<p>Yes there are recitation classes that are held on a weekly basis, but I think these are held with grad students (?). She would get the opportunity to ask her questions etc with a grad student but not the professor ( I think). I think she would be fine with that. Yes- as you get into your major the class size typically drops. Right now she has her heart set on a rah rah school not smaller than 5,000 kids and does not mind a huge school of 25,000 or more. She wants to travel abroad, wants to do research, and wants to find a group that is not into partying. She used to want a " dry campus" but now she realizes that she can create her own " dry campus" by choosing friends with similar interests.</p>
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<p>Absolutely. “Love thy safety”. D needs to know she can be happy and have great opportunities in a lot of different settings. The reaches don’t care about interest - mostly - and can be visited if she gets in. We did visit one reach but that was because we were in the area at a good time to do it. We may see a couple more but she’s already done a summer program at one “lottery school” - she needs to see what else is out there now, IMO.</p>
<p>Sometimes the “safety” comes up with the best financial package, too.</p>
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<p>Most if not all meet full need often without any loans. Full need as they define it, that is. </p>
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<p>I’m a little overwhelmed trying to help her sift through not only small LAC vs big U and engineering/tech schools vs not, but also colleges with strong co-op programs - I love that idea - and colleges with 5-6 year programs for physician assistants, early MD admits or BS/MS 5 year programs. There is a LOT to consider!</p>
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Ok, I am sure I have run into this before…but what are core and distribution requirements, and how do they affect the decision process?</p>
<p>I am thinking that core classes are in your major (?) and distribution requirements are the gen Ed classes that students have to take? After going through this process once with my older daughter, I walked away feeling that the most important aspect of the college selection process is " fit" ( of course the school also needs to be affordable and have your major). There were a few schools that looked great on the Internet that we crossed off after visiting.</p>
<p>A famous core curriculum that requires very specific courses and more than a couple of them: </p>
<p>[The</a> Core Curriculum](<a href=“http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/]The”>The Core Curriculum)</p>
<p>The opposite approach suggests students should study ONLY what interests them:</p>
<p>[The</a> Brown Curriculum](<a href=“http://brown.edu/Administration/Dean_of_the_College/curriculum/]The”>Explore the Open Curriculum | The College | Brown University)</p>
<p>Most colleges are somewhere in between.</p>
<p>Re: Distribution and/or Core requirements. </p>
<p>These requirements are separate from those required for a degree in a specific field of study. Some schools have a ton of core/distribution requirements, while others do not. </p>
<p>Schools with no core/distribution requirements:</p>
<p>Brown
Amherst
Smith
Eugene Lang College
Grinnell</p>
<p>Schools with minimum core/distribution requirements:
Beloit
Williams
Bard
Hampshire
Bennington
Marlboro
Grinnell
Oberlin
Wesleyan
and many more per this link:
<a href=“College Lists Wiki / College Lists Wiki News and Information”>College Lists Wiki / College Lists Wiki News and Information;
<p>OHMom2 provided a link of a school with a ton of core class requirements. </p>
<p>Here is a link to one college’s distribution requirements. Please refer to pages 27 & 28:<a href=“http://www.lawrence.edu/mfhe/www_core/Everyone/Course%20Catalog%2012-13.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lawrence.edu/mfhe/www_core/Everyone/Course%20Catalog%2012-13.pdf</a> </p>
<p>D loved the school UNTIL she discovered the distribution requirements and off the list the school went. So, now Bunheadgirl’s focus is on the list of schools with minimum core/distribution requirements. Keep in mind that the linked list was compiled by a high school student.</p>
<p>My son must remain an additional semester at his college because he blew off 3 distribution requirements that he MUST have in order to graduate even though he had enough credits and defended his thesis to graduate this May. And, I am not paying one red cent towards those courses. period.</p>
<p>BunHeadMom – why is your D so opposed to core & distribution requirements? Does she have a very firm idea of what she wants to study?</p>
<p>I have mixed emotions on core/distribution requirements. I attended University in the UK. Being a science major I had no choice in my classes- none! I used to puzzle at my US friends when they would describe some of their college classes. D1 was adamant that she didn’t want a school with core requirements. But, the school she landed who wooed her with lots of money and travel has these requirements. I now see the benefit of these type classes. Next semester she is taking hard core Math and Econ classes- she is most excited about her African drumming class elective. Freshman year she took a classic literature type class. Loved it. I think it is refreshing to study something totally different and open up your mind.</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>Last half day of D’s school. Isn’t it weird that they have half day on Monday?!</p>
<p>That IS weird, Maxwell!</p>
<p>Very weird to have a half day on a Monday as your last day! What a drag!</p>
<p>@ mihcal1: D is not against schools with a core/distribution, just ridiculous ones that require students to take more than 25% of courses within a core/distribution system, as it makes double majoring difficult or impossible if a student also wants to delve in courses towards a minor, or take X number of credits within one discipline even if not wishing to major or minor in said discipline. </p>
