@ShrimpBurrito I’m delighted that she has so many wonderful options!
@ShrimpBurrito as I have told my D my hope for her is that come April she have a few good choices. Then she can go to accepted student days, spend overnight on campus, speak with professor in her areas of interest. Hopefully after all that one will rise to the top for her.
That’s my wish. Who knows if it will happen for my D. Looks like it’s there for your D.
Congratulations again! Nice to have her in the drivers seat
My son just got his acceptance to Baylor. That was a surprise to us. We totally forgot about his application. It was a free application. We have a Apply Texas App that is similar to the Common App. Baylor was on it and no essay! We did go down and visit and went to a football game. They gave my son free tickets. We had a blast and the campus is gorgeous. It just surprised me that he got in. He has decent grades and scores but not great. The only thing I can think of is they saw our FAFSA (We would be full pay). That seems like eons ago that I filled it out and the utter shock of the number they sent back, wouldn’t have wasted my time if it wasn’t required for a couple of scholarships. Now if Baylor could match State school cost it would be a go but alas my wallet is not that fat.
@texas2820. Baylor is a popular choice at my Kiddos’ school. Baylor often comes back with a number that puts it within spitting distance of in-state tuition at UT and A&M for many of them. Our 2015 Val picked Baylor mainly because of a financial award that was too good to refuse. DD2016 had a friend who picked Baylor over Clemson because if price. Congratulations!
Don’t know how I am feeling. D18 had applied to Wesleyan at my urging (and from lots of cc input based on what she was looking for). She had even turned in a supplemental photo portfolio and gotten a second teacher rec (her other apps didnt require). To be honest - she was not actually interested in going - but had never visited. I always knew it was a stretch and a long shot but figured if she got in - we would go visit and maybe she would fall in love. I liked it because it seemed to have all the social justice, diversity and non southern location she was looking for but isn’t as far away as the west coast (we live in the south). She got into her first choice - University of San Francisco and into their honors program with good merit and as far as she is concerned - she was done. So she was scheduled to have a Skype interview today with Wesleyan and she emailed them yesterday that she had accepted somewhere else and did not want to waste their time (she hasnt actually accepted). Today they promptly withdrew her application! That makes total sense but I was not expecting it and now we will never know. I think in the long run - that is right result since D18 herself wasnt interested but I will always want to know what would have happened. Sigh.
Baylor is also a popular choice with my S’s high school. From what I hear accepted students are frequently offered enough merit aid to put Baylor discounted cost on par with full cost at UT or A&M. It’s nice that Baylor seems to try to attract in-state students that way.
@Clementine7624 Sounds like your head and your heart are fighting it out with each other. But, it also sounds like your daughter knows what’s right for her. It’s hard, but at this stage, we need to let them spread their wings to fly.
I get it, though. One of my S18’s top preferred schools is one that I don’t want him to go to, but, it is affordable. When the time comes, after we’ve gone over all the pros and cons of each of his preferred schools, I will let him go there if that’s what he chooses.
My S18 applied to 12 plus several UCs. We visited about a half dozen colleges but many came off the list after the visit (MIT, Northeastern, CalTech, etc). His favorite tours were Stanford, UCSB and USC. At this point we are waiting to see where he gets in and he may do some additional visits/overnights. There are several he applied to out of state that we haven’t visited, including Case Western. He was accepted with pretty good merit, so he definitely wants to visit. A few of you said you had visited Case, Georgia Tech, Purdue and/or Carnegie Mellon. Can those that did visit tell me your thoughts? Those are ones we didn’t get to. He is esp. interested in Case and Carnegie but they haveCM does have a reputation for being overly competitive within the student body so I am a little concerned about that one.
@lovespink We visited Case because we happened to be in Cleveland. My son decided that an LAC is what he wants, so he did not like Case. It was too big and too urban for him. My main issue with the school is that I found the location confusing: I could not tell where the campus ended and the city began. But, keep in mind that this was only an issue because of my son’s interests. If you want a bigger school that’s in the heart of a big city, Case is a good choice. The University Circle area of Cleveland is a nice place to be. And, if you need a doctor or hospital, you almost couldn’t pick a better place to be.
@lovespink My husband is a chem e graduate from Case. I am from NE Ohio, originally, and my HS best friend is a Case mathematics graduate. Husband has always said Case was very challenging academically and my BF would agree (I also think that these two people are some of the most intelligent people I have ever known). He was NMF and Sal and had some dual enrollment classes from U of Rochester and RIT under his belt. My BF a NMF and Val. I visited often back in the day. We looked at Case for our DD2016. I love the Campus. I find it to be normal sized as Universities go and while urban it seems fairly insulated from its surrounding city and there is a a better than average amount of green space in comparison to many urban schools. I have always found it architecturally interesting and many of the new buildings are gems of modern architecture. The dorms we saw with DD2016 had not changed a lick from the 1980’s, which was disappointing to us. University Circle is fantastic.
