<p>Welcome, disneydad! I hope your son has great first year of college!</p>
<p>@TwoGirls- Hw is your eldest D doing? I hope her recovery went well.</p>
<p>@ Everyone–Thanks, for all the positive comments about Bunheadgirl. We’re proud of her and have learned she dances to her own beat, and not to compare her to her brother.</p>
<p>@ DisneyDad–Welcome, and enjoy the road trip as we move towards boarding the cruise ship in preparation of launching the Class of 2015.</p>
<p>My daughter is doing very well- thanks for asking! Her surgery was Monday and by Friday night she was out with friends and going to dinner. She is still sleeping, but yesterday the swelling was about 99% gone. She stopped complaining about pain/discomfort by Thursday.</p>
<p>My rising junior ( gasp) has started discussing colleges. One week ago as a sophomore she was not ready- go figure. She did not think that any of her friends were discussing colleges which I know is false because in the car one was discussing an upcoming July visit. I do not bring up the subject - I put her name on a bunch of mailing lists and she has started looking at the info and discussing it all with me. Yesterday she announced that she does not want a city campus, but literally 30 seconds later she changed her mind and said maybe she would. I told her that the purpose of these visits is just to see what she likes and what she does not- it does not mean she has to apply. She crossed Northeastern off the list because it felt " cold" and " disjointed" to her. I tend to agree, but she wants to visit again if we have time. Yesterday she said that she liked the U of Rochester because of their open curriculum. She must have paid more attention than I did because I did not catch the part about the open curriculum. She crossed SUNY Geneseo off the list because it was too small for her- she may change her mind about that, who knows. I am just happy that she is talking about it now- that is a huge step. Yesterday she told me that she wants to get started on her summer reading. Around November/December there is a huge college fair at our local CC that I want her to go to. I want her to start introducing herself to some college reps. My fear is that she won’t want to leave the house. I guess we will worry about that as we get closer.
It’s so nice to see her socializing with her friends and being a kid. Last night they were outside playing with water balloons. I almost started to cry because during the school year she never takes the time to do this stuff.</p>
<p>On Friday my daughter went to a training session for mentoring incoming freshmen. They were placed into smaller groups of 5-6, and in my daughter’s group was a girl that she has known since elementary school. They used to be a little bit friendly when they were much younger, but have since parted ways because they are so different in terms of personality etc. This girl announced that the goal of being a mentor is to be a friend to the freshmen and to be completely honest with them as to which teachers are " mean" and " b****y". Well… There was just no way that my daughter was going to agree with this. She announced that she has a great relationship with her teachers and does not find them to be mean, and that what this girl is doing is based on opinion, not fact. She also announced that it is 100% wrong to trash the school and the teacher to these future 9th graders. She said that as mentors they are there to represent the school. If a student comes to them with a problem then it is their job to provide guidance. Then my daughter walked over to a teacher and told her what was going on in her group ( she did not mention names). I received a text from my daughter that she got into a small " feud" with this girl but that she handled it. The teacher walked over to the group and announced that there will be no trashing of teachers to incoming freshmen. I am proud of my daughter for defending what she knows is right, but at the same time I am a bit annoyed that the school did not do a better job of screening its mentors. They accepted everyone who applied- I think they need to tell some of these kids what is acceptable versus what is unacceptable.</p>
<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>thank you all for posting so openly about your experiences. I am learning so much about the whole process for my son who turned 16 last week. It is amazing how much I have picked up on CC; I just wish my son did half as much research as I do!</p>
<p>We live in the UK, and so are used to a very different education system, but I am beginning to understand the lingo now:), and this son is a rising HS junior.</p>
