We’re pretty much open books here. D has really good grades and stats and I am an obsessive CC parent, so I don’t lead with information, but if asked I don’t hold anything back. Part of this might be because D goes to such a large school that virtually any school she applies to will have some co-applicants. The upside of this is that the Naviance data should be pretty accurate.
There are a few scholarships where the school can only nominate one or two applicants, but it is what it is. To win these, you have to be one in a million, so why worry about being one in a thousand?
I have a few items I can add about DS’s University of Alabama tour that @carachel2 might not have heard on her DD’s tours.
DS’s tour guides knew he was a dancer and interested in telecommunications and film so they talked about performing arts opportunities for non-majors. According to the tour guides, the kids in the marching band do not have to be music majors. DS is looking forward to telling some of his band friends about that. Also, anyone can perform in plays and musicals and you don’t have to be a performing arts major.
I agree that the rah rah football attitude was not as in your face as I expected which DS appreciated. There was only one Alabama resident on our general tour and none in the honors info session. I read the stats about the out of state percentage but the kids on the tour drove home how varied the kids were. The only state that isn’t represented in the honors college right now is Montana.
DS is also extremely picky and said the food in the cafeteria was fine. His honors ambassador was a senior from Texas that was a former dancer and is now studying communications. DS said she answered all of his questions and then she walked us across campus to meet our tour and answered my questions along the way. It was a nice touch that she had so much in common with DS. I was happy that DS wanted to go to lunch on his own so I could finally meet @carachel2 in person! Yay!
DS isn’t interested in Greek life but the houses didn’t seem to bother him. (Actually, he would love to be a Lambda Lambda Lambda Revenge of the Nerds-style if that existed in real life.) He felt like he saw lots of kids like him and felt like he could find his tribe.
The last thing we did was visit a great comic book store called The Comic Strip and he loved that there were other people that loved classic DC comics as much as he did.
He felt like it would be a good fit for him and I was impressed by how much effort everyone he met with put into his tour.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Sounds like a fun weekend. Enjoy! You’ve worked hard all summer. Follow the advice we’d give the kids which is take a break, put fresh eyes on it in a couple of days and then you can hit submit. I’m sure everything looks fabulous but waiting through the holiday weekend won’t delay anything so might as well.
QOTD: S17 and his best friend have completely different academic interests as well as what they hope for in a college. H and I share any information we learn with them and they with us. The boys share their college visits with each other and make recommendations to each other on which schools the other would like, not like. These two boys are supportive of each other in every way. There isn’t anything they would hesitate to share with each other and no direct competition because there is no overlap even in lottery schools.
There are 4 other boys in their circle of friends and one of the other boys looks strikingly like my son, they are both excellent students, skilled debaters, XC/ Track teams. I would have imagined that on paper there would not be much that differentiates them. Then the kid started telling my son he had no idea where he wanted to apply and would just apply to the same schools my son was applying to so they could go together. I told my son that it could work out that way or the school would pick which ever candidate they felt was a better fit and what ever will be, will be. S17 continued to share information with his friend and then last week S17 was trying to help the kid figure out who to get LORs from. This was surprising because the kids were supposed to provide the GC with the names for their LOR’s before school ended in the spring. The kid is a straight A student, articulate and a really nice kid. I asked why he would be having any issues figuring out who to get LORs from and S17 said he’s an excellent student in a book smart way and but he does not contribute to discussions and while he is highly respected by the teachers, they don’t know him very well. The kid can’t think of a teacher who will right an outstanding LOR and feels he will have to settle for a satsifactory LOR. So maybe the LORs will be the distinction between them.
I’m willing to offer information if I point someone in the direction and they seem open to it. If I can tell they are way off in left field and I offer some guidance, I will continue to help if they start doing some of their own research. If they don’t make any effort, then I am not willing to make any effort either.
Why do I read threads from parents who are dropping their kids off at college?
