<p>Booklady - my D2 is very interested in W&M - anything you can tell me about the school would be great!</p>
<p>Also, any thoughts on Washington & Lee? They have been sending oodles of mail & emails to my D2 - pros? cons?</p>
<p>My D2 is having a really difficult time deciding on schools to put on her short list. I’m not sure how to help her. It was easy with my S - he decided on NC State; he applied to NC State early decision and was accepted - no search involved! Same with my D1 - applied to one school and was accepted. It’s totally different with this one. She has so many choices, it’s overwhelming.</p>
<p>The well rounded point is a good one. I"ll keep that in mind. </p>
<p>youdon’tsay, I think you are correct about the flexibility of smaller schols. The problem is that his interests are so diverse (& becoming more so!) Finding a school that has, among other things, strong programs in gender studies, chemistry and religious studies is knocking out some of the schools we had previously looked at.</p>
<p>Washington & Lee has a beautiful campus and it’s located in the town of Lexington, which is charming. Of course, that’s an adults pov. In sum, it is very Southern.</p>
<p>My spouse’s aunt lives in Lexington and has been running a campaign to get S to W&L. It’s a very good school, it’s just not a good match for S. If he was interested, I’d certainly encourage it.</p>
<p>From what my relatives say, and having been there a couple of times myself, I’d say (from my POV as a northeasterner) that W&M has a somewhat southern, genteel feel. The campus is lovely, and beautifully maintained. The town is small but lively - and very touristy, because of Colonial Williamsburg. </p>
<p>The students seem to be quite serious about their academics, but there is a pronounced Greek scene, with plenty of drinking. One of my nieces, who graduated a few years ago, still reminisces fondly about the huge keggers they had. :rolleyes: There is a <em>lot</em> of school spirit - my 90-year-old stepmother still goes back for reunions. All my relatives feel they got an excellent education there, from the class of 1940something to 2000something. I should add that despite having very different sorts of personalities, they all loved the place.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay,
Re post #2525 (In the year 2525…) it is nice to finally get an explanation as to why my twin 11th grade boys fly off the handle after a most innocuous comment from me. I have to use that duct tape over my mouth more often, but it’s really hard. ;)</p>
<p>D started getting mail from W&L last year, and I encouraged her to consider the school - but so far, she says no. </p>
<p>Like a lot of your kids, my D doesn’t know what she wants to study. </p>
<p>momof3sons - I may need to borrow some of that duct tape. I’m always getting myself in trouble. My 12 year old still hasn’t gotten to that point, thankfully. </p>
<p>D started receiving the new influx of college mail yesterday. While the trickle had never stopped, she was mostly receiving postcards/mailers about visiting, open houses, special events as well as packets about summer programs. Yesterday’s mail included some large envelopes from a variety of schools. Can’t remember them all - but Vassar and Ohio State were two of them.</p>
<p>We had our junior parent college night last night. Lots of information, but it, oddly, made me feel quite calm about it all. Next week, we’ll meet with the college counselor. I have so many questions that I don’t see how we can get through them all in 30 minutes!</p>
<p>We have no college night scheduled as far as I know. I think the kids can meet with the college counselor just by making an appointment, but parents are discouraged from getting involved.</p>
<p>My parents lived in Lexington for years. It was a great place to visit, pretty little town, in a very pretty part of the country. Some nice little shops downtown. W&L itself is a bit odd - kind of a conservative student body with a somewhat more liberal faculty. It’s heavily, and I mean heavily dominated by the Greek culture - 80% or so. At least when my parents were there the frat houses caused a bit of a strain in town gown relationships. (Messy, noisy etc.) The other college in town is the Virginia Military Institute.</p>
<p>My son has his first individual appointment with college guidance today. He’s a little concerned about what she’s going to tell him – he has the impression that she pushes them all into a certain sort of college – and he has a different idea. I’ve been reassuring him that it’s all his choice and if he isn’t interested in obscure LACs in distant southern states he doesn’t have to be!</p>
<p>And tomorrow, the SAT results from the January exam will be up – and we’ll see where we stand on that front!</p>
<p>^^^ Yeah, it will be good to have those scores going into the mtg with the GC. </p>
