Parents of the HS Class of 2013

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
4741

<p>mamabear1234–shows you how much I know about this, I don’t know what his score was and I didn’t know there was another level. Our older 2 are not math kids and never took the test. S took this on a whim but with the urging of his math teachers. His sophomore year math teacher found him in the hallway to give him the good news (he will have him again next year for Calc BC). Me, I still add on my fingers, DH is the math brain in the house so S gets it from him, not me :D.</p>

<p>Hopefully this translates to a great SAT math score…</p>

<p>Vandy-where was your DD’s mission trip to? Our DD is taking a mission trip this summer.</p>

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<p>SteveMA- She went to Slidell, Louisiana to do Hurricane relief. :slight_smile: It was nice to have her somewhere relatively close by this time! Her last two were to Guatemala and Kenya. :-0 Where is your D headed to this summer? </p>

<p>We are getting ready to leave this afternoon for our college tour trip (well, I am puttering around. She’s still asleep, which she desperately needs.) I think it worked out well that she can’t use her Learner’s to drive in PA after all… I think she is just going to be super tired today.</p>

<p>Made a small Easter Basket for my D this morning and realized this is the second to last Easter basket for my girl. :frowning: :::Sniff:::: and soon we will have her second to last “at home” birthday as well. :frowning: At least I will have my last child (son, 10yo) home for his birthday until he’s done with college at least- it is right around Christmas!</p>

<p>Happy Easter to those who celebrate!</p>

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<p>They are going to Arkansas this summer. She is really excited.</p>

<p>Have a great trip!!</p>

<p>Happy Easter everyone!!</p>

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<p>Hi! Very new here and have not been able to read the whole thread, but have been focusing on the stuff about PSATs (back in December) and the spring tours. I have two sons, '13 and '14, both engineering/techie types (also an 8th grader, similar personality and interests). We just got back from a 5 college tour in the NY/MA area. We started at RPI, then looked at the Engineering Dept of UMass Amherst, then onto MIT, WPI, and Tufts. I’d say it was a very successful trip, as previously the only school we had seen was UMD. My '13 son is not very proactive, but since I’ve found CC and am loving doing the research, I think I am doing a bit too much for him! We still have so many schools on our list, which somehow have to be planned in lumps because of distance. There’s Alabama (possible free ride with NMF - has a few pts over NJ’s NMSF score, so I hope he’d make finalist if he does all the required paperwork), then Georgia Tech, V.Tech, Duke, UVa, Carnegie-Mellon, Penn, Lehigh, Lafayette, and Cornell. Stevens because we know a professor. Not interested at all in Rutgers. Oh, and Case, too. Yikes. That’s a lot of schools. If someone could just say, “You’re into MIT right now”, all our problems would be solved! (and they’d also have to say, “and we’ll give you lots of money”!) I plan to ask questions of those who have visited some schools on our list, and if anyone has questions for us for one’s we’ve visited, I can answer to the best of my ability. It’s great to be here with a bunch of like-minded folk, and I get similar feelings when I let myself wander over to the RD '16 threads of some of the big schools and I look at the stats of the rejected kids… It starts to make me feel like my kid is stupid, which is ridiculous! I too, fall asleep at night comparing schools and campuses and just having a brain full of mixed-up thoughts. It’s so easy too get obsessed… :)</p>

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<p>Happy Easter & Happy Passover to those who celebrate!</p>

<p>I’m so thankful for those who are sharing their touring perspectives; quite a few of the schools mentioned are ones that I’m going to mention to D.</p>

<p>We’re back & this is how things shook out:</p>

<h1>1 Lafayette: shot up the list. It was much nicer than D & I expected. Huge endowment, big emphasis on post graduation success (both grad & med school acceptances as well as employment statistics.) Students were in D’s words “smart but not pretentious.” Separate, contained campus but accessible to things in town & easy commute to Philly & NYC.</h1>

<h1>2: Emerson: epic fail. See my prior posts. Had been #1 on paper, now completely off the list. Led to D exhorting all her friends to visit their schools.</h1>

