, feedback, etc. etc. She decided at about 11 pm last night and, as we were getting ready for bed last night at midnight, DH said to me, time to make hotel reservations for move in and parents week-end. It, truly, never ends!!</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter, collage1! I’m glad you and your husband will be able to go together to take her to school in the fall, to be there for one another. 
Exciting, but also very emotional, stuff!</p>
<p>Congratulations on Bucknell! So excited for DD and for your family. But she is right – make parents weekend reservations now!! Now the real fun begins!!</p>
<p>Sent from my ADR6300 using CC App</p>
<p>and move in reservations too!</p>
<p>My friend whose son is finishig his freshman year at West Point (they probably don’t call them freshmen, but I don’t know the lingo) already made reservations for graduation weekend!!</p>
<p>Collage1: Congratulations to your daughter! It sounded like she really wanted a small, rural school. We visited Bucknell a few years ago and the campus is beautiful:)</p>
<p>I can’t believe we have to start thinking about move-in. I had really hoped that my D2 would pick a rural or suburban school so we wouldn’t have to do another city move-in, but no such luck.</p>
<p>In terms of letters of recommendation, I would have your kids ask at least one teacher for one. I agree with RVM that they are probably helpful at small schools.</p>
<p>collge-congrats on Bucknell!! A friends daughter goes there and LOVES it!</p>
<p>We recently drove by Bucknell. It was early evening - still daylight - and the campus was beautiful! We detoured off the main road, and drove around the campus (it was too late for a tour). To my HS junior D, it looked like the perfect campus. Congratulations!</p>
<p>collage, congratulations to your family. did you order your t-shirts yet?@!</p>
<p>adding to the discussion of SAT vs. ACT, I found this article today which pretty much sums up the differences in the tests and the different skills each test emphasizes.</p>
<p>[ACT</a> or SAT: Which Test Should You Take? | The College Solution](<a href=“http://www.thecollegesolution.com/act-or-sat-which-test-should-you-take/]ACT”>ACT or SAT: Which Test Should You Take?)</p>
<p>Congrats Collage! Bucknell is a wonderful choice!</p>
<p>hey collage: that was my prediction!!!..congrats to you and your family!!!</p>
<p>pamom: interesting article in that it does not address the diff between the tests in math (which is why my D focused on it)…wonder why…</p>
<p>Congratulations on Bucknell.</p>
<p>Well, our SS Indecision has docked. Last week, ShawD decided to attend the larger institution, Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She wanted to wait for me to come home from a business trip to talk it over with me before accepting. It is one of Canada’s more respected schools and is one which seems to be universally loved by its students and its alumni. We visited there first at the suggestion of a friend who is a Canadian born professor who is the dean of the faculty at a top 20 university in the US. When I said we were going to visit McGill, the dean said, “Don’t go to McGill. Go to Queens. They do a great job of educating undergraduates.” </p>
<p>One of the tipping factors was that Queens has a substantial Jewish population. When we visited just before Passover and we met two kids, friends of a the daughter of a close family friend, who aren’t regular Hillel goers but sample Hillel events when they want to and find the size of the Jewish population comfortable. Like every other student we talked to, they don’t like the school, they LOVE the school. The other tipping factor was that it just felt more sophisticated. While I thought the smaller school would be perfect for her academically, she said, “I might never wear a dress in four years there and I’m not an outdoorsy girl.” Said that way, it sounds funny, but I think she was saying it just didn’t feel that sophisticated to her and wasn’t a good fit (despite the fact that she’d been there the summer before and loved it). But, we feel very good about Queen’s. It’s bigger and she will have to be more proactive in getting to know professors. </p>
<p>I think that a gap year would be a particularly good idea at a bigger school, but that’s our next conversation.</p>
<p>As I mentioned, for those of you concerned about the cost of education, Queen’s is a strong school academically – among the hardest schools to get into in Canada – and the cost is quite low (for a Canadian citizen, tuition, fees, room and board run roughly $15K per year total less merit aid for for a non-Canadian citizen, I think the total cost is about $22K or $23K per year less merit aid). Many of Canada’s political elite attended Queen’s and I think it is disproportionately represented among CEOs as well.</p>
<p>Congrats to shawbridge…!!! and the family…sounds like you made a great decision!!</p>
<p>Shawbridge, congrats on Queens University (seems like a fitting choice for today )! Your posts about Canadian universities have been very enlightening - seems like an untapped area for adventuresome American students, as well as obviously a fantastic resource for Canadian students.</p>
<p>congrats to shawbridge and shawD!</p>
<p>Congrats Shaws. Sounds wonderful. My D talks about going to school in Canada. Will keep Queens in mind.</p>