<p>vicariousparent. Really, do come and visit Hopkins with your daughter. I say this because when I was looking at colleges, Hopkins was nowhere on my radar. Then, through a couple of coincidences, I wound up being in the area, so I visited the campus. Aside from the fact that the day I visited was a beautiful early April day, I fell in love with the campus, and immediately clicked with the general feel and spirit of the school. Everyone was so lovely, interested and interesting. I went back a few times, even spending a weekend, to make sure that this school that I always thought to be for nerdy types could actually be for me.
I found out about the writing program which is ranked #2 in the country, which was important to me. I love art and museums, so I visited the world class museums on campus, and have subsequently taken many art history classes, and traveled to Italy with others who are like-minded during school break. The program is phenomenal. I have also made the most wonderful friends, and am an active sorority member, something I also thought I would never be.
In all, Hopkins has been the most wonderful experience, and as I have said before, leaving is becoming more and more sad.</p>
<p>VParent:</p>
<p>I have a friend whoās senior D had JHU at the top of her list and got in ED. She is thrilled.</p>
<p>The parents have different backgrounds (Mom went to Penn, then Cornell PhD in Italian History and Dad has a PhD from ā¦ somewhere in Great Britain and is a math prof at USC.) The D is pretty good in math/science but thatās not her bent. Sheās more into history and government and was mightily impressed with JHU after her tour there. She did not find the abundance of competitive pre-med students off putting since that wonāt be her track, anyway.</p>
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<p>Iāve seen that quoted a lot on the Hopkins subforum. Could you tell me what the #1 ranked program is? Yes, D is most interested in writing as a potential major.</p>
<p>I was planning to include Hopkins on our college tour but unfortunately the school is on spring break that week (3rd week of March). While they will be doing tours, there wonāt be classes to sit in on and they wonāt be offering student interviews. callie, will you be on campus? Perhaps my D can meet you?</p>
<p>Whereās Jackief? This is her big moment (see post count) :)</p>
<p>scualum, am I that enthusiastic about it? I did notice when we were one down, and a post announcing that would have tied us, but I didnāt have anything college related to sayā¦ letās think of somethingā¦</p>
<p>callie and others, when you refer to a programās ranking, what is the source and if you know how is it determined?</p>
<p>ok, hereās another piece of news, D has agreed to tour Tufts next week during a day off.</p>
<p>Itās going to be hard for us here on the 2010 list to keep up in post counts once the acceptances start rolling in for the 2009s, especially this year with the financial picture looking more gloomy than in past years. We may be needing to cross post on the 2009 list to keep those parentsā spirits up, since theyāve been kind enough to share lessons learned with us.</p>
<p>yes FAP, the outcomes over there are pretty good so far with many merit offers. I donāt know if its a geographic thing, but there arenāt many rolling schools here, none on Dās list, I would definitely like to find one or two which she may like.</p>
<p>Our private school has not announced its tuition for next year, I hope they can hold the reins tight. There have been a few kids who needed to leave mid year with this crisis. One family left one kid at the school but sent the other back to public. One family had to sell the house and leave the area. One good thing is that the commitment has been moved from Apr to Jun to āput them in line with other independent schoolsā which is also nice that it delays when we have to put down the deposit for next year.</p>
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<p>vicariousparent - From the rankings that Iāve seen, the #1 ranked creative writing program is at University of Iowa (home of the Iowa Writersā Workshop). Here is a link to one such list: [University</a> Creative Writing Programs](<a href=āhttp://www-as.phy.ohiou.edu/~rouzie/569A/compcreative/University.htm]Universityā>http://www-as.phy.ohiou.edu/~rouzie/569A/compcreative/University.htm) Youāll notice that this ranking, as well as similar lists that Iāve seen, factors in Masters programs, so Iām not sure how directly they correlate to undergraduate creative writing programs. My daughter is also planning to major in creative writing (or english with a concentration in creative writing, if thereās no c.w. major available at the school where sheāll enroll). D participated in a writing program at UI, really enjoyed it, and we visited JHU because of the Writing Seminars major. </p>
<p>Wow, this thread moves along!
