<p>GwenF, Oy!</p>
<p>I’m very much enjoying the trip reports, especially of the schools I’ve never heard of before! </p>
<p>mother-of-perl, thanks so much for your detailed report on JHU. I think it will help S remove it from his list once and for all. I’m sure there are plenty of humanities students there but it’s becoming more and more obvious that JHU’s focus and strengths are in the the STEM majors.</p>
<p>newtothismom, I think you’ve already left Boston but it sounds like Northeastern might have interested your D. I’m assuming you know of it and perhaps skipped it because it’s very large? We have a dear friend who is a newly-minted 2011 grad of Endicott. He really liked it and is certainly well-prepared for a career in his given field.</p>
<p>Gwen F, hugs and props to you! Your D certainly seems to know what she does and doesn’t want from this process, at least this summer. I get more of a passive aggressive approach from S; smiles and thanks for all my support, suggestions, and research and then…nothing from his end…breathe in, breathe out…</p>
<p>annasdad, so glad to read your review of Evansville. DS has not been very interested in the school, but he might want to rethink it. I know a few kids from the school- all are Greek, and they are very involved in the campus. since the town also houses University of Southern Indiana, the town offers a lot of distractions for the young. I also love the English study abroad option.</p>
<p>Mutti: " I get more of a passive aggressive approach from S; smiles and thanks for all my support, suggestions, and research and then…nothing from his end…breathe in, breathe out… "</p>
<p>Are you spying on my house?</p>
<p>Thank you annasdad for the great trip report! Evansville is a school D may add and too far for us to visit so that was an immense help. Did you get any sense of the theater program while you were there?</p>
<p>And Mutti, igloo, all, thank you for the commiseration. I am sympathetic to D though I have to scramble to keep up with the moods. When she was about 6 I asked her if she really wanted to do something or if she was just going along with my suggestion and she said: “I grew in your stomach, how can I know a thing like that!?” Seemed a valid question, and its more pressing now, of course. But if she would just take one more crumb of advice…oh dear.</p>
<p>MizzBee, I think UE has more open houses scheduled; I highly recommend attending one if you or your DS have any interest at all in the school. It was the second open house we’ve attended - the first was at Case Western Reserve (a reach school for DD), and it was much less well-organized and much less informative.</p>
<p>They did talk a lot about the Harlaxtan option (the English school that UE owns, for lurkers). It’s neat that the only additional cost is the airfare and that at least some of the departments (eg neuroscience) with very heavy major requirements try to schedule things so their kids can take advantage of the opportunity and still graduate in four years.</p>
<p>Gwen, we didn’t inquire specifically about the theater program as such. But one of the important questions my D got answered in the big session had to do with the theater program tangentially. She is in drama in her HS and might like to continue in college, as an EC. She asked whether that was possible. The answer was basically “no,” because the spots in productions are reserved for kids in the theater program, which is super-competitive to get into. For the acting spots, they told her they have a huge number of auditions to select the six male and six female actors that they wind up admitting. They did say that there have been EC drama clubs on campus in the past and suggested that if she is interested, she could look into forming another one.</p>
<p>annasdad, just by responding to GwenFairfax, that knocked U of Evanville off the list. DS really wants to keep up with theater without majoring in the program. Too bad!</p>
<p>^ Yes, DD was disappointed to hear that, but for her, it’s not a deal-breaker.</p>
<p>Just returned from a visit to a college campus for something other than a “college visit” – we were taking the younger sister to camp at Dickinson College. Cute, tiny campus (or so it felt - I see on their web site that it’s 180 acres - it sure didn’t feel like it, which may have been intentional for the summer program) relatively large dorm rooms. It definitely felt a little strange to not be evaluating the place as a college, since it’s not on D’s list. We saw no academic buildings, just the student center, and auditorium and a dorm. (She’s on the 3rd floor and it has no elevator, so getting the heavy duffel up the stairs was a chore.) It did feel like it was in the middle of nowhere, but that may have been the driving route I chose, since we stayed at a cute little B&B about 2 hours away to break up the trip, and I was looking more for atmosphere than convenience. We ate in Carlisle, and really enjoyed it. </p>
