<p>vlines: Thanks for the sympathy (empathy!)</p>
<p>silveras: If it weren’t so remote/far away, Kenyon would be up there on S’ list. I think Haverford is the closest thing he has to that vibe on his list right now. Btw, I’m totally stealing “chillaxicate”.</p>
<p>silverseas… thanks for the Alleghany report. It has kind of been on the outlier of S’s list as it seems like it has a great program. We can’t visit and don’t need to add any more schools really, but it was nice to hear such positives about it. </p>
<p>1012mom… Thanks for the Tulane report… For some reason this school has always intrigued me and have been pushing my S to look at it. I son’t know if it is a good fit for him but I really think it may be a winner for my 2014 DS, who would be drooling over the Architecture school and the way it is so hands on. My DS 14 is going to be much harder in finding a fit… as he wants to major in Physics or Architecture, must have a great theatre program, and some sort of a either Varsity or Club sailing… what a combo that is…LOL!!</p>
<p>Re Ursinus: Like all the small schools (perhaps like all the schools!) especially important to see if it meets YOUR student’s needs. One college counselor I know has a grandchild there having a terrific experience. Another counselor steered us away because of her experience indicating a lack of flexibility and individualization in programming/scheduling that particular students might need.</p>
<p>I’m really looking forward to our visits to Knox and Beloit. I keep looking at the statistics of those schools – high test scores and lower GPAs indicate students more like my son – really bright but perhaps not having had their act totally together in HS, not super achievers – yet outstanding results for their grads, with excellent math/sci departments and small, caring communities. Those visits not until August, and I intend to dose him on a few days of wonderful Chicago before subjecting him to the prairie!</p>
<p>if anyone is taking a look at oklahoma state university…i noticed they are promoting more assistance for out of state students now than ever before.</p>
<p>1012mom,
Thanks for the Tulane report. This school sounds right up my D’s alley, and would be a good safety/match, although she has one safety already.
I have not been able to convince H to let her consider it… But your visit info shows me that it is worth a good “talk” LOL!
You are all wonderful people to make this journey with, btw!!! YOU are my valium and pepcid!!</p>
<p>My intro:
D09 is a rising junior at LAC in NE and was a transfer from another LAC in NE to get her major, Film Studies. Varsity sport/walked on as a transfer. We live very far away, but these schools are in the part of the country both H and I are originally from, and we have family within a drive, so it feels fine.
D12 is at a highly competitive BS. Humanities, performing arts (music, ballet, acting), public speaking. Tip top French student.
Will do acting, classical singing, dance on the side and will probably major in Poli Sci or History, possibly Communications or Journalism… Has great (750+) test scores all round except for a low Math SAT 1- that is the weird piece. Also, the siloing of the unis scares me- can she take courses at the other schools, if there is a specialized school (music, journalism, acting, etc.)?
Wants 5000plus, urban or near urban university, not too cold.
List has 14 schools on it, but only 1 is a true safety, and 2 others are close…</p>
<p>D12 is away at a performing arts program, and has a measly two weeks to get her early apps under way before we do another tour of schools: Vandy, Washu, Penn, and then she heads back to BS. I really hope she understands how important it is for her to focus on this task to alleviate the pressure during the Fall. BS is HARD work and takes a lot of self-discipline, so adding this to the picture, well… pass the wine, please!
Having all this get done with thousands of miles between us is making me nervous. D09 lived at home and was very organized and had all her apps finished before Thanksgiving. Without prodding at all! D12 is a different sort- more seat of the pants.
