@socalmom007 Yes. And we goofed and will have to pay the College Board more $$. I knew there was a trick for either the UC’s or Cal States and I was trying to get S17 to slow down and let me check but he figured he had it covered.
Oh no, well you mentioning it @curiositycat333 will save me from making the same mistake! @Ynotgo thank you for the clarification!
I haven’t even given any thought to dorms yet. Pretty much everything we’ve toured is the same level of crappy. My daughter is so OCD, it’s going to be a struggle. I hope for her sake she doesn’t end up in some kind of forced triple, that would be rough.
What are these colleges that do the forced triple??? I’m all about the whole college experience but I think that’s lousy!
A lot of schools in California do forced triples, not sure beyond that.
Well, I sent all scores to Cal Poly, but they can ignore the SAT II scores that were part of the package.
We have had some movement on the app front. S is meeting with his counselor to go over the Cal Poly/CSU app. He is unsure of what to call some of the classes since his HS is non-traditional and the classes don’t match well. He also started and got most of the Western Washington app done. <:-P He said he has the drafts of both of the OU CA extra scholarship essays ready to give her to review. Once all of this is done he can decide if he wants to apply to a couple of extra schools that would be hail-Mary’s in the sense that he would need their best scholarships to attend. Now I am wondering if he should wait to send the apps until the end of the week because he just heard that he is scheduled for his Eagle Scout Board of Review Thursday and he could put Eagle Scout rather than Eagle Scout candidate!! (Finally #:-S)
I would wait on apps @mtrosemom if he can potentially add eagle scout.
We are waiting to submit CSU and UC apps until this Saturday’s ACT is scored. I can’t wait until standardized tests are done, my poor daughter is so stressed. She’s a terrible test taker so we got the prepscholar ACT prep program, she was doing prep at a tutoring center and not having great results. We agreed on 35 hours of prep before her next test, she needs to get 12 more hours in this week on top of everything else in her life.
I was in a ‘forced triple’ (they just called it a ‘triple’, but it was a double room) when I went to UMich, and survived. Still friends with those guys to this day. I don’t remember spending much time there, but then the door was always open, so it was more like a twelve-tuple most of the time.
overwhelmed
New here - first post. I don’t really know where to start, so thought I’d start here. I’ll go back and read the abbreviations sticky. My oldest is has a 3.3 GPA and a composite ACT of 23. Math is a challenge for her - she’s typically a C+ in math and didn’t even take a 4th math class this year. Her interests are in Biology - she loves her Science classes and is a student assistant for the 8th grade class this year. She’s currently taking Human Anatomy and is doing well (B+). She doesn’t want to teach, though, nor is she interested in a medical field. She’s a pretty stoic person, drama free, grounded, practical, but not overly passionate about anything. Smart but often sells herself short.
Our school offers no AP classes and has limited sports and clubs (we’re a very small rural school). She’s taken dance outside of school from 3rd through 11th grade which she loved. She’s been in band since 5th grade. She has a part time job at the local gas station. No other EC’s. Living where we do made it difficult for us to get her to things after school.
We toured a few public universities in our state; our budget doesn’t allow her to go out of state. We make ‘enough’ to disqualify us from grants but we have no funds set aside to pay for college. Loans will be taken out.
So - yeah - i’m worried. Right now the college that’s got her excited is due to it having private bathrooms in the freshman dorms, a tunnel system between classes, and a visit that made her feel welcome. Is that enough to say yes and apply there?
How can I help her pick a major? How can a kid with mediocre math grades do well in a science major? What on earth do they do for a living if they don’t want to teach or go in the medical field? Her dream job is marine biology career but she recognizes the pay is small and the competition is fierce. Got any advice for me/us?
For people who are curious about UK in Lexington.
D16 reports one of her friends is dropping Honors so she can focus on an engineering track and possibly add a double major; she believes this will be easier to do if she is free from the Honors course requirements.
Also, D and her roommate are applying for housing for sophmore year and are looking at the dorms with a kitchenette, and each girl gets their own private bedroom with full bed. D says it would be ~$500 more per semester (above the amount the Patterson covers).
And, D has flown home once and found it very easy to get to & from the Lexington airport (Uber) from campus. Bus system also convenient to get out to the Mall, Target, & Plato’s Closet.
@Midwest67 $500 a semester doesn’t sound like much more especially since she might only need a minimal meal plan, if any.
My D’s on campus apt is about $1800 more a year than the freshman dorm, but should be at least $2000 cheaper for food, since she can cook.
@mardeebo we are looking at instate colleges that might give merit or ones my S can commute to.
