Parents of the HS Class of 2018 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
3101

@lifegarding, we are thinking the same way. Hard to beat the state schools. DAD attends a small HS and wants a big University with lots f majors. With her trying not to go too far, thatLulu’s things. We went to UM-CP ona gorgeous fall day when school was in session, and took a tour. It was very impressive, seemed huge to us and so many kids! My DAD loved the diversity of the student body.

We went to UMBC on “Junior Day”
They had a lovely, well organized program. It was a few weeks ago in a grey, cool day before the trees started to bloom. The President of the school spoke along with some students, who spoke about all the internships and opportunities they had received. The President said that if you sent your kid there, they wouldn’t have to move home afterwards as they would have jobs, lol. The campus was not as classically gorgeous as College Park, more modern, corporate looking and smaller (but not small). I’ve heard UMBC provides more support to students who need help. Not sure if that’s true.

These are my daughter’s #1 and #2 choices at this time.

We think she can get into UMBC. UM-CP is very selective these days. With a 3.97 UW/4.7 weighted and 1390 SAT (660 M, 730R) we are hopeful for UM-CP. She is going to take the SAT a few more times so their the ACT. The Math score needs to come up in case she dies want to do engineering,

We’ll see!

3102

Sorry for the typos! I hit send when my younger DAD interrupted me, and didn’t see all those weird autocorrects and typos. I’ll blame my phone, lol!

3103

I find myself living vicariously through all of you reporting on your campus visits and other events. Unfortunately, you can count us in with the crowd having visiting zero colleges thus far!

D18 has had a stressful junior year. 5 AP classes, 2 honors classes, and a TON of extracurricular clubs and activities turned (at times) our normally happy & easy-going daughter into a stressed-out, unpleasant, smart-mouthing, angst-ridden, teenage stranger these past months!

Whenever I brought-up the subject of college planning, she just withdrew or pushed my buttons to get out of the conversation. And if she did happen to listen for a little while, she just sat there rolling her eyes and acting like she was doing me a great favor by listening to what I’ve learned about the college process. Sound familiar anyone???

On a positive note, she got a 222 on her junior year PSAT and still has a chance at NMF (if the 2 semester “Cs” she got in her Calc BC class don’t come back to bite her) and the opportunities that come with that.

Right now, she’s hanging-on to an “A” in Calc BC for the second semester, which I’m hoping will counteract the “C” grades when the “powers that be” decide which students advance to NMF next year.

3104

Do the NM people (and colleges) look at half-year grades or just the final grade for the year? D18 had a couple of Bs at the halfway point as a soph but pulled them up to an A overall by the end of the year.

3105

I’m proud to report we went on a spring break vacation (bit of a splurge for us) and didn’t think about high school or college for FIVE WHOLE DAYS!!!

In a funny coincidence we were on the same planes coming and going with the current assistant high school principal (will be principal next year). We chatted, about everything but school stuff :)>-

3106

I don’t have the same spring break as S18 this year; I work in another school system. He couldn’t completely avoid thinking about school this past week since SAT scores came out. He exceeded his target score, so he’s satisfied. Maybe he’ll be more eager to visit a few schools now. It looks like a few of us are in MD; I look forward to hearing your thoughts on local schools.

3107

Anyone else with prom angst? Every time DS decides who to ask, someone else does it first! Happened twice now.

3108

Grrr, another hotel where we are too far away from the router for me to get on with my laptop. Somebody asked earlier - S is pre-med but has no idea about his major. Could be some combination of psychology, writing, theater, or the standard biology type options.

Re: prom - S and GF have decided to skip it this year and just have a nice dinner date instead.

3109

Re: prom, my S20’s small private high school allows grades 9-12 to go, so I’m sending him off tonight! No date, no fuss, no fancy dinner.

D18’s prom is in two weeks. She’s going with her best friend. Just the way she wants it–no boy drama. [-(

3110

@droppedit, it will depend on how your school shows grades on the transcript, but I think she’ll be OK. As to the EC stuff, don’t beat yourself up. We all are doing the best we can with what we know. I’m glad your D is feeling better.

@LMHS73, let’s just say that if the snarly girl phase only lasts 3 months, I would count you lucky! (By the way, I call “Snarly Girl” for my band name that I will never form but I still want it.) I went through it with D15 and am maybe coming out of it with D18. I actually expect D18 to revert to it frequently - one step forward, two back.

