<p>Welcome, JenPam!</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean when you say colleges disregard writing. I’d say a talented writer is at a huge advantage both when putting together an application and once at school.</p>
<p>Welcome, JenPam!</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean when you say colleges disregard writing. I’d say a talented writer is at a huge advantage both when putting together an application and once at school.</p>
<p>Hi JenPam! Another DC suburbanite here. (And, as you might tell from my screen name, one with similar media tendencies.) Good luck to you and to both your 2012 children as you face the coming year!</p>
<p>I do hope that at least some colleges hold writing in good regard … that is my daughter’s strong suit. </p>
<p><em>puts a a tray of late-night cookies on the table</em></p>
<p>Would you like milk or coffee with those?</p>
<p>No multi-quote feature here? Hmmmm!</p>
<p>AngryDad, I should have been more specific–the writing component of the SAT isn’t well regarded or, in some instances, even considered. That happens to be the SAT subsection that’s my daughter’s bread and butter. </p>
<p>Illyria, woot! One of my favorite characters. I’ve turned all my kids into geeks as well. My twins went to Dragon*Con in Atlanta last fall with my husband & me, and my daughter said she’s going to work on an Illyria costume for the next time she goes.</p>
<p>I would like milk, skim please. <em>nom nom nom</em></p>
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<p>Yes, of course. This week of all weeks I should have been able to recognize an SAT reference. ;)</p>
<p>Welcome JenPam! A good writer will usually do well on both the writing and the CR sections. They are very much related, and your DD should score well on both sections. My DS scores better on the Writing and CR sections as well. I think he will be reviewing math A LOT for the June SAT and hopefully his “super score” will be good. I also think that good writers do better in the working world as they can communicate; a sign of a good leader.</p>
<p>JenPam – has your D considered the ACT? I realize that it is not as popular on the East coast as it is here in the midwest, but in my opinion it is often easier than the SAT for the reading/English minded. The science section, when properly approached (see Princeton Review’s “Crash Course for the ACT” for more info.) can almost be considered a complicated reading task. Might be worth a look.</p>
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<p>geo - I like that!.</p>
<p>Welcome new members. I joined about a year ago. Thanks to information I got here, I no longer feel a stranger to the process.</p>
<p>College Visits - Over the spring break, we are visiting relatives on the West Coast. We would also like to spend a few days visiting colleges. In California, so far we have UCLA, Claremont Colleges, Berkeley, Stanford on the list. We will have about 5 and 1/2 days to spend on this. If you have suggestions to add to the list, I would appreciate.</p>
<p>We are coming up to NJ area for few days, and I advised D2 to contact some schools for tour/interview/dance “audition.” D2 went on school´s websites and emailed them, but she didn´t get any response. In looking at her emails, she was sending it to gneral email box. I then took her emails and re-send them to real people, and right away they responded. </p>
<p>When contacting schools, don´t leave it too much to your kids, do make sure they are contacting the right department and right people. It´s a learning process for them too.</p>
<p>Welcome new people! I’ll second what Igloo said - I have learned a lot on CC that helped my older son’s admissions process. It eased a lot of anxiety and I never felt lost during the process. Overall, CC has been a valuable resource - not just to have company as I play my roll in my kids’ college hunt (half secretary, half coach, half nag, half research assistant, half … ;)) - but I’ve learned a lot of nitty gritty useful information here too. Getting through FAFSA and Profile were a lot easier because of CC, and we never would have heard of the school my 2010 S ended up at without it. </p>
<p>Igloo - you’re smart! You’re visiting warm colleges over spring break! We’ll be in Boston. </p>
<p>I second what oldfort said too - I help my kids write emails to college people. Some people say that kids should do every themselves in the college search, but really - that’s not how parents pass down most skills to their kids. Usually you guide them through something a few times and then they do it on their own.</p>
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<p>PN - If I add all your halfs, it makes far more than one:). Testimony to motherhood. Hope your visit in Boston goes well. It will be snow free by then.</p>
<p>Oldfort - Does your D plan to be a dancer in college?</p>
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<p>For sure! That would explain why I’m so tired every night!</p>
<p>Another welcome!-- it does feel like we’re all getting on some monstrous roller coaster, nice to have more friendly souls to bear it with! I’ve learned so much on CC-- D’s GC keeps telling me I should give a seminar on college hunting. Haha–it all came from everyone here!</p>
<p>I’m looking forward to reports from those of you who have March spring breaks!! And oldfort, do you have any special way of getting people to respond to emails? I’ve only had partial luck, with emails and phone calls-- and where D has gotten to sit in on classes etc., she has of course had a much better feel for the place.</p>
