@NoelleCf I think that’s awesome if she knows her own mind and knows what type of school she likes. Did she apply early action, so if for some reason it didn’t work out she could add applications to other schools later? I have the opposite problem, my D wants to go to a more prestigious school but has mediocre test scores, so she’s applying to too many reaches. Her counselor brought up SDSU (where I went) and my D’s reaction was “oh my God no, that’s where my mom went, that’s a party school! Can’t I do better with a 4.0+ GPA???” Oh how times have changed in California.
@NoelleCf tOSU was on her list until we discovered that they do not accept deferrals for a gap year. D is applying to some study abroad programs for next year.
@NoelleCf – Read your posts re DD interested in mechatronics and wants less competitive school - have you looked at NYU Tandom or is that too far & expensive perhaps. CalPoly is likely a good option?
@socalmom007 - Yes, I should be grateful and tune out the GC (who doesn’t know my DD because the school decided this year was a good year to make some assignment changes based on last names). My DD has already been accepted to the school and major. We’ve been assured she is a shoe in for the honors college. Unfortunately, they seem to be pulling back a bit on merit, but it’s not like any other school (other than UA) would be cheaper for us. They did make a 12k/yr offer but last year it would have been an automatic 15k/yr.
I remember when the B students had no problem getting into Davis (with SAT’s probably in the 80’s percentile wise). And it wasn’t particularly difficult to get into Berkeley, though Stanford was turning down 4.0’s even back then. The problem with some of these schools, like SDSU and the UC’s is that it can take so long to get the classes you need to graduate. And if you are a CS major it is difficult to get into the major after you’ve invested a couple years at that school. Your DD should have guaranteed admittance to a UC, right? (though not necessarily one she wants to go to) I know you still have to do the apps and requirements, but I thought the top 15% at your school was close to a guarantee. My DD underperformed on the SAT but did much better on the ACT even with just winging it. It was not her idea to take it (putting it mildly, lol), so she wasn’t about to study or practice. Although the words, “Mom, you were right” have not crossed her lips, she knows I know she’s thinking it. 
No, unfortunately she’s not in the guaranteed admission range. Guaranteed UC is top 9% and my daughter is at about top 12% at her very competitive high school. She’s applying for a non impacted major (statistics) so we’re hoping she can maybe get into Cal Poly, UCI, UCD… she’s taking the ACT one more time on Saturday and will have put in 40 hours of online prep, so we’re hopeful she can better her score. She’s applying to a lot of private schools as well, east coast, SF bay area, SD, so we’ll see how it all pans out.
Re the USCarolina lazy river, the confusion may be that the honors and/or scholars students take a trip down a nearby actual river as part of orientation and the students go in floats or kayaks, etc. They really talked that up at the scholars dinner that we attended.
@CA1543 - She adamantly does not want to apply to CalPoly (although her GC is pushing it). We have driven around the campus a few years ago, so she is a little familiar with it. Around here it is a prestige school which nixes it for her. It’s also a difficult school to switch majors at from what I understand. I wouldn’t be surprised if she changes her mind a bit at least within the college of engineering. She also wants to leave CA.
NY state is a bit far. Travel expenses would add up, especially since we are 3 hours from the nearest real airport. She has been accepted at MS (Bozeman) which is her dream school. They have CS and the mechatronics minor. I will have her look at NYU Tandom just in case she likes it. We need good merit aid as we don’t qualify for need based. She was interested in WSU until we visited there last summer. She was not impressed with their honors college and didn’t like the $$$ emphasis of the Computer Science department. She is not particularly materialistic. She wants enough money to live on, flexibility and creativity in her job, and opportunities to have a positive impact on the world. Hard to fault those priorities.
Just want to say how impressed I am with all of your kids who already know what they’d like to major/minor in. I have one currently applying who is torn between Arts/Sciences schools and Engineering schools (within larger, research universities) because of interests in both the social sciences and STEM fields. Fortunately, one major interest (Comp Sci) often falls under both so maybe there is some flexibility, but I’m sure there are differences in the two routes that non-stemmy DH and I don’t appreciate. I guess what you do is focus on places that don’t make you commit upfront or at least provide some opportunities to switch later…
Eh, I think D17 is a bit unusual in that she’s known what she’s wanted to do for so long. D18 is currently trying to decide between mechanical engineering and theme park management. Not a big Venn Diagram overlap for those two pursuits! D18’s BF is completely clueless about what he’d like to do (and I suspect he’ll end up doing mechanical engineering or theme park managment, ha ha).