<p>All schools bunheadgirl plans to apply to each have a core/distribution requirement, just not an extensive one. D wants to double major; thus, needs schools with the least amount of core/distribution requirements to get in classes for both majors, but also afford her the ability to dabble in courses of interest without worrying about core/distribution courses. That’s what happened to my S and why he has to pay for 3 distribution courses in order to receive his diploma. He has enough credits, but missing 3 distribution requirement courses. He double majored in physics/chemistry and minored in philosophy. He also took a lot of medieval history and literature classes. S covered all the distribution requirements, but 3 courses overlapped several areas, and classes outside of the major cannot be used to meet more than 1 distribution requirement. I have no idea why S thought he would fly under the radar, but he didn’t. He walked, but must take courses at another school and pay a transfer fee before he gets his actual diploma. He can also just take the classes at his college, but at roughly $3K per course. </p>
<p>I just think any student that plans to double major needs to review core/distribution requirements along with the course catalog for the past few years to make sure the student can fit all classes and distribution/core requirements within the student’s schedule over 4 years, or the student may find themselves graduating in 4.5 or 5 years.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info BunHead. My daughter has her last full day today followed by tests until next Tuesday. Then she is done!</p>
<p>Bunhead, that is really good information to consider. I imagine those required courses could also be an issue at schools where it is hard to always get the course you want.</p>
<p>My kid is having half-days all this week. Final exams. </p>
<p>Then the issue is do we make him go to school for the following 7 days until the 25th? The last four days are also early dismissal. </p>
<p>Mostly, the teachers hardly even take attendance, and lots of kids skip, including his two older sibs–especially when they were seniors. These are school days thst exist mostly to fulfill state requirements to be open for business a set number of days. Maybe they should use them for some kind of community service project.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have schools where the kids view the last few days as attendance optional?</p>
<p>I went to a school with a heavy core. My wife with a minimal. I was semi-shocked that she hadn’t taken stuff like world history. I think the idea of a light core is that it’s not so much what your thinking about as long as you’re thinking, which should be the main skill you learn in college. </p>
<p>Double majors are easier if the two majors are close and there are courses that work for both majors. Physics/math and literature/American studies are easier than physics/lit or math/American studies. My son in college is majoring in math and minoring in computer sciences–no problem at all.</p>
<p>Our school ends every semester with exams, so we don’t have that half-day, last-days of class stuff. You go to your exams (which are on a 3 day exam schedule, not your regular class schedule) and that’s that.</p>
<p>DD finished her exams last Wednesday afternoon. She had been up very late every night for more than a week studying, so on Thursday the coffin lid cracked and she was subjected to the daylight about 1:30 PM.</p>
<p>Ths weekend was a softball recruiting tourney. This entire week is softball, as there are very important recruiting clinics for her on Wednesday & Thursday followed bu another large recruiting tournament this weekend. DD has written to quite a few coaches who will come by sometime in this four day period to take a look at what DD has to offer softball-wise. She very interested in the academic D 1’s and D III’s for either softball or field hockey.</p>
<p>Her school field hockey team has a 3 day mini-camp before the students all head off for the summer. DD will make one or two days of this as well. </p>
<p>Final grades and comments for the school year were due to the Admnistration by the faculty by 10 AM this morning. We should receive results perhaps this weekend.</p>
<p>We just got back from a week-long trip to visit family and hit the beach. I decided to make a long detour down to Gainesville and let my daughter see UF even though it’s a long shot financially unless she gets the OOS waived. It started raining the moment we drove into town and didn’t let up, but she was a trouper and we hiked around the campus a bit. She adamantly refuses to go on any tours or info sessions so right now, it’s all about catching the vibe of the town. And I bought a new sweatshirt, so not a total bust.</p>
<p>I was considering swinging in to see Furman, UNC, Duke, NC State and William and Mary along the way, but my daughter is highly resistant to college talk right at the moment and we live close enough that if she manages to get high enough test scores to make any of those within reach, we can make a dedicated trip out of it. I just don’t see any benefit to wandering around a bunch of campuses until she’s more interested. We live on the outskirts of Charlottesville so she ends up spending a lot of time wandering the UVa campus. It loses some of its appeal after a while.</p>
<p>As for NMF - we have a LOT of work cut out to approach that. The cut off was 219 here last year and 220 the year before I think. She’s close in writing but not so much in math or grammar. Since she neither studied nor took it very seriously, I’m optimistic. Probably naively so. If she doesn’t get it, so be it, but she might as well make the effort.</p>
<p>STEM - Have you considered doing a virtual high school class for the German 3? Our high school offers French 1,2,3 and AP French but no French 4. I contacted the school to find out if my daughter could get credit for French 4 from keystoneschoolonline.com and they said she could. So for the past year, she’s done a section of that every night. It wasn’t as good as being in the classroom, but it fills a purpose. I see they have German 3. One thing to note - my daughter liked Japanese and French both until she took them online and now she hates both languages. I don’t know if that’s a coincidence, but she is now refusing to take AP French.</p>
<p>Our last day of school is June 24 ( a Sandy make up day) but I don’t think anybody will be there except the teachers because all of the camps ( and summer jobs) begin on the 24th. My daughter has Regents exams and finals until next Tuesday- the kids only go in when they have a test. Threesdad my daughter also plays FH but has no interest in playing after HS. Her summer will involve running the track every evening to get into shape. By the time pre- season begins in August she can generally run 3 miles without stopping. They really place a lot of emphasis on the running; stick handling not as much.</p>
<p>Thanks BunheadMom for bringing up the double major and core requirement issue. It is something that probably wouldn’t come up until suddenly it is relevant.</p>