<p>shacherry, I’m trying to get my D out of Ohio! ;)</p>
<p>3girls3cats, I almost could have written your post.</p>
<p>wrights1994, I saw your post on UNC. D would love to have your son’s SAT/ACT scores. 
She’s not going for a lot of merit aid or entrance into the Ivies/top 50. She found out in June that these exams are not a cakewalk for her and she has to put in study time to get scores she feels reflect her ability.</p>
<p>Slacker we do these visits during the winter break- my daughter does not miss any school. We make sure that we are back in the hotel by 4:00 so she has time to do projects, homework, etc. We did a similar trip with my older one and although it was exhausting, it worked out nicely. Right now we have 6 schools lined up but we may drop it down to 5. That will be our last big college trip- after that we have 3 during spring break and 2 in the summer. My husband and daughter have a tremendous amount of energy!</p>
<p>Oh my goodness! There is so much I want to comment on here…How do you keep straight who said what? lol I read a bunch of posts, have thoughts to type, but can’t keep them all in my head long enough. </p>
<p>I think it was twogirls who said she was surprised her D liked a certain school, even though it didn’t have a main street area to walk to. My D surprised me the same way, That was something she said she really wanted, but she really liked Furman, and there wasn’t anywhere to walk from campus.</p>
<p>It always surprises me to see people listing places in and around Maryland and DC as schools ‘in the south’. That is so far north! lol </p>
<p>I am feeling some of the same frustration some of you have expressed. D wants to have a choice of colleges (who doesn’t), and likes the selective, small colleges. At the same time, she knows she got way overstressed last year, so she’s trying to be more relaxed this year…and I KNOW she needs to do that, and it is a good thing, but PSAT, SAT, GPA…those can be the tickets to what she says she wants, so it’s hard to relax with her. I think she was close on her sophomore PSAT, but I don’t really know how many questions equate to how many points…so she may only need to bump it up a few points to be in NMS range, but I don’t have any idea how hard that is to do. Since she really likes the smaller schools anyway, I don’t think that NM would really do that much for her on its own. It seems to be some of the big state schools that offer the most for that. </p>
<p>I am debating about visiting some of the more distant schools that she is interested in (Wellesley is one…SHe has loved vacation visits to Boston and to DC)). I want her to see what a winter can be like, but I really just want her concentrate her search closer to home. If she could find a place to be happy within a few hours drive, that would be great. To me, the closer, the better. We visited Rollins awhile back, and visited U Richmond, Duke, Elon and Furman this summer. I think we may visit Emory and Agnes Scott this spring sometime. We’re going to try to see more of the in-state Florida schools on weekends here and there.</p>
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<p>D is not really studying. She has books, and I got her a vocab specific book, but she doesn’t spend much time with it. She will take the PSAT next month and either get to NMSF or not, she isn’t too stressed about it and so, neither am I. She had a 194 last year and the cutoff is 205-ish in our state so the additional year will make the difference or it won’t. She’s a conscientious and self-driven student and has done best when I stay mostly out of her way. Getting As this year will be hard and I want her to really focus on that.</p>
<p>Since I notice she isn’t studying much, however, I’m inclined to NOT register her for the SAT this fall as I thought might make sense, to coincide with the PSAT. If she isn’t studying a lot, more time in class, AP English Lang especially, will help her more.</p>
<p>Our strategy for visiting colleges has basically been the same as twogirls. Over the summer we were traveling quite a bit for other reasons, and we tagged extended college visits on to the beginning and end of various trips. That means we’ve visited colleges that are far away, but not the ones that are very close.</p>
<p>There are certain schools where demonstrated interest is important, and we’re planning visits for next summer or return visits for next summer. For the one that’s really close, we’re waiting for out of town visitors :0)</p>
<p>But I’m also feeling like we’ve done the groundwork, and now it’s time to buckle down and work. It’s hard to know what’s going to be appropriate until the Junior year grades and test scores come in. (Now if D will also buckle down – she’s being pulled in a lot of different directions this fall.)</p>
<p>lol, Wrights, it sounds like without even trying your son IS what colleges want! That’s a great thing! You are right to relax some–as much as is possible in this crazy, stressful process–and enjoy him. Even if he wasn’t already a highly desirable candidate, it’s still the right path (IMO). There are concrete things to do that are helpful of course but when you go too far beyond that and start worrying about all the what ifs–I’m talking about me here, not you–then it’s counterproductive. </p>
<p>UNC was a school not at all on either D1 or D2’s radar. Then D1 visited when she was looking at grad schools and LOVED it. I tend to doubt that it would be a good fit for D3 but it sounds like an amazing school. The more I hear about University of South Carolina, the more that school sounds appealing too. </p>
<p>Shacherry, how cool for your son! </p>
<p>Slackermom, for many, maybe even most kids these tests are not a cakewalk. Your D is lucky to have discovered early on that some prep will be necessary for her to do well and I bet she’ll end up exactly where she hopes to be. My D2 is not a natural test taker. She is anxious and overreacts to questions. She’s not a reader either so she doesn’t have a strong grasp on vocabulary. She studied and practiced and ended up with scores over 700 in all categories. Since she’d started with scores quite a bit lower this was flat out amazing.</p>
<p>PS: Comparing sports notes…D plays volleyball and there are freshman, JV and varsity teams. They all travel together on one bus. Everyone does homework in the stands while the other two teams play, this is encouraged (as is looking up from books occasionally to cheer). No one is allowed to leave before all games are over.</p>
<p>In the spring she plays LAX and there are two teams. Both teams stay for both games and though doing HW is theoretically possible, in practice it doesn’t get done out on the field in cold/hot/wet weather.</p>
