<p>Gigem86, Vandy and Alabama are definitely close enough to drive to in the same weekend. Tuscaloosa to New Orleans is going to be a long drive, and yes, Tulane has a very large Northeastern student population. Clemson has a very Southern feel and is a great fit for engineering (my son’s interest), but I don’t know about liberal arts. My son just got back from a trip that included Chapel Hill (not a hit) and Wake Forest, which he LOVED, LOVED, LOVED. This was a huge surprise! However, it does no have an engineering degree on campus and would require him to transfer to Vanderbilt his last two years for a 3/2 reciprocal program with their engineering school. He’s not sure about that, but Wake Forest is staying on the list.</p>
<p>Beadymom, for engineering we have visited a lot of Southern schools. My son really likes UVA, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State (a real surprise, but son and husband were both very impressed with Centennial Campus) and Auburn. He has ruled out Georgia Tech and LSU. He’s probably going to apply to UT-Austin and Texas A & M, but there are so few OOS spots that we are not visiting those until we know whether he has been accepted. And, Lord help me, he is still thinking of a few others he might want to add to the list . . .</p>
<p>If you’re visiting Clemson, University of GA is about 90min away if I remember. Definitely a southern Big State U, they offer some automatic and competitive merit.</p>
<p>gig - if she wants school spirit and d1 - go to Clemson. Ranked consistently for happiest students. My d’s #1 choice but her test scores makes it out of her reach. If she has good test scores I believe they have some kind of waiver that gives you in state tuition.</p>
<p>I agree that summer isn’t the best time to visit because you don’t get to see if you could see yourself hanging out with those kids. But sometimes you just have to do what fits your schedule.</p>
<p>tpcrd66 – we visited High Point last fall. S still wants to apply; I’m not so sure about it. Sort of the “every one is special” (and gets a trophy) approach. Campus paths are called “Extraordinary Way”. The tour mentions tons of amenities (the steakhouse where students can go to learn how to conduct themselves at a business lunch, the pool, the beach volleyball, the super-nice dorms) and very light on academics. I wish I knew someone who actually goes there to ask them what it’s really like.</p>
<p>DS is interested in engineering and his list looks like this (in no particular order):</p>
<p>Alabama (qualifies for full tuition and a likely)
Clemson
RPI
Wash U
Northwestern (legacy, but since we don’t have a building named after us probably no weight)
Michigan
Miami OH (qualifies for full tuition and a likely)
UVA (state flagship but very very competitive)
VA Tech (in state)
Case Western
Lehigh (still need to visit)
Bucknell (still need to visit)
Rose-Hulman
Worcester Polytechnic
Dartmouth</p>
<p>As you can see, the range of schools is all over the place but there are very good reasons for every one of those schools to be on the list. DS is a pretty flexible and easygoing guy so I can see him at all of those schools, with perhaps Rose Hulman as an exception. It remains on the list for now though.</p>
<p>Some schools are on the list because DS could perhaps play a sport there, in an atmosphere that allows him to also pursue engineering studies. Others are there because of their very strong engineering programs even though he will not play his sport. And of course there are our two in-state options.</p>
<p>And others are there because he is likely to get admitted, and qualifies for very good merit aid. We do not qualify for need-based aid and fortunately can afford to pay full-freight. However, we do have a deal with DS in that whatever is left over from his college fund at the end of his undergraduate years is his to keep. So if he goes in-state or to one of the schools that offer him good merit aid, he could be sitting on a nice chunk of cash which he can use to pay for grad school, buy a house, or whatever.</p>
<p>My DS is looking at Engineering and is a NMF hopeful. This is the list so far – we’ve visited the first 4 and the next 3 we will visit later this summer. I don’t know if/when we’ll get to the others. We can’t afford our FAFSA EFC, so Merit is a must (or exceptional need based aid, but he’s decided not to apply to those lottery schools).</p>
<p>Waterloo (qualifies for Canadian tuition, great co-op program)
Lehigh (loves it but we can only afford if he gets big merit)
Drexel (full tuition if he makes NMF, and he liked it more than he expected, so if he makes NMF this will be his safety)<br>
RPI (liked it and they give out decent merit)
RIT (offers decent merit and lower cost than many of the other privates)
Rochester (he likes the small size, and they seem to offer decent merit)
CWRU (attracted by the small size and reputation for good merit, but it’s farther than he wants to go)
Northeastern (full tuition if he makes NMF)
WPI (he loved it when we visited with DS11 but not sure we can afford – they offer good merit but their base price is VERY high)
UVM (in-state for us, he’s reluctant to apply but could be a decent match – would like to find a time to visit)
Clarkson (smaller size and decent merit possible)</p>
<p>Clemson no longer offers the automatic OOS tuition waivers with X stats. They give a range of merit for OOS students ‘up to $15k’ which is close to the difference. So, you aren’t guaranteed anything and don’t know until you receive your acceptance in March. It then makes planning just as hard as any other school with competitive merit, or one you are waiting on a FA package.</p>
<p>Hello again to everyone! I’ve been keeping up with the reading but haven’t had time to post over the last month as both DD14 and I have been too busy. I’m now catching up on all I’ve missed here and everything I haven’t had time to do at home!</p>
<p>DD has lots of AP summer work to do for her 5 AP classes along with school wide summer reading requirements. She worked steadily the first week or so of vacation but with the show she was in last weekend taking up much of her time and energy, she fell behind her schedule. She did spend most of Tuesday doing math and chemistry before heading up to her friends lake house on Wednesday (with AP Psych vocab to put on flash cards in the car - we’ll see if any actually got done!) They’re on their way home now and then head to the Taylor Swift concert tonight! She’s got an early morning commitment at school tomorrow and then plans on working on more homework once she gets home. We’ll see! I’m trying not to bug her about it (too much) but I want to make sure she also has plans to study for ACTs this summer!</p>
