<p>Thanks my-3-sons.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2, what didnât you like about AU? It is a possibility for D but we have not gone to visit.</p>
<p>When Iâm looking at the common data sets, am I looking for the section about how much interest they show in the school. The only school on the link that was posted that we are interesed in is Skidmore. They do not consider a studentâs interest. Does that mean we can skip the visit?</p>
<p>Do all colleges have that info on their website?</p>
<p>Queenâs Mom - I love AU! (I went there) D was the one who didnât like it much. She just didnât see it at itâs best. It was over 100 degrees and there was absolutely nobody around (mid-August). We didnât even walk on campus, just drove through the back way. Really, I think the main reason she didnât like it was that I went there.</p>
<p>Sorry, warriorboy - I havenât checked the common data sets for that info. And I would guess that if the school says it doesnât consider a studentâs interest, you can feel free to skip the visit unless you really want to see it. And I think most colleges do have that info on their website.</p>
<p>Yes, kids can get that way about their parentâs school. My D, however, would love to go to my alma mater, but it is a reach (for anybody really). I know I could never get into it now.</p>
<p>I will try to get a visit to AU in sometime this fall.</p>
<p>Fall is a great time to visit schools in DC. FYI, AU was, and still is, very generous with merit money if thatâs important to you. It was to me when I was applying to schools, and it will be to D as well.</p>
<p>Isnât money important to everyone? 
Yes, I had heard that AU is generous, bu Dâs scores are not exactly top of the heap so we will see.</p>
<p>Iâm another '10er â my daughterâs first day as a junior was Monday. Itâs going to be a very difficult year, I think. D has 4 classes: AP US History, AP Composition, Honors Pre-Calculus and Physics. She also takes Japanese at a community college at night. All juniors at her charter take this course load (except the Japanese, sheâs doing that instead of Spanish). The difficulty is that sheâs my âartsyâ child, not my âacademicâ child â getting Bâs is a constant struggle that she manages only by putting in huge amounts of work studying and doing exam retakes and paper rewrites and things like that. I expect sheâs going to spend every waking moment studying one subject or another for the next year. </p>
<p>On the other hand, sheâs got very clear college goals, so itâs not like I have to nudge her about that. She says her goal is âto say no to RISDâ. 
Sheâs still deciding which art schools she likes most, but will probably apply to some on both coasts. She very focused on building a strong portfolio and is already looking forward to National Portfolio Day in January.</p>
<p>PS: Adding info that other threads have mentioned, sheâs a December birthday, but was in Georgia where the cutoff is very early, so sheâll turn 17 this year. Oh, and sheâs not taking any SAT IIâs. Sheâll take the SAT twice, I think, and probably the ACT because Iâm told sheâll do better on that, but for the most part, her portfolio is more important to her schools than her test scores.</p>
<p>Dad II: Daughter started thinking about colleges when her brother was applying in 06-07, when she was a freshman. Last year, she asked for and got a guide to art schools. She attended National Portfolio Day, and is on the mailing list for a bunch of schools. Because there are so many fewer schools in her area, itâs easier to do a search. She will probably only get to visit 2 or 3 of her choices, and only that many because a couple are within a dayâs drive.</p>
<p>My son said that I couldnât talk about college until 8/31. Unfortunately, he told me he is pushing back one day for each time I mention a collegeâŠI think weâre in mid-Sept at the momentâŠ
So it amazes me when I look at all the school visits you have done already!</p>
<p>dufay - donât feel bad about that. Iâve mentioned this before - my D did not want to visit any colleges this year - I insisted. It ended up being worthwhile, but it was sort of risky because if she hadnât, future trips would be impossible to plan. The other schools we visited while we were in the areas - last year W&M (official info session and tour) while we were visiting Williamsburg, and the year before - Georgetown and AU - just walked/drove around for a look.</p>
<p>TrinSF - welcome! It sounds like your D is doing what is right for her. If she plans to apply to art school, than creating her portfolio is a priority. Good luck to her - with her art work, and with her classes.</p>
<p>Queenâs Mom - I do think you need good grades/scores to get the merit money at AU - but not quite sure what the standards are these days. Maybe your D will qualify.</p>
