Great list for comparing schools @gclsports! Looks like I need to start a new Excel spreadsheet…
S18’s early action school opened up housing already. Very frustrating to think he may end up in a worse housing situation because we need to wait to hear from RD schools.
@S18D20mom We got those sheets at the visits we did over the summer. Some are online, too - you might need to google “school x semester schema for y major.” We got ours during the summer visits (nursing requirements don’t vary a whole lot school to school, but there are some differences).
But you could definitely email the departments if you can’t find it.
@Momma2018, at some schools I think the housing deposit is refundable. I hate hate hate that schools do this!
The portal says that the fee is refundable until 6/1 but it calls it an “acceptance fee” and says we should notify other schools that we will be attending this one. It makes me a little nervous.
Major requirements are either listed on the department website or at the very least in the course catalog.
I’m hoping S18 and I can still fly up to Pittsburgh and then Ohio this weekend. I’m not sure what’s hype and what’s really potentially severe weather.
@apraxiamom I’ve been looking at the school calendar for days off but I’m really reluctant to make a commitment to travel this winter since I have already cancelled visits. I’m afraid to cancel at the same schools twice.
D also has a scholarship exam in two weeks and I’m hoping there’s no snow that weekend. She waited so long to schedule that only the last available date was open, so there’s no rescheduling if she misses it.
@gclsports I wouldn’t look at how many kids from pre-law get into law school, but instead I’d look at WHICH law schools the grads are going to. Also, IMO you don’t have to do pre-law to get into a really great law school. You just need to go to a school that teaches you how to think critically and how to write.
Speaking of excel spread sheets anyone have a good one for comparing costs, tuition etc?
Or a link?
We don’t have too many data points in yet but I may as well get this set up now while we are in the holding period
@apraxiamom, I’m in Ohio and we are supposed to get hit tomorrow afternoon and into Saturday, but I think it should be over by morning or mid-day Saturday. What part of the state and what day is the visit to Ohio?
Good thought on destination rather than placement rate @melvin123! When thinking about PreLaw, I had in mind the pre professional advising, LSAT prep, law school fairs etc, rather than a pre law major. (Mine was English.)
@S18D20mom if you haven’t already, you might want to start a thread in the pre-med forum to ask about how you can assess whether a potential college has good med school acceptance rates. One thing I’ve heard is that you should try to assess how many kids get weeded out of the pre-med program, and then in Senior Year how many of their pre-med students receive a recommendation for med school from the college’s pre-med committee. I’m sure there are other questions too, or maybe more artful ways of getting this info that someone who has been through this process can share with you.
I only know to ask those questions because I was talking with a friend who was pretty angry. Evidently her D’s college had said that 100 percent of their kids who receive recommendations from their pre-med committee got into med school, so she thought that was great. She didn’t realize that the percentage that actually received recommendations was very low. Luckily her D received one, but most of the classmates didn’t, and while that’s not the kiss of death, it is a large hurdle. Honestly, I’d be pretty angry if I thought everything was going well and then got blindsided after paying 4 years worth of tuition. I understand MCAT scores are part of this and you won’t know that until the end, but other than that I think the advisory system should be letting your kid know whether they are on track or not as they are going along. I’ve been told that isn’t a realistic expectation, but I don’t understand why not.
In trying to decide which college, maybe someone already mentioned this but I’d also want to look at how easy/hard it is to switch majors. And how much advising the kids get.
@suzy100, flight into Pittsburgh Sat afternoon. Visit to Steubenville OH.
@apraxiamom might be a little dicey as we are supposed to get as much as a foot of snow between 8 tonight and 8AM Saturday morning. By afternoon it might be okay but a mess nonetheless. Steubenville being south of the city will get a little less snow. It is going to be cold mostly in the teens and single digits all weekend. Funny thing is is supposed to be about 60 at noon today and then its all downhill from there.
Good luck and safe travels.
Thanks @burghdad.
Does anyone else feel stressed with this process? The whole process seems to be teaching the kids how meritless the college admissions process really is, while also forcing a faked love out of all applicants for every one of the schools applied to. You dare not be accused on insufficient interest…for fear of rejection.
Today, DD is in the I love you, you are the one, your the greatest for me to Georgia Tech - which posts decisions tomorrow morning. Another likely NFW one for us.
Then it’s onto I love you, you are the one, your the greatest for me to Harvard-for interview, then to Brown-for interview, then to Yale, then to Stanford, and then to columbia-for interview…all of the schools needing to be convinced that they are it…the one true love for DD. She cannot live without each and every one of the applied to schools, so as to demonstrate true interest in their schools.
We live literally a million miles away from all these schools and no fiscal way to visit any of them.
Meanwhile, DD has a NFW acceptance to Colorado School of Mines and a financialy enticing acceptance to UTD.
Will be glad when May gets here and this is all and done.
@sekere62 I am sorry it is so stressful. You are right. You should be proud to have a student who has a real chance to get in. But as you have seen, they can also get nice merit packages at many other schools and forego the stress.
It is a choice to go through it and many families choose not to apply to those schools. It is a lot of work for whom a relatively small number of people gain admission. Neither of my kids did it and I don’t think either one regrets it.
Sorry for not coming back here last night @apraxiamom - D has the flu. 
What burghdad said, though. I’m not close to Stuebenville but I think they aren’t going to get too much snow but it’s hard to tell still. Hope your S has safe travels.
@sekere62, it really is stressful. It was worse for my older D with a lot more unknowns going into the spring. She was accepted to the school she now attends EA, but their FA package didn’t come until March I think and that wait was really rough. Good luck on GT tomorrow (and to any other kids of parents here who applied). It feels like forever, but this will all get resolved over the next few months. Hang in there!
@sekere62 not to be dumb but can I ask what a NFW acceptance is? Is it a denial, ie they are saying NFW to your DD? Or is it an acceptance without aid so you are saying NFW we are paying that?
The latter is what I am fearing. My D did a lot of work on those applications, some for those tippy top lottery schools. Hard work then and yes now on to interviews. I hope she doesn’t get in somewhere and then I am gasping NFW when I see the bill