Here’s my recommendation to all of us, and I need to remind myself of it: it may not be time yet, but there will come a time soon when college talk is too stressful. We instituted a rule where we talked about it one time a week - usually Sunday brunch - and then stopped talking about it the rest of the time. I’m not sure we are there yet, but I will tell you that this was extremely helpful in maintaining sanity here.

3111

Our DD is going to the prom with some girlfriends. She really wants to go to the prom, and I think she’d like to go with a boy, but I do not think she really wants a boyfriend (and God knows I’m not ready for that!). She did get asked to the fall Homecoming dance in an awkward proposal, by someone she barely knew. She politely declined and went with girl friends. What’s up with all those fancy dance proposals nowadays? Isn’t the whole process awkward enough?

3112

@Astro77, I absolutely loathe this whole ritual around fancy dance proposals.

3113

So Rice visit was an odd one for us. First college we have visited that my wife and I did not want to attend ourselves if we were magically 18 again, though S18 was not so negative. It seems to have a huge STEM emphasis. Talk before the tour kept focusing on research opportunities, meaning STEM research. 14 of the 15 tour guides available to lead us around today were STEM. Overwhelming vibe was geeky science, which is fine except our S18 is a performing arts guy. Our guide showed us his dorm room, which was well kept but was a single and looked like a cell block. Props for showing the school as it is, as opposed to just showing us the nicest housing option on campus. Still, not sure having the guides show their own rooms puts their best foot forward. S18 wants to study voice so we did a tour of Shepherd School of Music. That place is INTENSE. Only 4-5 vocalists enrolled each year, no time to take more than 8-9 classes outside the music school in 4 years. Not sure S18 is ready for that type of laser focus on music yet, even if he were admitted. Maybe for grad school. I don’t think he will apply to Rice, unless something changes in next 6 months.

3114

@droppedit - For colleges, I’d think the final grades and GPA numbers hold the most weight & a 1st semester grade that was brought up in the 2nd semester wouldn’t be of much consequence.

For NM purposes, they do look at semester grades as one of the ways to pare down the number of semifinalists and get as close to the particular state’s allotted number of NMFs as possible. That’s why everyone gets confused every year - as in: how did a student in one state with a single semester “C” not make NMF when a student in a different state with two (or three) semester “Cs” make NMF? I think it just comes down to how far the two states in the example had to go to get close to their correct NMF number.

That’s the way I understand it - anyone please feel free to correct me if you know better.

3115

Also, I think a good explanation from the guidance counselor on the NMF paperwork can go a long way in making two semester “Cs” seem not quite as terrible.

I think D18’s guidance counselor would be more than willing to help out in that regard. During 1st semester (in addition to her regular extracurriculars) D was on a science team that represented her magnet school in the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge. She put so much time into the project, that it affected the amount of time she had to study for her classes. Her team actually made the finals and will compete at the Innovation Summit at the Kennedy Space Center at the end of this month.

So, this is how I’m hoping the story plays out to whomever picks the NMFs: this kid got her first two ever “Cs” in a hard class one semester perhaps because of her involvement in a high-level school project, and then followed-up by turning those two “Cs” into two “As” (hopefully) in the second semester showing that she really did do well in the class.

Sounds good to me…

3116

Visited University of Denver on Friday. It was a visit day program and very well organized. Started at 9 with a presentation that seemed like it was written with my daughter in mind - all about being involved in world issues, study abroad, environmental concerns etc. they are on the quarter system so after Thansgiving - students have a six week break before school starts again in January. Lots of good info given about financial aid and merit money. Then there was a student panel which was so so. Then tour time - Everyone had a folder with an assigned group name (we were in Aspen) and our Aspen group was mostly kids who had said they were interested in art like my dd. Tour guide was very entertaining. Campus was ok I thought. The mountains in the background were beautiful but the buildings were very disjointed and built as different times and in different styles. Dorm room we saw was tiny but I suppose typical. Had lunch on campus which was not very yummy. We then did separate small group tour at the art school. Program was small but seemed like there would be a lot of individual attention. When we left dd said she could totally see herself there. We are now in Boulder for the weekend and she has fallen in love with the city. We see the school on Monday. Can tell that she is willing herself to fall in love with the school because of how she feels about Boulder. Either way - am feeling pretty sure she is going to end up in Colorado. We live in the south and she really wants to go west. She loved California but seems more in her element here.

