Parents of the HS Class of 2018 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
2821

Reporting in from U Toronto, for those of you interested in the Canadian universities.

No surprises here. D and I visited last August, and her perception of the school after visiting classes this week hasn’t changed. U Toronto is serious and intense, with amazing professors and jaw-dropping opportunities. Here’s what she likes about U of T that UBC and McGill don’t have:

*First year seminars. McGill has a handful of similar classes, modeled after U of T’s program, but it’s not nearly as developed. UBC has a first year program that includes seminars, but you can’t do them a la carte like at U of T (someone please correct me if I’m mistaken here).

*Residential colleges. U of T is huge, but the residential college system makes it feel much more manageable. The housing options are very diverse. Her first choice will be Woodsworth College. Housing is 4-6 person apartments, with knee-to-ceiling windows, many with fantastic city views. No meal plan is required as you have a full kitchen. It sounds like many students are able to stay at Woodsworth all four years if they so choose.

*Huge array of study abroad options, including dozens of ~4 week summer courses abroad with a U of T professor and a small group of U of T students. It looks like there are even similar study abroad trips affiliated with her major. (Linguistics 400-whatever is an extended field trip for the class, during a school break.)

*Diversity. UBC and McGill are certainly diverse as well, but U of T (and Toronto in general) seems to have the greatest number of ethnicities/cultures/languages represented.

*Libraries. Just wow. The rare books library blew our socks off. They are serious about their academics here.

*Toronto is more accessible and cheaper to fly into that Montreal or Vancouver.

Cons to U of T:

*Escaping the urban environment is not easy. In contrast, UBC is an isolated oasis, requiring a bus ride into the city. McGill is downtown, but beautiful Mont Royal is adjacent to campus, and the rural MacDonald campus in a picturesque little French village is a free 40 minute shuttle ride away. D loves skiing/hiking/water sports, and although there are U of T clubs that arrange those sorts of outings, it’s not nearly as easy.

*Intensity. There is a high failure rate here. It’s a bit intimidating. And as big as this school is, it would be easy to fall through the cracks unnoticed.

So, my poor D is very confused. All three Canadian schools will be low matches, are great fits major-wise, and will be affordable with her dual citizen status. She won’t have to make a decision for a YEAR, but she will be busy and that year will go very quickly.

As of now, this is her apply list:

Super-safeties
U Oklahoma
ASU Barrett
(She’s a likely NMSF)

Low matches
UBC
U Toronto
McGill

High match/low reach
USC (California)

IF her schedule allows and she’s up for playing the lottery, she may chase merit at some higher reaches, like WashU (we are going to visit in a couple of weeks), UChicago, and/or Johns Hopkins. I don’t know if she’d like those any better than the Canadian options, though.

At times I catch myself thinking “This is so much pressure for a 17 year old,” then I step back and look at the big picture. She’ll be fine. She’s incredibly fortunate to have these opportunities. She’ll have a lifetime of making difficult decisions that determine her life path, so I’m grateful that this first one has no “wrong” choice.

2822

@ShrimpBurrito thanks for sharing. We visited U of T a few years ago–I loved it. Love residential colleges. But since we aren’t dual citizens, can’t seriously consider. I think the high pressure environment is true. Scary as a parent.

2823

I don’t know that I would call UBC “isolated”. Just not right near a subway station or right in the heart of town like McGill/U of T. I will be considering all three for my dual citizen 2018 S when the time comes. Queens and Western for my business oriented S, though Toronto would be the easiest for us to reach, too, with Montreal a close second.

I know all three cities quite well.

2824

@ShrimpBurrito: Thanks so much for posting this info and your current decision factors.

We’re in a similar boat, but we have a bit longer to decide, for my two teenage daughters who aren’t yet juniors.

Just in the past few months, I’ve been starting to ramp up our consideration of the issue.

At this point, it seems that there are slight (relative) pros and cons to all three of the “big 3” Canadian universities.

We live in California, and it seems like the eventual decision will probably come down to a choice between one of the UC schools (which are, happily, generally very highly regarded) vs. UofT, McGill or UBC.

