Parents of the HS Class of 2018 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
3001

RE: Flamenco. One of D2’s closest friends (Alice Blumenfeld) is a professional flamenco dancer who started out at UNM during high school. She later studied at NYU, then spent 3 years studying in flamenco in Spain as a Fulbright Scholar for the Arts. Alice has danced all over the world.

UNM’s printmaking & lithography program is also a Top 5 nationally ranked program.

UNM’s vocal performance dept is also well regarded nationally and specializes in training young voices in opera performance, with students often singing in the chorus or in minor roles at the Santa Fe Opera.

For skiing—students can take a city bus to the base of Sandia Tram, ride the tram to the top and and ski at Sandia Mtn Resort. No car needed. There are hiking trails all through the National Forest and Abq Open Space area at the east side of town. There are also walking trails all through the bosque along the Rio Grande.

For those who are into rock climbing, there are world class climbing routes in the nearby Jemez Mountains. There are even some decent bolted routes in Tijeras Canyon at the east edge of town. (Accessible via the city bus.) My kidlets used to take a couple of hours off in the afternoon occasionally to go climbing. (Cheaper and more challenging than the climbing gym.)

The public transit to Santa Fe is a high speed, limited stop train called the RailRunner. The rail terminal in Santa Fe is an easy 15 minute walk from Santa Fe Plaza/downtown.

UNM and ABQ are both very bike friendly with dedicated bike lanes and free-to-use bike racks on the front of every city bus. The weather is mild enough that many people bike year round. ABQ is also a runners’ hub with runners from all over the world who train here because of the mild weather and high altitude.

RE: Film Industry. D1 worked as a movie/TV extra during college to pick up spending money. It’s not uncommon to run into celebrities in restaurants, grocery stores , gyms–even Costco! around town.

3002

Thanks, @WayOutWestMom !

3003

DS18, DS20 and Mrs.LOUKYDAD visited Indiana University yesterday. Back at #2971 I said DS18 was a “bloom where planted” kid. Well apparently not so much!

He said it wasn’t for him. Overwhelmed by the size and scale of everything. 40k undergrads plus 10k grad students. 5k in the honors program. Thought the campus was beautiful but just can’t picture himself there. No confidence he could find his tribe there.

I didn’t expect IU to become his first choice or anything like that. Always thought of it as a merit reach that he would look at only if he lucked into the long shot merit (Wells). But still, this wasn’t the reaction I expected at all. He has confused me!

He has always talked a lot about Alabama, and Georgia and Clemson he was considering throwing his hat in for Foundation Fellows/Ramsey and National Scholars (very long odds). He still like U of KY and U of Lou and they are on his list, UK especially high. But if that is his reaction to IU, why would Georgia and Alabama be any different (he hasn’t visited either yet)? They aren’t quite as big as IU, but close enough. Why does he still like UK and U of L (he has visited both), smaller but still big schools?

And now he likes Centre College, which he visited Wednesday. Maybe even the favorite right now. Ok, great you like LACs now. So do you want to look at some other similar schools, Rhodes, Sewanee, maybe DePauw in IN? No, doesn’t feel the need to, doesn’t think he could see himself going to any of them. Huh?

Dad is going to just stay calm, listen, be patient. It will all work out. Just keep my mind and my wallet open. It will all be ok. :slight_smile:

3004

@Booajo
RE: Post #2998

UNM is nicknamed the University Near Mom because a majority of students are from ABQ-Santa Fe. However, there is no wholesale emptying out of the dorms on the weekend. Because home is 15 or 20 minutes away, students tend mostly to go home just for Sunday dinner (and maybe to do some laundry), then go right back to campus.

Besides, why would students leave? ABQ is the biggest city in the state and where all the the entertaining stuff (concerts, theater performances, sporting events, night clubs) is happening. People come to ABQ on the weekends; people don’t leave ABQ. (Except maybe to go skiing up at Taos or Red River or Durango for the weekend.)

3005

@LOUKYDAD, that made me laugh. :slight_smile: Thinking more about it though, maybe he’s just looking to not go too far from home?

3006

@suzy100 Yes I agree that is definitely a factor. I think there is fear of going so far away and being out of his element socially. There is a comfort level with the in-state schools and knowing he can drive home anytime he is lonely or homesick. He isn’t going to come right out and say it, but I think it is there unspoken.

3007

@LOUKYDAD I know many, many kids who got all the way to the end of the decision making process and then, with acceptances in hand, decided on the closer school. Lots of kids talk a big game but then, when push comes to shove, going far away doesn’t always get the nod.

3008

@clementines2016 - you are visiting CU Boulder and what school in Denver? There is CU Denver, Denver University, Regis University and Metro State at least that I know of.

Colorado School of Mines is in Golden a little west of Denver probably 20 minutes from downtown. About 1 hour north of Denver is Fort Collins where Colorado State University’s main campus is.

