<p>We got power back this morning! But there are still towns near here with only 41% power. No school today again - the guidance secretary will be overrun with college transcript requests.</p>
<p>LINYMOM - Florida is sounding pretty good to us up here! My sister lives in Tampa and loves it.</p>
<p>Now S2 can continue to work on his applications!</p>
<p>thanks for letting me vent a bit</p>
<p>Pamom: You’re right that there is no housing benefit to depositing early at Pitt (unless something’s changed). All the dorms other than Holland are coed so there is a chance of a D being somewhere other than there. There are female floors in Towers for instance. Lothrop has a heavy nursing presence. Having a S, I don’t know much about Holland other than the location in the Schenley Quadrangle is nice (and near Towers).</p>
<p>Holland is actually very nice for location, room size, etc. but is not as amenable to socializing because of the layout of the floor and there are no lounges to hang out in. </p>
<p>A lot of girls end up in Holland who didn’t select it, I just mention that so socaldad can manage his D’s expectations- with 1890 freshman women enrolled at Pitt and an all girls dorm to house 600 of them…that makes the odds of getting Holland about 1 in 3. I wish my D had known that so she would not have been so crushed to find out she had been assigned to the all girls dorm…though it works out in the end I think its good to know the odds going in!</p>
<p>Moltobene…my dad sent me that NYTimes article also since, as you may recall, my S1 is an engineering student. Only 2 months in, but so far, so good. It was one of my concerns, thought w/ the way housing is done at Michigan that he’d be living w/ so many students who wouldn’t have to work as hard as him. Turns out there are other engineering students on his hall, and it hasn’t been a problem.</p>
<p>Maltobene I was interested in the article as well. I had not connected the work demand to difficulty studying in the dorm but it does make me glad that TAMU has an engineering dorm and that that is where S2 wants to live (if he goes there). He has already filed his dorm application.</p>
<p>UMICH, while my son is not in engineering (he is hoping to do business/economics), his roommate is majoring in the subject. They are part of the Michigan Research Community dorm and S says that he was truly humbled by the acumen of everyone on his floor. Several kids with multiple AP classes in which they scored perfect 5s, and his roommate was an Intel finalist. The nice part of living with like minded kids is that everyone gets it when you say you will be in “the morgue,” the affectionate term for the study room on the first floor. I do think STEM majors have a greater amount of actual daily studying than do non-STEM majors and it helps if you have friends in the same boat.</p>
<p>My D and I are off to Colorado tomorrow to visit the school. This is the one school which she still has not heard from. I think it is going to come down to Colorado, Oregon, and Indiana.</p>
<p>Itlliz - My S is also interested in CU. When a brochure came in the mail last weekend, I was ready to sign up! The setting looks magnificent! Would love to hear your impressions after your visit. If S is accepted we will likely visit then. Have a great trip!</p>
<p>I would be off to Colorado, too! Too bad no one else bought into my plan. Dang it!</p>
<p>My niece got her Pitt acceptance last night and is over the moon!</p>
<p>My poor S2…only applied to one school with rolling admissions and btwn that and his ED choice, is sitting on schpilkes. Quite honestly, he’s not very pleasant.</p>
<p>Bummer for him.</p>
<p>Passing wine to those who need and CONGRATS to all those who have rcvd great news! Very exciting for all!!</p>
<p>For those of you who have not visited Michigan State yet…</p>
<p>they have a host program for admitted students organized through admissions where they match you up with a student for either a day or evening…I think you can sign up on the website…</p>
<p>great for a large school!!</p>
<p>socaldad- I couldn’t PM you because you exceeded your message storage space! But here’s the info I can give you about sororities at Pitt:</p>
