<p>I certainly agree with ToneRanger, if she got into Brown then she is one smart cookie. It sounds like she’ll do great wherever she is.</p>
<p>Why the focus on GWU? Georgetown and Brown are both amazing schools. Brown especially would have helped her find the right major and served very well for whatever she chose.</p>
<p>Not really. No matter how smart she is, if she is not focused and doesn’t have a mind of her own then she’ll end up having people making decisions for her. Wonder how successful she will be in life she doesn’t start to take control of her life. Hope this would be a life lesson to her.</p>
<p>Undecided remains the most popular prospective major of college applicants. And hurrah for that. They have time in the first three semesters to sample the vast array of courses that a college offers and decide among the many different majors available.
This young woman did not seem to me any different from the hundreds of thousands of highs choolers who apply to college every year. Except that she was smart enough for two of the most selective colleges in the country.</p>
<p>I can well sympathize with the desire not to go into huge debt for college. But that was a decision that should have been arrived at before applying to colleges that do not offer merit money, and not made contingent on the choice of major (frankly, I’m not sure that an IR major will be in line to earn tons of money).</p>
<p>I really cannot comprehend why you would not encourage her to go to BROWN. Why on earth would you be willing to pay an arm and a leg to go to GWU when she could go to Brown, a much better school? Especially if she is bright enough to get into that list of schools and is undecided as to major–which, frankly, I think is what the VAST MAJORITY of students ought to be! The idea that a kid is somehow wasting their time if they haven’t picked a major before they’ve even had the opportunity to take a SINGLE CLASS in most of the things they might major in has always blown my mind. </p>
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<p>I am SO hoping this is meant sardonically. It is so pathetic to think of a kid going around telling people that she actually got into Brown but chose the state u instead.</p>
<p>Look, I don’t blame you for shoving her through the application process, but now that she has actually gotten into a great school that is absolutely perfect for a generalist ready to explore in many directions you say she has to go to the state U??? But you would be willing to pay big $$ for an inferior school that is not a fit for her? This makes no sense.</p>
<p>I’m ripping my hair out here. If this is a done deal, I pity your daughter.</p>
<p>Exactly Oldfort, after talking, talking, decision after decisons, she basically wanted me off her back and for me to shut up. Getting away is what she wants, it does not matter if it is 30 minutes down the road, just as long as she can be independent. Exactly, she is a smart cookie but has alot of maturing to do. She had been asked, are you sure, are you sure, are you sure this is the right decision for you. It is easier to say yes then turn a conversation into a fighting battle. She should do well in the Honors College and then she would be able to transfer for her graduate studies</p>
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<p>Umm, not so fast. Unfortunately, prestige mattes to grad schools, a LOT. I have no doubt that her grad school opportunities would magnified xx fold if she had recs from Brown Professors vs. local state U. It can be extremely meaningful when a published, known leader in the field writes a rec that says the girl ‘walks on water’ than a local prof who says the same thing.</p>
<p>You see Consolation - there has been too much encouragment. So, you are saying I would appear to be a better mom if I encourage her to go to Brown instead of GWU. Well that seems to be the problem here, I need to keep my nose out of her decision making. What is the diffence between making her go to the instate University as oppose to making her go to Brown. I am still making the decision for her (the start of the problem). If she decides to transfer during her undergraduate or even after her undergraducate, the decision would be hers. Now lets think, my daughter has always been in public schools and she has always been a over achiever, with this being said she should do well in the Honors College and just be as marketable as she was during her senior year in high school.</p>
<p>I am willing to bet that she picked the state u because a)all her friends are going there and it will be a familiar environment, or b) she is under the impression that going to Brown or Georgetown will be too much of a financial burden on the family (which, if true, is a good reason).</p>
<p>In the first post OP said that she “made the decision for her”. Unless I’m missing something, she doesn’t want to go to State U.</p>
<p>It’s a done deal for now.</p>
<p>Obviously, DoingItRight did quite a bit wrong. But it is done. Hopefully, D will thrive in the Honors College, and if the school is not challenging enough, transfer after a year.</p>
<p>I have to say tha I am not so sure that Brown is “great school that is absolutely perfect for a generalist ready to explore in many directions.” Great school - no doubt. But I heard that kids who have no direction in mind (not major, but at least general interest in something) can actually have a hard time at Brown, because it is completely up to them to create their path.</p>
<p>^^That’s what I heard about Brown, too. But Georgetown is a terrific school, and not just in IR. So is NYU for the right kind of student. GW is not in the same league.</p>
<p>I’m worried about gaining the Freshman 15 (pounds) when I go to college. I am an athlete and I really only eat extremely lean foods and lots of fruits and vegetables. Any tips for making sure I get adequate nutrition when I go off to college in the fall without packing on the pounds?</p>
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<p>OK…I don’t understand. IA was not your daughter’s major choice…it was YOURS. The colleges she applied to have outstanding programs in a LOT of majors, not just IA. I don’t understand why you would have allowed her to apply to these schools for YOUR dream major, but would not allow her to matriculate at these same schools as an undeclared major. Assuming the finances were there (and they were for IA), these schools would have been a wonderful choice for her for ANY major…Did she actually offer a choice of one of these schools?</p>
<p>I agree with hmom; looks like a Dad II thread. </p>
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<p>Seems to like as though the one who needs to mature is the parent. </p>
<p>Life sometimes supplies delicious irony; perhaps this D will, indeed, decide to pursue her mother’s choice of major, IA, and she’ll be… at State U.</p>
<p>Is she a Carolina Scholar?</p>
<p>No one will care, except you , where she went to undergrad. This is ridiculous. She will do well at any of her accepted schools.</p>
<p>I too was frustrated last year by my s’s lack of focus when it came to all college related things, but then I put myself in his shoes. Senior year is the culmination of years of hard work and discipline, and while they’re trying to enjoy the moment we’re all saying, “Let’s focus on the future!” </p>
<p>It seems to me that you’re evaluating this as you go–as we all do–so don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s good that you realized maybe you’d like to handle it differently.</p>
<p>I have a friend that directs his d’s every move, and he’s having a terrible time grasping that now that she’s actually at school he’s got very little control. He didn’t like a guy friend she had, and didn’t want them hanging out in the summer so he was trying to arrange the summer in France for her. I pointed out that there are guys in France too, and he doesn’t even KNOW those French guys. A look of pure panic crossed his face. </p>
<p>This “letting go” business is tricky. I’ve told my s that I want to let him make his own decisions but I don’t want to hear a few years down the road,“Why the heck did you let me do that?”</p>
<p>Also, my s ended up at the state school in the honor’s program–an opportunity that I tracked down for him–and it’s been a completely amazing and wonderful experience.</p>
<p>I would still really like to know how did OP’s D could write amazing passion-filled essays if she was feeling unsure and unmotivated? If she wrote wonderful essays, there must be some clues in them as to what she really would like to do with her life–even if she doesn’t seem to communicate it well to her mom, or perhaps mom cannot interpret her teen’s comments?</p>