Parents of the HS Class of 2017 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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Thank you all for cheering for Science Olympiad. Actual tournament ison Saturday with trial events and opening ceremony on Friday. University of Wisconsin-Stout is such a small campus that they may not have space for all parents to watch the opening and closing ceremonies! Very disappointing. Lot of big schools don’t compete to host since they have to offer scholarships to winners.

l Already tried fried cheese curds @ a family run diner and they are excellent :slight_smile:

I don’t think we have to worry about health insurance due to Obamacare if we have good insurance.

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Ha, I forgot what I came here to post in the first place! D and I went to a little admissions presentation/mini college fair which was put on by Case Western, U of Rochester, Brandeis, and NYU. It was certainly informative enough to be worth the drive. We were mostly there to see Case and D enjoyed their presentation. The adcom specifically said that Case is not a good school for “undecided” students. It seems like every school we’ve visited has given some version of “It’s fine if you’re undecided! Take your time!” so it was interesting to hear this. We probably won’t visit, but she plans on applying (at this point anyway).

Our surprise was that she really loved U of Rochester. She had actually removed it from the list (I’d put it on from a CC rec) for reasons neither of us could remember. The two things she loved most about UofR were their open curriculum (virtually no core/gen ed req’s) and their Take Five program. I’ve never heard of anything like the Take Five – if students are on track to graduate at the end of their fourth year, they can apply to a program that allows them to take a fifth year tuition free(!) in a different area of study.

She really liked the Brandeis presentation, but no engineering. She has no interest in NYU and I’m sure they feel the same about her!

One interesting thing – a couple of the adcoms talked about that good ol’ “demonstrate interest!” cliche and I guess it really is true. Always fill out the card! The UofR adcom mentioned that the reason these schools are here is because they want more students from CO. Something to keep in mind if you see a school you’re interested in coming to your state (especially from far away) – they want you! Well, at least a few of you. :wink:

D got a little more info from that 3 day tech summit she’s doing and there will indeed be a day at Google. So it will be a day each at Google, Pandora, and Twitter – I want to go too!

@SincererLove H and I are GT grads! I’m sure times have changed, but I do know you can get there by MARTA (the rail system). I’m not sure about Emory. I’ve been there and remember it being a bit more remote. Atlanta’s a great city!

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Well D is done with AP testing…finally. AP Spanish Lang didn’t go as well as she hoped and she was really bummed. She didn’t have enough time for the speaking sections. I’m sure it was fine and even if not, it’s just a test. She’s too hard on herself. Looking forward to celebratory crepes.

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@snoozn - Thanks for posting on Case Western and University of Rochester. My S is considering both for their BS/MD programs. Did they give any info on those programs?

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@snoozn – You may know all of this, but I think CWRU was one of those schools that kept sending the ‘no app fee’ emails to my older son. (He was not the STEM child so didn’t even look at Case.)

U of R definitely tracks interest and encourages interviews. I believe they offer attractive merit aid also. They are on our summer visit list. STILL trying to figure out how to get myself to CMU & Rochester.

Lehigh offers a fifth year free if students maintain a certain GPA. Maybe 3.7.

And I think Clark in Worcester has some sort of 5th year program also.

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@snoozn Interesting what the adcom said about CWRU and ‘undecided’ kids. You apply to the school, not a dept. or major. That seems to be at odds with what they are telling you. They always talked about how easy it was to change majors, take classes in anything outside your major.

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@2muchquan and @snoozn I was about to post the exact same comment at 2muchquan. Unlike some other schools, at Case, you apply to the school and can decide on a major after you matriculate. At other schools, like Johns Hopkins for example, if a student wants to study biomedical engineering, they must be accepted to the program as well as the school.

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For those applying to Case, I don’t think they are as number focused on test scores for their scholarships as some schools. Our ds had solid test scores, but they were not near perfect at all. (Long story short, he is dyslexic and we did not pursue extra time.) Anyway, based on what I could tell by kids posting their stats and scholarship $$ here on CC, he was awarded their largest scholarship $ amt. (I didn’t see any kids posting $$ larger than his award.)

