<p>We need to make the decision on whether to visit U Miami or not soon.</p>
<p>The pros: We’ll be in the area and would have a day, they have Marine Bio and are very near the Everglades, they have good name recognition. I like looking at schools to fill in my mental map with specifics for when kids at school ask for app recommendations.</p>
<p>The cons: My guy’s stats are only at their 25% level, so it’s a huge reach stats-wise (though I feel if he got in he’d do well in Marine/Tropical Bio as that’s his niche). They have many pre-meds, so that could affect the Bio classes (not sure if his cc credit would help him skip that or not). We COULD have a beach day if we skipped it…</p>
<p>WWYD? Spend a day on a high reach school or spend a day on the beach?</p>
<p>The other schools we’re visiting (Eckerd, Palm Beach Atlantic, Nova Southeastern) all have him in their top 75% of stats (could be great for merit aid as we’re definitely not full-pay). Eckerd, specifically, is well known for Marine Bio. The others “have it” and are in his desired location.</p>
<p>Creekland: There is no harm in touring and applying. Just make the financial situation clear. If he lands big money, then the possibility of attend the U could be a reality. We did the same thing with our sons. </p>
<p>blueiguana: Glad to hear bluedad is doing better, which means you are doing better!</p>
<p>Got some of the teacher rec information together last night with Son '14. Working on the Common App – still. Can you say, “Looking forward to a three-day weekend?”</p>
<p>Three day weekend…yes! It is needed here too!</p>
<p>Are any of struggling with coming up with the list of safety and match schools due to limited availability of what your child wants to study?</p>
<p>My 2014er is undecided on a major but has a desire to continue studying a critical language already started pre-college. This was initially helpful in eliminating schools as contenders but now seems to be turning into a limiting factor when weighed against DCs standardized test scores. Taking the ACT or SAT one more time is an option but at what point does taking it one more time hurt the applicant, especially if the student received the same score the last two times on one of the tests? The other one has been taken only once with no prep but is not the “popular” test for our geographical area.</p>
<p>Back from cleaning out more stuff at my parents. Dad basically makes himself scarce and I do it all…sigh
Emotionally and physically exhausting. Wonder what my mom would think.</p>
<p>Re college apps etc. K2 didnt do anything lately…nothing while I was gone…and DH didn’t stay on top of K2…sigh…</p>
<p>GC said essay needs work or K2 should use different prompt- nothing done
K2 hasn’t taken form in for teachers to write recs last week
K2 didn’t work on EC project
K2 didn’t clean own bathroom etc as requested</p>
<p>One week into the school year and a free weekend (as sport didn’t practice this weekend) and NOTHING got done. sigh…</p>
<p>We’re having a terrible time with safety schools because he really wants a smaller school. Smaller school=private school. There aren’t publics that are the size he wants. Merit aid would probably be there for a less selective private school but it’s not guaranteed that it would be a true financial safety, even if it’s an academic safety.</p>
<p>Also, all the small privates that are academic safeties are pretty much the same … it’s hard to distinguish between them so how do you pick?</p>
<p>I just wanted to stop by & say hello…hope everyone is well. I haven’t made a pit stop here in months and afraid that it will take me a full weekend to catch up on all the posts. </p>
<p>NHCTDAUGHTER is holding her own. She had 4 college interviews in a 5 day period last week. I was far more nervous and emotionally drained that she was. She just finished up her medical research program at the Yale School of Medicine on Friday…school starts this Wednesday, so she had no summer. She also worked, volunteered at the aquarium and continued her literacy volunteering. I hope she doesn’t have a melt down this fall. Please keep her in your prayers/send happy vibes this way! </p>
<p>Hugs to all of you 2014 parents/kidlets. Have a happy week!!!</p>
<p>@Creekland I vote for visiting U Miami but for totally selfish reasons - this school only recently came on to my radar and I am intrigued! Would love to hear what someone in this group has to say about it! Plus I have a suggestion for after the tour that is only 10 minutes away! The Venetian Pool - a 820,000 gallon pool that is fed with spring water from an underground aquifer. [City</a> of Coral Gables : Venetian Pool](<a href=“http://www.coralgables.com/index.aspx?page=167]City”>http://www.coralgables.com/index.aspx?page=167). We went here once when my kids were little - may not be so good for a teenager but I had to mention it as it is so unique and right near the U!</p>
<p>I feel the same way 2016BarnardMom! Even though he has a way-to-big list, I can’t help but feel that none of them are a real financial safety (none that DS would really be happy with anyway). As much as I am not looking forward to my only son being gone, I just wish I could jump ahead 9 months so we can know for sure that there is a school he likes where he is accepted and can afford to go.</p>
<p>We don’t have any financial safeties with youngest… coupled with a property sale that will make our income look a ton higher than normal… my guys know a gap year might have to happen. Time will tell. We’re usually ok with our “normal” EFC, but when that skyrockets, we won’t be ok if the schools don’t make adjustments.</p>
<p>Right now I’m leaning toward visiting. I spent some time on their website and it does look like a worthy school to visit even if he ends up not wanting to apply due to low probability of acceptance and affordability. The Venetian Pool looks quite interesting, but if we visit our day will be full with the morning tour/info session followed by the Marine Bio info session at 1pm, then what appears to be a self-guided tour of those facilities. Afterward I’m pretty sure youngest will want a motel on the beach (adults probably would prefer it too!).</p>
<p>DS’14 is using the state flagship as his safety. It is bigger than he wants, but there is some merit money and it has all the academic programs in which he has interest. It is not his first choice - after all, it is a safety. That application is already in.</p>
<p>It was a slow weekend as far as the other applications go. School assignments and ECs are starting to take over. He got one request for a letter of recommendation done. That’s it. Baby steps.</p>
<p>BarnardMom - Would he consider one of the smaller state U’s for his safety? I think they all have rolling admissions, so he would know fairly early about admission (but not about the final cost…) If he would consider the UP, Northern Michigan might be a good safety. Or GVSU?</p>
<p>My DD is using a state U as her safety - she says she would prefer something smaller where none of her classmates will end up, but I think she would be fine there. But I will cross my fingers that one of her reaches works out. With decent aid.</p>
<p>Another smaller state U to consider is Miami. It’s not an LAC at 13,000 undergrads, but it really works hard at feeling like one, and Oxford is a lovely little college town. It also has quite a bit of formula-driven merit money.</p>
<p>@Barnardmom et al
If you are looking for a safety school, similar to private LAC, you might take a peek at Truman State in Missouri.