I say to them “just keep getting better at what you’re good at,” and I believe a direction will become clear eventually.
@NoelleCf MSU is a great school, is sounds like a perfect choice to me. Cal Poly is very difficult to change majors at, if one wants flexibility, while it can be done, it is difficult and can be costly. Even if you don’t change majors it can be difficult to graduate in four years. Our D took a summer session at the community college there this summer and will likely do the same next year simply so she can graduate on time. This is completely due to scheduling and being unable to take what she needs in the right sequence to get done in 4 years. That said, the CC option was pretty painless and a heck of a lot cheaper than an extra semester or two!
If she likes Bozeman I would maybe look at Colorado State (and their Honors program) as an alternative but really it doesn’t sound like you need it.
Yes, it evolves each year. My D17 used to want to be a writer. I think geneticist was next. Then two years ago it was chemistry or chemical engineering. A year and a half ago – music production/engineering. The CS and mechatronics has come in the last year. My D17 has not had any actual CS classes yet as her school does not offer any beyond Dream Weaver and Photoshop and that sort of thing, so who knows how much she will like it when she actually starts the courses. That’s why I’m glad her choice of school makes changes within the CofE pretty easy, at least the first year or so.
@NoelleCf – got it. Have you looked at ASU - Arizona State University? But if she is accepted to her dream school & that works financially - you are done, perhaps.
@Rightcoaster Congrats! I am eager for the day the last app is filed so S17 can enjoy senior year. Not to mention I have app fatigue. Yesterday S17 asked me to look at 3 more essays. They were all supplements but they were all on new topics. I pointed out that he now had 8 different supplement topics and he should stop starting from scratch and stick with what he’s already perfected. I reviewed them all and made some edits but this writing of new essays for each and every supplemental question has to stop. S17 took his essays to his college counselor today and she told him to see her again on Wednesday with finalized essays which they will review one last time and these he will submit! 
Thank you dear college counselor.
@paveyourpath I agree with recycling topics! Thankfully D is at the point where she doesn’t have to start from scratch.
Of course, until more Honors/scholarship essays appear :))
@eandesmom - My doctor said the same thing today. He has kids just a bit older. One of his D’s friends is at MSU and loves it. He was not big on CalPoly for the reasons you describe. It sounds like your D is highly motivated to make it work there.
I will take a peak at CSU, but I don’t think the Colorado schools had the same WUE/merit. Thanks for the suggestion.
@CA1543 - She’s not interested in living in AZ, but they don’t offer WUE for CS anyway (and may have cut back much more than that compared to a year ago when I was looking). Yes, I think we will just finish up the UA stuff and the local CC and be done with it. Then on to scholarship apps (and maybe retaking the ACT to raise her math score if our contact in the School of CS recommends it for their scholarships).
For kids,who took college class. I just spent $16 to order 2 transcripts from the college as D’s EA school wants the official transcript. I thought I could order one to myself and forward to all the schools. Sure enough, the school wants the official transcript and I had to order again.
The irony is that the class is free, she got the scholarship from the college through CTY Talent Search. I am spending money now to send transcript!!
@NoelleCf , good chance of getting to Stanford may mean that she has 8% of chance, as compared to 4% of general public. Would you spend $100 and hours on essays for a 8% chance of spending $300k on a Stanford education when another engineering schools would afford you the same chance, most of the times? It seems your D has a good head on her shoulders!!
I didn’t even think about college transcripts, my D will have taken 6 classes at the CC. Why would they need them if they’re on her high school transcript???
S17 had an interview today. I don’t even know what to say about it other than just wow! These kids are put through so much and as if they aren’t busy enough, let’s add an interview in that is simply meaningless. I won’t provide all of the details because they would clearly be identifiable to the person if they ever saw it as there is SO much personal information that was revealed during S17’s interview but I will say that it could not have gone worse. He told S17 that he was very impressed by his credentials, thought he was a great fit, would provide a supportive report “but hey, my kid didn’t get in and he’s legacy”. If ever I could have scripted the worst interview, I could not have imagined this as a worst case scenario. All the discussions about bad tour guides paled in comparison to this.
D got invited to apply for another lottery full-ride. More essays and groans at our house. :))
@socalmom007 - They will want the official college transcript. We are waiting until January when D finishes her concurrent enrollment class (not on hs transcript). But even without knowing she was taking that MSU requested her CC transcript and also for a one unit p/f one she took at a camp at a different university. We could go ahead and do that any time, but I figure I will wait until we know for sure all the places she is applying.