@eandesmom Oh well, better superfluous advice, than not at all, I suppose. 
When I booked our Midwestern college trip, there was a substantial car/air tradeoff between Cleveland and Columbus, go figure.
@CT1417 just back from our visit to Cornell…yes the ghost tents were still scattered about campus, but aside from this, the campus seemed remarkably put together and polished. We found the grounds (perennial beds, trees, etc) fabulous, and also were struck positively by the nice mix of historic buildings and modern. Loved the info session setting in the (relatively) new Arts &Sciences building. My son very much liked the school and could see himself there easily if fortunate enough to garner an admission…loved the ample opportunity to engage in research. Next visit now not for a month or so…time to reflect and write.
@mamaedefamilia it’s solid advice and I’ve seen some crazy things with car rental to be sure!
We decided to hit Columbus, if we visit at all, after admission (if applied to lol). It is crazy how prices can vary
@vandyeyes sounds like a great visit!
@eandesmom I also worry about my daughter eating and taking meds in college. She has Crohn’s and if she is in pain she won’t eat and if she worries that she might be in pain soon she won’t eat. We do have monitor it somewhat because when she gets in a bad pattern and loses weight quickly she needs to get into the Dr. She knows that there is weight that is the do not go there zone set by the Dr. She’s at a healthy weight but we don’t want to let it get out of control either. She is bad about taking meds when she feels good though I have noticed the past few months she has been better so maybe she is maturing. I’ve been thinking about buying her one of the new scales for school that has an app so we can stay in the loop on her health (assuming she is ok with it I would never do it behind her back).
@MichiganGeorgia We didn’t send AP scores but my son did self report his on his apps which we were told was sufficient.
@vandyeyes – glad to hear the visit went well. So funny you should mention the flower beds as I was commenting this weekend that they needed more flowers! There were some gorgeous planned areas (benches, paving stones, etc) but other areas just lacking.
Also glad to hear you liked the Info Session. Cornell does a fairly poor job of marketing itself. I have attended info sessions in three of the colleges and another this past w/e for alums (accompanied a friend), and overall, I am sometimes underwhelmed. Each college handles admission, which is very different from most universities where admission decisions are handled at the university level. The quality of the sessions and the presenters is a bit hit or miss.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Older son is a student there presently so clearly we overcame the info sessions.
On another note, guess who started filling out the common app today?!
I have a question about University of Oaklahoma for those of you who know about the school— I have a son who is half Asian Indian and quite quirky nerdy… so my question is - is OU an environment that embraces out of the box thinkers as well as minorities? How about non religious liberal people? They have a very attractive NMF offer but I worry about the above…
Working hard to narrow the list- still have 21 schools, so need to drop five or more. Also they are mostly “reaches and high reaches” - so hard to cut any of those amazing schools from the list. Visited MIT and BC today, daughter liked both.
Nerdy, relatively liberal, not very religious, left coast, Caucasian son will be touring OU Wednesday. Honors college, etc. I’ll write a report after I get the download from him. He doesn’t get home until rally late Wednesday, so I might not talk to him until Thursday after work.
Some schools let you use their ap for free but charge for the common ap, in this case we would use the schools ap, especially if it is an easy one.
I recommend Autoslash for car rentals, they let you know if there is a price drop and even rebook for you. They are especially good at finding good prices for one-way rentals.
@acdchai - Here’s the thing about the AP scores at least when DS13 applied. He self reported them however they did not show up on his GT application where all the scores were listed(SAT/ACT/AP’S) until I had them sent in. Maybe they would have looked at his self reported ones anyway? I don’t know. But If DS17 or DS19 had a 1st or 2nd choice school that they really wanted to go to and they looked at AP’s I would send it. However I wouldn’t send them to the “lets if we can get a bunch of merit aid” schools. DS13 applied to 19 schools mostly for merit aid. I’m hoping to keep DS17 to 8 or so…
Welcome, @rolshan. Well, you are amongst the leaders in # of schools at this point, I believe. ‘We’ are still holding on to about 16, with a few in the wings. D17 has verified she will be applying to 4 of them so far, so that’s progress, I think. She still needs to do a lot more research.
Today, she drafted an email to a local rep to meet up with in the next few weeks. I didn’t get a chance to look at it, I think we just need to look at the calendar for some dates that work for me and her (she wants me to come, but make myself scarce…whatever that means).
Welcome @rolshan – I realized today that my son’s list has crept up to 17 with about 9 of them reaches. 5 of them are all on the same Univ. of Calif application, though. Feel free to do “trip reports” – we like those here.
Unless they changed policies, they normally should be clearing out all apps soon from system. Save your work as a pdf so you can put in the same information if they clean up existing apps to create room for 2017.
Any basic profile information in the common app filled out now will roll over to the next application cycle.
Hi! I don’t think I have posted on this particular thread before, so here goes! I have a DD 2017 and also a DD graduated HS Class of 2015 and attends U of Alabama. I can’t believe I am going around this carousel of college visits and apps again! DD 2017 is interested in ASL interpretation and Deaf Education. If anybody has experience in those fields, I would Appreciate your input. My lessons learned if anyone is interested: 17 year old HS students can change their minds quite a bit about majors, distance from home, etc., from August to May, so keep an open communication about changes, and keep an extra school or two to cover changes. Teach kids about keeping a balance of hard work and healthy relaxation, and enjoy Senior year!
One thing to consider about car rentals: When we went to San Fran a few years ago, we took a cab from the airport to a car rental place. That cab ride ($60) saved us something like $500-600 on the car rental (compared to renting at the airport). Part of that probably had to do with the fact that we had a one way rental by returning the car to the LA airport. Never would have thought that would be true. Everything in California is more expensive. But still doesn’t hurt to check around.
If traveling to northeast Ohio, consider a flight to the Akron/Canton airport. Its about 45 minute drive to Cleveland. Flights are often cheaper. Drive to Columbus there is a little over 90 minutes.
Hi @rolshan and @2kidsinky 
Welcome to the craziness :))
Welcome @rolshan @2kidsinky !!