@Tgirlfriend Engineering far away from campus - who does that? Florida State! Same thing. We love love love FSU. Everything about it, campus, price, sports, Florida, etc. But the engineering school is 3 miles from campus in a shared facility with FAMU. Shuttle bus wont help. Likely a deal breaker.
@dfbdfb Congrats to dfbkid! Awesome news.
We just got one from Arizona State. Or maybe it was Arizona. It went in the recycle bin-D17 would literally burst into flames there from the heat.
@dfbdfb congrats on the auto admit for your D to Kansas honors! Woot!
(ok I’ve had too much coffee. I need to get off the computer and go do something constructive with the jitters…)
Regarding buying stuff early…. I probably won’t buy much. I am anticipating my kid going to school15- 20 minutes from my house. Seriously, I could ride my bike there, have lunch with him, and ride home.
So, if he goes there, we’ll send him with some basics, and they just get stuff to him as needed. He’s kind of a minimalist anyways, so he won’t require a lot.
Aside from the astronomical cost of him attending one of these schools close to us, it will certainly make it easier to deal with dorm move in and holiday travel, and all that. I do like that aspect a lot.
What we learned at engineering tours this summer:
At Penn State, students do not apply for majors until the end of the second year, and aerospace is capped at 100 students per graduating class. At Purdue, while they do have a GPA requirement (3.2) to guarantee admittance to a major, roughly 80% do achieve that and are admitted to the major of their choice. Some students take an extra summer class after freshman year (to raise the GPA) and reapply at the end of the summer session.
@STEM2017 I’m not a huge (or is that YUGE!) fan of TAMU’s “entry into a major” process. However, looking at the numbers, I would only be concerned with a few of the popular majors. My DD14 is in an ISE program, and I wouldn’t worry about her attending TAMU. On the other hand, my DS17 wants to go into an Aerospace program, and TAMU’s process would raise red flags for us…
The 3.5 GPA scholarship requirement is just crazy. If we where in-state, I may not worry about it much, as my DS17 could likely meet the requirement without too much stress (unlike myself, I was challenges trying to make a 3.0!), but more importantly, we could afford the in-state tuition rate, if he lost the scholarship. Being OOS, it’s a none starter for us, too much ($) risk.
Back to school today. D was up all night finishing her summer assignments. Honestly, I think she got herself too worked up to sleep.
At Georgia Tech, you can switch engineering majors fairly easily. Same at UF. Of course, once your GPA drops to a certain point, all bets are off (2.5’ish or less). Same once you’re a Junior/Senior, then schools are reluctant to let you switch (and delay graduation), without a solid reason. Switching from Aerospace to Mechanical, even as a senior, is likely ok, but not Industrial to Nuclear (which don’t share many upper level courses).
EDIT: Last month, when meeting with an Aerospace professor at GT, he gave the example of an Aero major switching out as a senior.
Michigan’s engineering campus is separated from the main campus.
The 3.5 is a non-starter for us. 3.2 is the highest renewal GPA for the scholarships D is applying for. Freshman year is too unpredictable to take that risk. Lots and lots of top students struggle to make the necessary adjustments.
@2muchquan, Alabama/Kansas: In terms of money she’s guaranteed, Alabama wins and has a lower GPA retention requirement. Either one ends up affordable for us, it’s just that Alabama is more so.
@saillakeerie I think there is a big difference between FSU and UMich’s engineering campuses. As mentioned by @STEM2017, FSU shares engineering with FAMU (which I know nothing about). It’s not like it’s their faculty. I would not be too wild about that setup either. It’s kind of like the Biomedical Degree shared between UNC and NCST.
My oldest D had a scholarship with a 3.25 GPA renewal and lost it. I would say 3.5 is very risky, and even though S is more studious than my D I still wouldn’t want him to risk it.
Our big stalker with mail and email right now is Questbridge. Apparently our zipcode indicates we are in a lower income bracket than we actually are, because we are being inundated with mailings, both from Questbridge and from partner colleges.
So my D came home from the first day of school somewhat excited (for her at least) about her Calc BC class. Apparently she is only 1 of 3 girls in the school of 400+ kids taking it. After talking for a while I get the feeling that maybe upper mathematics might still be on the table for college. She is completely undecided about major or career or anything really right now…but we had been leaning towards science since she has some interest in health related careers.
But now - if Math related majors/careers are a possibility I am rethinking our list.
Can any of you tell me if any of these jump out as a really bad choice if she decides to pursue upper level math (whatever that means ?
Reaches: (all pretty dependent on raising ACT in sept)
Notre Dame -
Vanderbilt
Boston College
Matches:
Rhodes College
UofRichmond
Wake Forest
Lafayette College
Safeties:
Truman State
MissouriS&T
Pittsburg State
Drury University
— I posted this in another thread too. But I feel like you all “know” me 
DD is finally home late last night from her 7-week summer internship. Still sleeping. College process begins once sleeping beauty wakes up!
@2muchquan Not trying to compare the engineering campuses. Never been to the others you noted. Just noting thet UoM’s is separate. It was an issue my son noted (and didn’t like) when he visited.
@saillakeerie and @2muchquan Its a consideration for any student if their particular “school” is separate from the main university campus. Not only will they be away from all the campus activities and main dining halls, but they will potentially be travelling 15, 20, 30 minutes or more to classes. Shuttle bus life is not fun.
@caroldanvers, S also is on Questbridge’s list of kids to target. Truly interesting for us because our home zip code should not, in any way, be in their demographics. I unsubscribed him from their list.
@dfbdfb, Congrats to your D! That is great news on the honors college acceptance.
Posting from spotty internet service so will need to read again at home.
Wake forest interview–have heard they are harsh about ‘what do you read?’.
What is TAMU?
Re: buying for next year. Agree about waiting to buy bulky items. Costco has best prices on the few items they sell: 3 inch memory foam topper, XL twin mattress pad, towels. BB&B very overpriced even after 20% off
@stlarenas Looks like a solid list. Just be sure that she would be happy to attend any one of her safeties. Missouri S&T might roll out the financial red carpet for you, while Notre Dame will likely give you no money. Be prepared for that type of decision.