S’s GF got back from a class trip to France last Sunday, and today they got together to watch The Princess Bride and then take an SAT practice test together. :x
She has a known content weakness in Heart of Algebra, so she needs to hit the match prep hard. She’ll probably leave S in the dust where the RW and essays are concerned, though, because she’s already significantly higher than he was when he started his prep.
She’s class of 19, so her PSAT for NM purposes is coming up in the fall. Their plan is to both do the August administration, her to get a read on where she is prior to the actual PSAT and him for moral support and to do the essays so they can apply to some UCs together if they want to.
This is a change for S as he’d previously said he didn’t want to do a retake, end of story, so apparently the GF has had an effect on him that his mother wasn’t able to achieve.
The GF’s dream school is Berkeley, but she knows her family probably can’t afford it even if she gets in. She also likes the thought of the full rides that open up if she makes NMF because then her parents can’t control her college choice.
It’s going to be an interesting summer for the two of them.
Just got back from the school and … she loved it. I loved it. And they apparently loved her, since they told us the merit money she “will” get with her stats, and told us she will be invited to honors day where they round-robin interviews with faculty for even more.
I wasn’t expecting anything from anywhere, except possibly financial aid, so that was a nice shot in the arm. I wasn’t expecting them to be that transparent in terms of her getting in, but she is relieved to be wanted by someone. We have several more visits to go, but this was a good one. With a free t shirt, lol.
And … if she gets one more point on the ACT she gets another $3,000 a year. So off we go to test again. 8-}
Mom and Kid were the ones turned off, mostly. It was several things, some of which I won’t go in to here. But the main things would fall under the heading “Vibe”. If you are familiar with UTD, you might agree it has an atypical environment from what might normally think of when calling to mind American Universities.
Last visit of our whirlwind tour this week was OU. The Admissions and Recruitment office has their act together. Our visit was extensive and poignant. By the way, for those not aware, and similar to how Alabama re-swizzled to top scholarships and thresholds: OU is currently awaiting Regents decisions before publishing next year’s details.
@traveler98 and @LMHS7, I don’t think what either of you described is trophy hunting at all. Nothing wrong with downplaying expectations or playing the numbers game. My point was you shouldn’t put in an app somewhere you know you won’t go, or if you get in EA to your top choice and aren’t waiting to hear financial awards then it’s time to accept that school and withdraw your application from other schools.
Is it bad that I had tears in my eyes on the way home, and she was still in the car?
Oh boy, I’m going to have to be like Phil Dunphy on Modern Family and “pre-cry” a lot so I don’t embarrass us both on move-in day.
Thanks all for the congratulations! I’ve read enough on CC to realize my daughter is not the top superstar anywhere (even in her own high school) so it was nice to get out of that mindset and realize, as my family says, she’s still got it going on. This school might say the same things to all the students, but if it comes to pass the alleged merit aid alone makes the fairly pricey private university about the same in price or cheaper than the state university - another possibility I learned on CC.
We have some questions we will email admissions next week, to make sure we understand some things. She will definitely apply here, but we have five more visits to go. This will be hard to top, though.
@bearcatfan I am so glad ya’ll had such a positive experience! I know admissions can seem daunting, particularly when you put it in the context of CC. It can be such a positive boost to know that, yes indeed someone wants YOU (or your kid) , just as much as they want star atheletes and NMF.
When we looked at schools for average B+ DD’16, we visited Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. They really laid out the red carpet for her. Took us to lunch in the faculty dining room, arranged special meetings with the LAX coach (even though she was not a recruited athlete), the Dean of the Music Conservatory (even though she was only thinking of minoring in music), told us exactly how much they would be giving her in merit and the she would “likely” be accepted. They did indeed accept her with generous merit and a spot on the LAX team. She ultimately selected someplace different, but that experience at BW was priceless and did an unimagineable amount of ego boosting, in what had been, up to that point, a rather dreary, worrisome college application cycle. We went on during that college visit trip to see Duquesne and Pitt, which was a very serious reach for DD’16 and had not been on our original tour agenda and I honestly believe that the visit to BW bolstered her confidence so much that she was willing to give Pitt a look. In the end, she was accepted at every school she applied to…Pitt was the first acceptance she received in September. She landed at Marquette, another school that made her feel special and wanted, during a visit on an invititation to a scholarship testing weekend. She didn’t get one of those “EXTRA” scholarships, btw, lol.
I wish every college applicant could have the experience of feeling truly valued and wanted. Good luck, with the rest of your visits!
@bearcatfan congrats! What a great experience! I’m a pre-crier too, fully expect to be crying off and on this entire year actually, but alas I’ll still have plenty of tears at drop off. Won’t be able to stop them, I’m an all around crier :((
Ds a crier too so I’m guessing we’ll make a pretty sight! =))
@TexasMom18 It is Walsh University, a small Catholic university in Canton, OH. I never knew it existed until the wife of my cousin’s son mentioned it because she went to nursing school there. Now, it’s all we are talking about!
I think she will still like at least two more on the touring list - Otterbein and Capital, both in suburban Columbus. Next week’s tour involves Cincinnati and Xavier, but Cincy borders a very sketchy neighborhood so I’m kind of hoping she doesn’t like it (even the husband, a 2x grad, is a little leery of how things have changed there). We are also touring Ohio Northern, which might be a little small but it’s less than an hour away so mom is happy. :x
DD started her 3 Apply Texas apps today (TAMU, TX State and SFA). She just needs to write the essays and hit the submit. Hoping she gets them done by August 1. SFA doesn’t require the essays, but she didn’t have the nerve to hit the submit button just yet.
@bearcatfan You are the first person whom I’ve ever heard mention Walsh. I would love to take D to look at it, but it looks like D is starting to make some preferences clear–finally!–and Walsh might be too far.
I don’t know Ohio at all, but is there any hiking nearby? Weird question, but outdoor recreation opportunities is now important.