Now I’m sitting here imagining D as the little toddler who was glued to my hip for years with tears in my eyes. The college application process may be stressful, but I am not ready for her to actually leave for college in just one year!
Hey I know – we should all watch Animal House with our kiddos this labor day weekend! It’s kind of like a tutorial, right?
How picky was I???
Well, I was picky and clueless. My parents and I knew equally little about the whole process. I won a decent scholarship, so they just said “go where you want.” I wanted to go to MIT (because of its reputation – not because I had any idea about “fit”) and be an engineer but was at least smart enough to know that wasn’t happening. So I picked the next most prestigious engineering school I knew of – Georgia Tech (yes, I lived in the south!), filled out their one page no-essay application and got in EA.
How stupid was I???
After a co-op job and getting into junior year EE classes I decided engineering was not for me. I really liked coding so I almost did the reasonable thing – switch to CS. But aliens must have been controlling my brain because I loved my intro to psych class so much I became a psychology major. At Georgia Tech. I think there were eleven of us. Years and years of blah jobs later I went to University of Maryland University College (the odd name for their overseas schools that are mostly for military and military families) in Germany, got a CS degree and already had a job I loved before I graduated. Yes, that’s how stupid I was. Got a useless degree from a selective university and then many years later, a useful degree from a school with a 100% acceptance rate. :-??
@picklesarnice, Oy, I’ve had jaw surgery and errgghh the recovery – NOT FUN. I literally felt like my head had been replaced by a giant rock. I wish your D a speedy and comfortable-as-possible recovery.
For those who wanted more details on our impressions of University of Alabama, University of Central Florida, and University of Oklahoma:
University of Alabama
So many good things to say about Alabama, most of which you’ve already read about on CC. We have read so many good things about it, that we went into this trip pretty much assuming that Alabama would be the favorite. Here I will only list the things that surprised us:
Large class sizes. Even upper division math classes regularly have 40+ students.
The dorms are great, but are only available for freshman. They barely have enough housing for freshmen, so upper classmen pretty much have to live off-campus (or in one of the lesser dorms). Not a big deal, but with such nice dorms we kind of assumed that the honors college kids would stay in place awhile and continue the community beyond year 1.
The buildings are beautiful, and the continuity of style is nice, but we found we missed the eclectic mix of buildings we see on other campuses.
Some building interiors are in need of upgrade. In particular, the math building felt crowded, old, and musty.
Our meeting with the Math advisor was great. Our meeting with the Business advisor was not. His discussion was limited to “here are the classes you need to take”. Answers to questions about internships, etc, were vague.
The meeting with the CBH people was fantastic. My D felt that this was her tribe, and she would be happy at UA if she was accepted to CBH.
Tuscaloosa was unexciting.
Overall impression: D could be very happy here, if she got into CBH.
University of Central Florida
We put this college on our visit list last spring, when D was thinking of majoring in math and astrophysics. It seemed like it would offer good internships and other connections with space-related companies in the Orlando area. But now D is more likely going to major in math and finance, so it may not offer anything particularly special. But we’d already made our visit plan, and it is a full ride for NMF. So we visited.
We were disappointed that their National Merit department would not meet with us or set up meetings for us, because the NMF wouldn’t be announced yet. We told them we would be in the area in late August, and they said “come back in the fall”. We are traveling from Oregon, so… no. We’re not going twice. We did a self-tour instead.
Everyone we talked with on our self-tour was incredibly helpful, particularly the student at the front desk in the Honors College. We really liked what we heard about the Honors college. They have nice facilities and really interesting classes. They also have a higher average ACT score than many other Honors Colleges. D was convinced that she would find a community here.
My D really liked the campus. It opened in 1961, so no building is super old, and many are quite new. The campus is nicely organized, with all of the academic buildings in a central core. I felt that while all of the buildings were perfectly adequate and functional, none of them had any special “wow” or charm.