<p>Funny, ds said to me last night, “Thursday a.m. SAT scores go up!” I thought he’d forgotten all about them but maybe kids are talking at school. He’s more engaged in this process than I realize, I think, which is good because sometimes he doesn’t seem engaged at all.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay - my D doesn’t seem at all engaged in the process, but she’s doing all the right things, so I can’t complain. The biggest problem I have is discussing anything that has to do with college with her - she just doesn’t want to hear it. I don’t get it. </p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder about the SAT results tomorrow. D’s been so busy, that I think she’s forgotten all about them!</p>
<p>I’m really nervous for those scores to come out tomorrow. Somehow I dont think S will do as well on the SAT as he did on the ACT.</p>
<p>YDS – That’s great that your S is getting a bit more involved in the process. I wish I could get mine to wake up a bit more. </p>
<p>LIMOM – are any of your D’s friends talking about college yet? Maybe if they were all discussing it, she might be more open to talking with you. She sounds a little like my D – the ostrich. If there is something in the future that is scary or unknown and she doesn’t know how to handle it, she just hides from it (hoping it will go away??) She is a university Junior now and whenever we bring up the topic of post-grad plans, she nearly runs from the room!</p>
<p>One of the GCs at the meeting last night said that parents need to form support groups to work out our angst. Y’all are mine. </p>
<p>I don’t share any angst with ds and only talk about it in spurts. I didn’t talk about it at all from October, after he took the PSAT, until winter break, when he needed to do prep for that January SAT.</p>
<p>yes it is great to support each other anonymously. I am measured with what I say among the parents, keep it light and mostly discuss what the kids general interests/directions are, never scores or other details. </p>
<p>It was funny thought recently at a ski team dinner one mother who has a college freshman D (who had great stats, over A avg and over 2300 SAT which I know because I could identify her on naviance heh heh) and a soph D started asking me questions about areas which I know nothing about- both athletic recruiting for her younger D (and it is obvious that I wouldn’t have have pursued this, recruitment is definitely not in either of my D’s future) and also military stuff, academies and rotc for another team member (again, could never think either of mine are interested in this path.) I am flattered she thought I would have this info, but it was weird… Of course I did have some info in both of these areas from cc :)</p>
<p>one more day until our jr college planning night meeting, I’m sure I’ll be underwhelmed but I’m still looking forward to it.</p>
<p>Good luck to all awaiting SAT scores tomorrow</p>
<p>I have a friend who has been picking my brain about all kinds of things but doesn’t want to give me any real information about her child’s stats. I keep saying things like “Depending on her rank, GPA, where she wants to apply, what she wants to major in …” but she never gives me that info so the advice I give her has to be very generic. I think it’s funny she wants my advice but gives me so little to work with.</p>
<p>I’m a mom awaiting two sets of SAT scores tomorrow (twins). Yes, yes, I know they’re not MY scores, but I’m still nervous. We were working on the theory of “one and done,” but that was a pipe dream, and I dread getting back to being “REALLY mean mom” and insisting that they do more preparation for the next round. I think I’ll keep my fingers crossed for this set of scores and hope for some “divine intervention.” ;)</p>
<p>Yep, my S doesn’t particularly want to “talk college” with us so much either. Since he’s bright, he’s already caught on to my trick of trying to use one topic of conversation to “back door” into talking about college. Sigh. I do think he talk about it occasionally with friends, especially since some of his classes are heavily populated by seniors.</p>
<p>We got some sad news last night. One of Son’s best friends from K - 8 has stage 4 cancer. He left our town at the end of 8th grade and moved to Baltimore to attend a highly-competitive magnet HS. </p>
<p>He had aspirations of becoming a doctor and this HS has some sort of auto-acceptance program with JHU. (At least that’s what I remember the mom saying 3 years ago.) Sadly, the illness has not only derailed his HS plans but has also shown him the worst side of medicine. Now he never wants to see, much less be, a doctor. As if cancer weren’t bad enough, it’s just heartbreaking for a kid to lose his dream.</p>
<p>Progosis is bad. Tumors have shrunk a little, but there are mests in his marrow. He’s on week 10 of 55 weeks of in-patient chemo, out-patient chemo, and daily radiation. </p>
I have to use that duct tape over my mouth more often, but it’s really hard. ;)</p>