<p>So yesterday after a very successful visit at Alfred headed west to Delaware , Ohio to visit Ohio-Wesleyan today. Headed to the school this morning. D had a visceral reaction to it resulting in us canceling our visit and heading to Wooster. Killing the day!! Oh well.</p>
<p>You know, sometimes those negative reactions are just as helpful as the positive ones. I hope she can say why she didn’t like it - it may give you enough information to pick other schools without visiting.</p>
<p>From bad visits we learned just where on the “hippie-preppy” spectrum my D is, how she feels about size, that she doesn’t want to be bombarded with “at this school we just work, work, work” … let’s see, what else? </p>
<p>Surprising positives have been that she kinds of likes a nice football stadium (even though I bet she’ll never go to a game - just likes the “college-y” feeling they give) and “spring fling” kind of events, when the whole campus does fun silly stuff. Both my kids were suckers for the cannon/fence/shed/rock/whatever that gets painted by groups in the middle of the night (D1 has participated in this 3 times at her school so far!). Who knew they thought that was cool? It just seems to be something that feels like a school with a sense of fun, I think.</p>
<p>I know the feeling of being on the road, and the “killing the day” sensation. We tromped around in the freezing rain in November at a school my D ended up strongly disliking. But in the long run it was a valuable day. If people say "X school is kind of like [that school
" we don’t have to even think about it!</p>
<p>Good luck at Wooster!! I can’t wait to hear her list when this trip is done. </p>
<p>I’ll also put in my 2 cents on drive-bys (i.e. without any real tour). My D had a terrible cold and could barely sit up on the day we were going to tour 2 and drive around 3 more nearby (this around NYC). She only made it through one info session, but she got a ton out of the drive-bys. A solid look at the campus and some students, and reading through the website was almost as good as an info session/tour. It sounds crazy, but I’ll stand by this.</p>
<p>Maybe you’ll drive past somewhere while you’re out there, hollie, and a whole new school will end up on her list! Not to make you crazy, of course, but to replace OW.</p>
<p>I’ll be curious about College of Wooster. ShawD’s list is shrinking rapidly because she’s been told by an admissions officer that she’ll get in at a rolling admissions school that she likes. She’s only thinking about schools that could be better than that one and neither of us know much about Wooster except from reading and hearing their Admissions Director speak.</p>
<p>We have the final LIST
Yay!!
So kiddo has a clear fav, and a plan
–and then a couple of schools are doubled at say 4th or 5th
In all I think kiddo will apply to no more than 8.
Of all of the schools–kiddo feels that happiness is possible at each school…and would be happy at the safety.
Kiddo seems content with the “list” - I am hoping that means the apps and essays will roll along this weekend too.</p>
<p>;o)</p>
<p>Welcome, bopper. :)</p>
<p>My D took a (worthless) driver’s ed class the summer after soph year. 3 full afternoons a week. Something like $500, and for nothing. She says they spent tons of time talking about the parts of a car (puh-leez!), and your start-up routine (ok, that’s good to know). But they never actually taught them HOW TO DRIVE, or the rules of the road. I assumed she had learned these things, so was astounded when she’d ask me basic questions about, for example, how y know who has the right of way in certain situations, etc.</p>
<p>Then, on one of our early drives together when I thought she was doing pretty well, I made the mistake of having her drive us into our small-town downtown area. Well, she came to a 3-lanes-merge-into-2 intersection, didn’t know what to do, slammed on the breaks, got honked at, and had a little meltdown (tearful, “I can’t do this, I just can’t do it.”</p>
<p>Now more cars are honking. I said, "Honey, you don’t have to do the whole job, but you have to work the pedals and I’ll steer us into that Walgreen’s parking lot because if we don’t ease out of here pretty quick, we’re gonna have a problem. </p>
<p>We limped into the parking lot. More tears, more “I’m sorry…I just don’t know what to do.” So we took a little break from driving. Bad idea. Should have gotten her back up on the horse. Anyway, now it’s a year later. In 7 months she’ll be 18, so we can go directly to the DMV and get her licensed, bypassing the loser-driving school.</p>
<p>But how do I get her back on the road? Once spooked, twice shy. She has no desire to drive, but my Dad keeps telling me if she doesn’t learn before she goes off to college, she’ll never really be a good, comfortable driver. Oy!</p>
<p>On a brighter note, she got a lead in the Fall Musical, so she’s very happy about that. And loves her senior year schedule and classes. Small blessings.</p>
<p>I don’t think that not learning to drive before college will impact what kind of driver she’ll be. Maybe after she’s seen more people driving around, she’ll feel better about it. That school did a disservice to her, and I hope you let others know that they shouldn’t waste their time there.</p>
<p>She’ll get the hang of it, I’m sure. Nothing makes you learn a skill faster than you having to do it. Give her time.</p>
<p>Yeah for her lead in the school musical!</p>
<p>Monday on our trip from NYS to Ohio I thought it would be a good idea to give my already licensed D some highway driving experience. She drifted into the shoulder, panicked, overcorrected and almost killed us. I drovetge rest of the way. Though I will make her drive some on the way back!</p>
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<p>Yikes! H had S do several hundreds of miles driving during their road trip last month. I didn’t hear any stories so I assume he did OK. His driving instructor subsequently told him it was illegal for him to have driven with a permit inother states. That ended up being about 7 hours total driving (out of the 40 he needs)I looked it up and in some states it is illegal but not in the states S drove. I hate it when folks who are suppose to know don’t and give misinformation. </p>
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<p>That must have been horrible for her. How about trying again when there aren’t many cars on the road, like Sun morning?</p>
<p>Like others, I am encouraging my daughter to learn to drive before college so she doesn’t end up like my niece at 24 w/ no drivers license. I want her to be able to practice with us.
