Parents of the HS Class of 2015

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
16941

<p>I just heard great comments on Middlebury from a friend who is a college counsellor.</p>

<p>@planner03, there’s lots of green on Columbia’s campus and in Riverside Park a couple of blocks away. @ohmomof2, I lived on 120th St for 5 years back in the 90s and was on campus last month–the neighborhood isl looking good…</p>

<p>About Mary Washington, I know there are people who love it but I just heard recently that a cousin who graduated 8 years ago didn’t enjoy her time there. She felt out of place as an urban northern OOS student and didn’t realize until she was on campus that the majority of students are in-state. A claasmate of D who visited recently didn’t like it for the same reason. Also my cousin didn’t like the 70-30 female to male ratio–she says she saw guys acting like jerks because they felt they were in demand.</p>

<p>Congrats to all who scored well on the ACT, and @jennie11, great to hear about your D getting past her plateau!</p>

16942

<p>@shoboemom‌ I’m just curious to know why you think Duke is ‘overwhelming’ for undergrad. It happens to be one of the few elite universities that has a strong undergraduate focus.</p>

16943

<p>Shoboe I read a lot on CC that once you get a certain score, typically a 2200+ and a 33+ (?) your scores are good enough to apply anywhere in the country and getting in or not will no longer depend on your scores. I think this is what people mean when they say that their score allows them to apply anywhere. </p>

<p>At the same time I am not exactly sure what that minimum number is because I see kids all the time here asking if they should retake their 34 or 2280. Personally, once you have a 2280 or a 34 I do not think retesting will make a difference in getting accepted or not. I think at that point it’s best to focus on other things. </p>

<p>We did not find Duke to be overwhelming, but we found it to be disconnected and a bit cold. It was a feeling that we did not find elsewhere, like at our beloved Emory :x. Duke is obviously an excellent school but we were just not feeling it. I found UNC-CP to be extremely overwhelming, but D did not. She liked it. </p>

16944

<p>I think a 31 on the ACT is high enough to be considered and at least pass through the “test score filter” most anywhere. Back when D’12 was looking at some Ivies, I looked at HYPSM’s 25th percentile and seem to remember that being the threshold.</p>

<p>1 more tour this morning and then we’re done for a while. Planning to hit S’15’s OOS options in the fall.</p>

16945

<p>@Misanthrope1: A lot of folks just don’t feel the vibe at Duke. I know kids who get freaked out about the “two campus” thing, assume the Greek scene is like Bama just because it’s in the South, or can’t get over the lacrosse scandal even though that happened when this year’s HS seniors were in third grade. And, perhaps for those reasons – plus the basketball haters – the school seems to call out more strongly polarized views from folks here than most other top 10 schools. You’re not going to change their minds, and, besides, I have a vested personal interest in keeping this year’s application pool as small as possible. </p>

<p>Or, to summarize: ¯_(ツ)_/¯</p>

16946

<p>@misanthrope1, I think it;s wise that you are actually paying attention to the focus of the school! Our visits are really more focused on the feel of the campus while we are there, so our thoughts on Duke don’t reflect their programs at all. Keep in mind that D wants something smaller, and does not want a large school feel, so what seems overwhelming for her might not be at all for someone else! D actually liked it very much, and if she does go on to grad school, would love to aim for Duke. She just though it was too overwhelming for the first 4 yrs. Duke is a pretty campus, but it is confusing. Some of the buildings are far apart and over hills or around corners. It is not easily walkable. The freshman campus is completely separate (attached by a road) and although one could walk, most probably wouldn’t, so it would be a bus ride. That part isn’t on the tour, but she and my H explored it briefly on their own (I stayed in the car so I could move it since we couldn’t find a ‘legal’ place to park…parking issues added to the ‘overwhelming’ feeling.) Now, by the time they did that it was dark, and it was raining, so that didn’t help…but neither of them liked the freshman area. They went in a dining hall. They said it was very Harry Potter like, but just didn’t get a good feeling…H kept jokingly referencing Lord of the Flies, with the Freshman being off on their own. Hmmm. don’t think it was THAT bad! LOL
<strong>Sidenote: It’s funny but when Duke has the freshmen off on their own we got the ‘tossed aside’ sense, but when Emory has the optional Oxford campus (for freshmen/sophomores) we got a more nurturing sense. I guess it’s that Duke doesn’t talk about the freshman campus much, or how it might benefit students</strong>.</p>

<p>When we were there (main campus), they were doing some construction and the main dining hall was closed, so we had to wander a bit to find food, and we found it just a little less comfortable to walk up and ask people for directions. People just seemed to be focused on their destinations. The first person I asked for directions turned out to be a grad student and she didn’t know the campus well. But we did find food (McDonalds and Panda Express), and D went and sat with a couple students nearby and talked with them. Everyone we did talk to was very nice, and D said talking to the students there reassured her that she could handle the workload. They didn’t feel the work was too much and had time for other things. But, in the end, just too much too soon for D, and with their low acceptance rate, not a place I want to talk her into applying, but certainly a place I’d be happy for her to go.</p>

<p>Oh, yeah, and like SOG said…D would be one of the basketball haters. lol Not just basketball, but the focus on sports…doesn’t want a big football school either. Duke tour talked a lot about the basketball, and about camping out for tickets. No question that Duke is strongly academic, but she didn’t care for the basketball talk on the tour.</p>

<p>Have you visited? I need to figure out how to get photos off of my phone and post them on CC, or somewhere(I think there is a place for that??) I have lots of pics of schools now! lol</p>