It looks like Jan. SAT scores were discussed several pages ago. D did well, although she feels that she can bump up her m and cr scores a bit further, so she plans to retake the SAT I in June, while taking the subject exams during the May sitting. Thanks to the examās science section, sheās sworn off retaking the ACT.</p>
<p>D had a very positive experience visiting Emory and Iām going to post a visit report. Unfortunately weāre going to have to postpone our Binghamton visit and probably work it into the spring break tour. LIMOMOF2, if you do go ahead with your Bing. visit, Iād be interested in any feedback that youād be willing to share.:)</p>
<p>jackief - I hope that your school can hold down the cost increases. I know that weāre waiting to see what kind of increase will be enacted at D1ās (private) college.</p>
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<p>vicariousparent - From the rankings that Iāve seen, the #1 ranked creative writing program is at University of Iowa (home of the Iowa Writersā Workshop). Here is a link to one such list: [University</a> Creative Writing Programs](<a href=āhttp://www-as.phy.ohiou.edu/~rouzie/569A/compcreative/University.htm]Universityā>http://www-as.phy.ohiou.edu/~rouzie/569A/compcreative/University.htm) Youāll notice that this ranking, as well as similar lists that Iāve seen, factors in Masters programs, so Iām not sure how directly they correlate to undergraduate creative writing programs. My daughter is also planning to major in creative writing (or english with a concentration in creative writing, if thereās no c.w. major available at the school where sheāll enroll). D participated in a writing program at UI, really enjoyed it, and we visited JHU because of the Writing Seminars major. </p>
<p>Wow, this thread moves along! It looks like Jan. SAT scores were discussed several pages ago. D did well, although she feel that she bump up her m and cr scores a bit further, so she plans to retake the SAT I in June, while taking the subject exams during the May sitting. Thanks to the examās science section, sheās sworn off retaking the ACT.</p>
<p>D had a very positive experience visiting Emory and Iām going to post a visit report. Unfortunately weāre going to have to postpone our Binghamton visit and probably work it into the spring break tour. LIMOMOF2, if you do go ahead with your Bing. visit, Iād be interested in any feedback that youād be willing to share.:)</p>
<p>Hi, Iām Kate and I am addicted to Scattergrams with a shot of Naviance on the side.</p>
<p>I can see how useful that would be for schools that have been using it for several years. I had to do a lot of mental gymnastics to try and match it up to my Sās school but I think I got a rough idea.</p>
<p>Naturally, I have more questions now. The way it looks now, compared to the past few years, he will be a NMF. Heās a smart kid but heās also am amazing test taker (thank goodness he did not inherit my test anxiety.) And his GPA is good but it does not match. In fact, his GPA is more in-line with students whose SAT scores are two to three hundred points lower than his sample test SAT scores. ACT as well.</p>
<p>You give this kid a number 2 pencil, a test and a time limit and heās happy as a clam. His struggle is with organization and staying motivated over the long haul. His sophomore year was especially trying and heās doing much better his junior year but the gap remains.</p>
<p>Iāve heard that colleges really donāt like that. That they are generally not interested in students who are not āliving up to their potential.ā So my question is, how the heck do I factor this gap into his college list? Do I go by his GPA alone and just hope that the college does not view his higher GPA/SAT scores as proof that heās too lazy for their college? Iāve not talked about this with my S at all as I donāt want him to worry about water under the bridge.</p>
<p>Thank you, class of 2010 friends!</p>
<p>pugmagkate, that the million dollar question isnāt it? I have a similar though less exaggerated problem. B+ student which Commended range PSAT scores. There are very few kids with his profile in the scattergrams and those that are there have much less consistent results. My kid has done a bit better each year and I hope that will play in his favor. Anecdotally a few years back a friend of mine had a kid with perfect SAT scores (before the writing section) and probably a B- to B average. He was the sort of kid who didnāt do, or forgot to hand in homework. He didnāt get into his first choice (which I think was Bennington), got offered a free ride at Binghampton, and ended up going to Colgate off the waiting list. I think you can assume heāll do somewhat better than the GPA indicates and somewhat worse than the scores indicate. I would guess that teacher recommendations and essays, may be weighed more heavily as well.</p>
<p>momonthehill - what would you like to know about Binghamton. We visited today, and it was very, very cold. D and her friends went on a tour with some friends of theirs - current freshmen and sophs at Bing. The boys all seem to like the school well enough. D, H and I sat in on the info session which started earlier than expected which was a little annoying because we missed hearing the tour guides introduce themselves and answer questions. The admissions officer who gave the official talk was fine. Let me know what youāre interested in, and Iāll fill you in if I can. We skipped the official tour because the girls had already gone with their friends and seen all the important things. </p>
<p>Weāll be visiting Cornell tomorrow, so if anyone wants me to find out anything, let me know and Iāll try my best to find the answers.</p>
<p>Current Cornell parent here. Happy to answer any questions. Wear really warm clothes! Good walking shoes. And my best parental tip is ā¦ do not miss Sunday Brunch at the Statler ā¦ sometime in your four years! </p>
<p>Also ā¦ the freshman dorms are not included on the basic tour ā you need the freshman experience tour for that. If you canāt do that tour ā¦ get over to North Campus and check them out. In fact, I did an admissions tour for the first time this past fall (my S is a junior!!!) and there are NO DORMS on the tour.</p>
<p>momonthehill, thanks for that reply and the link. Did your D go to the Iowa Young Writerās Studio in the summer? That is a program my D wanted to attend last yearā¦but did not get accepted to.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips and for offering to answer any questions, cnp55. D is actually doing an overnight visit at Cornell through the red carpet org, so sheāll get to see the dorms, even if we wonāt. Weāll be meeting her for the info session and tour tomorrow. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, we arrived in Ithaca too late for the Statler brunch - instead we enjoyed breakfast at SUNY Binghamton. :)</p>
<p>oh good ā¦ the overnight visit thing is a really good idea. There are lots of different sorts of dorms on North Campus. I particularly love Balch, which is just an old traditional womenās dorm. Youāll imagine the alumnae ghosts in the corners having tea! See if she can get in to see a corner of that ā¦itās different than everything else.</p>
<p>Thanks, cnp55. Balch sounds wonderful. I donāt think sheād want to live in an all-womenās dorm, but Iām sure she wouldnāt mind visiting one.</p>
<p>Jackief - canāt wait to hear what you and your D think of Tufts. As you may remember, we visited over the summer, and both my S and D liked it a lot (for very different reasons).</p>
<p>Sorry for the double posting of my last message.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2āThanks, I didnāt really have any specific questions about Binghamton. I was just looking for your general impressions of the school, such as how friendly and helpful the students and/or staff that you encountered were(though it sounds like your D has a number of friends who are current students there), what you thought of the campus and the surrounding community. Based upon your post, it sounds like Binghamton lived up to its reputation for brisk winter weather. ;)</p>
<p>vicariousparentāYes, she did attend the Young Writerās Studio. Also, Kenyon and Sewanee have well-regarded summer writing programs.</p>
<p>Speaking of summer writing programs, I have to put a plug in for Alpha (<a href=āhttp://alpha.spellcaster.org)āif%5B/url%5Dā>http://alpha.spellcaster.org)āif</a> youāre interested in writing speculative genre fiction, I really think thereās no better workshop. It changed my life (my writing life, at least).</p>