3009

@jpc763 university of Denver.

3010

Flying to Boston to start Spring Break College Tour. Eight schools in five days across three states! Expect reports on Tufts, Wellesley, Smith, Union, Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Muhlenberg, and Swarthmore. Colleges are warning us to expect crowds. Sigh.

3011

@clementines2016 - DU is a great school. Of note, they won the D1 Ice Hockey national championship last night! Their 8th hockey title!

3012

Hello Everyone,
Just checking in. I was also wanted to tell you all about a very cool opportunity for high achieving, low income (as in less than $80K/year) students called the Matriculate program.

Matriculate provides free remote advising from college students who can help you through your college application process. Advising Fellows are trained college students who can help with all aspects of application process.

You can connect with your Advising Fellow one-on-one through text messages, emails, phone calls, and video chat – whatever is most convenient. We can help no matter where you are or how far you’ve gotten in figuring out your college plan.

The program is free to apply to and is currently accepting applicants from the Class of 2018. The application takes about two minutes to complete. Here are the eligibility requirements:

GPA of 3.5 or higher
Standardized test score in the 90th percentile
PSAT/NMSQT – Math and Critical Reading combined 1220
Or
New SAT-- 1370+
Or
Or ACT-- composite 28
Annual family income of less than $80,000

The college student advisors come from schools such as Columbia, Howard, Notre Dame, Princeton, Williams, and Yale. The advisors would serve as a big brother/sister to the high school students throughout the college admissions process. Contact between the students and advisors would mainly take place between phone calls, emails, and video chats. Selectivity is very low, you’re pretty much in as long as you meet the requirements, and they accept applicants usually within three business days. Once accepted, applicants are emailed confirmation and given a questionaire to match them up wih an advisor. After that, students can ask their advisor about anything college related including their own experiences. This program is fairly hidden and unadvertised, so I thought I might give it a shout-out. I’m being paired with my advisor this week and I’m fairly excited to figure out who it is.

Note: If your DC had a 3.4 - 3.5 GPA, they have said to round it up.

Also, I’m excited to announce that I’ve been accepted to both the Carnegie Mellon Summer Academy for Math and Science and the NOVEC Youth Tour this summer. At Carnegie Mellon, I’d get take some credited and non-credited STEM courses while at the NOVEC Youth Tour, I would tour around Washington DC and meet with some Congressman. Once I hear from NASA about my class, I’ll likely also be going to a summer academy. I’m set to have a very packed summer!

3013

Anyone have kids doing a Johns Hopkins CTY summer program? Any info on what we would expect if my kids signed up for it would be appreciated.

Frankly, my son was invited to many pre-college programs, but the costs were way higher, like $10,000 for a two-week residential session (without college credit!).

3014

@ak2018 Can I apply to that program as a rising freshman?

3015

Well, tomorrow’s tour at UT Dallas is going to be interesting. The weather forecast calls for severe t-storms and 1.6 inches of rain. I hope S will be able to separate out the college from the weather as he forms his opinions.

Then, two days later at Texas Tech, the storms will have followed us for another round of t-storms and another 1+ inches of rain.

S says maybe the Universe doesn’t want him in Texas! :wink:

3016

@DiotimaDM, he’s got it backwards, Texas is throwing him a welcome party with fireworks and everything! :))

Enjoy the visits! Hopefully you’ll stay dry.

3017

@DiotimaDM, sorry if you already said, but are you doing the honors/National Merit/McDermott tour at UT Dallas? That’s what we did and it was very personalized. We were all really impressed, and even H who was struggling with a bit of snobbishness (“MY gifted son at lowly UT Dallas? What?”) was won over by the honors program and a great visit with a CS professor. Luckily S never knew his dad had a bit of attitude about UTD and he was able to make his own impression, and at any rate H is on board with UTD all the way now.

3018

@traveler98 Re: NM tour - yes we are! I told them that S was interested in the McDermott, but not sure if that’s included or not.

3019

Happy Monday! DS took the ACT on Saturday and felt pretty good about it. He said he didn’t know if it’ll be the 32 he is aiming for but felt it might be at least 29/30. At least we don’t have to wait forever and a day to get the results like the SAT! Depending on his score we will sign him up for June ACT and potentially the September. Hoping he wraps this up with the June one because the Sept date isn’t ideal. He is in marching band and the game the Friday night before is an away game which will put him home late. :expressionless:

Had a big conversation with him yesterday about whether he should take AP Calculus BC next year with his grades in PreCal this report card. He still wants to take it and said the reason his grades were bad was because of his laziness and he’s fixed that. Admitting the problem is the first step…

@traveler98 I might have to add UTD to our list to look into. I looked it up after your post. I can’t say I know a lot about it.

3020

@Fishnlines29 I would love to have a copy of the templates you used.