<h1>3: Brown: tour & info session were great. Tour guide couldn’t stop talking about how much she loved Brown & was sad to be graduating. I was happy to hear that she had an English concentration & had found viable employment (Bain Consulting.) Lovely campus, open curriculum, most acapella groups per student (including a Pirate acapela group that sings dirty sea shanties :wink: Nothing bad to say except the admissions % which made D not want to like it that much as she knows it’s a long shot for anybody. My personal favorite. Providence is really nice as well.</h1>

<h1>4: Oberlin: tour was OK, our guide was a little frazzled. Campus seems a little too spread out for the size of the student body. D said she thought it was the least diverse campus we’d seen because everybody was quirky. Info session was OK. It went in being at the top of the list & it seemed perfect for D on paper, but I don’t know now. Nothing wrong per se. On the other hand, D’s friend (who we thought might like it and wasn’t planning on visiting) stepped on campus & fell in love.</h1>

<h1>5: Pitt: thanks to CC I knew about the bomb threats but didn’t share with D or DH but they mentioned it during the info session. Incredibly long & detailed info session that had us nodding off. Large, urban campus that blends into the surrounding area; we now know that isn’t appealing to D. The Cathedral of Learning was amazing; glad we got to see that. We ditched the Honors College session because D let us know it was off the list.</h1>

<p>All in all a very productive trip: 2 out of 5 off the list; knowledge that urban campuses don’t appeal to D. Full list is now down to 9. There are 4 left to visit, but I’m not sure if any of them would stay on the list. I have 4-5 schools that I’m going to bring up with D now that she has a better idea of her likes and dislikes (Miami of Ohio, Denison, Elon, Davidson & Rhodes.)</p>

4746

<p>Hello all and Happy Easter to those celebrating! Hope the Easter Bunny brought you some surprises :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Apollo - I know how you feel. Step-D is not at boarding school, but lives with her mom in another state. Until she was settled on her major (and started looking at only schools that had it) she was ‘just’ as frustrating to talk to. It seemed that anybody whom she bumped into that suggested a college - it was now the college that she wanted to focus on. sigh. I am glad we are out of those days and now she only changes her mind (every week) about the priority of the schools we’ve looked at thus far. :wink: </p>

<p>I really appreciate the campus feedback those of you whom have posted about schools have given us! In particular, we are set to visit Delaware and Pitt this summer, so I was reading those ‘impressions’ quite closely. </p>

<p>Tough week ahead for Step-D. She has the ACT this Saturday and, later that night, is the Prom! Talk about a big week. She has a date for the first time ever, so her dad and I are left to worry from 1000 miles away :wink: On top of all of this…a beloved staff member at her small school, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday. This woman was truly involved with every student in grades 9-12. When we spoke to Step-D yesterday she was understandably very upset. This woman had a large hand in things like Prom, and other special events so the Prom being this Saturday will hit all of the attendees doubly hard. </p>

<p>The loss of a beloved adult in her life, her first big date to an event, and the first crack she’s going to take at the ACT all this week! Hoping (somehow) she can grieve, study, and prepare for the dance all at the same time, but I am probably going to just have to understand what it is to be 17 and dealing with all of this at the same time and just go with her flow…</p>

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<p>Um…in addition…just saw RobD’s post…Bomb threats at Pitt?? Do tell! (YIKES)</p>

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<p>laurendog: [Pitt</a> gets frenzy of threats as terrorism task force joins probe - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review](<a href=“http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_790210.html]Pitt”>http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_790210.html)</p>

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<p>Laurendog - my heart goes out to your StepD. It seems like things really get piled on, and somehow, they make it through to the next week. </p>

<p>D’s birthday on Friday, then ACT on Saturday. We are holding off on any celebration until the following weekend. Good luck to the other ACT takers on Saturday.</p>