<p>D is at Reed for 5 weeks, and she says that the food is really good, particularly the vegetarian options, which she said makes a lot of sense given the usual Reed population. (She’s a carnivore, but the veggie options are so good, she’s making that choice a lot.) That’s all the intelligence I have there, but I’m guessing that if asked specific questions, she’d answer.</p>
<p>IJustDrive… is your D at a summer program at Reed? What is it? My S is applying there.</p>
<p>GF… Just LOL!!! Your daughter must be quite a great kid!! </p>
<p>Mutti… are you spying on my house too:-)) My S also uses the passive aggressive approach… he just smiles and agrees with me and then just goes back and does what he wants to do. It is very frustrating as he seems to be really hearing me but then I realize it is all an illusion. I guess the male species learns at an early age to just smile and agree with you, but then tune you out…LOL!!</p>
<p>Received the paperwork from the HS guidance counselors today in the mail - guess it’s time to put pen to paper! Daughter has already thought about most of this as her College Counselor we hired has had her make a resume, list of ECs, etc. It should be interesting to see how she fills out her “autobiography” section. I have to think about what to write in the parent “brag” page. You know, we only have about 450 kids in our high school with 3 guidance counselors you would think after 4 years they would know more about each kid than they do. Ugh, these women are terrible at their jobs!!!</p>
<p>I’m enjoying the college visit reports, I have a friend whose daughter should be looking at Evansville, I’m going to pass the info on to her.</p>
<p>Well, I just got off the phone with college board. They will be sending DS his AP scores. Seems my little genius didn’t bublle in the house number, only the street name. he has been sweating, waiting for his AP Chem score. He will find out in 2 weeks, either by the teacher or the letter. </p>
<p>Humans versus Zombies is going so well, he is organizing another battle (battle of champions with a rival town) with registration fees to benefit a local charity. Do you think that will count as a leadership acitivty? It appears to be a lot of work, so I consider it an EC at the very least, even though it doesn’t happen all year. He is also considering organizing an assassin game for the various classes as part of spirit week. At least he is excited about something.</p>
<p>MizzBee wrote:
I see “organizing” (leadership) and “registration fees to benefit a local charity” (community service), so I don’t know why not.</p>
<p>Silversas, count me among your many fans! I can just see that sort of thing happening with DS.</p>
<p>I posted this in the “silliest reason you decided not to apply” but thought I’d share it here as well: DS called a few schools to schedule interviews the other day (schools that don’t have an online method). I asked him to call Indiana U - I’m not sure he’d like it, but we need a stop between Miami and Grinnell :-). He almost refused to go visit after listening to the muzak they played while he was on hold. This is the same kid who knocked Georgetown off the list b/c the library was brutalist architecture, which he hates.</p>
<p>5Boys – D is at MathCamp, which travels. Last year it was at Mt. Holyoke. AFAIK, Reed is not on her college list (which we’re trying to trim, not expand). </p>
<p>If you have any questions about the campus, I’m sure she can answer, but the atmosphere may be quite a bit different from the school year.</p>
<p>Pghmomof2- I hope your S likes the tour at least. I used to be a tour guide (ambassador???) It was really hard work, especially since the campus can feel huge. I can’t even get my DS to visit my alma mater. </p>
<p>Can’t wait to hear your trip reports. I will have Hanover and Lawrence reports before too long.</p>
<p>MizzBee – Don’t give BeeS too much grief. D reversed her first and last name on BOTH AP exams and the SAT I. It does delay getting the scores (though apparently that was not the only problem with the AP score delay) and they will fix if for the little airheads!</p>
<p>For those interested, here’s our itinerary for the Great Midwest Road Trip:</p>
<p>Miami U
Indiana U
Grinnell
U of Iowa
Lawrence
U Chicago
Kalamazoo
U Michigan</p>