<p>Because of where we live, we won’t be doing any real visits until after he has heard from everyone he applies to - I hope he gets more than one offer as it is always great to have a choice. Incidentally, I did the same with my older son, who is now a rising college junior (in the UK - going into the 3rd year of a 4 year MA degree). Our thinking was that we had certain minimums, and there was nothing not to like in a uni that provided them. The converse to this was what was the point of falling in love with a place and not getting in. Having said, we made one exception - Oxford. We visited, he fell in love with it and didn’t get in. He is happily in his second choice.</p>
<p>With this son, we shall be making no exceptions re his US choices, and with the UK ones, as he is determined to study in the US, he will be less emotionally invested. Well, that’s the theory of my plan.</p>
<p>Wow, what a long intro. Anyway, hi everyone, I hope to get to know you over the next 18 months, and good luck to all your children!</p>
<p>Hello researchmum. When I’m being annoying, my son threatens to go to school in the wilds of the UK. Does your son have a US geographic or university versus college preference? Has he been here before? Did you know that to our colonial ears a British accent raises your IQ 10 points?</p>
<p><a href=“British Invasion Reshuffles U.S. Media - The New York Times”>British Invasion Reshuffles U.S. Media - The New York Times;
<p>LOL about the accent raising IQ points! I think a Brit and Aussie accent raises some sex appeal points for us colonials too - for the adults that is. ;)</p>
<p>Welcome Disneydad and researchmum!</p>
<p>Welcome disneydad and researchmum. It will be fun to hear about your experiences in the UK process, researchmum, and to compare how it works there vs. here. </p>
<p>That is funny about the effect of the British accent on our American ears. Isn’t it funny how certain accents seem to have an automatic, favorable impact? (I cringe when I think how we must sound around the world.)</p>
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<p>Haha. Thanks and also to Suzy100. Not sure there are any wilds left in the UK:). In terms of unis, he doesn’t really have any preferences just yet. He is a swimmer, so the swimming programme will have to be good. He also wants to devote his life to scientific research, with a leaning towards Biology. As you can probably see, he should have quite a few choices. Another factor is that he would like to be on the swim team from day 1, and so no doubt his choices will be narrowed down some more by this time next year. Whilst we both love a couple of Div 3 LACs, I am concerned that the set up there might not be sufficient for what he might need. They stop training in Feb, or March if you make NCAAs. He trains all year round until the end of our Nationals in early August - as do all serious competitive swimmers here. Lastly, the uni needs to have a good reputation as he might decide to do his postgrad back in the UK, and UK unis are a bit fussy like that.</p>
<p>All in all, I think the framework is in place, we just need to see what he gets for his GCSEs (to work out a GPA, which we don’t use here), sit the standardised tests - prob ACT, as it is more knowledge based and then SAT IIs, see what his times are in a year, which coaches are keen to develop him, and then I think his final 5 (max) will jump out at us. A daunting task, but before this all started, he agreed that if a uni wasn’t nearly perfect based on his stated needs, he would stay in the UK.</p>
<p>Re accent, that is so funny. Yes he has been a few times, especially when we owned a home in Kissimmee, but not so much in the last 5 years. Every time we visit, people always say “I love your accent”! It makes us laugh. Regarding his accent though, unless he grows out of his grunting/ mumble dialogue, no one will be able to work out what accent he has!</p>
<p>How about you, any particular uni preferences ( sorry if I have missed this if you have posted on this already):)</p>
<p>Welcome Researchmum I am so excited to have you join our group! Uni preferences should start rolling in during junior year as visits get underway ( at least we are hoping LOL).</p>
<p>@3girls3cats. Thanks. haha re UK process.</p>
<p>I think it is a lot more straightforward in the UK, as the US system seems to depend on so many variables, but I think he US process is better in the long run. In the UK, you can only apply to a max of 5 unis through a common app, so that helps you focus really quickly. We only write 1 essay and our standardised tests are our A level/ IB. You do one or the other for your 2 years in 6th form (Junior and Senior yrs).</p>
<p>We tend to go for 2 reaches, 2 meets and 1 safety - some have been known to go for 5 reaches and then get no offers…</p>