Our factors include the following:

  • proximity to our home (pro-UBC; then UofT second; and McGill a close third);
  • weather (pro-UBC with a caveat for the rain; this is a con for chilly McGill, from my perspective, at least; UofT is in the middle, for this factor; but my two daughters seem less influenced by the issue; and in fact they are interested in snow and cold, as a novelty--never having lived through it or grown up with it!).
  • quality of education and (somewhat related to that) international reputation (slight nod to UofT and McGill here, vs. UBC; McGill really does have a substantial (and highly positive) international reputation in many parts of the USA (particularly in the northeast) and also (perhaps exceeding UofT's reputation) in many other parts of the world, though UofT now has a lengthening track record of being more highly ranked by most of the commonly known global ranking sources; anecdotally, some people also do say that UBC is relatively well-known in the western part of the USA, and so the distinctions between the three, for U.S./international reputation, aren't that huge, especially for someone living in California (as we do) (though even here, UofT and McGill are probably generally more well-known, in the large cities).
  • ambience/feel/sense of community, etc. - I only know UofT myself (having gone to school there myself, too many years ago), and I believe exactly what you said: the college system at UofT (including the on-campus residences) makes for a much better sense of community, and it cuts (favorably) against the overall large size of the school. One could say that the college system at UofT may give a student the best of both worlds--that is, a smallish affiliated community to come home to every day (if you live in the residence), but with the ability to take a wide variety of classes from great professors (from being at an overall large university). There are several thousand students who live on or very near the St. George campus, and so the commuter element is substantially reduced. However, I know very little, so far, about the ambience/feel/sense of community at McGill and UBC. I will know more after we visit McGill this summer, as part of a northeast (Montreal/NYC) summer vacation this year.

Please keep posting, ShrimpBurrito. I will be interested to hear what your daughter decides. I agree that your D cannot go wrong with any of her choices. As between the U.S. schools that you’re looking at and the three Canadian ones, I think that, if it were me, I would recommend one of the Canadian ones, since the three under consideration are all excellent and highly ranked globally, and it would be a life-changing/broadening experience to study at a top university, in a different country (but not really too far away). I expect that the decision by my daughters ultimately will be based, to a large degree, on what feels right to them. And I think that’s fine as a tie-breaker, since they have to be happy at their school and feel good about where they’re going.

Cheers.

2825

Hey all. Did campus tours last week at Rice and Tulane.The short version is:

Rice - very pretty campus with a clear boundary between campus and neighborhoods. Had never been there, so had no idea what to expect. Larger than I expected for the student body size. Nice off-campus neighborhood in Rice Village with lots of off-campus dining opportunities. Rice has a house system (like Yale) and the students seem to stay connected to their house for whole time they are there and most seem to live there at least three years and many for four. Hard to say what campus life might really be like since it was spring break. They talk a lot about diversity (ethnic, geographic, etc.) and the group visiting seemed pretty diverse though there were a lot of Texans They have a pretty broad range of potential majors. Interestingly, students apply directly to the undergraduate college of their interest, though transfers between undergraduate schools seem doable. There is an opportunity to apply for a program where the student is accepted to both Rice for undergraduate and Baylor for Medical school. In fact, Rice campus neighbors a very large medical establishment that includes several hospitals, making internships very possible. If your child is a musician, the Sheppard School is very impressive and very competitive - conservatory style. So, while double-majoring seems common, it is nearly impossible for music majors.

Tulane - Less leafy than Rice, but well defined boundaries while clearly being very integrated into the city neighborhoods. Campus was bustling and students were very friendly. Campus is right across the street from Audobon Park and we noticed plenty of students jogging, walking, etc. Also, it’s right on the St. Charles street car line providing easy access to other parts of the city, including the French Quarter. That said, most students told us that they go to the French Quarter a couple of times freshman year and then tend to focus their time on campus and nearby neighborhoods (i.e. the French Quarter gets old). Loyola is literally next door and there seems to be a lot of inter-campus activity. Our tour guide said she eats lunch at Loyola most days because she prefers their coffee. It is apparently very common for students to double-major and many do a semester abroad. Also, Tulane has a very strong focus on community service and there is a community service (they call it something else, I think - maybe community engagement) requirement that is thread into the curriculum.

Both schools are strong academically and teh students seem happy and connected.

That’s just the basics. If anybody has specific questions about impressions, let me know by PM.

