@stlarenas Like others who provided advice, I first want to say don’t worry. You said your D has no idea what she wants to major in. I would imagine if she doesn’t know (which is okay) and isn’t showing motivation in the college search, maybe she’s not ready and a gap year is something to consider. I’m sure she has interests and she doesn’t have to yet be passionate about any one thing. Does she like to cook, sew, bake, paint, read, hair, makeup, writing, music,pet lover? What type of movies is she drawn to (comedies, compassionate movies with people helping others). Is she a people person or prefers a more intimate group of friends? Maybe she hasn’t been exposed to her passion yet but there probably are things that interest her that she can’t yet articulate because she doesn’t know what it is she is looking for? Or she does and she’s not sure how it will be perceived? Job shadowing, as someone mentioned is a great idea. Sometimes on these threads we may come off a little nutty and have many different views and opinions but I’m confident we all agree that our children’s happiness is the primary goal. Put her in the driver’s seat, assist with options and let her know you support any decision that gives her happiness. She’s going to be okay.
@stlarenas Small LAC’s are probably a good choice. Maybe not too far away from home. And small LAC’s can be a great place for an undecided student. As I said many discourage declaring a major till sophomore year. Have you considered Rice? (It’s been big on this board the past few pages.) 
Don’t know what her stat look like, Rice is a very selective school. Or how far away from home it is.
I agree visiting a few more schools is a good idea. I think many students really don’t have any idea what it will be like. Do you have any friends or family who are attending university at a LAC right now? Perhaps a weekend visit to see what college life is like would be helpful.
Don’t ignore the idea of a gab year, it’s often just giving a student some time to grow up & get different experiences. It doesn’t suggest staying at home. There are lots of options out there.
Well, put together a nice schedule together for D17. Google Doc of course. Just a rough idea of what she has to do each week to reach the EA dates and a little beyond for 1 or 2 RDs. She’ll be working on roughly 2 apps a week, with the CA essay spread over the next month. Various other things too…ZeeMee, HC apps, her music supplement. It lists # essays for each week.
Not too aggressive. I like it. I’m gonna quit bugging her. I need a $ jar MOD.
/humble brag
Where I would go to school: I still say that if I’d gone to Worcester Polytechnic, I would have ended up (as originally planned) as an engineer—their approach to education would have fit me much better than where I actually went (and flunked out of). I mean, I like what I ended up doing, but it would have been simpler that way.
As for me now, probably one of the public liberal-arts schools—so St Mary’s (Maryland), North Carolina Asheville, Truman State, New College (Florida), and so on. Basically, whichever of them has the prettiest campus (I’m partial to colonial style), that one.
Texting in the house: Why shout when you can text? Also, it’s a great way to have conversations without anyone else overhearing, so there’s that.
H2O, too: Two scientists walk into a bar. The first one says “I’ll have some H2O.” The second one says, “I’ll have some H2O too.” Since the bartender is human, and thus capable of using social context to clarify the semantic difference between homophones, the second scientist has some water, as well.
@stlarenas anxiously await your review of Rhodes. It’s on our ‘maybe’ list.
Oh. Reminds me. I’m due to produce a Pitt review.
** JOTD ** reminds me of DiHydrogen MonoOxide scare.
Some of the known perils of Dihydrogen Monoxide are:
- Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities. About 700 children die from this each year.
- Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.
- Excessive ingestion can lead to poisoning and death.
- DHMO is a major component of acid rain.
- Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
- Contributes to soil erosion.
- Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
- Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
- Given to vicious dogs involved in recent deadly attacks.
- Thermal variations in DHMO are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.
@stlarenas personally I think it’s too early to worry about a thing or even consider a gap year. They are changelings right now and apathy can turn to passion in a heart beat. Or not. But it is on its own timeframe. Provide the info and the tools. Visit a few places. And then, let it go. Breathe. Find out what the school is telling them, or not. Apathy is really really normal. CC isn’t normal lol!