3117

@clementines2016 - I am glad you are enjoying our beautiful state. Boulder is a very nice campus. I hope you enjoy the tour.

3118

Question about UNM for anyone who might know - the scholarship page indicates that high stats kids will get Regents + Amigo, which should come out to about $33000 and cover tuition + room, but when I run the net price calculator, it still shows tuition covered, but not the price of room & board. Does anyone have any specific information on this? Thanks!

3119

Spring Break College Trip Report

TUFTS
Unsurprisingly, tons of people touring Tufts this week. Our info session had a few hundred people in it. Campus is nice, if bland. Our tour guide spent the first 10 minutes of the tour talking about the sad story of their mascot, Jumbo the Elephant. Seems to be a campus for kids who are Pre-ers (pre-Law, pre-MD, etc.)

WELLESLEY
As we drove into Wellesley, my D said, “This is Hogwarts!” and it was. Gorgeous, huge campus. (Although perhaps too huge, as the buildings were spread out really far apart and made the campus feel a little deader than it probably should have.) Impressive stone buildings and gothic architecture. This one is for Women With A Purpose. It was super empowering for D to see buildings with women’s names on them, and rows of pictures of amazing alumnae. It’s overall location was kind of meh in the suburbs. All fun off campus seems to be in Boston, 40 minutes away.

SMITH
Unlike Wellesley, Smith is in vibrant Northampton, a five minute walk into town. Smith is bigger and quirkier than Wellesley, and benefits from the Five Colleges program. Everyone we met at Smith was amazingly kind and helpful. Staff and faculty went out of their way to show us around, urging us to go see the labs (we got a personal tour) and backstage at the theatre. The housing system, where the students live in “rival” houses is pretty interesting too. Campus is pretty, but more eclectic style wise than Wellesley or our next school, Union.

UNION
Another beautiful campus, but very different. While the buildings outwardly seemed older, inside were very new. Library even smells new, somehow. Two minuses for my D are that it’s very Greek and its location in Schenectedy. We stayed a few blocks away from campus and it was dead. They also have this Minerva program where all the students get randomly put into different virtual houses to mix, but it feels like a failed experiment. Our tour guide said most people don’t do much with their “house.”

BARD
As we’re passing mile after mile of farmland, D says, “This campus better have a vibrant community because there’s nothing around it.” And it didn’t quite deliver on that hope, in part because it’s a big, long campus. Many cool buildings, including the science center, but was just too isolated for D. However, their Director of Admissions gives a really interesting info session monologue.

SARAH LAWRENCE
Compared to some of the big beautiful campuses we’d seen, Sarah Lawrence was 1/10th the size. There are no majors at SL, so you either buy into that or not. Most of the classes are seminar style, and many have a research component. Students only take three classes a semester. Dorms are odd in that some of them are in administrative and classroom buildings. There’s a dorm floor right above the admissions office, for instance. It felt like you were either on the wavelength here or not.

MUHLENBERG
We only self-toured here. Seemed ok, but very regional. Huge theatre program, but no real known alumni to make the program seem valuable. Smaller, unremarkable campus.

SWARTHMORE
Our final stop was another drop-dead gorgeous campus. Seemed like a cool culture of “over-achieving nerds.” Only one dining hall that the guide said had not-so-great food, and the arts seemed non-existent (there was 1 dance major). Location next to the train station that takes you into Philly was a big plus.

3120

@GertrudeMcFuzz My guess is that the NPC is off.

For OOS students, the Amigo scholarship waives OOS tuition, so the student pays in-state rates.

Regents is $18,337/year.

COA is like so:

Tuition & Fees $6,950.00

Room & Board - Traditional $9,472.00

Books & Supplies $1,080.00

Total (not including travel and incidentals): $17,502, with $835 left over.

I will also note that the figure for Room & Board is an average. The cheapest double room plus the cheapest (freshman) meal plan comes out to a bit less than that. The most expensive single room and the most expensive meal plan is a bit more.

Also, the Regents is competitive, so apply early. In fact, the Regents being competitive might explain the NPC being off. They don’t want to look like they’re promising it to anyone.