2826

It’s official – S18 is spending senior year in Germany through CBYX Congress Bundestag. He’ll get diplomas from his local HS here and from his German HS. I’m still processing the fact that H and I will be empty nesters as he and D17 head off into the wild blue yonder. :-S

Looks like we are starting summaries over at the 2017 thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20457164/#Comment_20457164
D17 hasn’t made her final decision yet (and we await two that will be purely informational), but she’s close!

2827

Whoa! Congratulations to your S18, but that would be hard for me to be an empty nester so suddenly!

Thank you for the link to the summaries on the 2017 thread. That will be incredibly helpful for us.

2828

It’s been fun to lurk on the 2017 thread. Our kids are up next! :D/

2829

Looks like it will end up being a separate thread posted April 1. Valuable data! I’m too lazy to link, but the 2017 3.0 - 3.4 thread newly updated “the big list.” For those not in the know, the “3.0 - 3.4” threads are not strictly that GPA range, perhaps more like “non-superstar” oriented, so there is a good range of students and schools on the list.

2830

Parent from the Class of 2017 dropping in here to wish you all a good year and if anyone is interested in hearing the details of an average smart kid, not applying to LACs or Ivys and unhooked, needing merit to avoid the EFC and applying for engineering (MechE, BiomedE) then let me know!

I also have specific “what I wish we would have done” advice on getting merit from University of Pittsburgh. Just message me!

2831

@carachel2 - please do share!

2832

@crazy4info --which part? Pitt? I will message that part to whomever is interested.

2833

@ShrimpBurrito - I didn’t realize that this wasn’t a “decision year” yet for your offspring. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts on your daughter’s college visits. Hope to exchange views with you, in the coming months. We’re visiting McGill this summer, and then UBC at some point, and we visited UofT last summer (and my two Ds thought it was great). We will also be looking at the UC schools too (UCLA would be in-state for us and a very good outcome). Cheers.

2834

Hi @GoldenState99
Yeah, we started this college search thing early. :slight_smile: It’s been a good thing in our case. D has had lots of time to process, ask questions, and figure out what’s important to her before crunch time. I think her application list is pretty set, with six schools. She can start working on her essays this summer and have all of her apps in early, hopefully enabling her to enjoy her senior year. We have pledged to do big family vacations for Christmas and spring break, hopefully with college stuff pretty much figured out.

My D will be at McGill this summer as well, for their new Summer Academy. I’m eager to see how those two weeks on campus influence D’s perception. Right now McGill is #3 on her list.

The snow and cold being a novelty is true at our house as well. D has spent her life in SoCal and Oklahoma, and is fascinated by Canadian winters. You should have seen us last week, walking through the blizzard in Montreal just for “fun.” :open_mouth:

Have you ever seen the UBC campus? It’s stunning. Gardens and forests and fountains and artwork, with beach access and million dollar views. The facilities are amazing, and the place runs like clockwork. It’s very, very impressive.

I’ll be following your progress as well. Exciting times for our Ds!

2835

ME: Great, all done with our Spring Break college tour planning!
CC: Hey, here’s a few more schools for you to check out.
ME: ~X(

We’re now up to 8 schools in 5 days.

2836

Good luck @odannyboySF ! I look forward to hearing about the adventure!

2837

Hi Parents, Just want to say hi! My D18 goes to a large public school in Northern California. We are starting to put together a list of colleges and the conversations on CC are very useful. I like the idea of going through the college admissions process as a group.

2838

Hi all, reintroducing myself again. I have a daughter who is a Junior in a large public school in NJ. She is my first kid and I did not go to college in the US so the college admission process is new for me.

2839

Welcome, @ResilientOptimist and hello @Pri930!

I hope everyone is doing well. I’m looking forward to hearing about spring break trips! We are headed south next week, covering a lot of miles in a few short days. Not a fan of long car rides but hoping the visits will be beneficial. Here we go again!

2840

I reported on our spring break trip already in this thread but one thing deserving mention is how much fun we had spending timewith our son that week. He is a middle child so just getting time alone with him was great. I also felt like he grew up in front of my eyes that week, as his mom and I took a back seat and watched him interact with the adult admissions personnel, teachers and college students. (Though it was so hard keeping our mouths shut!) He used to talk about staying close to home for college, but he gained confidence from that trip and came away from it knowing he wants to “go away.” We will miss him terribly when the time comes but we think it is important for him to meet people from other places and experience living in a different part of the country, especially since our hometown can be pretty insular.