<p>twogirls, by D is going out to Cali to visit her dad for spring break so she will see USC while she’s there. I’m hoping she can see Pomona too but I’m not sure they will be able to fit that in. Over the summer, we will probably take a trip to the beach so I think we’re going to try to see some southern schools then, although I don’t know how valuable summer visits are since the students will be gone for the most part.</p>
<p>We’re going to visit two local universities next week during spribg break. They’re close by, so it seemed like a good way to ease into college visits.</p>
<p>Has anybody done any of those splash programs in schools like MIT, Columbia? We’ve never been. But D.'s CTY friends go to MIT splash every year. We are thinking about going this year in November. That seems to be a good way to know those schools.</p>
<p>Maxwell I have never heard of that program.</p>
<p>Maxwell–my 2017 son attended Splash at Yale and MIT this fall and will return to the Yale Splash this spring. For anyone in the NYC area, Columbia will host their Splash this Sat from 2-6pm. I believe MIT also offers a spring Spark but we are not going to make that trip again until the fall. The Columbia classes look intriguing but my son cannot find someone else willing to attend with him on Easter Saturday.</p>
<p>The MIT program is a two-day event but you can elect to attend for only one day. (Same $40 fee for one day or both days.) The Yale and Columbia events may only be $15. Absolutely wonderful programs that offer students the chance to take a day full of one or two hour classes on a wide range of subjects. The program is run by students and the courses are taught my the undergrads (some grad students too, I believe). Students move from one class to the next on their own, but there are plenty of volunteers around to assist. </p>
<p>Almost all of the Yale classes were held in the same building but the MIT classes spread out among several buildings. All very manageable for an 8th grader.</p>
<p>Here is the course catalog for Columbia’s program this Saturday. <a href=“https://columbia.learningu.org/learn/Splash/2013_Spring/catalog[/url]”>https://columbia.learningu.org/learn/Splash/2013_Spring/catalog</a></p>
<p>This is a short program, only offering classes from 2-6 in the afternoon. The Yale program will be on Sat, April 6th from 9-5, I believe. NYU’s will be on April 20th but I haven’t seen a course catalog yet. It is better to register in advance but we were able to register as a walk-in for Yale. Some classes were closed out but my son still had a wonderful time. </p>
<p>Please feel free to send me a message if you have any questions. I just stumbled on to this last fall and am thrilled these programs exist. An individual class only scratches the surface but my son has taken away many great thoughts from each of these sessions. </p>
<p>This website is out of date but it lists the other schools where Splash programs are offered: [Current</a> Programs :: When and Where?](<a href=“http://www.learningu.org/current-programs]Current”>When & Where? :: Current Programs)</p>
<p>Go to Facebook for each individual program for current info. An undergrad mans the FB account and responds promptly.</p>
<p>CT1417, thanks for the information. We’ll look at the website and fb of those programs.</p>
<p>MIT splash seems to be a big reunion occasion for CTYers. D. wanted to go last fall. But we didn’t have time and it is too far. It seems to be a cool program. </p>
<p>D. is going to the state with her history day movie again. She is very happy. 