UCF does have the nice apartment-style dorms, but we were not able to visit inside them. We don’t know if they are for freshmen only.
My D really liked the energy and diversity on campus. As we walked into the Memorial Union, a DJ was just starting up. We found out that it was a party celebrating the different nationalities on campus, with samples of foods from students’ native countries. D was enchanted.
I thought the campus was crowded. In the library, all (or nearly all) of the computers were occupied. The classes that we peeked in were large and every seat was occupied. The line in the bookstore was probably 45 minutes long.
Overall impression: D left saying “I want to go here!”. I think it was the campus energy, and being near Orlando that sold her. Because it would be a full ride, she said things like “Just pack your flip flops and go!”. I was less impressed, but trying to let this be her decision. But to me, it was a normal school with nothing in particular to make it stand out (since she was no longer talking astrophysics).
University of Oklahoma
We visited OU because of the number of NMF that attend here every year. From all of the CC talk, we thought we would prefer UA. But Oklahoma gets more NMF every year, so we decided that we needed to find out why. The National Scholars Department set up a great visit for us, with visits with multiple departments. They were super helpful. Here are our impressions:
The meeting with the Business advisor was fantastic. She had so much enthusiasm for the various degree programs, clubs, programs, internships, etc, etc etc. We loved the facilities, including a “trading floor” room. There would be some large classes, but the largest of them have Honors sections that are capped at 19 people.
The meeting with the Math advisor was great. Again, a lot of enthusiasm for her program.
The meeting with the Physics advisor was great. When we said that D was no longer thinking of majoring in Physics but had a strong interest in it, he had no problem “selling” his program and making D interested again. He said that the Physics department really benefits from the high number of NMF at the school… it is not uncommon for 50% of the physics majors to be NMF, and claimed that you get a better class experience when surrounded by top notch students. The sales pitch didn’t work, D is still not planning to major in physics, but she is REALLY interested in some of the astrophysics classes (fewer than 10 people!), and plans to take them as electives.
The Economics advisor is a character! Seriously funny guy, and clearly loves his subject and his students.
There is an Honors College, and then there is the National Scholars Program (NMF kids). There are special social/academic events just for the NSP kids. They have greater privileges, like advanced registration (ahead of everyone except grad students) and library privileges and special advising.
Scholarship is celebrated here. OU has the memorials to winning football coaches like other schools, but they also have a “Scholars Walk” in one of the main quads with plaques for winners of Fullbright, Rhodes, etc.
The campus is a traditional, nicely landscaped campus with an eclectic set of buildings. The library has a split personality… part of it is super modern and high tech, the other part has a Great Reading Room that feels Hogwartsy.
The freshman dorms are nothing special. But there are nice on-campus apartments for upperclassmen, and they are building two new “Residential Houses” that will open next year. And there are plenty of off-campus options, too.
The dining hall was unbelievable. So good! So many choices! If I had daily access to that Dulce de Leche Cheesecake, it would be a bad thing.
The NMF scholarship is not a full ride. It is a little more than full tuition. But they stack just about any other scholarship that you get. Departmental scholarships are very common. Some NMF end up with pretty much a full ride.
The town of Norman is nicer than I expected. It’s a pretty normal, clean, suburban town, and is a little bigger than I expected. There is a district called “Campus Corner” where the students hang out. We have heard that there are good music events, etc, in Norman… sometimes more than nearby Oklahoma City.
The region looks very flat and kind of barren. There will not be much hiking, kayaking, skiing, etc going on.
Overall impression: OU for the win!
Helping others but not hurting my child’s chances? I refuse to see the world as a zero-sum game. I will happily help anyone in any way with it all. Of course, there really isn’t a lot of direct competition between my daughter and other high school seniors we know (except probably with Macalester, and maybe for one of them with Mt Holyoke), but even so, it won’t eternally wreck my daughter’s world if she doesn’t get into those schools, so why should it worry us?