Yup, separation. Yup, good. BUT still!! </p>
<p>Keep cool…</p>
<p>@chrissyblu - UC Chancellor and Regents scholarships are completely different at each UC. Decided differently, different numbers of scholarships granted, different perks, and different monetary awards (typically a small merit honorarium, plus a need-based component). I <em>think</em> the selection is completely merit based (need-blind), but the award is need-aware (mostly based on FAFSA) – but, again, that might be different for different campuses. For example:</p>
<p>Berkeley selects ~200 Regents each year, based on info in their UC app, no additional materials requested. You just get an award letter out of the blue. Honorarium component is $2500. They are adding priority registration as a new perk this year. Housing is guaranteed for 8 semesters, but choice of housing is based on availability.</p>
<p>UCLA invites the top 1.5% of applicants (~1000 frosh applicants & ~600 transfers) to compete for Regents, and may request additional scholarship application materials. Honorarium component is $2000. You get priority enrollment and 8 semesters in University housing, but the really big perk is guaranteed parking.</p>
<p>Igloo, was that mailing from Yale? We received a postcard from them this week and I wondered if there is any advantage to signing up and adding to the very long list of spam emails that I get daily. Are you signing up?</p>
<p>Enjoying everyone’s introductions and re-introductions! I love the support from this thread and also reading about everyone’s different lives and interests. </p>
<p>My D2012 is a BWRK. She is in the upper few % at our blue-ribbon suburban public HS, tests well, and has diverse interests (ECs = cello, Latin Certamen, literary journal, math club, science & oceans bowl). She is shy and introverted, but somehow always ends up volunteering for things like being assistant director for summer camp and organizing Latin competitions. She wants to study engineering somewhere with public transit, classical music, and good ethnic food.</p>
<p>I also have a D2015 who is an avid birdwatcher, dances (tap, jazz, and ballet), plays piano (classical and jazz), and wants to do spectroscopy at NASA JPL when she grows up.</p>
<p>^I also have a D2015 who is an avid birdwatcher, dances (tap, jazz, and ballet), plays piano (classical and jazz), and wants to do spectroscopy at NASA JPL when she grows up. </p>
<p>I am in awe! How does an 8th grader (13? 14-years old) even know she wants to do this when she grows up???!?</p>
<p>DS left me a little horrified yesterday. He was talking to a student rep from a school that is definitely a safety, but a good chooice for merit aid and a good college atmosphere. When they asked if he had any questions, he said, “What can you offer me that Wabash doesn’t?”
The student was able to answer with Girls. He then replied, “Not good enough”. The student, dear girl, took the challenge and said she will research and come up and come back to him. I now shudder to think what he will say in an interview. </p>
<p>I realize that if money weren’t an issue,he would be an ED candidate. I can’t deny the fact that my kid has fallen in love with a school, and he may be heartbroken if we can’t afford it. ARGH!</p>
<p>silversas, we visited Allegheny in the spring and had a lovely visit, very similar to yours. It’s high on my daughter’s list; her only concern is its limited number of majors, and in particular, no education major. </p>
<p>So far, the only other school my daughter likes (and we’ve visited plenty) is Loyola University Chicago, which is the complete opposite of Allegheny (urban vs. residential, big vs. small, Catholic vs. non-denominational, etc.) This makes it hard for us to decide what to look at next! Have any of the rest of you had the problem of your child liking schools at opposite ends of the spectrum?</p>
<p>I would say that the appealing factors that Allegheny and Loyola had in common were pretty campuses, kind (and funny) people, solid (but not super-competitive) academics, and an impressively efficient admissions department. She’s pretty sure she could be happy at either school.</p>
<p>On a related note…Can any of you recommend other liberal Catholic universities in the Midwest? We’ve looked at a couple, but they tend to lean to the right and we are way, way to the left. :)</p>
<p>P.S. to silversas: My older daughter is a senior at Beloit. I can’t say enough wonderful things about the place. It’s been perfect for her.</p>
<p>Mary - have you looked at Xavier? It’s another Jesuit school.</p>