And another snow day. With so many snow days, there is no way her AP classes will be able to cover everything. That’s very worrisome.</p>
<p>herandhisMom–the Splash event at MIT was larger and more organized than the others I have encountered, and yes, there was an active group of CTY reunion attendees, at least according to their FB page. If you live near any of the other Splash locations (Chicago, NY, a couple of cities in California), they are worth a look.</p>
<p>D is on an “alternative spring break”, working on rebuilding houses in New Orleans with a school group.</p>
<p>It is very quiet around here…</p>
<p>Twogirls, I plan to take my S15 to visit WUSTL and UChicago sometime in July. He is in China until the end of June. I’m a little worried about how I’m going to find schools with merit aid or unusually generous FA that also offer very high level Chinese. I hope your visits go well.</p>
<p>Thank you Apollo. I am also seeking schools with great merit aid, otherwise it’s a state school for my daughter. Thank goodness she likes the state schools that we have visited. I am keeping my fingers crossed. She talks about applying to schools such as Emory, but she really needs to understand how competitive these scholarships are.</p>
<p>If your child is taking AP exams this May, how is studying coming along? My D is struggling to find time to study in addition to all other commitments she has. Getting a little concerned given it’s less than 2 months away. There’s never enough time.</p>
<p>My daughter does not have any AP classes. The only one she can take as a sophomore is AP Global and she decided against it, so next year it will be AP. I thought about how difficult it must be to study for the test given how busy they are. Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>FromMD, my daughter is taking the APUSH exam and hasn’t cracked any study guides. I’m a little worried too since they are behind as well, but we’ll just have to see what happens.</p>
<p>OHMomof2, that sounds like an awesome trip for your D - good for her! I think the quiet house sounds pretty awesome as well. ;)</p>
<p>Watching the acceptances roll in for the older kids on here has me resetting my expectations/hopes for my D in a big way. Vandy is one that would maybe have been on her list but this year’s stats - WOW. I’m totally rethinking a lot of the places we may visit. WUSTL and Chicago and Northwestern would have been on the list too, but even if she were to be admitted, she’d need hefty merit and they all are just so competitive that I don’t see it happening. Sort of makes me sad, but I’m sure everything will work out in the end.</p>
<p>suzy, I just know your D will get into a school that is awesome and works for her!! It is hard though when you watch this process. My niece who is a full IB scholar with fantastic everything didn’t get into her “dream” school. She is now waiting to hear back from the many, many colleges she applied to. I really believe she will get into a school that is great and that she will enjoy and learn great things–just not the original one she thought was best for her.</p>
<p>My S is AP World History. He is so busy; I have no idea when he will study–probably some cramming the couple of weeks before. Not the best but realistic to be sure.</p>
<p>D didn’t take APs this year as there were none available to her at her school. From older Ds’ experiences, apart from becoming familiar with a particular type of question on the history AP (document based questions), the bulk of the studying came much closer to the date of the exam–maybe a month before the exam at earliest. It wasn’t much different from studying for any other final exam. (And based on the level of exam D gets in her math class, i think she’d prefer taking an AP exam instead.) Don’t worry and good luck!</p>
<p>I’m still on the fence as to whether to do a road trip to several colleges over spring break. I don’t want to fuel anxiety by hearing about impossible standards and applicants who have published books, cured cancer, played solo performances at Carnegie Hall, and broken national records in the three teams sports they captain. And trust me, unless things have changed for the better in the past 5 years (and I hope they have), you WILL hear this stuff even at schools that aren’t the most competitive in the country. I can roll my eyes at the hype and go into it understanding that indeed there are a lot of very talented kids in the world, but D will freak out, believe it completely, and write herself off. I also think she’s just not ready to think about leaving home. I had a really nice conversation about D with her guidance counselor. He seems genuinely interested in boosting her confidence and helping her to feel a bit more relaxed about the process. He suggested that we visit local colleges that wouldn’t even be on her final list just to get a sense of big vs. small, private vs. public. </p>
<p>I did have a lot of fun visiting colleges with D2. We laughed at the pretentious adcoms at info sessions, at our mishaps trying to find our way in rainy weather at ginormous campuses, at our ratings of the freebies offered at campus A vs. campus B, at my annoyance at schools that made parking impossible, and at her interviews. She’s not as susceptible to high pressure as D3 but the humor definitely helped offset any worries she might have had.</p>
<p>3girls3cats–I really like your guidance counselor’s suggestion!! It seems like a good way to get ideas and not fuel anxiety.</p>
<p>DD started studying for AP NSL (government) yesterday. Her teacher told her to read 1 chapter a day over Spring break to ease the work load over the next few weeks. She also received an admission invite from UChicago for next month. </p>
<p>I was thinking about an informal visit to the Georgetown campus over the break since it’s only a few miles away. We are playing tourist for the day at the Crime and Punishment museum and maybe a bus ride over to Georgetown. My DD is starting to develop an interest in criminology and psychology. She mentioned she saw a story about Forensic Psychology. i don’t know much about it and I’ll have to do some research. She also has an interest in Intelligence careers. UMD has great programs in that area and will be our safety school.</p>
<p>Suzy, it doesn’t mean your D won’t get in to at least one of the places she wants. Some of the high stats kids get in and get scholarships, some don’t and some with lower stats are more appealing than those with the higher stats. There’s really no way of knowing. Keep those schools on the list and add some others that offer what she likes in those schools.</p>
<p>GT is on Easter break until April 2nd. DD will visit on April 2nd when the students are back.</p>