I am assuming that his award was based on the strength of his transcripts and LOR.

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@Mom2aphysicsgeek – thanks for sharing about Case - it is on our list to visit! My DS is into EECS. Do you have a DS there now/ If so - how is it going for him? thanks!

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@SincererLove wrote

Ok, the public transportation in Atlanta absolutely sucks. Just stinks. So with regards to transportation, use Uber. Don’t try and figure out the buses, and the Marta train won’t get you from Emory to Tech.

Here’s how to get from Emory to Tech on the MARTA:

https://martaguide.com/2009/10/13/marta-to-georgia-tech/

notice the “cross over the interstate on foot” part-lol.

Emory and Tech run a shuttle bus back and forth:

http://transportation.emory.edu/shuttles/

I’ve never used it, but it’s there.

I would STRONGLY recommend you stay on or near the Emory campus and Uber over to Tech. I don’t want to scare you away from Tech (but now I’m gonna) but there is a lot of crime on and around the Tech and GA State campus. My daughter’s dorm room at Tech was robbed when she was there for Duke TiP last summer, and the person who robbed her room (and the entire floor) just walked in. She was freaked out because she’d been taking a nap and was worried the person came into her room when she was asleep (it turns out the stuff had already been taken and she didn’t notice until later).

Two students were robbed at gunpoint in the school library at GA State last month (it’s right next to to Tech). I don’t want to scare you off of Tech, but I do want you to be aware that there is a significant issue with crime that the city is not handling very well (in my opinion).

Emory may look close on the map, but in terms of safety and feel of the campus, it may as well be on another planet. It’s gorgeous and the area around it is really lovely and walkable. There are a ton of cool shops and places to see. It’s just really welcoming and an entirely different vibe than the area around Tech.

D17 exempted out of three finals-you don’t have to take them if you get an A. We call her “Skin of Your Teeth (our last name)” because her A’s were 91, 91, and 89.6. I’m really glad we just have letter grades here and not numerical! She’s got a talent for doing just enough work to get the job done :).

D18 seems to have it backwards-her grades are mostly 89’s and 79’s. I’m like, augh, you are SO close!!! Hasn’t quite mastered the skin of the teeth thing yet, lol.

I have syllabi for two of the four classes I’m taking next month, which is cool because it gives me a huge head start. One class has us reading three novel-length books in 1 month, so that’s going to, um, suck. I started on the William Gibson one already, and I just got Anthropologist On Mars from Oliver Sacks in the mail. How To See is the third one, written by an art professor at U Chicago-that one thankfully has a lot of pictures in it.

The surrealist history class has somehow morphed into a “make surrealist art” class, which is fine. I just need to bone up on Dali.

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As usual Case Western was my D favorite school after visiting. They all are lol. Now that we’ve visited some more southern schools it’s still hanging in there but slipping. She really liked the urban feel. A lot of people mentioned the busy street going through the middle of campus. When we visited it I didn’t even notice since many streets we live by are much busier.

But she would definitely need the highest scholarship amount to even think about being able to afford it. There is also a music scholarship available which she will submit for.

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@Ca1543 No, he isn’t attending there. He actually applied for one of their few full-rides and didn’t get it. He knew that was the only way he could attend. He is actually attending Alabama full-ride. $0 fits our budget. :wink:

Fwiw, Case’s scholarships are fixed $$ amts. That is something to keep in mind when looking at awards. Some awards are given in terms of “equivalent to the amt of” which means they rise in proportion tuition increases, etc. It scholarship $$ is a necessity, make sure you pay attention to wording and avg annual tuition increases

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@Mom2aphysicsgeek Did Bama stack scholarships to get to full ride for your S? Or did you get some need-based aid as well as merit? Only this year learning about schools that don’t advertise a full ride but will stack scholarships if they really want you and want to keep some of those as options for D.

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@MotherOfDragons I can relate to your Skin of Your Teeth child. I have one of those. He’s going to have to rally again to pull the all A- on everything act again this semester. It’s the same thing every semester. Start of with some A minuses and some B minuses or C’s, and then stress out to pull the cruddy grades up while hopefully hanging on by the skin of his teeth to his A- grades. He has an A- on every single class on his transcript aside from gym/health.

