^^ What @mom23travelers said. We’re happy with where D17 is going (Muhlenberg), but she never really considered Alabama (with their sweet, sweet merit money) as seriously as we wanted her to after her first impression was North Alabama in the middle of a July heat wave. 
Nice to see everybody! I’m happy to see we’re talking specifics…DD doesn’t really talk about college at all.
@2019hope We won’t be talking specifics or visiting any schools until next Fall at the earliest. We will have a small , instate search.
@2019hope We are varying between size of school, majors (last count we are at 7 possible ones), and cost. We’ll be focusing on in-state options due to the low tuition, and some smaller privates, with the goal of keeping tuition low. D19 will be targeting portfolio-required majors, so we are starting the search over spring break but it is to better develop what goes into the portfolios.
The more detailed search will not take place until after the ACT and PSAT in fall 2017.
My d19 is most likely thinking chemical engineering and would need merit at all but the most generous (i.e. Super hard to get into) places. I think those factors pretty much seem to mean fairly large schools.
this is cute… because of S19 psat scores, he gets high end colleges sending him stuff. little do they know that he has very little in EC’s and is socially awkward. . Today we get an invite to joint info sessions for Brown, columbia, cornell, rice and Univ of Chicago. like he stands a chance… might go, just to motivate him.
Meanwhile one of the state schools was named in the Princeton reviews top 50 schools for computer gaming. Not a flagship, but still will be something to consider.
Waiting to hear from D17’s final school. Would be nice if S19 went instate, as all of D17’s options were not due to major/minor choice. could then funnel more money to her in her Jr/Sr year, and less loans. But will be fair to both kids.
Would twins have been easier?. both done same year. Very stressful, but done. finaid possibly then.
We won’t have a very large search radius with S19, but we might visit a couple of schools this summer just to see if he’s at least more interested now than he was when he got dragged on some of D16’s early college visits. I feel like I’m going to want to push him towards VA Tech based on the cost and it’s STEM reputation, I’ve never see the school - maybe we’ll go there this summer.
I remain hopeful that junior year classes (AP Physics and engineering) will potentially steer him in either of those directions (or add those two to the ever-increasng pile of things he definitely does not want to study after HS).
I’m hoping junior classes will clarify for my d19 too.
I did find out that the only thing really holding her back on deciding chemical engineering is that she doesn’t like the word “engineering”. She wishes it was just called something else.
We attended a regional college fair last night at our nearby state university. D19 spoke with the admissions folks from the state university and was able to talk with an alum in her highly-interested major who was working at the event! They had a good chat and D19 has contact information for follow-up.
D19 visited with admissions reps from 8 different schools on her college list. I think it was good practice for upcoming summer workshops where she will need to interview (“why do you want to be part of this program?”). She’s also practicing her organizational skills along the way. She recorded notes on her thoughts of each of the schools based on what she learned through the admissions reps.
We’re informally visiting four in-state schools over Spring Break. (We have to work around her theater tech schedule.) She’s also signed up for two workshops in April (to add to her portfolio).
@eh1234 We did a visit to Virginia Tech with D16. It is a great school and is definitely one my 19 kid will apply to. Nice campus, really strong school spirit, and by far the best college food I have ever had. I would happily eat there every day.
@mom23travelers My D16 has several friends who go to VA Tech - they all seem to love it! Most years, our HS sends up to 10% of their graduating class there so I’m positive S19 will apply (D16 wanted to go far away and he doesn’t). S19 will eventually need to identify other strong STEM programs in the mid-Atlantic that aren’t too terribly competitive, but we have to start somewhere.
I’ve never been in that part of the state so I’m looking forward to seeing it (I went to Penn State and imagine Blacksburg might be a similar type of college town).
@eh1234 Yes, very much a college town. For instate it is an great deal for STEM. I’m with you on needing to identify other options because it will by no means be a safety school for engineering for my kiddo.
I think we may visit a couple of nearby colleges over spring break. I’m thinking W&M and URichmond for now. My son visited VA Tech and really liked it but I’ve never been there.
My son is going to go to an MIT soccer camp/prospect day thing over spring break. LOL. I printed an admitted student stats sheet for him to peruse so he can wrap his head around the mind boggling low acceptance rate and the quality of students accepted there.While he is a decent student, he has about a .0007 chance of getting in. But he has a dream.
It’s going to be a shock and awe style campaign for us so that he can be happy that he gets in someplace in 2 years ( and stop the delusions, ha). It might inspire him to keep his grades up and to study for the ACT too 
I suppose I could ask S19 if he wants to visit any local ones over spring break. I think he’s pretty bummed we have zero plans for it (other than a dentist appointment!).
No plans for spring break here, either. We’re not a family that vacations multiple times per year and the nice thing about a 15 year old is that you can leave him sleeping in the house all day! (We might do a day trip or two). He’s participating in his first pit orchestra so he has some music to work on anyway. Even this is a big time commitment - not sure how the theatre kids do it multiple times per year.
I can’t bring myself to take him on college visits until he’s officially a rising junior. He’s my youngest and I don’t want to see too eager to get him out of the house, haha. Although after spring break, the year tends to really fly by.
We have to stick around for our spring break because son19 has 2 track meets and son17 has lax. Son19 will do that soccer camp and that’s it. No real college tours planned for son19 until the summer. He’s going to RPI for a week and we might go to Rochester in the summer to visit U or R and RIT. He can see the Boston schools any time. He wants to go to CA to look at a few schools, I think we’ll save those for junior year summer.
I don’t expect S19 will tour any schools over the summer unless he tags along when we take S17 but I am not expecting that.
He does have a practice SAT and ACT on each weekend around spring break so that might mean he’d actually like to check something out. He did mention last night he plans to apply to our flagship at least so I guess that’s something.
No upcoming plans for us to visit any colleges. D19 is taking a practice ACT through our library tomorrow (free!) so we will see if that sparks any interest. She’s starting to feel the pressure build for AP exams next month. And then finals will be soon after. We also need to manage to get the drivers permit over spring break since it’s basically been a comedy of errors in trying to get it since February break (none her fault, all because fate seems to be conspiring against her)
We’re in Alaska, so visiting colleges is a summer-only possibility for us. We might visit a couple with D19 this summer while we’re in the lower 48 for a family reunion, but odds are we’ll try to pack it into summer 2018 instead.
Of course, D19 is rather lower-maintenance/less picky than D17 was, at least regarding college choices. I thoroughly expect that the way this ends out will be D19 going to a college she never visited before freshman orientation, and that she’s completely okay with that.