<p>@giterdone - that is why i am not willing to break the bank for undergrad. DS will likely major in math and go to grad school for an engineering discipline. I am trying to look ahead and save something for grad school in case an employer won’t. I still think the 4 year degree is a must – if for no other reason than to allow some extra maturity time. While my DS might academically be able to go to work right away, he will be a much better employee after growing up a little more!</p>
<p>I do a lot of engineering recruiting and I will say there is not one of my clients that view an associates the same as a bachelors degree in engineering. I will say that most of my clients prefer BSME over BSMET but a bachelors is almost always required for a good engineering job. </p>
<p>It finally happen the summer reading is a HIT with D; she is reading Still Alice. She is deeply fascinated with Alzheimer’s Disease and has luck would have it, the book is about the onset and the perspective on how one feels when this occurs.</p>
<p>She has shadowed a few days in different facilities and she is enjoying it.</p>
<p>Still no progress in cleaning her room, but I do have my dinning room table back, at least for a few more weeks.</p>
<p>@Hoosier96 I loved Still Alice and can see how it would be an intriguing read. That’s a great summer reading choice for her. Was it a required summer reading? My kids usually get the worst summer reading choices!</p>
<p>We are nearly done with with our college tour! One more ( univ of South Carolina) tomorrow, then home. I will post reports soon!<br>
Now D has gotten inspired and is researching essay topics, etc It looks like all the schools still on her list are Common App. She wants to know what the common app essay is, but hasn’t found that info. Anyone know what it is?<br>
She went through and found essay topics from all her schools of interest, but some of them appeared to still be the essay for this past year.</p>
<p>@shoboemom, here are the prompts (she just needs to choose one):</p>
<pre><code>Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
</code></pre>
<p>@ahsmuoh I thought (intuitively) the same thing. He quoted some industry report that gets circulated to companies re: starting salaries each year. He argued this was the first year when there was no premium associated with the 4 year degree. We boiled the argument down to “starting pay” not preferences or anything. And they don’t pay any more for a 4 year degree over a 2 year degree. They interview with the Directors of each department and make offers based on those interviews.</p>
<p>@shoboemom - if you have time try to stop at The Blue Marlin for lunch. It is in Gervais Street right by the campus. It is my favorite in Columbia!</p>
<p>@shoboemom if she likes South Carolina and applies to honors than she will have lots of essays! 8 to be exact! They do a good job of mailing sure kids really want to be in honors! My d13 loves it at South Carolina!</p>
<p>A few of you expressed interest in a Tulane report, so here it is! You may recall that I posted before that as we drove toward TULANE, on I10 , it just seemed to get longer and longer, and there just isn’t really much on the way; not a lot of places to stop for anything, food, gas etc. just not a stretch of road you’d want to break down on ( or have your kid break down on if they are driving to/ from Tulane. Then on the way out, we headed from Tulane to Atlanta, so back on 10 for a while then more nothing, and several depressed areas. So it pointed out to me that you might think of New Orleans like an island. Once you are there you stay there, not much to do within a couple hours drive or for a day trip. I was also surprised that New Orleans has a true downtown, tall buildings and everything. We only drove past that, didn’t explore it, but I hadn’t even realized it was there.
New Orleans is divided into fairly distinct sections, and the section that tulane is in, along St Charles street is very nice. Tulane is literally in the midst of a row of mansions. Right behind that front building (admissions) are the academic buildings and quad. Then across a small street are the dorms and food. Our tour guide said the food is “ok, ya know, college food”. Lol.<br>
I would describe our tour guide as a bit crunchy, granola, a free spirit, adventure seeking type. D asked her a couple times about the partying issue. She said you can avoid it, but she did also emphasize that is IS New Orleans, after all. She said her sister was going to come to Tulane also, but had similar concerns about the partying and ended up going elsewhere ( somewhere in michigan). I found that to be pretty telling.<br>
They have 1 all female freshman dorm there. About 25% of freshman girls live there.<br>
It’s a pretty campus, but there are some areas that seemed to need maintenance. We didn’t get to see inside a dorm, but a few looked a little rough from the outside. The dorm buildings were varied. Some looked better than others, but you don’t get to choose. Dorms all have A/C, but they don’t have heat.<br>
The gym was very nice. 2 pools, indoor running track, nice, open and airy.
in the info session they told us that it is easy to take classes outside of your major, but is more limited if you are trying to take classes that are in business or architecture if you aren’t in those schools.<br>
Campus police patrol the campus and a 2 mile radius around campus. They have some sort of text system where you can tell the police where you are headed and then if you don’t text that you’ve arrived they come looking for you.
