@ShrimpBurrito Do you remember the ice breaker games they made the freshmen play?
I think I might have exchanged a letter with my future roommate, talking about who was bringing the fridge, etc.
I actually had a good time my freshman year in a traditional, co-ed dorm. The guys became like brothers to me, which was kind of cool. I’m a little sad my daughter plans to be a suite of girls who know each other before moving in. Nothing helps you get to know people like sharing a communal bathroom :))
DS and I took a drive down to College Station today. He wanted to meet with an advisor prior to New Student Conference as he changed his major and already has many of his first year classes due to DE and AP. He met with the Director of the Math Honors Program and also was able to observe a Calculus II class. He said the class was about the size of his high school classes (30) so I was impressed given the number of students at A&M. It was so good to be on campus and hear him say that he feels like he has found the right place. Beautiful day and friendly students everywhere. Also an easy back and forth drive in 1 day (less than 2 hours each way). My heart is at peace, finally.
@S18D20mom Peace is such a nice place to be!
We’ve been to A&M once, we went when our beloved Nevada Wolfpack came to A&M for a football game, wow, what an experience! As the visitors, I can say we have never ever been greeted so warmly and made to feel so welcome.
The campus was nice, the stadium amazing and it was sooo clean. In our 6 years here in Texas we have met several Aggies, the alumni bond is incredible. One of the dads in DD’s athletic trainer group in high school was the one who always drove the kids to the AT camp at A&M, his wife always volunteered him stating “he has the need to occasionally return to the Mother Ship”. 
I had been told we had to experience an A&M game, we did and it was amazing.
@glido Check out Cacao Chemistry in downtown CS. Everything I’ve tried there was good, but my favorite is the fireworks bark.
Congrats to all who have made decisions!! So exciting! We are returning from a really great admitted student weekend at Santa Clara. We had tentatively discussed visiting 2 other schools (she had about 3-4 on the list being tossed around in late March), but after this weekend she says she does not want to see any additional schools, that she has eliminated all but two (she had tentatively said this before, but was certain after her visit this weekend), and that she will be attending Santa Clara or Notre Dame in the fall.
@DiotimaDM - Thanks! Sounds like a plan!
my daughter is busy trying to meet potential roommates on the Rutgers accepted students facebook group. She has had a lot of messages, but she has to find an honors college roommate. She may have to put herself out and be a bit more proactive. You can wait and be matched, but she wants to have some control. Anyone else starting the roommate search? Rutgers allows them to put each other on the housing form, but recommend that they each submit on the same date, so we have held off with that process.
Ugh…I think we are going back to Alabama on April 30 for a final CS visit. Trying to decide between Alabama with Presidential Elite and Purdue with $7000 in scholarship…lower price vs. higher rank and what appears to be a more rigorous program…can swing either, but unsure if he should save our money for grad school.
@amom2girls DD trying to find honors roomate on facebook page. Not a whole lot to chose from numbers wise right now, only about 10. Some of the reasons she eliminates potential roommates is funny (to me at least). It seems like, for now at least, she is having fun with the process.
@ChattaChia my two cents that is probably worth a lot less, the difference in rankings from the two large public universities he is considering will not matter to graduate schools or employers if he does well in college. I would save money for the prestigious graduate program.
@glido Maybe the Springs is already your stomping ground, so forgive me if you know this already. Here are some restaurants I like in the downtown area.
Phantom Canyon - large brew pub with an extensive beer list and good food. Located across the street from Antlers hotel. I like the green chile stew better here than at Antlers.
Jack Quinn’s - Irish pub-inspired menu, smaller beer list and less extensive menu than Phantom Canyon, but may have live music on weekends.
Springs Orleans - Creole / Cajun / New Orleans inspired menu. The beignets are yummy! So is the gumbo. I’ve never had anything here I didn’t like.
Crave Real Burgers - a burger joint. Not in downtown, but only a mile from the AF Academy. I’ve never been, but my friends rave about it - to the point of getting an Uber just to go there.
Josh & John’s - gourmet ice cream. YUM! Several locations, including one downtown.