<p>Wrights and Ohmom, My D hasn’t studied at all yet for the PSAT/SAT. I got her a couple books, but she hasn’t been interested. She didn’t study at all last year for it either since it was just for practice. I’m thinking a couple of her friends might get her interested when it comes down to the wire. She voluntarily signed up for the November SAT. I was hoping that if she studied now and did well, it would remove some pressure and she wouldn’t feel like she had to take it over again. It would be nice to have theat checked off the list! Plus I just know she has always been hard on herself if she doesn’t get the scores or grades she thinks she was capable of. It just feels like such a balancing act…trying to support a more relaxed attitude, but avoiding the issues that can possibly create.</p>
<p>I would prefer my kids don’t know there are schools in the midwest and the west coast ;). And I consider anything Virginia and south to be the “south”. I went to school in Northern Virginia and I had a 100 year old US History teacher whose grandfather was a general in the Civil War. Believe me, I got a perspective of U.S. history that they never taught in New York lol.</p>
<p>shoeboemom
I am with you on how do you remember who said what. I try to refer to my D2 as " softball girl" to distinguish her from the other d2’s in this thread : ) Though I think we now have 2 other softball girls on this thread.</p>
<p>We are 7- 0 in region and have easy regional games left. Our JV and Varsity play on different nights so don’t travel together. In varsity HS a game can last 2 hrs as they play 7 innings. </p>
<p>She is holding on, we are past the crunch point in the season. Play offs begin in October. Since we will be seeded #1 we should have an easier week and will play less games than we did last year. I am keeping my fingers crossed that play offs start the week after the Oct SAT as the plan is still that she will take the SAT test on that date.</p>
<p>Her life is pretty much school work, softball and SAT prep at the moment. I think she is balancing it well. Knowing that HS softball is a short season in GA helps!</p>
<p>Welcome to all the lurkers joining in- any more out there?</p>
<p>Sally…I was just about to ask you if you are in Georgia as that is the only state I know of that plays school ball in the fall. The one thing I like about the indoor sports is that JV and Varsity get to cheer for each other at games. For softball and baseball, they play home/away opposite and barely interact at all. Good luck in the playoffs!</p>
<p>twogirls…any chance on your SUNY visits that you went to Oswego or Plattsburgh? If so, could you share your thoughts on those? Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes we did go to Oswego and Plattsburgh!! We saw those schools with my older daughter. The one thing that I noticed on every SUNY campus was the incredible amount of construction going on everywhere. I was shocked to see them spending so much money. Plattsburgh was a lovely school with a great five year teaching program- combined BA and MA. My daughter was originally an education major but has since changed her mind. What I liked was that they get you into the classroom right away as an undergrad. I remember a main strip about 10 minutes away with a few common chain restaurants and stores. The school is very big on hockey. My daughter did not apply to Plattsburgh because it was a little too “sleepy” for her. I know a few kids who currently go there and they like it. There is also a small town near the school. </p>
<p>Oswego is gorgeous and is right on one of the Great Lakes ( Ontario?). The kids play ball and frisbee outside by the lake- it’s a lot of fun. Oswego is also big on hockey and they have a spectacular, gorgeous ice skating rink on campus. It is truly amazing. The school is just beautiful and the dorms were very nice as well. They have an outstanding education program and they also have a great 3+3 physical therapy program in conjunction with SUNY upstate medical center. My daughter applied and was accepted with merit aid, but ultimately chose a different school that she liked better ( it’s that " fit" thing LOL). The only downside to Oswego is there is really no town or any place to go off campus, but some people may not view that as a negative. I currently know 4 kids who go there and love it.</p>
<p>Thanks twogirls! We are OOS (NJ)…I’ve had them on and off our visit list with fear of little/no aid for OOS. Maybe we should throw the dice, apply and “if” it’s affordable make a visit.</p>
<p>The SUNY schools give merit aid ( most) but I don’t know how it works for OOS. SUNY is still a better deal for OOS students than many other schools are. The $30,000 OOS price tag is not cheap, but compared to others it’s not terrible. I think SUNY schools are cheaper for NJ residents than the schools in NJ (?). The best deal is being an in-state resident attending SUNY- we pay less than $20,000 for my daughter. Of course my 2015er is not that easy- I wish she would apply ED to Binghamton and be done with it, but that would be too simple.</p>
<p>Have you considered other SUNYs? There are so many!! SUNY Brockport gives very nice merit aid- they told us $10,000. That’s pretty good on a $20,000 or $30,000 price tag.</p>
<p>My D was offered full tuition/fees from Stonybrook this past year OOS. She had very good stats and just OK ECs, not extra special. They seemed to have a nice residential honors program and for girls they have a well thought out ‘women in science/engineering’ that you can do instead of ordinary honors with special support, classes, and events.</p>
<p>Lurker here as well. S1 is 2014 so I’ve been busy keeping up with that forum for him, applications, yuk! </p>
<p>S2 is my 2015, he plays water polo and they are also required to stay for all 3 levels of games. They rarely get any homework done, but do quite a bit of cheering. Plus our district has eliminated the funds for buses and parents have to apply for approval to carpool the boys. </p>
<p>He’ll be taking PSAT and PLAN this fall (no studying yet) for the first time and we’re planning for SAT/ACT in May or June after swim season is done. It’s really too much for him when he has to be in the water at 6:00 am every day plus practice or game after school. He’s a young 2015’r (November birthday) so he won’t even be driving until water polo is done and isn’t very good with time management yet.</p>
<p>So much fun to read all the posts here!</p>
<p>I was hoping to do some school visits during the winter break. But I checked several colleges of D’s interest. They will be all closed during the time she has break. so I don’t know what to do. We probably will use a couple days in the spring to visit some schools. But mostly it’ll be either summer or next school year.</p>