<p>When you get your offers, you MUST then choose one as your firm, and the other as your insurance should you not make your firm’s offer. All offers are conditional on your final A level/IB results, unless you already have them and you are applying a year late, in which case you only choose one uni from those that have made you offers and you are bound to it.</p>
<p>When the A level/IB results are released, if you make your firm’s offer, that’s it, you go there. If not, you go to your insurance. If you didn’t make that either, you drop into Clearing to scrape the barrel.</p>
<p>Your system seems better in that once you have your offers, you are effectively guaranteed that place unless you mess up spectacularly in the meantime…</p>
<p>Those are the main differences I can think of right now, but if anyone is thinking of going to the UK, then please fire any specific questions my way:)</p>
<p>Thanks @twogirls:):)</p>
<p>Interesting, Researchmum. My S2015 will be go to UWC Atlantic College to do an IB program in Wales. I was wondering why they said you could only apply to 5 universities. I hope they’ll make exceptions for US students applying to US schools! My D13 applied to 11 schools. She cast a wide net looking for merit aid. I expect her brother will need to do the same.</p>
<p>Twogirls, You must be very proud of your daughter. I know I would be. Good for her that she stuck up for what she believed! She will be a good mentor.</p>
<p>Hi researchmum, My son will travel a similar college admissions path. He also just turned 16 and has UK and US schools on his list so far. He is in an IB program. He knows Oxford very well and spends every summer there. However, I’m not sure if it will remain on his list. We will see if his scores remain high enough.</p>
<p>@Apollo6, hi. I think the 5 uni restriction only relates to ppl in the UK applying to UK unis, I think most UK unis have separate application forms for International students I.e. outside the common application (called UCAS). I am sure your son will be absolutely fine. I said we would probably only apply to 5 in the US as i would be bound to go mad if there were any more :). Is your son going to Wales from Sept, or is he already there? Wales is lovely, it is only that every time except once, hat I have been there, it has rained:(. My son’s school offers both the IB and A levels, but says he wants to do the latter because it allows earlier specialisation; I’d rather he did the IB, but it is his choice, I guess. Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>@Muf123 Oxford is absolutely gorgeous, isn’t it? Your son is lucky to spend every Summer there. That will read very well on his Personal Statement (aka UK admissions essay) if he applies there, and also in the US. Well done to you guys for arranging that. I think my son will apply to Edinburgh, Bath and possibly Manchester. We probably won’t even apply to our full quota of 5. I really love the Scottish unis. S1 is in St. Andrews, which he loves, but unless S2 gives up swimming, St. A will be no good for him - they don’t even have a uni pool; they use the 25m pool in the town for their water sports, and so they are not that good at these. Otherwise, it would have been perfect.</p>
<p>@twogirls, yes, well done to your daughter, and well done to you too for bringing her up with such a good moral compass. Most young ones these days find it so hard to resist peer pressure.</p>
<p>Welcome research! 3 of my son’s friends from HS (here in the US) went to Edinburgh (they all just finished their first years of college). All 3 report that they loved it.</p>
<p>Two were admitted straight away but one had a conditional admit dependent on his senior year AP scores. I thought that was odd at the time but I guess it’s the norm there.</p>
<p>Apollo and Researchmum thx- yes that’s my daughter. She marches to her own drum.
She had a full day today going to her camp job and then her drivers Ed meeting. She is now studying SAT vocabulary from the tutor and wants me to quiz her. She says she will take the practice tests after she gets through the vocabulary.
Researchmum I find it fascinating learning how things work in other areas. Thanks for sharing!</p>
<p>Researchmum – Have you considered the financial aspects of your son’s aspiration to study in the US? Folks from countries that do a better job subsidizing higher education often find US colleges to be shockingly expensive. (Many Americans are also shocked by the costs.) Unless your son is a US citizen, or establishes legal residency, he is unlikely to qualify for financial aid.</p>
<p>@ OHMomof2, hi! If your son hasn’t been, he should go visit them and perhaps do a tour of the UK from their base, particularly if they go off campus from next year. Edinburgh uni is very beautiful, and is one of the world’s top unis in most disciplines. Do you know what they are studying?</p>
<p>@mihcal1, thanks. Yes. Yes. Yes :)</p>