Once we drove, and drove, and drove to see Tulane, and then accidentally drove through a sketchy part of town on the way to the college (edge of sketchy part seems about a mile or so from the college) I was pretty convinced she should cross it off her list, but it does seem like a good school and D really liked it. She even bought a t shirt! Then we headed to the French quarter. It’s normally a 20 minute ($1.25) street car ride from tulane to the French quarter but one section was being repaired while we were there so we chose to drive. The French quarter encompasses a much larger area than I had imagined. Tricky to drive around with narrow one way streets, people parking, and crossing the street…busy! D liked the various street performers, didn’t care for the the crowds, or the number of homeless :-(.<br>
We did get a muffuletta at Central grocery. That was interesting. Lol. Mixed reviews on the sandwich, but the atmosphere was intriguing…service was as described…not service with a smile. Lol. But what was strange is that it was very busy, but very quiet. Is everyone afraid to talk ?! So…muffuletta, check. Get caught in the rain. Check. Beignets at cafe du mond, check! We were happy to get a good sampling of the New Orleans experience in our very brief visit!</p>
<p>Thanks for the report Shoboemom!! I keep asking D if she wants to apply to Tulane, and she keeps telling me no. I get the feeling that there may be more partying than what she wants, so I won’t argue. I would love for her to apply to the U of SC honors program but she really really does not want to - she keeps calling it a " random school" and has no idea why I keep pushing it. I tried to explain that it’s not random, and the people there would think that Binghamton is random. I told her that the honors program is very highly regarded but I can’t get her to change her mind - oh well. </p>
<p>D has 11 schools on her final list, and I am open to adding one more if we find one. She started the Select Status Pitt app today- the regular app would not work for her (?)- and this " streamlined " app is still taking a long time as there are a few essays- some very short and some longer. I have mixed feelings about completing this shorter version but she will send in a resume of activities and awards, and will send in letters of rec with the transcript. I will have D email admissions and ask them to hold off on her app until all of the extras have been received so that they can see the whole picture. </p>
<p>I am beginning to understand why 15 applications may be a bit much given the amount of essays that she will need to do, although she does not seem to mind them. 11 schools is a more manageable number and will give her more time to do quality applications. </p>
<p>Shoboe I like the idea of the text system with the police. Many schools also have a system in place where you can call campus police and they will escort you home if you feel uncomfortable. </p>
<p>We’ve heard on several tours about the police escort services; it’s a great idea. When I started graduate school at the University of Chicago in the mid-80s, the campus police would escort you home or wherever you needed to go, but they didn’t want to be a taxi service. So you would walk and they would drive along next to you at three miles an hour. It was a hoot. They eventually decided there was nothing wrong with being a taxi service and started taking you in the car. I was in Hyde Park for seven years altogether and never failed to be impressed with the UofC police. My last year there I was neither a university employee nor a student any longer, and I’d still call for a ride home from a campus movie or event sometimes, and they were happy to do it, never asked for any id.</p>
<p>D1 is thinking about Tulane as well, mostly on the strength of a friend of hers being there, and also her college counselor (private, paid) thinks she’s likely to get merit aid. She’s advising us to apply Early Action. I’m unsure because of the party school reputation – that’s exactly what D1 doesn’t want. </p>
<p>Tulane gives a tremendous amount of merit aid ( from what I have read) but it also seems to track interest and it’s probably a good idea to visit ( again- from what I have read). They also tend to defer kids to regular decision if they they think you are using them as a safety school, which is why it’s important to visit if possible. If D took a strong interest in the school we would have to visit, but she does not seem to have any interest. It is on the list given to us by guidance ( along with 38 other schools- ugh). I suspect she does not want to go given the kids from our school who attend- they are not her type. Of course it’s a big school and she does not have to hang out with these girls, but try explaining that to a 17 year old. A girl from D12’s year got a full tuition scholarship and she was not a tippy top student. I assume she was a good student but she was not way at the top of the class- which I suppose proves that Tulane gives nice merit. D removed the following four schools from her final list: Duke ( did not " feel it" and felt the campus was disconnected), U of Rochester ( did not seem to have school spirit- her opinion), U of S Carolina ( not exactly sure why this was removed), and the U of Delaware ( great school, very spirited, pretty campus, but we all came to the conclusion independently of one another that it probably is not for her and that if there was a choice between UDel and Binghamton she would choose Binghamton because it is more of a fit). </p>
<p>I actually think she did a good job narrowing down her list to the 11 schools she chose. We needed to make sure that her safety schools still gave her the academic " nerdy" vibe that she likes, and I think she accomplished that. </p>
<p>My d13 also took Duke off her list a couple years ago. It’s strange how the two campuses are so separate. They don’t even show you the “other” campus - the one where the freshman live -we drove there on our own. </p>
<p>We had a college conversation with our daughter the other day, and it looks like she has her final list nailed down. She’ll be applying to 6 schools; for a while I thought she might only apply to 4-5. I’m hoping I can get her to work on essays over the summer.</p>
</p>