<p>For sorority rush, the girls who are interested in pledging go to parties at all the sorority suites. There are several "rounds’ of parties and after each round the sororities and the girls rank their preferences; the choices narrow as the week goes on based on how the preferences line up; at the end of the week there is a preference night where the pledges rank their final three; the sororities also rank the girls they want; and there is a matching on how those rankings interplay. At least that it how it was explained to me! </p>
<p>Anyway it all worked out well for my D she is very happy and she said that rush at Pitt is not as competitive as it is at other schools like Penn State. </p>
<p>Sorority rush/membership entails some clothing requirements that I wasn’t quite prepared for- she needed to buy a party dress and a business casual outfit. Initiation required a white dress (thankfully she had one from last year’s graduation). I’m hoping she can wear her prom dress for any formal parties. Now that she is officially initiated, she wants to get some clothing emblazoned with her sorority letters (ΣΔΤ). Anyway…she’s having fun with it so I can’t complain too much about the cost of the clothing! I’m glad she found her niche so it’s really worth it.</p>
<p>Hi All, I have been “lurking” here for awhile and am finally posting. My daughter just got her first acceptance-from University of Kansas! Hopefully this is the first of many. She did EA at 3 schools and then we wait till March or April for the rest. She applied to 10 schools. </p>
<p>I have really enjoyed reading all of your posts and look forward to jumping in now.</p>
<p>Congrats to Emptynester’s D and Orangemom’s niece on their acceptances.</p>
<p>Orangemom: I hope your son hears some good news soon.</p>
<p>Rush at Pitt sounds very similar to rush at Penn. I think that National Panhellenic has rules on how the schools run rush. I’m glad to hear that sorority life is working out well for Pamom’s D. My D1 has had a very good experience also.</p>
<p>Hi Emptynester - welcome aboard! Congrats on the Kansas acceptance - always great to have that first one. </p>
<p>orangemom - yup - waiting on an ED decision is not for the faint of heart! Lots of families on pins and needles the next few weeks. Would your son consider applying to any other rolling schools at this point? Or is he just going to wait it out?</p>
<p>Rockville…he’s waiting it out. I think he’s fried. He’ll hear by Dec 15 from his ED choice and I doubt he would hear prior from any other school.</p>
<p>I can’t help but think how much less stress it was when we all had to wait until mid-March/April.</p>
<p>Back from S’ interview at Muhlenberg (if you live within a reasonable distance, it seems to be very important to this school to do the interview in person). We arrived early in time to have lunch in the new and lovely dining hall. Then while S went in for his appointment, I sat on a bench along their version of “college walk” and just watched the kids go by. There is a very nice, laid back vibe to this school (2nd visit.) Not alot of visible diversity but just a nice looking group. I sneezed and heard a half dozen "bless you"s 
. It was a gorgeous summer-like day and lots of kids were out promoting students elections, sporting and other events, and the like. Not a whole lot of very political looking posters or promotions. I walked over to the Hillel and the lovely student staffing the reception area offered me a tour. It’s a renovated and expanded private home and boy, is it pretty and welcoming. She told me they get 100+ for Friday night dinner. S spent 40 minutes in his interview and was offered a short application for an early read for merit aid. I know this is a pricey private but merit aid is available in varying amounts up to $20 for those with over 1300 CR/W. Otherwise, it’s test optional And there’s no supplement essay!</p>
<p>I know several happy Muhlenberg students/grads. What a wonderful environment for a student who wants a Jewish presence on campus.</p>
<p>Mutti, what was you son’s impression?</p>
<p>Mutti - sounds so nice - this is one I really wanted to see and S2 just was not interested. What did you think of the area surrounding the campus? That’s where I have heard some negative comments.</p>
<p>Pamom, I cleaned up my mailbox. Thanks for the explanation. Disregard my message a few minutes ago. Did not see your post here.</p>
<p>Emptynester, Welcome. My D and I visited Kansas last April. A nice campus, and good college town. My D was accepted as well. As things have evolved for her, I do not think it is a contender for her.<br>
Multi, Muhlenberg sounds great. Good Luck…</p>