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<p>Larendog- I’m so sorry for her loss. I hope all goes well this week.
We just had spring break & D13 just hung out with friends & relaxed. No college tours yet. She just finished one big musical- “Little Shop of Horrors” & for the next 2 weeks(including Sat & Sun!) will have late night rehearsals for “Grease” plus Solo & Ensemble Festival. Signed up for an SAT & ACT. She did well on first SAT in October so we are interested to see how she does now. S11 came home & worked for me on Sat at a clinic. He is so happy at school & much more relaxed than first semester!
I hope everyone has a great week!</p>

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<p>We have ACT coming up on Saturday as well. Got to listen to D whine about taking practice tests last night. I figured it out for her, at her top choice right now, every right answer is worth $521, that is the scholarship money she will earn over 4 years if she gets a 30 or better. She was hovering around a 29 for all the practice tests in her prep class so very possible. They superscore the ACT too so that is helpful. S on the other hand, is very motivated to study for this since he wants to get into a highly selective school :D.</p>

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<p>Welcome to my3gr8boyz! Love the line that you wish they would say “and here’s a lot of money!” oh, if only that were true!</p>

<p>SteveMA- I hope your D has a great time in Arkansas this summer!</p>

<p>RobD- very grateful for your mini school reports. Given what you wrote about the info session at Pitt, we might just do the tour. Was there any info in the info session that you felt really made it a must attend? Also, I haven’t mentioned the bomb threats to D purposefully. On another note, we will be seeing Denison and Miami U on our trip this week, so I’ll pass along our impressions. Glad you had a good trip with your D!</p>

<p>Laurendog- so sorry for what your D is going through with the loss. That can hit kids really hard. </p>

<p>Best of luck to all this weekend"s test takers and prom-goers!</p>

4753

<p>Just another thanks to all you patient parents that are taking the time to share your college visit impressions - some great insights…and a great tip to leverage the virtual tours and google earth :-)</p>

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<p>First day under our belts and all is well. I let D sleep in for the whole morning because she was just wiped out from being gone all week and getting in at midnight. When she got up, we ate s brunch and got loaded up. She drove the first hour out of MD and then I took over b/c no permit driving in PA. She went back to sleep. :-)</p>

<p>Since we were essentially passing through Gettysburg, I woke her to look at some of the monuments and battlefields as we passed. Then we got out and walked around Gettysburg College “to stretch our legs.” </p>

<p>We were doing well on time and I knew that yesterday and today are our “easy” days, so I took her to see a movie. She was really happy about that surprise. We saw Mirror Mirror. It was cute. Then back in the car for two hours driving for me and nap time for D. The views were lovely but it was harrowing driving up and down the mountains and backroads of Pennsylvania at night! I was very grateful to have put new tires on the van. I was also really glad she couldn’t drive in PA b/c no way in heck would I want her driving those mountain roads yet. It took all my concentration! </p>

<p>We got to Huntingdon PA late, got checked in (lovely new hotel) and tried to find an open place to eat. No luck at 9pm on Easter Sunday! We settled on subs from Sheetz. We were both in bed by 11. </p>

<p>Today is our trip to Juniata. Info session and tour, then headed to the Pittsburgh area overnight.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all of the virtual support guys. Step-D doesn’t have school today (due to a long Easter Break) but I recommended that she get together with some kids from school and maybe talk about things. Her mom is working a 12 hour shift today so she I’m thinking she’s better out of the house today, connecting with friends. We’ll see what she chooses to do. </p>

<p>Vandy - Love reading about the start of your trip. Can’t wait for the days to come. I feel like I’m on the trip with you (without the subs from Sheetz of course. lol) </p>

<p>socialdrama- Love Little Shop of Horrors! What fun. Step-D was in a few of the school musicals in Middle School but realized it wasn’t her calling. ( Well the drama teacher probably helped her to realize this - lol- but it was fun when she was in the various productions.)</p>