We have a recent grad who applied to one school, contemplated a gap year right up until 5/1, and yet managed to complete his program and graduate on time just fine. Frankly he’s still a bit apathetic about the whole thing but you know what, we can see the connections he’s made, the growth that occurred that has created his current path. Even if he isn’t giving college the credit for it now, we can see what it gave him and it was worth sitting back and letting him come to the decision on his own. As painful as it was it really will work out.
Oh and to whoever mentioned cc… We have teased her that if the answer is consistently " I don’t care" then we are going to save a whole lot of stress and $ and just enroll her in the local cc down the road. And I hope you’re ok with Dad dropping you off and picking you up from class in the family minivan because you’re too scare to learn how to drive 
She’s a fun kid and we joke a lot and she takes it all in stride…but as the days pass I wonder if this scenario may become reality.
Apparently all science kids know h2o too joke 
Has she clearly stated that she wants to go to college, but is just not sure where? Or is she luke warm going at all?
@stlarenas I’m sure you’re getting as much advice as you want, but I’ll give you a slightly different perspective. D14 was the same. She even said she didn’t want to go to college at all, but she had no other plan for after graduation. By October of her senior year, DH and I were a bit nervous. CC or a gap year wouldn’t help her figure out what she could do for a career, and she already had enough college credits that she didn’t need to take gen ed. Plus, while I love her dearly, it was time for her to be more independent. I gave her an ultimatum. Either choose a college or show me how she’d support herself at 17 on a HS diploma. Not that we would have kicked her out, but a series of part time retail jobs wouldn’t help her and she didn’t have any other ideas. It was just her personality to settle in to avoid making decisions.
We visited a couple more colleges and she found a campus she liked. Then she started watching documentaries on world nutrition. It seemed out of the blue to me, but she has developed a real passion. It took her a semester or two to figure out how to turn her passion into a suitable major. She still isn’t exactly sure of her first career path yet, but I know it’ll happen. And she has turned into a wonderful young woman with a much better perspective than she had two years ago.
I don’t know your daughter but I too think it will work out in time.
@stlarenas One more suggestion. Have you considered a private college counselor. They are quite popular in my area. I used one for my DD12. A good one helps with planning the job search process, keeping it on track, editing the essays, career survey’s, and motivation. And most of all being an adult mentor for this process that isn’t mom or dad. There really is a lot to say for the last bit. Private counselors have gotten quite popular particularly since many public H.S.'s can’t afford the level of mentoring many kids need for this complicated process.
Good Luck. And as many of us said you may be surprised and she will suddenly find herself motivated come Nov, Dec, or January.
About how much did you pay for your counselor?
@nw2this we paid our counselor $150 for the first meeting and then $75 an hour from there. You could also pay her a flat fee of $5K. We really didn’t need her for much, but I have made this process my fulltime job!
This may be me being irrational, but I dislike the career and income questions on college apps where the student isn’t applying for financial aid.
I thought there were some reporting requirements from the gummint such that they have to ask those questions @itsgettingreal17. Not sure.
So, maybe that’s a good QOTD:
If you don’t think you will need/want/qualify for FA, how are you answering the CA question: “Do you intend to apply for need based financial aid?"
In our case we are leaning ‘Yes’ due partially to an uncertain job future, but not sure we qualify now.
@2muchquan and everyone else…Please learn from our mistake!! It was a hard one!!
Always check yes to planning for applying for aid even if you don’t plan on it bc some schools classify merit scholarships as financial aid and when you check no, you are automatically eliminated from merit consideration.
We had no idea.
If you don’t want to check yes, confirm with every single school that you will still be considered for merit scholarships if you check no.
^Plus, there’s that. Of course. Just testing you.
The Common App asks for income data??? I guess we haven’t reached that section yet. I had an income spike in 2015 due to an emergency withdrawal from my IRA (which will really impact my FAFSA) so my 2016 income will be significantly lower. Which year do they ask for? Which year should I use?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek did you notice a trend with respect to what types of schools had that policy?
I did not check yes for the app that D submitted already. Need to double check the policy.
ETA: Pitt doesn’t require financial aid app for merit aid consideration. It’s automatic upon applying. I believe that’s true for all of D’s schools but will double check. I’d rather not submit FAFSA if not necessary.