Inside the Antlers hotel - excellent breakfast buffet (Antlers Grille). Menu items are good, too, esp. the eggs Benedict. The in-house restaurant (Sportivo Primo) is a combo brew pub and pizza joint. Food is tasty if you’re staying here and don’t want to go out.
I spend a week in the Springs every year for a writers’ conference. I’m not a local expert, but these are the places I’ve enjoyed.
Am I the only parent okay with April 30th-May 1st decisions? My twins are likely going to the same college just not rooming together. Will there be any drawback waiting until the very end? Only two colleges still in the mix, they are both on a waitlist but it is likely a long, small chance list!
My daughter actually found two of her future suite mates in a roundabout way here on College Confidential.
I started corresponding with a fellow mom about a mutual college situation and it turned out we live within an hour of each other and our girls were interested in the same school. Her daughter had a friend in the same situation, all three were accepted and there you go.
She found the fourth through the housing app, which has a function for looking for roommates. There is a way you can search various criteria and one of them was majors. She narrowed it down to three or four girls who seemed interesting - same major, answered the questions about the same way she did, etc. She reached out through Instagram, saying she was interested in a roommate. They texted/whatever for about a week, and yesterday they agreed to room together.
@3sonsmom The main drawback I see is that stuff happens, whether it’s the Internet going down, overloaded servers, etc.
I think there is a thread on either the parent forum or cafe that talks about that very thing, cutting it close. Of course it takes however long it takes, but I’d be a bit nervous cutting it really close just because technology isn’t perfect.
My DD officially has a room for the fall. I was her designated proxy as her room draw time was during band class. She and her pre-selected roommates got the last 4 bed/2 bath suite. She and her roommates are happy. It took 15-20 minutes on the phone with housing because there was an issue but the girls are happy. DD and her friend found another 2 friends through the housing portal to room together. I like that they are on even footing with 2 sets of friends. Hopefully it will work well. I know they have texted often.
@ChattaChia Feel free to ignore my two cents, but if grad school is in the picture, then IMO Bama makes the most sense. As @burghdad noted, both are large public universities, and with a degree like CS, I would think the quality of education at both schools would be pretty much the same. Admittedly, Purdue is generally better known as an engineering and CS and STEM school. But I’m not sure that Bama’s program is less rigorous, maybe this is due to grade deflation at Purdue, which I’ve read on CC is real. For an undergraduate degree, Bama’s Presidential Elite is a great package. It even includes an allowance for a summer research or international study, so that’s something to think about. Those are two good choices. Best wishes on the final decision!
@ChattaChia I guess I’m in the minority, but for CS jobs, I think university attended matters a lot. I’m also generally a proponent of grad school being on the kid. Most science graduate programs pay the students to attend.
@ChattaChia it is very difficult to ignore $80K plus difference…especially when it comes to one of the hottest majors in CS. Alabama all the day.
@bjkmom I do remember that now!!! Sorry there have been so many schools floating around here and in my daughter’s class I can’t always keep them straight. Plymouth State is great! My sister in law’s husband went there and it was an excellent launch to a very successful and happy life!
I am starting to see why my siblings and friends think I am over the top
22 different colleges visited in 11 states and 1 district (of Columbia)
4 separate trips by plane plus 4 more long distance trips by car
15 nights in hotels(luckily my brother lives in an area we looked at twice
12 colleges applied to
7 acceptances, all with merit scholarships
4 revisits
1 decision
only 1 graduating senior…maybe we overdid it!.
@bearcatfan Good to know, that is a valid concern! Technology overload would be nerve wracking.
@SC Anteater. Wow, we are really crossing paths! We were at UCSB too and S loved it. Problem is he didn’t initially apply to engineering there since he wasn’t completely sure what he wanted when he applied. Now he wants that major and in listening to the assistant dean of engineering, he said in his presentation you would have to be late in sophomore year to transfer in (so much for what we had heard before!). Anyway, that and his comments that it is taking years to add biomedical engineering left us feeling like the were inflexible and sllooowwww. Thus the new interest in UCI. We also can’t go to admitted students day so need to figure something else out.
Still love UCSB though, so who knows!