<p>Did anyone notice in this past Sunday’s Times (Education Life) that CC was referenced? It seems I’m not the only one who’s keenly interested in what goes on here. I personally spend much too much time here, but have also come to value the input and insight of so many parents. (I must say, the kids can be tiresome, constantly telling each other that 2200 on the SAT is pathetic, etc…)
So, thanks to you guys…emmybet, fogfog,slitheytove,blueiguana, fallenchemist, and the entire ShawClan, among others…I look forward to your posts.</p>
<p>And if you’re reading this Mr. Jacques Steinberg of the NYT, feel free to pick our brains.</p>
<p>I must come to my fellow student CCers’ defense. I have read tens of thousands of posts from high schools students on CC and have never encountered what you describe.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve seen this a couple times. Nonetheless, noting an extremely rare and unfortunate occurrence as representative of an entire group of users is unfair; similar things could be done to display the parental userbase in a quite-negative light. On the whole, I have found that the students are very supportive of and helpful toward one another.</p>
<p>This is true. You can put tens of thousand of fans in a stadium and most of them cheer and have a good time. A few get rude and rowdy, pick fights with fans of the opposing team. The entire fanbase gets a bad rap. Put the same group of fans in a stadium the following weekend, another select few will disagree about something. Generalizations will be made.</p>
<p>I have found that people do make generalizations about how they view cc. This is easy to do quite frankly as an early lurker depending on the forum you are on. Hit the SAT/ACT forums right after scores come out and you will find students that are upset about what seem like high scores. Close the door, walk away and leave it to the kids. The chances forum can get slick. Students post what seem like unreal resumes and ask will I get in ANYWHERE. Then you have a student who posts a respectable resume and will get a response from a fresh student saying they better look at community college, they are doomed. Close the door, look at Naviance or check the common data set to get an idea. The individual school forums that are active can be really informative. I was able to find out about merit aid that S2 might qualify for that wasn’t easily found on the website. Another parent shared this with me.</p>
<p>What people don’t find right away…and I’ll admit it wasn’t the first place I went…was the parents forum. Journalists zing cc because of what they may see on the surface… did they see the post where a parent was trying to find out how to get her ill son home from out of the country through Dulles Airport in VA, up to Pilly where they were meeting him for surgery. The parent was on the west coast. Parents from all over came in and gave information on bus transfer to Union Station where Amtrack runs to philly. Other parents suggested renting a car to come meet the student and bring him up, giving milage and an idea of time to travel. The parent was understandably scared for her son and had many options offered up by people who were locals, had traveled that route, or just had an idea. Where else do you go for that? That’s just one example. It doesn’t define what happens here. Hot topics come up with great debate. There are threads for each ‘class’ where parents share college visits, test jitters, prom traditions.</p>
<p>I could go on…I already have, like I usually do. You have already indulged me, like you usually do… OR you can click and open another thread that interests you. Amazing. </p>
<p>Can you imagine if a journalist who tried to lump cc parents and students together took even a small percentage of us and actually put us in a room together. How amazed they would be. How different we are. All walks of life, gender, age, ethnicity, economic background. Students with high GPA and low scores, low GPA and high scores, everything in between. We are even blessed to have parents and students still here who have graduated college!!</p>
<p>Let the next journalist call us here. We’d love to chat! :)</p>
<p>That’s right–cc is like New Orleans–if the first place you go is Bourbon Street (or the Politics forum, or the Chances forum), you might get a false view of the totality.</p>
<p>Hunt-
That’s hysterical! I remember my first trip to NO. It was during Mardi Gras! H had gone to school near there so stuff didn’t even register to him anymore. I didn’t grow up sheltered but whew!! The next morning coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde was like a different planet! :)</p>
<p>I know I found great advice in helping me plan trips to parts of the country that I wasn’t as familiar with – and I don’t know where else I would have gone!</p>
<p>I’m definitely envisioning a “thanks CC!” post sometime when my kids do apply / get in, wherever that may be!</p>
<p>Point well taken about generalizing unfairly re: the kids. I think that the posts that stand out to me are those where the kids throw cold water on each others’ hopes. I understand that they are trying to be realistic, but sometimes the realism reads more like criticism. That said, I always awed by the level of enthusiasm that the students on this forum bring to the whole process. Contrary to popular belief, these kids give me great hope for the future.</p>
<p>The story in Education Life was about the SUNY system, and the writer used a direct quote from CC.</p>
<p>It would be great if someone from the NYT were to ask for opinions here. The dialogue would be fascinating.</p>
<p>Hm. This article comfirms what I have long said: that SUNY’s hideous architecture was a plot (read influence bloc) of NY’s many private colleges.</p>
<p>For the most elite NY students SUNY takes a backseat to: Columbia, NYU, Barnard, Cornell, Colgate, Vassar, Hamilton, Skidmore, Sarah Lawrence, Fordham, U of Rochester, Union, Marist et al.</p>
<p>NY has many many tremendous schools, private and public…much better for finding the right match compared to some states with few great privates and so-so publics.</p>
<p>As for CCers
I really enjoy reading posts from respected posters–
yes there are the ■■■■■■ and some occasional drama etc to weed through…
AND
at the same time the very helpful CC community, rich with first hand knowledge, on-the-ground reporting and experience/insight has been of far more value than our GC/school counseling office ever could be
(and she only has 50 students to handle–don’t get me started) :rolleyes:</p>
<p>And to top it off–I have made some new friends IRL–parents of similar students–whereby we have connected on a college tour and have kept in touch–regularly checking in on the status of things as we ride the roller coaster of the college admissions process together…remmerbing from time to time to through our hands up in the air and enjoy the ride–rather than be white knuckled </p>
<p>As far as having a journalist contact us–I had a college student contact me via PM–asking that I do an interview about CC–and the stipulation was that I had to disclose my name etc IRL–since it was for her professor and a research apaper/grade etc–While she said it would be lep in confidence–I passed on it–</p>
<p>fogfog, I think that same student contacted me. I agreed to do it only if I did not have to use my name and she complied with that and so I went ahead with it.</p>
<p>Good for you soozievt for passing on your thoughts, experiences, and opinions on cc. My issue is when it appears that cc as a whole is looked at on the surface and represented in the media with broad strokes as a sterotype.</p>
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