Some states also have good transfer agreements between their community colleges and 4 yr universities.
One of my D’s friends liked biology and started in nursing but then went into secondary biology education.
@mommdc We live about 5 miles past the cut-off point for two in-state schools which means commuting is not allowed for freshman and sophomores. I’m definitely discussing the community college option. What concerns me is if she doesn’t go to a 4 year college somewhere, she’ll not immerse herself in college life. That was a big mistake I made eons ago.
Feeling overwhelmed: Don’t worry, @mardeebo. First off, you’re among friends here. (Seriously—this thread is my happy place among the insanity that College Confidential can be.) Second, my D17 is along the high-stats kids this site makes one feel is the norm (it isn’t), but your child sounds quite like my D19, so yeah, I get your stress. There are, however, lots and lots of options for you, depending in part on where you live. (Also, there are may well be a lot of private-college options that would be as affordable as your in-state publics, depending on your finances.) As for options for science majors other than medicine (and yeah, marine biology is a long-shot for anyone to break into), I know folks with science degrees who are doing anything from secondary teaching to technical writing to news reporting to meteorology to marketing—a liberal arts degree (people forget that the sciences are part of the liberal arts!) doesn’t prepare for a specific occupation, but rather for flexibility.
Lazy rivers: They’re so last decade—or, at least, kvetching about them in the popular press seems to have started fading away (just like complaints about climbing walls faded earlier, and before that massive fitness centers faded from a source of complaint to grudging acceptance as a good idea). Now, it seems, the emerging big thing for critics of higher education to complain about are ziplines, which are similarly rare but equally visible.
@mardeebo Congratulations on your first post! Many of us are overwhelmed, not just you. You and your D will get throught it.
Whatever the reasons, as long as she gets excited about the college, that’s enough to say yes and apply! I think private bathrooms are pretty big deal for many kids.
She will find out what she wants to study/do after graduation while she is in college.
We also face financial challenges. We cannot afford to pay our EFC.
Our D13 went to community college and really made the most of it. Got very involved in SGA (Student Government Association), went on some nice trips to attend SGA conferences, made connections with faculty and administration at the CC because of SGA, etc.
She is not a super star student by any means, and she benefited from being able to re-take some high school level math. She gained confidence that given time, she’d eventually “get it”.
She lived at home and also worked. She was able to pay for nearly everything at CC. She definitely got a different perspective by going to school with plenty of non-traditional students, and as a result, I think she is a more compassionate re: the hurdles many people have in order to get to, and get thru college.
So, don’t underestimate or dismiss what a positive experience community college can be.
She is now at our state flagship and doing well. She took out loans for her junior and senior year, and we also had to borrow because we don’t have the cash flow to pay out of current income and savings. We’re okay with it because it’s only for 2 years, not 4.
Then, we forced D16 to go UK because she got a full tuition scholarship + stipend for room and board.
Different kids, different solutions to the finances.
The $500 more per semester feels like nothing, since we are paying so little for her undergrad degree. We are very fortunate.
I’m new here also. Welcome from another newbie. I remember reading a thread on CC a year or so ago of different career options that mentioned being a lab manager as a good job (that I think they said only needed a two year degree). I don’t recall the details, but if your DD likes lab science she might want to look into that.
I don’t know the cut off stats wise for honors colleges at community colleges, but your DD may want to look into that. The cohort of students there would be more focused on academics and on preparing to transfer to a four year university.
My niece has gone to private four year universities (transferred) and never immersed herself in the experience. I think for some kids it’s just not their cup of tea.
We’ve seen climbing walls at a couple of universities, no lazy rivers or zip lines, my kids were super impressed 
Your D sounds like she is in good shape. She has an affordable school that she likes and is a match for her stats and a potential major that she is passionate about. Biology is not a math intensive science. Google ‘jobs with a degree in biology’ for career ideas.
So, we are coming out of a college app lull due to several factors: end of quarter testing; boyfriend home from college; marching band competitions; fatigue. We have a few more 11/1 deadlines, and it looks like tOSU may fall off the list. D just hasn’t been able to get excited on that one since our visit, even though I think it would be one of the more likely affordable OOS. I think I may have to let it go, which should be easy since I went to UofM.
Coming up close on the heels are some 11/15 deadlines. Ugh. 9 more essays and an arts supplement, which means setting time to record (and record and record and record until it’s just right!).
Alabama seemed especially proud of their Rinky dink rock wall. She was talking it up as she was leading us there and I was like “wait… What???”
Texas A&M has a massive one that spans about 2-3 floors. Just saying…