<p>warriorboy- yes that is the section of the CDS I am talking about. I have no direct experience in this area, just what I have read on this board and the looking at the CDSs. Student interest would never be really high in the matrix, but it might be âconsidered.â Here is Middleburyâs as an example <a href=âhttp://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/CDB2CFC8-96F4-403D-BAC3-6BC8920B93AE/0/CDS2007_2008.pdf[/url]â>http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/CDB2CFC8-96F4-403D-BAC3-6BC8920B93AE/0/CDS2007_2008.pdf</a> Iâm surprised that Skidmore doesnât factor the applicantâs interest considering their size and artsy bent. I looked at both of these on the collegeâs sites by going there and searching on âcommon data setâ</p>
<p>This is going to be an interesting couple of years. Child #4 is smart but weâre not sure what his passion will be yet. Maybe engineering but also good at Latin & History. We got the college search down to a science with the other 2 boysâwe know all the great schools for engineering, math, & comp sci, but maybe it wonât apply to this childâŠhe might want to major in something else and weâll have to start researching all over again!</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>
<p>Queenâs Mom â My oldest daughter just began her sophomore year at American U. Sheâs an international studies major, and she did receive merit aid. She really likes it there. If thereâs anything that I can help you with regarding AU, feel free to PM me. If I recall, is your daughter into theater, and is that what sheâs thinking about majoring in? If so, have you checked out Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, PA? I visited there with D1 during her college search, and I remember hearing good things about their Theater program.</p>
<p>D2 and I recently made a day trip to Johns Hopkins. The Writing Seminars major really appealed to her. We went to an info session and a campus tour. I was surprised at how attractive the campus was, Writing Seminars does sound like a strong program, and Baltimore is relatively close to home. A (substantial) drawback is that she would have virtually zero chance of getting any kind of merit aid. Of course, after this visit she now loves JHU. Weâll seeâweâve got a lot more schools to visit over the next 12 months.</p>
<p>Thanks momonthehill. D is not interested in a theater major. Frankly, she is not sure yet what her major will be. She is interested in linguistics and engineering and is pretty sure it will not be anything to do with politics. She is interested in AU because it is so close to home.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins is a great place. I wish your D2 luck.</p>
<p>D1 got her class schedule today, and she was nice enough to get frosh D2âs schedule also. There wasnât much unknown about her teacher choices, for some classes she is in different sections than most of her friends, but nothing major. The big news is that she has her free period the same period as chorus which she unsuccessfully fought the administration to audit last year. When we last left this story last year she had brought several teachers closer to her side after talks with them and a very well done article (if I say so myself in the school newspaper. This time around I am staying out of it and leave it to her to see if she wants to take it up with the administration again or just attend the class and hope no one notices (the chorus teacher had no problem with her taking the extra class last year) She would want to audition for All State if she can work the eligiblility and has a pretty good chance of making it.</p>
<p>D2 had more variability in her schedule and we are happy with her teachers.</p>
<p>Queenâs Mom - I donât believe that AU has an engineering major. Iâll have to look into it.</p>
<p>jackief - Glad you got your Dsâ schedules and that they are basically problem-free. Not sure what the problem is with your D taking chorus if she has a free period at that time.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2, I do not think it does either. We are still expanding our list. We will narrow later.</p>
<p>D had her first day of school today. She is happy with her schedule (especially her French teacher). Hoping for a good year.</p>
<p>LIMOM, they want the kids to have a âsafety-valveâ for sickness or makeup work and not be overloaded and have time to develop intellectually outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>This concludes the party-line speech received during many discussions on this topic last year. </p>
<p>Would not even let her sit in the class last year and barred her at the door. As I said, she has been fighting against this and it would be great if she can actually cause change to happen in the school where âwe donât allow that.â</p>
<p>jackief, looks like no one on the PSAT prep thread has an answer for us re grading the practice tests, so maybe I will ask on this thread.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how to get answers to the PSAT booklets that college board is selling?</p>