<p>I am always surprised when I don’t see others on the tour taking pics. My 2 biggest tour tips would be take pics and talk to random students. </p>

16947

<p>I keep getting myself confused. I will look at a school (currently confused about American U)…and decide that with FA, and/or merit, it is doable, and then d gets interested, I look again and wonder how I got the idea it would work. American’s Net price calculator is very basic, and I think I was more hopeful for merit there, but reading on their site now, I see descriptions of merit, but no details on what qualifies for merit or the likely amounts. Was I dreaming that? This has happened with other schools. I decide it’s financially possible, then look again, and don’t know how I came to that conclusion…I think some of what I learn about merit must be from other sources (CC?) and so looking back at the school website isn’t helpful.
Is anyone else this disorganized and confused? </p>

16948

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<p>IMO, they don’t do as good a job of “selling” East as they should. For DC#1, living on East – with about 1,700 other freshmen – was a plus-factor in convincing him that the school could feel small enough to suit him while providing all the resources of world-class university. (Nearly all the other schools on his list were 2,000-student LACs.) The bus situation can be a nuisance, but it’s a quick trip (10 minutes), and the buses run frequently. Kids at Duke don’t spend any more time on buses than kids at most state schools. It’s just that the buses pass through a mile of woods and past the gardens rather than past a bunch of buildings. </p>

16949

<p>BC has the same issue. About half of the freshman (I think that’s the number) live at a location where they have to take a bus to campus.</p>

<p>@shoboemom, I do EXACTLY the same thing. I looked into American and even called them and I <em>think</em> they told me that the max merit aid is 20K, but now I’m doubting myself and think it might be 30K. In any event, I’ve got to do a better job of keeping track of this.</p>

16950

<p>Shoboe I find some websites to be unclear. For example somebody from our school received a full tuition scholarship to GW and it was definitely not FA, yet I can’t find anything on their website that states that they have these awards. </p>

16951

<p>@twogirls, I think I called GW as well and was told their maximum merit scholarships were for 30K. I don’t know if that’s true or not so don’t rely on that. I agree that their website is vague on this.</p>

<p>Also, American’s website is frustrating because it breaks down the COA by semester and it’s hard to pull out the information that I needed to do an apples-to-apples comparison with other schools.</p>

16952

<p>Oh at USC (Carolina) they said that if you are on the lower end of the range of stats to get into honors, that might mean you get in, but no money. :frowning: They said about 2000 people apply to honors but only 400+ get in.</p>

16953

<p>@shoboemom‌ Thanks for the explanation! I just felt the comment was a little ambiguous. There is a lot of construction work going on at Duke because its summer and most students aren’t on campus. The campus is quite large, but parts that are ‘relevant’ to undergraduates are actually in close proximity to each other. The bus-ride between campuses is seldom longer than 10 minutes so that’s not an issue for most people. Caring about Duke basketball is not obligatory by any means! I know plenty of Duke students (myself included) who don’t particularly care for ‘big-time’ college athletics. </p>

<p>I’m not trying to get you to change your mind about Duke! Just doing my best to clarify a few misconceptions for prospective students who may chance upon this thread :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I wish your daughter the best of luck with the grueling application process! </p>

16954

<p>I have no “skin in the game” when it comes to Duke – my D isn’t interested. But I’ve noticed that her friends who visit have had really conflicting views. One wants to apply ED and a few others absolutely hated it there. I have to admit it does make me want to visit, just to see why it elicits such a strong response (either super positive or very negative) from kids we know. Other colleges tend to result in more ambivalent reports.</p>

16955

<p>Does anyone know anything about the College of NJ, good, bad, or other?</p>

16956

<p>My friends daughter ( good student) wanted to go but needed money so she turned it down. My other friend from work has a son who just graduated HS and will be attending in the fall. I was told it’s a beautiful school - my friend’s son will be on the track team. I think I remember her saying something about kids being assigned housing based on their major but I may be mistaken. That’s about all I know. </p>

16957

<p>Thanks twogirls. The housing by majors sounds like it may be appealing to DS. I thought he was pretty wrapped up but he is at a camp at a college where he is being recruited. He is turned off because he hears everyone taking about drugs. This school (which i am deliberately keeping nameless in the event a school is monitoring this site) was one of his top picks. It still may turn Round by the end of camp. But I really think his heart is leaning toward ursinus - which scares me because of the cost. College of NJ may be one we want to add to the list. I believe it is a little more affordable. Ursinus is almost $60k.</p>

16958

<p>@shoboemom‌ I would be really surprised if you can get into honors at South Carolina and not get a scholarship of some type. All of my daughters friends got scholarship and she has several friends in Capstone that did not get into honors that got money too. Only about 320 in her class were in honors. The 8 essays is grueling and makes it so you have to really want it!</p>

16959

<p>@wrestlersmom : My DD’s top choice is the The College of New Jersey. For us, it presents a tremendous value as in state students (under $30K)…It is considered the state honors college. Also see: <a href=“New Jersey Colleges SAT Score Comparison for Admission”>http://collegeapps.about.com/od/sat/a/top-new-jersey-sat-scores.htm&lt;/a&gt; TCNJ is 3rd (Behind Princeton and Stevens in Math SAT scores). It has about 5000 undergrads so makes for a nice medium sized school.</p>

<p>We are also looking at Ursinus…but that is assuming she will get some merit money.</p>

16960

<p>For the Still-NO-Score-Reporting (but Taking-My-Money) ACT Org: I would like to describe it/them using a word that starts with “S” and ends with “K”…but I don’t think Mary Ann actually uses that word. >:P </p>