@HiToWaMom and @eandesmom We tour WWU tomorrow! UW today, where, incidentally, it cost $15 to park.
@mamaedefamilia – is UW the school in Seattle? I recall paying for parking there last summer but did not recall how much. It was my first paid parking school tour, but now I expect it!
@mamaedefamilia there is construction on some of the main lots at WWU so look for signs and be prepared for walking.
UW is horrid for parking, always has been. I had a car in college and would commandeer one of the 2 spots at the sorority more often than not! There is street parking for less but you have to hike and be really aware of zoning.
So I learned my lesson today that never engage in political discussions on social media. One candidate is known for naming calling but other candidate’s followers dquickl call you names if you question anything about their candidate!!!
I think you can delete “on social media” from your lesson.
Parking: So it’s sounding to me that paying or not paying for parking at tours isn’t public vs. private, but urban vs. not (probably actually big urban vs. not).
A have a freeze on my credit with all three credit agencies. I had to write to one of them (can’t remember which one) to inquire about freezing D21’s credit. My memory is not clear but I know I inquired to see if anyone had used her credit. I don’t think they let me free her credit though. I do know the other 2 agencies would not freeze a minors’ credit.
D finalized her common app/coalition essay. 650 words on the dot. :)) She also knocked out another essay yesterday. Today she’ll work on her personal statement. On Monday, essay writing becomes a full-time job.
Has anyone gone on a campus tour during a football game weekend? D wants to visit one of her top schools and I’m thinking it would be nice to go on a home football game weekend so that she can get the full flavor of the school spirit.
@itsgettingreal17 I thought that the CO App wanted essays 550 words or less with a recommendation of 300-400. Was she successful uploading 650 words?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek No its 650. But the app is down right now. Will try on the 1st.
ETA: Common app or coalition app? Common app is 650. D actually decided to do common app for the 1 school that was in the coalition app category.
I meant the coalition app.
@dfbdfb, Pitt was very generous regarding parking. We got a voucher for the parking garage in Alumni Hall (they had tables set up for visitors info) before leaving. We parked at Soldiers and Sailors and when you went to the cashier’s window to pay and gave them your voucher, parking was free. It saved us $14.
Free parking at tOSU (suburban-urban) and Pitt (urban)
** QOTD: ** Any of your DC considering one or more of the premier military academies? USMC, USNA, USAA, USMMA, USCGA? I love to hear your perspectives.
RE QOTD: My D17 isn’t looking at any military academies, but they are a goal of my youngest who is very focused on this so I look forward to the responses.
Did anyone get the playing cards from Connecticut College? One of the more unique packages I’ve seen! Our GC has recommended the school, I may need to look into it now.
DS’s first application is in (PITT) 
Time to work on common app essay, but he has a science tournament Mon-Wed in SoCal.
Campus report of the day: University of Washington
We are on family vacation in the Pacific Northwest and what vacation would be complete without … more college visits! Actually only two more, and to be honest, D17 and I are pretty burned out at this point. Despite my daughter’s preference for LACs, we also want her to look at some larger state schools and keep an open mind. What better hook than a nice location? UW and WWU, here we come, with DH and D21 here for the ride.
To anticipate the obvious questions, no we are not visiting U of Puget Sound (no dance program) or Whitman (a drier inland mountainous location looks too much like where we live). D17 really likes rugged northern coastlines.
The UW campus was different than I expected. It was physically very attractive with 19th century-style stone buildings, attractive mature landscaping and a stunning view of Mt. Rainier. Very lush and green. Yes, there’s a Harry Potter style library too. It also felt more compact than I had imagined. Our visit consisted of a student-led tour and a brief admissions session. The highlights: they use their own application, which opens October 1. It involves a “self-reported” transcript where you organize your courses according to their categories. They use unweighted GPA to make their decisions but also take rigor into account. Slacking off on the rigor in senior year is viewed unfavorably. They now superscore, even across the old and new SAT, using the CB conversion tables. For competitive majors, you can seek direct admit as a freshman (for severely impacted majors, chances can be very small), or (re)apply to an impacted major later on. They are building new facilities to try to ease the pent up demand but that will take time. Our student guide also informed us that the larger class sizes and delayed graduation rates that resulted from fiscal belt tightening following 2008 are largely a thing of the past. There are small merit scholarships for OOS students, ranging from 5-9K annually; about half of OOS students get the Purple and Gold merit subsidy.
The tour was pretty typical. We saw the inside of one library and the student union building (the HUB). We saw the outside of many other buildings. Residence halls and athletic facilities are covered in a separate tour. Greek life participation is around 15% and on-campus housing is guaranteed all four years, although most students opt for nearby off-campus arrangements by their junior year. Food is good but can get repetitive. Our guide was an enthusiatic young man from a very small town in Washington. He initially was drawn to LACs but then decided that he would prefer an eduational experience akin to an “all you eat buffet” where you need to take the initiative to serve yourself and decide what you want as opposed to the “fine dining” experience of an LAC, where the quality is good but the fare is more limited and you get more personal service. While I thought the analogy was a bit overdrawn, I appreciated the message he was trying to convey. This was a young man who was a religious and political conservative, who had built his own community that included members of five different religious faiths. He had become active in student governance and university budget committees. Clearly, he had pushed himself beyond his comfort zone and was thriving.
I strongly suspect that UW is too large for my daughter and that’s OK. However, if you seek a quality research university in a vibrant urban area that offers abundant research and internship opportunities, this would be a very strong contender. Beautiful campus, 180 majors, strong honors program, great public transportation system, and easy light rail access to a major international airport. One could do much worse.
Parking was $15 in a centralized parking structure. 
@CT1417 , @saillakeerie , that is our problem. We never seem to book the trips early enough. Even this time, we didn’t get anything inside Yellowstone. At least, we got an annual pass, one step at a time! Like @saillakeerie , DH and I are looking forward to kidless trips where we can hike to our heart content. The only problem, DH has a tendency to veer off the trail
@STEM2017 , D considered Naval Academy. As lettered swimmer every year and captain next year, she is very physical and disciplined girl. Even now at Lehigh in summer camp, she gets up at 6 to work out for at least 1.5 hours. At home, she does pushup, weights or works on abs while we watch TV together. She got a lot of materials from the military academies for a while, but as of now, she is not applying because she doesn’t want to put herself in a position where she doesn’t believe she can follow the future Commander in Chief.
@mamaedefamilia, I think you need to write a college guide book, from parent perspective!