<p>I just looked over what is shaping up to be her final school list. Definitely over 10 and we’ve visited most but still have UConn and Brown to do as well as UMass. She really isn’t interested in UMass but as our flagship, it needs to stay on the list for financial reasons. If she can get her test scores up, she should be able to be admitted to the Honors College which may make a difference. And unless her scores go up, I’m not sure why she would have 3 ivys on her list except for the one with significant family legacy. Other than that, her list includes schools where we’re hoping she’ll get in and get merit aid: Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Marist, UVM, St. Mikes, Ursinus, and Providence. I feel it’s an all over the place kind of list. She removed Fairfield which was probably more of a safety. I’m not sure which of what’s left we could count as safeties - probably St. Mikes, UVM and possibly Ursinus. She should also get into PC but isn’t thrilled about the Western Civ curriculum or that many kids from her school tend to go there. She should get into UMass and UConn if she applies. Just depends upon what kind of money UConn shows her. I’m just hoping she’ll have choices available to her come next April!</p>
<p>Hey everyone! Battled the Northern VA traffic to take Son #1 to Metro so he could complete the journey to the airport and head south to Tuscaloosa. He and some fraternity brothers are heading to a national conference.</p>
<p>blueiguana: Hope the trip to UDel was a good one.</p>
<p>Son '14 got home from cross country camp last night. He ran 41 miles in fewer than five days. He’s four pounds lighter, too. He also plans to put Shippensburg on his list of schools, but decided to drop ECU. So, right now he’s sitting at five or six schools. Got a feeling he may add one or two more.</p>
<p>Hi, fairly new poster here and was hoping I could get some advice from some of the veterans. My son only has one day left before school to make a campus visit and he wants it to be to one of his reach schools. I would like him to check out a couple more match schools. I feel like the reach we should save for if he gets in.</p>
<p>Fall visits will be hard with his commitments so trying to make the most of this last summer visits.</p>
<p>He is an engineering kid and so far we have visited Ohio State (in state), Cincinnati, Case and Purdue. I would like to expand his geographical reach some and was thinking Rochester, maybe Lehigh and Pitt. Merit aid will be key.</p>
<p>Any thoughts? Thanks for your time. I have learned much from all of you!</p>
<p>I am quite confident that DS has not done a single lick of work for his five AP classes next year. He is going to be in for a rough August I think.</p>
<p>I know a bit about High Point and my nephew was a freshman there last year. I don’t have a high opinion of the place, so you may want to ask someone who is more bought into the philosophy. The president has stated he wanted to build up facilities and worry about the academics later, they have ice cream trucks, beach volleyball, pools, deliver ice cream to your rooms, a steakhouse. They pipe in music throughout the campus, it’s like disney college and statues are around the pathways. Plus - staff is not allowed to use facilities and are paid 20% less than their counterparts. Check out how many profs have terminal degrees - it wasn’t that impressive last time I checked. The Wall Street Journal did an article a year or so back you may be able to find about how they’re managing their money, endowment and growth.</p>
<p>My niece also attended for a year but transferred to Elon after a year because the school was so light academically.</p>
<p>I know people go there and like it, to me it’s a country club and as someone who hires, I wouldn’t take a diploma from there seriously.</p>
<p>It looks like we are all gearing up to close out summer and move into Senior year. DS14 has been spending time completing summer work. No cajoling from me I am pleased to say.</p>
<p>We have about finished touring colleges. Next week we will drop him off for a 5 day summer engineering seminar at Santa Clara University. DH and I will then celebrate our 25th anniversary on the coast before picking the kid up! We decided to tour Stanford just because we will be right there, so why not? That will be the big finale for touring.</p>
<p>I am excited to announce that I got the job I interviewed for last Monday! I will share that I have been a classroom teacher for a long, long time and will move into a role as an Instructional Coach. It is time for some professional rejuvenation as my kids grow up and leave the nest.</p>
<p>@gigem86 - my oldest is a Tulane alum 2011 and currently a 3Y Law School student there. Tulane is definitely NOT an “east coast school in the south” - it is a very unique place with a feel all its own. Yes there are a lot of students there from NY but the second largest group of students that go there from outside LA is from Texas. Tulane is really a New Orleans school. Well worth a visit.</p>
<p>I think youngest son will apply to 7 schools: Claremont McKenna (reach), Pitzer (borderline reach/fit), and Occidental (fit) in California; Tulane (fit), Duke (reach and his #1 choice right now), Southwestern (safety), U of Houston (safety) - possibly Rice as another reach, if he likes it after visiting. I am hoping he will get into one of his reach schools since they will offer him the best financial aid packages. His first year will coincide with his sister’s senior year, and we are square in the middle of middle class, so the big endowment/ high financial aid schools are important in our family (daughter at Vandy). The California trip will be the big one, but he is seeing 3 schools there, we got cheap flights from Texas and are staying with friends. The Texas schools are local or day trips, his older brother is Tulane alum and goes to law school there so he knows it well. He may do early decision for Duke and visit if he gets in. He is a varsity football player and California trip is being squeezed in during a bye week, and we’ll do the Texas visits next week. He is enjoying the attention from schools since his good ACT grades - U Chicago just sent him a t-shirt, lol. He decided against applying there because he is more of an outdoor warm weather person.</p>