Of course being in Germany you have to learn the German laws which have some slight differences…but as you can expect, they take their driving seriously. I am also cool with her only learning to drive an automatic. But I want her to start studying for the written test but it isnt high on her priority list.</p>
<p>My oldest had an accident right after she got her permit. Not a real big deal, but it was her fault. She swore that she would never drive again, fortunately, I did not acknowledge that and she drove again a couple of days later. Then she said she would never drive on a highway. I ignored that too. She chose a college 17 hours away from home and in the course of her four years there she drove back and forth several times with friends. She too was a late driver and didn’t get her license until she was 18 (Feb. birthday) but I was glad that she knew how to drive before she left for college. My oldest son took his car to his college 7 hours away and drove back and forth two or three times a year. It really would have limited his choices if he couldn’t drive.</p>
<p>I think it’s just all around easier if they have their licenses and are comfortable driving before college so if they need to drive they can. I’m thinking of having to drive if someone else get’s drunk or sharing the driving on a trip or a job interview.</p>
<p>Out here the driving age is a little lower - you can get your license at 16. Both of my girls got theirs on their birthdays! Partly this is because we live in the country, and they were so dependent on me and wanted the freedom. Plus they are summer kids and already felt like they were the last ones in school to get it.</p>
<p>We always started in the industrial park on a Sunday. Like a wasteland, a good way to take the first steps. </p>
<p>Just sent my D and my Japanese D for the first day. D is excited; JD is scared - so much to handle. But people will help her a lot. I know she’ll be exhausted these first few days.</p>
<p>My D is in the musical, too! She has a great part and is so excited. After her very serious play this month she can’t wait to be silly and funny.</p>
<p>I feel like our college list is an amoeba right now … hoping to get more body to it this weekend. She says she’s made a deadline of 9/12 to get her Common App essay written and chart out the rest of what she needs. I can live with that.</p>
<p>S is a late driver, as well. His “hidden” EC is a founder and a president of “17 and not driving” club. He stepped down from the presidency a month before his 18th birthday. I am happy he is driving now. OTOH, I am glad he didn’t rush it. 2 years at this age make a lot of difference in the maturity level (for boys at least).</p>
<p>ShawSon was exhausted through much of HS due to sleep apnea and while he got his permit, he didn’t have the energy/time for driving practice. He had surgery in a gap year and his energy rose and he got his license at age 19 the week before he left for college. Last year, he wasn’t a confident driver. He’s now 20 and entering his sophomore year. He did a bunch of driving this summer (driving up to Canada and driving a minivan several times into downtown Montreal) and is now taking a car his grandmother gave him to college when he leaves tomorrow. Ditto on the potential value of waiting in terms of greater maturity and better judgment.</p>
<p>ShawD is also late in getting her license. I think it is because we are so busy as kid and parents that it is hard to find time to drive.</p>
<p>I didn’t get my license till I was 20. Even then, my parents practically had to drag me to the test. (It had snowed a little that morning, and I was hoping they’d let me put it off…again.) In hindsight, I can’t believe it took me that long. Don’t give up hope on the reluctant driver! But you may need to apply a little tough love along the way. My younger sister was actually my best driving teacher. She was very patient and nonjudgmental.</p>
<p>I didn’t get my license until I was out of college and working. I went to college in an urban setting with great public transportation, so I couldn’t have used a car in college anyway. A year or two after I graduated, I learned to drive by taking private lessons. I lived in San Francisco so that’s where I learned to drive - hills, city traffic, freeways. It’s not a disaster to learn as an adult :-).</p>
<p>Toured Wooster today. Beautiful campus. Wonderful tour guide, interview with a senior student, lunch with a sophomore. Fantastic food in the cafeteria, great variety and healthy choices. Great academic program. D will keep on list though not top choice ( she warms to red brick buildings and they didn’t have any!! Haha) poor AT&T receptionwas a negative ( we have AT&T b/c at home we have no verizon service). I highly recommend the school.</p>
<p>Wooster sounds great! What’s on tomorrow’s agenda?</p>
<p>hi everybody.
S is off today on his senior white water rafting trip. his common app plus supplements to his ED and rolling school were due to his GC at school this morning. he did all the essays but for one. first time in his life that he didn’t hand something in by a due date but he worked on the apps all day yesterday and by 10 pm, we were both wiped out (I read over everything w/ a fine tooth comb and still missed one typo). So i told him to write his counselor a letter and tell her he’d have the other essay ready by next Tues. His package was huge as it was w/ all the stuff for both schools; I doubt she’ll get to all of her students’ work over labor day weekend.<br>
we thought his list was final and now his counselor emailed and said we have to talk about the safety piece. we met w/ her on the last day of school to go over list b/c i was concerned that he didn’t have a real safety and she said she thought his list was fine. now we’ll have consider more schools and possibly visit. i was hoping that we’d be done w/ all that by end of summer. gosh, i can’t wait for this process to be over. like others above, school just started today and i’m still wiped out from junior year.
even my son feels like he hasn’t had a real break since before last summer when he starting prepping for the SATs. this process should be curtailed. it’s just too long.</p>
<p>Tomorrow we are touring Hiram. By the way if you visit Wooster and like inns I highly recommend the Wooster Inn. Right next to campus, charming and great food. Hoping D likes Hiram as there is an outlet mall 15 minutes away and visits would be fun;)</p>
<p>Renaissance Mom- Wow! Your S is so ahead of the game. My S has worked on big essay but not the supplements and the big essay is not done just a work in progress so far.</p>
<p>I do agree that the process has really gotten out of hand. I have to give all the kids who do this all themselves a pat on the back. </p>
<p>Holliesue- thanks for the update on Wooster. S has gotten a lot of mail from them, but has not interest. Good luck with Hiram</p>