<p>Denison is on our long list. I do not think it is a safety for D based on her scores. Additionally, the Naviance data for D’s school is a little funny. Seems like last year was the only year anyone applied from her school and they were pretty high scoring kids. So, 6 kids apply, 3 get accepted (all with top tier caliber scores and grades) and no one actually goes there. So even if it is a match for D, top kids from her school use it as a safety so D doesn’t look as good on paper in comparison. We will check it out nonetheless.</p>
<p>ZM, Colgate has one of the most gorgeous campuses and the kids seemed really nice too.</p>
<p>We are heading to NorCal to visit Stanford and Berkeley April 9. That’s about all we can fit in since the swim team is supposed to have turn outs over the second half of spring break, and I’m sure the hard core will be churning water every day.</p>
<p>Anyone visiting to Northwestern, give us a shout out or send me a PM. S is getting interested although we’ll have no time available to visit until summer. However, my sister in law lives n Oak Park.</p>
<p>Sorry, Queen’s Mom. I’m not too familiar with Denison, and I thought it might be a little less competitive than it is. Nobody (or less than 3) applied there from D’s school last year, so I didn’t have any stats to work with.</p>
<p>Please, LIMOMOF2, don’t be sorry. I am looking for any possibilities. The more schools I can research, the better. Frankly, before this year I hadn’t looked at colleges in any way since I applied, so I am behind and clueless.</p>
<p>I actually, find really funny those threads where parents try to micromanage their children’s ECs and class selection from elementary school on up, but I am sure it makes life easier when it is time to apply.</p>
<p>Spring break trip for us is likely to be to Washington state - Seattle University, Seattle Pacific, University of Puget Sound and then, assuming we can work out logistics, Whitman. </p>
<p>DD has ACTs and Driving Test also that week - scheduling around those is proving to be a challenge.</p>
<p>Not to worry. Just because some of us seem so laser focused now doesn’t mean we started looking any sooner than you did. We’ve just jumped in with both feet.</p>
<p>Our HS doesn’t have Naviance so we parents resort to the old fashioned word of mouth. We discovered one of real interest yesterday. Our S’s friend, who he’s pretty tight with and thus we know they are pretty comparable students, got accepted to USC to study either physics or engineering. The boy’s father is on the faculty of the earth science department so if it’s a go … tuition free baby! The student is still waiting on UCLA before decision making.</p>
<p>Puget Sound send D a flier. I thought it looked interesting, but D nixed anything on the West Coast, which is a shame. I have a soft spot for Reed and Occidental.</p>
<p>We have our Chicago visit coming in May, and I would like to do a visit to Hamilton/Colgate on a weekend in Apr if we can fit it in with sports. The GC wants D to look at some Penn LACs, he used to work at one, don’t know if we would fit that in. Also there has been off and on interest in Ohio schools. Dennison had caught my eye a while ago with the merit, at one point D was interested in Kenyon. She has quite a few closer that she is perfectly happy with, not sure if trips to Penn/Ohio are worth it unless she is willing to look at some schools with merit. I can only imagine how hectic it would be to need to visit after acceptances, D does not have many of the schools on her list who give decisions earlier, the jealousy I have of many 09 parents who have all their decisions already. We will be more following shawbridge’s situation- similar schools with similar decision dates, and similar distance from home…</p>
<p>For spring break we’re going to NYC for a day for fun (although D just said yesterday “Am I sure I don’t like Columbia?”), then Yale, Wesleyan, Brown, Harvard, and Tufts. I’m hoping we can have some fun during the trip since H and 13 yo D are going and I’m leaving directly from Boston for a 3-week business trip in India.</p>
<p>LIMOM: We knew there would be a sports commitment, just didn’t think spring break would be the week that they scheduled the most games! And he’d consider missing one (because our school is not very competitive in our league), but he’s already negotiating with the coach to miss some early practices (technically try-outs week) because the spring sports season overlaps with the Mock Trial competition (and he’s the only junior given an attorney’s role). This is the first major conflict that H & I are staying out of: we warned S2 when he decided to try out for Mock Trial to look at the date of the competition vs. lax. Either he didn’t, or he ignored it. Now he’s in a bind, having given a commitment to one activity, but wanting to somehow also show the requisite commitment to the sports team.</p>
<p>FAP - Thank you - I will when this trip firms up. I visited UPS with my son a year or so ago and we both really liked it. We did not make it to either of the Seattle schools during his search - or to Whitman - so those will be fresh for me. </p>
<p>It’s funny doing this search all over again less than two years after doing it with DS - especially since many of the schools on DDs list are the same. I have to keep reminding myself that they are all new to her - and to view the schools through her eyes. Of course since English and Dorms are a high priority for her and the Baseball field the number one priority for DS (with the sciences a distant second), it really is a different perspective. </p>
<p>Even though the perspectives are different, the presentation by the schools is pretty consistent. Anyone else experiencing some deja vu moments?</p>
<p>has announced its spring 2009 travel schedule. Let’s compare notes about what we hear in these sessions. I’ll be at the session in Minnesota in May.</p>
<p>QM (and everyone else who is feeling somewhat behind) - just the fact that you are starting now puts you miles ahead of most of the families I know. Most of DD’s friends are just starting the process now and have no plans for any college visits or even list making until the summer. CC parents are not a normal sample of the population!!!</p>
<p>My kid would like to attend a summer program at the University of Puget Sound this summer. If he goes, we will most likely drive him and make it a part of our summer vacation. Here is a question: will he get to know the university quite well just by spending five weeks there, or should we try to get a campus/college tour while there?
Kid is young, but living in the beautiful middle of nowhere we have to use every opportunity we get to get to know those colleges.
He spent three weeks last summer at the University of Texas Dallas, but seemes like the only place he got to know really well was the student union building and the coffee shop
Did you tour the colleges your kids went to summer programs at?</p>
<p>In the next month, DH or I will hit the following schools with S2 –</p>
<p>Spring Break: Carleton, Macalester, Grinnell, UChicago, BostonU, and second visits to Tufts and Bowdoin. Will sit in on classes and interview at a couple of schools.
No school on 3/30 and 4/13: UMD and some combination of Georgetown, JHU and American. Or…one of those two days we’ll make a return visit to St. Mary’s/MD to sit in on classes. He needs to figure out if he’d be happy at UMD or if he needs to have a wider range of likely schools on the list. </p>
<p>Somewhere in all of this he’ll need to do HW and study for the APs/IBs exams.</p>
<p>another thumbs up for the roadshow mentioned by tokenadult. We attended last year, not sure how this year’s schedule will fit. They also tour in the fall. I found it good for first general looks at schools, and maybe a follow up if you are not able to visit. If you have more than one of these to choose from, pick the one in the less populated area to have fewer people to compete with if you wish to ask questions.</p>
<p>CountingDown, sorry for being lazy but can you list which of those schools will be doing interviews at that time?</p>
<p>Are you stringing all the midwest schools together into one trip? Can you give a brief answer on how you are traveling between them? Don’t think Grinnell is one my D would be interested in but would like to hear about the travel options to there along with the MN schools.</p>