The other kid I have just gets 100s on everything or 85. No close scores. I kind of like that more. He has no chance to slip from his A’s and not much chance to pull up his B. He gets a B in Spanish every term, I’m ok with it, it’s just not his thing. His core classes are all A’s.

Regarding Case Western Reserve, that is one of the many schools that my son thinks has a silly name. He said he could never go there because of it. Ha, Ok then. Kids are weird. CWRU looks like a nice school, I don’t know a lot about it, but understand it has a good rep. Good luck to those applying there.

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Just an aside, if you want to search your school’s website you can put something like this in your Google search bar (I used it when looking for instructions related to LORs:

site:schoolnamehere.k12.il.us naviance teacher recommendations

or

site:schoolnamehere.k12.il.us type:pdf naviance teacher recommendations

This is a good way to search CC too, instead of the rather limited search feature on this site:

site:talk.collegeconfidential.com/ clam fart oh my god ([Try it here](site:talk.collegeconfidential.com/ clam fart oh my god - Google Search))

I find it useful to find documents on a site whose links are hard to find.

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Lurking but rarely post here.

FYI Ga Tech and Ga State are both in downtown Atlanta but are not right next to each other. Downtown Atlanta is fairly large and spread out. Yes, there is crime, but it is an urban area. When my hubby was at Tech eons ago, Techwood homes (most dangerous and oldest housing project in the country at the time) was right across the street from campus. Just wanted to clarify that so no one thinks you can just walk from one to the other. The MARTA trains are great IF you are going to places right off the line (Tech to GA State for instance) but @MotherOfDragons is correct, if you have to start using buses, forget it. Emory is a beautiful campus but there is some crime in that area too. Don’t let the pretty scenery fool you. (From Atlanta, moving back, have spent lots of time downtown,so just wanted to clarify)

My DD15 is a Presidential Scholar at Bama. To answer your question, @itsgettingreal17, yes you can stack if they are not university wide. So, DD has the Pres. She also has a $5000 music scholarship. We use that music money towards fees (not covered by Pres) and housing. Other scholarships like the ones given by the alumni association can be stacked with scholarships like the Pres.

And on a previous topic, DD15 lived in Honors housing this year. Don’t fool yourself into thinking the honors kids don’t drink and party. I’ve heard the stories and it’s not just alcohol. DD has friends in honors housing at other schools, and they are saying the same thing. DD15 had never had a drink or partied in high school. Yes she goes to parties now and has had some drinks. She also knows when to stop, and she has a 3.875 for her first year.

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@itsgettingreal17 No need-based aid. (I don’t think Bama offers need-based aid other than federal $$. We don’t qualify for need-based aid except at really generous schools, hence the merit $$ hunt.)

He does have multiple stacking scholarships. He originally had 5 bc he initially entered as an EE/physics double so he had their engineering scholarship. He dropped EE, so now he only has 4. However, he moved off campus and his rent/food is significantly cheaper than living in a dorm, so he still has his total cost covered.

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Oh, @Mom2aphysicsgeek, come on…everyone knows 'Bama doesn’t give full rides! :wink:

I tried my hardest to get the interest up for 'Bama within my family. CC got me all excited about it, but my D says “nope, ain’t gonna happen”. A lot of peer pressure in the community, and lingering stereotypes killed it. It also didn’t help that they don’t exactly have a good fit for what she is looking to do (originally BioEngin, now more Bio/CogSci/Neuro), and it’s a long way from home and not close to an airport. If I had a kid in Engineering I would push a little harder, but it is what it is. We talk about kids dropping schools because of the tour guide’s shoes, I can’t really complain if there are other affordable options. I have D20 coming next, who is the athlete and not quite as strong a student. I have time to work on her!

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Thanks @Mom2aphysicsgeek and @disshar

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Fwiw, ds does not have any alumni scholarships. He has the presidential, CBH, and 2 dept scholarships.