Hi everyone – I dropped in several weeks ago and then dropped out a few thousand posts ago. Life was just getting too stressful and there were too many posts in this thread to keep up with!
Anyway, the day that should have been my D2’s first day of senior year was spent having a medical procedure that finally gave her doctor the info he needed to diagnose her with Crohn’s Disease. He also sent us to talk with a surgeon, as she has a partial blockage due to scarring that will require a resection at some point. Somewhere in there I sent D1 back to college, where she promptly forgot how to use any communication devices – again. I miss her anyway.
D2 has continued to ignore college-related activities after submitting apps to UA and UA-Huntsville. She has four other schools on her list, two of which require SAT IIs. She has not studied for them, practiced them, or informed her band director that she will be missing a competition to take them. Yet, she still insists she wants to go through the application process! I’m trying to cut her a break since she’s usually a responsible kid and I know the Crohn’s thing has thrown her for a loop. Yet, I don’t want to be cast in the role of Nagging Mom in order to get her to do the things she needs to finish the task she set herself.
bleah
I promise to try not to flounce again, and to improve my attitude. May I please stay and play?
H and I just celebrated our anniversary yesterday – yeegads, has it been that long? Here is our non-sentimental anniversary song: [url = <a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaid72fqzNE%5DIf”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaid72fqzNE]If I Didn’t Have You. It’s still sort of romantic. (At least to us!)
@dfbdfb, Wow, I haven’t thought of Emo Philips in years. I wasn’t quite sure where he was going in the beginning, but as soon as the more and more detailed religious comparisons started, the writing was on the wall!
@NerdMom88, it’s great to have you back and with an update on your D. Everything I know about Crohn’s Disease I just learned in two minutes on the internet. I hope she’ll have all the therapies she’ll need available to her wherever she goes to school. Are there things you can do to help with college apps that won’t seem overbearing or nagging? My D is fine if I do things like the drudgery aspects of the common app, set up tables with dates, deadlines, requirements, essay prompts, that type of thing. But mostly <>
@NerdMom88 I am so sorry your dd is having to go through that. I hope everything goes smoothly and that she gets everything under control. It is a blessing that she was diagnosed this yr while still at home with your support to help her. (((Hugs)))
@Mommertons my ds, who is a math double, is here and I asked him. He said most of his math classes have on avg 8 students with the exception of classes required for other majors like engineering, CS, or math education. Those sections typically have 20-25 students. The only classes he is aware of with around 40 students are real analysis and probability.
@NerdMom88 …wow I remember your post a few million pages back! Crohn’s is such a life altering diagnosis. A relief to get a diagnosis I know, but still…rough. When will they do the resection–will it be a planned surgery or will they wait until it is more of a problem? I don’t have Crohn’s but have had to have a resection. I was in the hospital a solid week and recovery took about 3-4 weeks at home before I was back to normal.
As for your daughters application strategy: saying she wants to apply to schools that require essays and SAT2s but not actually doing any of the work necessary --that seems to be a somewhat common application strategy lol. Hang in there!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek - Thanks! Those numbers are what I expected from reading on CC, so I was surprised to get very different numbers from the Math adviser. D was able to put a positive spin on it… she is used to classes around 40, and having that many students in upper division math classes means more opportunities to meet other mathies. Perhaps the professor that we spoke with only teaches real analysis and/or probability, so his perspective is skewed?
There are a lot of OU posters and my understanding is there really is no money for NMSF kids outside of the big scholarship. @mommertons do you know where I can find a link?
He said that the Physics department really benefits from the high number of NMF at the school… it is not uncommon for 50% of the physics majors to be NMF, and claimed that you get a better class experience when surrounded by top notch students. The sales pitch didn’t work, D is still not planning to major in physics, but she is REALLY interested in some of the astrophysics classes (fewer than 10 people!), and plans to take them as electives.
I miss her anyway.