<p>ok, I can hardly keep up but I love reading everyone’s posts. Very cool and Mizzbee I love your mad writing skills. I have a not really academic question: When YouTube asks you to allow advertising on your channel/videos, and says you will make money…how does that work? Younget daughter received email today requesting her to allow advertisement and said she would make money. How does this work? Is it like fractions of a penny for every time someone watches?? Just curious. She is getting ready to upload a seriously funny “Imma Bee” video. Her sister and her ordered bee costumes and made a pretty elaborate video to the Black Peas Song Imma Be. </p>
<p>So, she is excited about this but I told her it probably didn’t mean that much, still, if she can make $ that would be fine with me! lol.</p>
<p>Many will be happy to know that despite the nuclear meltdown of mess present in my home, the Math Tutor will still be arriving at 3pm. D12 is almost finished with Madame Bovary and has about 9 days to hit the essays it requires hard. So, much stress and it is so fllipping hot I have to have fans and central air. </p>
<p>Working 6 days in a row. The college fund becoming less an abstract and an actual account with money in it!! She has applied to 2 part time jobs since she won’t be doing competitive dance and hopefully she will get one! She has done no volunteering or “resume building” this summer. Just slept and some cheerleading. Wish that was different but it is who she is and I don’t want to force it. Her ideas for her college essays are unique and she is a fabulous writer who will take risks…and I will definitely make sure it is polished. I don’t care what anyone says, she is not sending in the essay without my eyes having impaled every line. :P</p>
<p>She might be writing in a musical poetry style. I have no idea if this is acceptable or a good idea but I am letting her do her thing. I am totally accepting the 28 act and while we are all hoping for a 30, if it doesn’t happen this fall then it won’t be the end of the world. Hopefully the 2nd time around will have improvements but if not…cool.</p>
<p>6 days in a row taking care of sick people can be emotionally exhausting and I find myself escorted by tears sometimes. Like they have joined my side and are holding my hand instead of lurking around the corner of fragile synapses waiting to connect. No, I am plugged in and the mind is a spark. This is almost to the point of chronic physical exhaustion and at times I feel as if I am watching myself and am removed from the situation - just a body performing rote tasks. blah blah blah.</p>
<p>There are errant summer hairs on all our crowns…D12 is floating through the summer, D14 is socializing like a drunk and I am working working working… Could it possibly be I am ready for the structure of the school year? For the college application process to begin? Maybe.</p>
<p>Mary13, how about Xavier, U of Dayton, Benedictine, Creighton or Marquette?
Creighton, in particular is interesting-at least from what I can tell from Princeton Review and College ******* sites.</p>
<p>Condor30 mentioned Oklahoma State University:</p>
<p>Note also that OSU has revised their application this year and says they will take into account more than the strict grades-scores approach they’ve had in the past.</p>
<p>The article on the change is here:
[Oklahoma</a> State University launches application initiative that focuses on leadership, creativity | NewsOK.com](<a href=“http://newsok.com/oklahoma-state-university-launches-application-initiative-that-focuses-on-leadership-creativity/article/3582193]Oklahoma”>http://newsok.com/oklahoma-state-university-launches-application-initiative-that-focuses-on-leadership-creativity/article/3582193)</p>
<p>@mompop - I haven’t signed up yet. I was going to see what others have to say.</p>
<p>I too love reading everyone’s stories and getting such great information. Sometimes, however, I feel like I don’t really belong because my son’s ambitions might equal many on this site, but his stats do not! </p>
<p>Intro.: My S is an only child with an LD. He spent his junior year abroad (Turkey) so we don’t have SAT scores, and we won’t get his new rank until end of September. When he left, his GPA was 2.85 and he was ranked 14/105. (Very sad stats at our school). Once his overseas grades are incorporated he should have anywhere from a 2.92 to 3.15. It depends on how many classes the school will accept. He had a tough sophomore year but his year abroad changed him in many ways including what he wants to study in college. For better or worse, his change of majors have taken all of his matches and safeties off the list. </p>
<p>So now I put together a fairly frightening list of reaches (some high high reaches) that have what he wants. He looked at the list and didn’t blink!!! I informed him that he didn’t have a bleeping chance to get into most of them and he replied, “of course I do.” Ugh. Right now he is with the SCA for 3 weeks where part of the time he will be studying for his English & US History Regents. He is challenging the US History Regent (which means taking the test without taking the class - he needs an 85 on the Regent in order to do this). The English he just needs to pass because he has the seat time from overseas. </p>