<p>D2 is not going to major in dance, but she may minor in dance if it should work out. She is a ballet dancer, and most of dance programs at top tier schools focus on modern. </p>
<p>D1 is at Cornell, and she found their ballet program was not rigorous as she was used to, so she ended up taking classes at the local studio company. </p>
<p>Princeton has a very good dance program, and there is also the Princeton Ballet nearby.</p>
<p>Ballet is D2´s main EC and she will send in an Art supplement for her dance (maybe photography too), but she won´t necessarily choose her college based on the school´s dance program.</p>
<p>Welcome JenPam! I’m curious to hear how the process goes for you with two such different kids going through at the same time.</p>
<p>Iglooo, all the CA schools you’ve listed are super-hard-to-get-into, especially for OOS’ers. Maybe PM me with what you’re looking for in a school / want to learn from your visits, and I can suggest some schools?</p>
<p>mihcal - I sent you a PM. Thank you.</p>
<p>What is it like on Cesar Chavez day? Do students go home leaving campuses empty?</p>
<p>I’d never even heard of Cesar Chavez Day, and had to look it up on Wikipedia! Our school district doesn’t observe it.</p>
<p>It’s always a good idea to check college calendars when planning a visit, to make sure you’re not showing up in the middle of dead week, spring break, accepted students’ weekend, etc.</p>
<p>How many selective summer programs do you think a kid should apply for in order to ensure getting into one? My D is waiting on news for the NSLI-Y critical language study abroad program. There was an easy online ap for our state U’s summer Chinese study program so she did that one. She thought the odds for TASP were too low for the demands of the application so she didn’t apply. There are a couple others I have come across that have scholarships. I’m trying to decide whether she should apply for a couple more just in case.</p>
<p>I appreciate the warm welcome here. I am a long-time member of other online groups, but my friends there couldn’t care less about college admissions. :D</p>
<p>@WalkingTessie, thanks for the ACT suggestion. I don’t know anybody who takes it, but it’s a good alternative. Emily takes the SAT on Saturday; when we get scores back, if they’re abysmal, we’ll definitely consider the ACT approach.</p>
<p>@mihcal1, regarding the process for two different kids at the same time (wish there were multi-quote here!), it’s crazy. Bryan is your typical math/science geek. He attends a science/tech magnet school, got 800 Math on the PSAT and on various SAT practice tests, and is looking into top computer science schools. It breaks my heart that he’s unlikely to get in, because the competition…well, you know. We’re going to tour Stanford, UCBerkeley & Caltech next month. His safety school is University of Maryland College Park (I hope that’s a safety for him), and he’s also looking at Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Yale & Bard. Maybe Northwestern and Case Western.</p>
<p>Then there’s Emily, who goes to an all-girls’ Catholic school (we’re not religious, but it was her choice after she didn’t get into the science/tech school) and is fabulous at writing. She gets in the top 700s in SAT practice tests for Writing & does well with CR (not as well as she should for whatever reason), but she bombs on math (as in got a 440 on the Math PSAT bombing). So I have a lot of stress surrounding where she will go. Her focus is on a good criminology program. The University of Maryland College Park, 20 minutes from our house, happens to be tops in the nation–but it’s super competitive & she’s unlikely to get accepted. In a couple of weeks we’re touring Florida State, University of Florida & Michigan State. Later, we’ll drive to SUNY Albany, University of Delaware & Ohio State.</p>
<p>Bryan gets all As for the most part, while Emily gets As and Bs. He takes tons of APs, while she is only taking one AP class this year and maybe two next year. Her Catholic school is so small that there’s simply not a large offering of AP classes, besides which she would be overwhelmed by too much. She does take mostly honors classes & is in a scholars program. She’s also a varsity athlete (volleyball) who competes both at school and in club.</p>
<p>So you can see my dilemma! Two very different kids, two different realities. Because Emily has often done well except in testing situations, we’ve worked with a private tutor for the SAT for the past few months to help alleviate her anxiety. She’s definitely improved, and I think she might get as high as 550 on the Math section this weekend…but we all know that that score doesn’t look great compared to so many of the smart kids out there. I worry about her not having adequate options. Today she told me she wants to go to Vanderbilt and we looked at it together. Fabulous school! Totally out of reach though. :-/</p>
<p>It’s hard when you know your child will do well once she gains admission, but you fear she won’t get in.</p>
<p>Finances are a bugaboo too. We make too much to qualify for any financial aid (yes, I realize that’s a good thing), but for Bryan to go to a $55,000/year school, he’d simply have to take a ton of loans. </p>
<p>TMI? :lol:</p>
<p>Apollo6 –</p>
<p>How comfortable are you with the idea that she might not get into a summer program? If you and she are okay with a summer that she might spent volunteering and/or working instead of a summer program, then there’s no need to apply for any more.</p>
<p>Some of the programs my daughter is looking at have late deadlines, so she can wait to hear back from other programs before she does the application on the later ones.</p>