Pros: They are fairly liberal with aid - I have heard that many students don’t keep it after year one, but our daughter kept it all four years.
It has the feel of a small LAC.
It is somewhat the state’s honors college and has some interesting programs and research opportunities for undergrads.
They have a high rate of acceptances from med schools and law schools.
Cons: it is in the middle of Kirksville. That could seriously be a deal-breaker for many. They do have campus activities, a nice town-square and they are only a bit more than an hour away from Columbia, MO.</p>
<p>fogfog – we have the same child. Sometimes I tell myself, 15 years from now, he’ll be married (and somebody else’s problem). I mean a mom can only nag so much before she gets nagged out.</p>
<p>Furman was heartbreakingly beautiful. Gorgeous campus; nice info session. They actually broke out the numbers for after college – 97% of graduates were either employed or in graduate school (57% employed; 40% in graduate school). I remember hearing a similarly high % at Elon but the adcom did not have a breakdown of how many kids were going to graduate school. S liked it, but he said “it’s not like I would ED there”.</p>
<p>NewHavenCTMom – good to hear from you! All prayers and fingers crossed for your amazing D!</p>
<p>I had offered to do a visit for D who’s entering junior year at Emory. She said she needed a few things. We went to: Target, Trader Joe’s, Bed’n’Bath, Krogers. I’m getting fraud alerts from Chase because my Visa has gotten so much out-of-state action. </p>
<p>Yeah, the University of Michigan is not a financial safety at all. We drove around GVSU and he felt it was too big. This kid… <em>sigh</em> He wants small, he wants it to be in driving distance (unless he gets into Brown- an Ivy is worth the distance, I guess). He dropped Wash U from his list because St. Louis is too far, so I don’t think he’d go for Truman. The irony is that Northern Michigan is just as far as St. Louis! I did some extra searches to see if there were any schools in state that I was missing and came up with Lake Superior State. He might like that one- I don’t know. </p>
<p>This kid is super anti-drinking right now. I don’t know that it will stay that way, but he’s really firm about it right now. His dad used to have some neighbors who drank a lot in one of the guys garage (grown men- my age) and my son really hated when they got drunk. He talked a lot about the drunk guys in that neighborhood as he was growing up and I think it really affected him. I could not drink for medical reasons for a long time and when I started to be able to have an occasional glass of wine or a margarita, my son freaked out at first. I had to show him that one drink doesn’t make a person sloppy drunk like the neighbors always were. </p>
<p>I know there will be kids getting drunk at any college he chooses, but the ones in the upper peninsula- well… the alcoholism rate is very high in the UP because there is NOTHING else to do and there does seem to be more drinking there. I’m just not sure he would find a niche of kids who were more straight edge like he is.</p>
<p>NHCTmom, it’s good to hear from you. I had wondered what you were up to a few times.</p>
<p>dodgersmom, thanks for the info and pm. I was away for a few days and am catching up. I will think about having S initiate phone calls to the school admission offices. I am trying to act as personal secretary only, and not drive the process, but he can be so unmotivated… school started today after a long tournament weekend with little sleep. I hope it’s not a bad omen that he’s starting out with a big sleep deficit.</p>
<p>Creekland - Not to muddy the water but has your S considered Rollins? It is in suburban Orlando (Winter Park) and offers both Bio and Marine Biology majors. Not sure where his stats will line up there but its got a good reputation and the right programs.</p>
<p>Classof2015 and fogfog…that is the exact expression I used today, “nagged out”. I emailed the advisor we have met with a couple of times to ask her to please nudge my daughter to do some of the college things she promised a month ago! School starts on Wednesday, and the last week has been full of cramming in the summer AP homework that did not get done (and of course, way too much web surfing and TV watching for my taste). I feel like I have spent the entire summer nagging about a Girl Scout project, summer homework and SAT/ACT test prep, all to no avail. Sigh. And we live in CA, so the in-state safety" situation is very grim. It does help somewhat to hear about others in the same boat!</p>