<p>His list of possible majors are these. No. 1: Turkish Studies/Language & Literature. No. 2: Arabic Studies/Language & Literature. or No. 3. Middle Eastern Studies that include Turkish language requirements. His basic requirement for any school is that they offer Turkish! Oy. This is the hard part. Finding safeties that at least offer a couple years of Arabic (if not the major) is fairly easy. Add Turkish, and suddenly life becomes much more challenging. </p>
<p>NY list:
Columbia, NYU, Syracuse, Cornell, Binghamton</p>
<p>OOS list:
Harvard
Princeton
Duke
Kansas U
Arizona U
Wisconsin (Madison & Ann Arbor)
Georgetown
Portland State (OR)
Washington U
UT Austin
Chicago
BU
Indiana U
Northwestern
Ohio State U
Berkeley
Central Fl U
Utah U</p>
<p>We do have some tentative visits scheduled. NYU, Syracuse, Cornell, Binghamton & Columbia. The other possible visits are Chicago, Georgetown & BU (& possibly Harvard). We have friends in all of those OOS schools and I can put him on a train to visit on his own. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that if he gets rejected by everyone he will most likely get put back in the pile for EOP, HEOP, TRIO or SSS admittance. </p>
<p>I am trying to convince him to add a couple more SUNYs and LACs that at least offer Arabic language but so far he is sticking to his guns. </p>
<p>Of course, he also wants to apply for a gap year. I think this is the price I am paying for keeping him so busy when he was young. He now likes to be busy ALL the time! Payback as they say is a @itch. Also, I never allowed him to use his LD as a crutch. Who knew he would be so determined to compete for the best? </p>
<p>I think he will be a little more realistic when he gets his SAT scores back but we will see…</p>
<p>He does not have APs for many reasons but he has enriched courses and has always taken full course loads. (We don’t know his senior course schedule yet. He might have an AP next year and two college classes.) He has a ton of ECs. Many are sports but he is not good enough to get a sports scholarship. He is also an unusual LD kid because he has an amazing ear for languages. The writing is the tougher part for him. I attribute his ear to his natural musical abilities. I attribute his **** poor writing/grammar abilities to the school district. </p>
<p>I think I have covered all the bases except for my state of complete anxiety, easy enough to decipher if one reads between the lines. </p>
<p>PSM</p>
<p>This thread is flying! PSM, it sounds like your S is at a sort of earlier point, because of his new interests and his being away junior year. It’s probably good for him to explore all these schools and then be sure he applies to the safest ones no matter what. Then he can apply to as many others as he can bring himself to write essays for! U Michigan is in Ann Arbor, U Wisconsin in Madison. Arizona and Central Florida are less competitive than some others on here…and I don’t know about Kansas and Portland State. Once he gets SAT scores he can take some next steps…(oh…no,because that won’t be until almost 11/1, will it?) Still an unrealistically positive attitude is a lot better than an unrealistically negative one-- as long as there’s a safety net.</p>
<p>@ performersmom
Our Ds sound a lot alike in terms of scores, grades and interests. DD is also at a NE BS although she is a day student. She is interested in Humanities, and always does MT, drama and/or voice for summer programs. My parents and others are worried about Tulane because of the old reputation of New Orleans as a dangerous city with a wild bar scene. DH was at first reluctant as well. But I think that the crime rate is not what it was, and the bar scene is not ubiquitous all over the city. One of the profs there commented that although it is a city, it was very livable, and that he was raising his family just 4 blocks from the school.</p>
<p>@5boys
Not sure Tulane is for your DS12. Much more mention of food and music for fun than any outdoor stuff, and certainly no mountains!</p>
<p>@PSM
What about Tufts. Not sure they have Turkish, but they do have one of the best Middle Eastern studies departments and a big focus on language and IR. They also put a lot of emphasis on the essays and life experiences which might override some of the GPA issues.</p>
<p>@gwenfairfax - Brain Blip! Michigan U, Ann Arbor (not Wisconsin). I also forgot UCLA. I do feel like we are squeezing 2 years into 1. Darn kid is determined to graduate with his class. But honestly, I am not thrilled with how things are going at his school so I suppose sooner is better than later even if it is more stressful.</p>
<p>@1012mom - Tufts does have a great program but no Turkish! Will add to list if I can get him to compromise. Do teen boys compromise??</p>
<p>PSM</p>