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<p>Third quarter ended last Thursday and spring break is finally under way here for my D. I’m not sure how much of a break it will be because she has a physics project and a major AP English paper due right after break. She is also taking the ACT on Saturday and is trying to motivate herself to take a couple practice tests for it. She is just not that into it though. I have wondered whether she should have just stayed focused on the SAT. She is in the middle 50% for our flagship and her transcript and rigor are great. She has a major reach though that she doesn’t quite have the test scores for so trying to leave no options on the table. We are visiting our flagship over break and maybe a quick trip to one other nearby school. I think any far away visits will have to wait until summer…just don’t have the time right now. D also wants to work on her tennis game and prom is less than a month away and she has no dress! I never went to a prom, so this is what stresses me the most! I have no idea where to take her…not a prom mom:(</p>

<p>Thanks to all who have taken the time to give impressions of the schools they have visited.:)</p>

<p>laurendog, sending good wishes to your Step-D this week. I’m sorry for her loss.</p>

<p>Can’t remember who mentioned JMU, but just wanted to chime in to say that it is the happiest place on earth:)</p>

<p>Vandygrad, enjoy this time with your D. It sounds like she has a great mom!</p>

<p>Welcome my3gr8boyz!</p>

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<p>laurendog: I somehow missed about your Step-D having a school staff member pass away. My condolences to her; sounds like she was a wonderful woman. </p>

<p>Vandygrad: glad you had a good start to your trip. One of the reasons I packed the protein bars was because I knew we wouldn’t always find food we’d like on the road (or at least D wouldn’t.) Glad you found a Scheetz!</p>

<p>Welcome my3gr8boyz!</p>

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<p>I didn’t find the Pitt info session that long, but since I was pretty read up on Pitt, I didn’t learn anything new from it. Your time could be better spent for sure. We did learn a few new things from the Honors college meeting, plus, you can get a great view of the CMU campus from that far up in the Cathedral. If you do that session, make sure you leave plenty of time to get an elevator! We didn’t tour the residential area of the North campus because we knew we’d be coming back, but you’ll probably want to make sure you see it. Pitt also has a list of classes that visitors can sit in on – I think it’s online if your D wants to fit one in. Also, CMU is right next door if you want to take a peek while you’re in town. </p>

<p>At Case, we didn’t do the general info session, but I did go the admission/financial aid session while my son sat in on a class. That was completely useless – all stuff I’ve read on here. I didn’t feel the tour was all that informative either – we would have done just as well with a map. Since it was an open house, there were a lot of different sessions and classes to sit in on – I’m not sure if you can do these on regular visit days. S13 is interested in research, so we went to that session – it sounds like it’s very easy for undergrads to find a professor to do research with. S13 also went to a session for EECS (his intended major) – he left there very impressed with the success of their alums. If you’re into art, there is a traveling Rembrandt exhibit at the Art museum right now, which is practically on North campus. The botanical gardens, natural history museum, and Severance Hall are right there too. From South campus, you can walk up the brick road (Murray Hill) to the restaurants/shops of Little Italy. Or catch the train to go downtown and see all that it has to offer (The Q arena, Jacobs Field, Football Stadium, Rock Hall of Fame, Science Museum, Playhouse Square theater, CSU Wolstein events arena, House of Blues concerts, lots of restaurants/bars, etc.) Here’s a free phone app for University Circle [University</a> Circle iPhone App | University Circle | Cleveland Ohio | Arts & Culture, Education & Medical District](<a href=“http://www.universitycircle.org/iphone-app]University”>http://www.universitycircle.org/iphone-app)</p>

<p>I’ll be interested to read your takes on them, Vandy. I wasn’t sure if S13 would like Pitt’s urban campus, but unlike RobD’s D, he did.</p>

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<p>Wow you guys have been busy this morning :)</p>

<p>My son is another ACT taker on Saturday. I really can’t begin to guess how he’ll do. He prepped by reading Crash Course for ACT and did one practice test but broken up by sections. So he hasn’t taken one all the way through. His scores were all over the place though. Some of the tips in the book helped and he said that some slowed him down. So I basically told him that he knows what works and what doesn’t and to do what feels best for him. </p>

