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<p>I wondered if that was the problem because I don’t want to sound overly negative. But I didn’t really know much at all about housing, dining, or core requirements going into this. I had to ask about all of those things. Maybe in trying to offer more specialized sessions, some of the basics got left out. Or maybe we did not end up with the best tour guide.</p>
<p>Anyway, D is on the computer now doing college research, so it got her charged up if nothing else.</p>
<p>D mentioned to me today a couple of questions she has for specific schools. She wants to know if she can email the schools now and ask. I wasn’t sure if she should wait till after the admissions season is set for this year.</p>
<p>Also, she wonders if it’s appropriate to inquire of individual schools how they calculate GPA for admissions.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Zmom:</p>
<p>I’m of the opinion that one should be able to make inquiries of this sort year round. The universities response time to such questions may vary, depending on where there are in the annual admissions cycle, but I suspect they’ll always have someone available to answer the basic questions, and may need to defer on the complex matters.</p>
<p>Some schools, like the UCs, are very detailed on their web sites as to how they calculate GPA for admissions. For those that aren’t, I’d feel free to ask them.</p>
<p>During my DD quandary about French, she called a number of the west coast LAC with questions and found them to be quite responsive - either answering the call right away or returning the call within an hour or two. This was in mid January - so definitely prime time for the admissions advisors.</p>
<p>Hi, Vicarious. I will be away on a spring break trip. I am sure that whomever is around will give you a good idea of what life at Hopkins is like. If your daughter likes it, she should find a current freshman or sophomore to spend a fun weekend with. If she doesn’t know anyone from her high school, maybe the admissions office would be able to connect her with someone. This is a great question for Admissions Daniel. I bet he will know what to do. By the way, have you visited the Hopkins blogs, or Insider? You will get good info there.</p>
<p>Just got back from a quick trip to Cleveland to visit Case Western with S & also visit the S who is already there.</p>
<p>This was spur of the moment–when we realized we all had Monday off (it was going to be a snow makeup day but the School Board changed its mind at the last minute. Grrrr. Notification was sketchy, shall we say.)</p>
<p>So–not an “official” trip as the tours/info sessions were all filled, but fun and educational for S. He sat in on a Chemistry of Materials class & also his brother’s Cryptology class! And we got personal tours of a couple of labs.</p>
<p>I think it was good for S who has no idea what sorts of engineering is out there to see some new things.</p>
<p>Ended up bagging the visit to Centre today; when I woke DD up, she had a head cold. I figured 7 hours round trip in the car wasn’t the best use of the day. So we had a nice breakfast, and I made her spend the afternoon filling out the info sheets I had put together for each school on her list. It was a much more productive use of time; she managed to take 3 schools off of her list and it was an eye-opener for her in terms of applicant scores, costs, SAT II requirements, what were safeties, matches & reaches, etc. There’s 3 schools that are on her fence right now that I’ve told her to watch the online tours for, as well as 2 schools that realistically we will not be able to visit until after we find out if she is accepted. I think she’ll be down to 12 schools by spring break.</p>
<p>One thing we learned, all other things being equal, is that winter weather may be a deal-breaker. As we braved the wintry blast that is more or less continuous in C-land, son asked “Are there any really good engineering schools in the SOUTH?” </p>
<p>Well, of course there are, we just haven’t thought about them very much. Oh dear.</p>
<p>And today was actually a good weather day there. It wasn’t snowing.</p>
<p>So, D visited Cornell and absolutely loved it! She did an overnight and had a wonderful, very thoughtful host who invited girls from several of the university’s colleges to come over so she could chat with them and ask them questions. She found that very helpful. She also visited with a friend who is currently a freshman, and he showed her around, introduced her to his friends, and took her out for dinner. Today, we attended the information session which was helpful. D asked if she could skip the tour since she’d already seen so much, and I said that was fine - instead, we explored on our own a bit, went to the store, had lunch, and let D hang out with her friends for an hour before we left. It was soooooo cold out, and it was snowing, though the snow wasn’t sticking, thankfully. A very successful visit.</p>
<p>Sounds like a lot of you have also had some good experiences - that’s so great.</p>
<p>RobD - sorry to hear that your D wasn’t feeling well.</p>
<p>Rodney - the Admissions person at Binghamton didn’t mention anything about doing away with EA at the session yesterday; she just stressed the difference between EA and ED. Hopefully, that’s just a myth.</p>
<p>Jackief - we’re in the same boat - planning to visit some schools in April. Some of those schools want interviews, but they don’t start interviewing juniors until May or June. I was thinking about calling them to see if they’d be willing to make an exception, but since April is spring break for most high schools in the northeast, I doubt they will (too many kids). Still, it can’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>Oh, we also had lunch in Little Italy at the Trattoria restaurant that has been mentioned somewhere in this thread, I think. Excellent food, including the cannolis! 