My brother in law is a Carnegie Mellon graduate and we visited Pitt with DD2016. I think Carnegie Mellon feels very urban to me and if I were choosing between the two simply from an environment perspective, I would pick Case. BIL found Carnegie Mellon to be competitive, but husband would say the same for Case. Socially my husband has always had more positive things to say about Case than BIL has about Carnegie.
DD2016 liked Piitsburgh a bit more than Cleveland, they are basically the same IMO. She applied Case, but ultimately withdrew her app from Case before a decision was made (she would have been rejected IMO).
@lovespink - My S18 visited GT. He loved everything about it except where the college is actually located. He said it was in “industrial Atlanta”. He is someone that will probably end up near greenery and mountains.
But that being said, he really liked the programs, the facilities, and especially the co-op opportunities there. He was very impressed with those.
He ended up applying early so that he could potentially get scholarship money. If he gets in and gets Provost or Stamps, it will be tough to turn down, but being in Atlanta might hold him back.
We visited both GT and Case. I agree that the Case campus is a little less defined and it was hard to tell campus from city. The dorms we saw were not great. GT on the other hand was a fairly compact well defined campus. The CS area was new and modern, quite striking. Honestly, the campus is surrounded by Housing and is very isolated from the city. I couldn’t hear city noise and I could only see the city buildings tops in the distance. I thought we’d hate it and we didn’t, we actually liked it.
I live in Pittsburgh and my wife got a masters in environmental engineering at CMU and my father was an adjunct professor in civil engineering at CMU.
CMU academically is obviously especially for engineering is a great school. Lot of foreign students especially in graduate school.
The campus is urban with a lot going around in Oakland area but CMU still has some green space.
Ugh @Clementine7624 I’m sorry. That stings. It sounds like your D really has her mind made up at this point and doesn’t want to muddy the waters. Probably best to rip the band-aid off now and let this one go. Take the good news for what it is, she’s feeling really confident in her choice! That is a great thing. @1518mom is right, at this point in the process, aside from $$ concerns, we have to let them be fully in control of the bus.
But, yep, I get it too. It’s hard after being so involved in the searching for that “unicorn” school to see them turn their back on one you thought could be a winner. My D is also rejecting sight unseen a school I thought would be a great fit! :-?? Fortunately, more than one school fits that description, for all our kids, and they can only go to one. I keep reminding myself of that as schools fall off the list… she can only go to one…
@Veronica02 yes she visited twice and did an interview at the second visit. We have always loved williamsburg and she found the traditions of wm & mary great. It has the programs she wants. She liked that they went into great detail about the freshman academic experience at the admissions session. The campus is a little worn but they are building a new arts center and the new science building is gorgeous. She doesnt realize what williamsburg without AC is like yet but you can put in. A window AC or request the dorm with AC if you need it for medical reasons. Crossing our fingers. Just wish they weren’t the “tribe”.
My son is at Case now, as a double aerospace and mechanical engineering major. He is class of 2018 at Case but will graduate in December 2018 because he co-oped one semester. He also played a sport and is in a fraternity. He really enjoyed his time there. I would not characterize the school as large, with 5,100 undergraduates although the campus itself is sprawling because it houses both undergraduate and professional schools (unlike Northwestern, for example, where the medical and law schools are not at main campus).
The freshman housing is older but Case has some recently built dorms for upperclassmen. Housing is guaranteed all 4 years (at least when my DS entered). He lived in the freshman dorms, then Greek housing for 2 years, and now shares a suite with 3 of his teammates.
Classes are challenging, but not a grind. He’s had plenty of time for athletics and a social life.
I love our kids’ capacity to surprise us, just when we think we have them pegged.
Spring 2017
Son: “Dad, I don’t want to take Calculus at all next year. I won’t need it for music school and I don’t like math.”
Me: “Well at least take Calc AB. It won’t look good to admissions if you take no math senior year.”
Yesterday
Son: “Dad, will you sign this form? I am moving from Calc AB to Calc BC this semester.”
Me: “Umm…ok.”
@burghdad it’s funny we love Pittsburgh and my daughter found of all the urban campuses she visited (she is partial to urban colleges) Pitt had the best campus feel and so much green space. As a funny aside one of my older daughter’s top choices for graduate school is CMU so there is a possibility that for three years both my girls will be in the Pittsburgh area. I am rooting hard for CMU as she goes through the process of applying and auditioning next year as I do believe D18 will be attending Pitt unless some sort of major change occurs.
@AmyBeth68 what is your older daughter going to grad school for? I assume some sort of music thing based on a reference to an audition.
@burghdad she is currently a double major in Classical Vocal Performance and Music Education. She is planning to pursue a graduate degree or certificate in Opera Studies or Pedagogy. CMU is one of her top options; it’s going to be a bit of an adventure she’s looking at graduate schools all over the country from San Francisco and Houston to Boston and Pittsburgh. I have no idea what to expect, she will be competing for spots against other vocalists who are in their late twenties who have been performing already. It’s unlike any other type of graduate program; as the voice doesn’t really mature fully into later in the twenties. It looks like I’ll be going through another year of nail biting and support haha.