<p>S is back to school today. He did NOTHING over spring break other than the minimal ACT prep mentioned above. I tried to do a mock interview with him that went frighteningly bad. He has Aspergers so I’m always concerened about how he comes across socially to strangers. Well, he told me that he does much better in actual interviews because they seem to flow more naturally. Mock ones seem forced to him so that’s why he did so poorly. Huh?? I suppose I have to believe him though since everything he’s interviewed for, he was accepted for. So, I just handed him a list of questions and we went over ones that he found difficult to answer. I convinced him to just talk instead of trying to come up with a clean and complete answer in his head first. And that saying “I never really considered that question before” is an ok starting poing especially when it’s an honest one. Letting him meander from point to point and see his thought process was insightful and I think more demonstrative of his personality than a packaged answer. I’m still wary though about whether to have him interview if it’s not required.</p>

<p>laurendog, I’m so sorry to hear about all that your stepD has to deal with in such a short period of time. Good thing she seems to have supportive parents all the way around.</p>

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<p>Back from our Spring Break trip and learned a lot of things, 1st choice school fell off list and main safety is in question. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>UMBC - The President makes the school, very inspirational and motivating. Attended a Junior Preview Day and after the info session we were both ready to sigh up and then we went on the tour. Every student said this was not there first choice and ended up at UMBC because of money - our tour guide was a second semester freshman who said she hated school all of first semester, but “loved” it now, not very convincing. The only students we saw were tour guides. The school insists its not a commuter school, but campus was dead and the library closes at 2:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Son at this point thinks he may use local CC as safety and is undecided if he will apply.</p></li>
<li><p>Denison - Son loved it, said “quaint and out of the way” grew on him. He sat in on 4 different classes and enjoyed the small size and the professors. It was less diverse then other schools, but they seem to be working on that. Almost all of the kids walking around campus had smiles on and a mix of groups and walking alone. A lot of new buildings from the early 2000’s. I didn’t see him liking school, but he proved me wrong and if he decides against engineering, he will apply.</p></li>
<li><p>Kenyon - Picture the “perfect” college campus and it would be Kenyon. Beautiful buildings and beautiful art everywhere, one dining hall out of Harry Potter - perfect. Son hated it. School is in the middle of nowhere and he didn’t feel comfortable with the student body - not sure why. This school really proved to us the importance of visiting. Great school, wanted to love it, but it was not a fit for DS.</p></li>
<li><p>Case Western - Loved the school, currently tied as first choice with University of Rochester. Has a campus, but a lot of the buildings bleed over into the city. He liked the engineering program, thought the students were nice and did not mind the 100 plus student Calculus class he sat in on. I saw the Rembrandt exhibit and walked around the area a lot. Also impressed with the ability to do research. Not what I would choose, but I’m not going - I would like to go back in time and go to Kenyon.</p></li>
<li><p>CMU - This was his 1st choice reach before we left. We had attended an information session at a local hotel and he loved it. From the moment we said foot on campus he was unhappy. It didn’t help at the information session when they said if you had to take the SATs 10 times that was fine, they would super score - it actually sounded like she was recommending a student do that. He was bothered by the fact that the list of alumni included about 30 -40% of people who had only received honorary degrees. They had 4 tour guides for over 200 people and divided the group into 2 with 2 guides for each group. We had a voice major and even so could not hear a word she said. Son asked to leave tour early. Students also did not seem happy and where all walking alone - I think its a great school but S would not do well there.</p></li>
<li><p>U of Pitt- Spent a day and 1/2 visiting classes and touring. Son loved it, even in the midst of all the bomb threats. He sat in on an economics class in the Cathedral of Learning, attended the engineering open house and general info session. Did not see a dorm due to bomb threats, S and I were impressed with how generally happy students were and the support upper classmen where giving freshman regarding dorms being evacuated. There is a Facebook page of Pitt students offering couches or beds for freshman to sleep since all freshman dorms have been hit with bomb threats.</p></li>
</ol>