</p>
<p>Usually we’re too busy shlepping & unpacking S & his stuff to have time for “fun.”</p>
<p>Just bumping us back to the front page.</p>
<p>I wish that we had a spare moment to go college shopping right now, but we are just too busy. Actually, we do have to be in Houston this weekend, so maybe I can get the boys to go check out Rice while I’m at a baby shower.</p>
<p>This past weekend ds, of his own initiative, went on fastweb to check out scholarships. I don’t think it was particularly fruitful, but I’m thrilled he was thinking about this stuff. Oh, we also did the FAFSA4caster. We must have done something wrong because it said our EFC was LOWER than we expected. There’s a place in town that gives free financial counseling, including FAFSA help, so I’m hoping to make an appt there and find out whether we totally messed that up.</p>
<p>Our visit to U Maryland was a success. Son liked it. It’s now tied with Gettysburg for #1 on his list. I know; they’re nothing alike. </p>
<p>H and I heard some worrisome info about the Limited Enrollment Programs (LEP) majors at UM. Basically LEPs are very hard to declare after first semester freshman year. If you declare later than that or hope to change majors into an LEP, you better have a high GPA and pray a spot opens up. </p>
<p>My full report is posted here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/university-of-maryland-college-park/1614986.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/university-of-maryland-college-park/1614986.html</a></p>
<p>Feel free to ask questions.</p>
<p>Forgot to say earlier, I’m not posting reports about our visits to Cornell or Binghamton in the College Visits section here. I feel like those visits are skewed a bit because D has good friends at both schools which gave those schools an advantage over other schools we’ve visited.</p>
<p>We flew down to Nashville this weekend and visited Vanderbilt. They sponsor Black & Gold days 5 times a year, which are specific 1/2 day programs for prospective students. They feature a session with the Dean of Admissions and the Dean of Financial Aid, a campus tour, an Information Fair with reps from every type of campus organization/department, (Band, Greek Life, religious life, the 4 different undergraduate schools, dining, cheerleading, etc) and a Q&A with the Deans of the four undergrad colleges.</p>
<p>We had the added benefit of having a cousin on campus as a student, so were able to get an extra tour, have Sunday brunch in one of the dining halls, etc. My twin boys each sat in on a class on Monday, one in a history class and one in a bio class. It is a gorgeous campus with great academics.</p>
<p>DougBetsey, which majors are LED, and how soon do they have to be declared. I have no personal experience with any state school, so I am interested in finding out more about how they do things.</p>
<p>momof3: D1 had a torturous time giving up Vandy last year; loved everything about it!! but it was very weak in her major and career aspirations/contacts/job prospects…</p>
<p>limom: and I quote from an email sent to me last week from a Bing admissions officer: </p>
<p>“This is the final year we will have EA as we will not offer that option beginning in the Fall 2010 application cycle.”</p>
<p>rodney - that’s very interesting because Bing’s still telling prospective students that they’ll have EA next year - at least that’s what they said at the info session on Sunday.</p>
<p>I know they don’t normally do Sunday sessions, but with NY schools on vacation this week, I guess they thought it would be a good idea - and it was - it was packed!</p>
<p>Vandy looks like a great school, but D isn’t looking that far from home.</p>
<p>That’s very interesting about Binghamton. They didn’t say a word about that when we visited. Thanks for the good info, Rodney!</p>
<p>^^^ Could that mean the fall app cycle that starts in 2010 but for class of '11?</p>
<p>Queen’s Mom - University of Maryland’s Limted Enrollment Programs (LEP majors) are:</p>
<p>architecture
business
communication
engineering
government & politics
journalism
landscape architecture
psychology</p>
<p>According to the info here: [University</a> of Maryland - Limited Enrollment Prorgams](<a href=“http://www.lep.umd.edu/]University”>http://www.lep.umd.edu/) students can declare as first-time freshmen. Then, after earning 45 credits, they have a review of some sort to determine if they get to stay in the major. Students who don’t declare as new freshmen must apply into the LEP. According to the dean we heard from, transferring into an LEP is difficult due to limited space and teaching resources. They just don’t have enough enough faculty for these hot and popular majors. That made me and H nervous.</p>