^^^double like
@dfbdfb where did you live in Md?
Halfway through visit at Sewanee and D is in love. She can totally see herself here. Off to a class and visit with the lax coach this morning. Had dinner in Hogwartsâ dining room last night. The whole place is amazing.
@carolinamom2boys - those colleges are definitely on the list to visit. She plays sports and has been to a couple colleges for camps. She stayed McDaniel for a week for basketball and University of Delaware for FH. She did not like McDaniel AT ALL but I think it was because it was July and they put them in dorms with no air conditioning when it was 95 degrees out. UoD was too big in her opinion. I guess we wonât know until we visit.
That said, I wonât let her visit anywhere that we canât afford. That seems like a recipe for disaster if she fell in love with it. So a lot will depend on her eventual SAT scores. She really likes North Carolina area and would like to school there.
@Gatormama - Sewanee looks gorgeous online. Will love to hear what you think about it (pros and cons).
This go round with S19, I intend to be open about what schools I am researching for S19. Heâll have his list of course, heâs the one going to college 
but I want to set a realistic tone right from the get go. My list, and what I talk about, will focus on target schools that heâll have a good shot of getting into, that are a good match for his interests and that wonât break our bank. Heâll have some âreachâ schools, but that the reality is that even with super grades and great test scores, the odds are that heâll go to a target school.
I felt like with D17, the kids (the ones applying) got so caught up in prestige and stressed out about getting into a high-ranked school. And it seemed like that long as it was hard to get into (sub 20%), it was âgoodâ. Iâm a research scientist and I would list off where my co-workers got their undergrad degrees. Lots of xyz state universities, flagships, and schools you never heard of. Plenty started in comm college and transferred after 2 years to a research uni. Nothing I said could convince them. Here was a typical conversation âOMG, the valedictorian who got into Duke but had to go to UW because Duke is too expensive. Can you believe it? So, sad.â âUW is a fine school!â I would counterâŠand theyâd stare at me and roll eyes. âThatâs a safety. Nobody wants to go to their safety.â GrrrâŠthey are so out of touch with reality!!
I do realize it is a losing battle but I will try.
@liska21 In our HS newspaper there was a big article about the number of kids who got accepted to some fine schools recently and none of them can afford it. Probably a good eye opener for some parents.
My older son17 and his group of friends were not targeting HYPS types of schools, but schools like UVA, UMich, Tufts, Villanova, Northeastern, etc. There were lots of waitlist results. Some of the kids got in, but offered no merit or financial aid, just some loans. A lot of the parents are in freak out mode because they were not expecting that.
I think the kids are starting to realize that they might be attending local state U flagship after all.
Iâd like to find a few more schools for son19 where he might get some merit $$. We donât qualify for financial aid, and have known that for a while and saved up. But it would be nice if he at least had the choice to go someplace a bit less expensive. He does not want to go to the state flagship. So weâlll probably just get screwed again and pay the full amount, argghhh LOL.
Today was the last day of the semester at school today, 1 more to go until they are Juniors!
@RightCoaster, last day of the semester?!? Dangâfourth quarter started here close to a month ago!
We are three weeks into fourth quarter. Finish up first week of June. We started mid-August. I canât imagine when school started for @RightCoasterâs kids!
We are just starting our fourth quarter Monday. We go from early September until late June.
I donât think college prestige is a huge factor at our high school, thankfully.
Here as well. @dfbdfb S19 will be done with school on May 19th, and S17 graduates on May 20th.
Today was last day of 3rd quarter and the start of Spring Break. D19 will be catching up on needed sleep. 
S19 is in the middle of his 2 week spring break right now. Starts up the 2nd half of 2nd semester when he returns to school. Schools in our city go early Sept to mid June, give or take. D is back from college end of May. Just in time to lounge around and watch all the TV shows she missed while S is at the peak of frantic studying for finals. Should be lovely.
S19 got out two hours early today for end of 3rd quarter/start of spring break and is already five hours into a Netflix binge interspersed with napping. School ends June 23, UGH.
I just finished my own Netflix binge of 13 Reasons Why.
Itâs haunting.
Last day of 3rd quarter here as well.
Spring break is still a week away, school not out until late June.
@mom2twogirls I read the book 13 Reasons a couple of years ago. The book was excellent and our whole family is watchingâŠon tape 4. Now that we are on Spring Break, should be able to finish it up quickly.
@Cotton2017 How about Towson University, UMBC or St. Maryâs? My friendâs son received merit money from Towson and loves it thereâheâs abroad in England and just finished what looked like a fabulous European Spring Break!
OK, so now that weâre finally at my momâs in Florida, hereâs the Sewanee trip report:
We were there for two days - an extended behind-the-scene theater visit, then D sat in on an enviro science class and we both met with the lax coach.
The campus: getting there is a wonderfully scenic drive from Chattanooga. If you like barbecue, Jim Oliverâs Smokehouse restaurant was great to eat at (and there was some fried pie to die for).
The campus is stunning - 13,000 acres atop the Cumberland Plateau, with amazing vistas from drop-offs all over the place. Wooded, hiking trails - everything you could possibly want if youâre an outdoors person (except for, I guess, skiing and the Rockies and the ocean, though I think they have a scuba program âŠ)
Buildings: everything youâve heard and more. Just Google the Buzzfeed article on Sewanee and Hogwarts. We did a walking tour in 41-degree weather and rain that bordered on sleet a few times; it was completely miserable. But I was still enthralled. When we entered the main chapel, someone was playing the organ and there was light streaming through the stained glass; beautiful atmosphere.
The dining room had a vegan station, pasta, pizza, salad, entree â all the usual stuff. I mixed some rice and beans with fresh-cut peppers as I wasnât very hungry, so I canât really assess the fare. Dining setting, see above about Hogwarts. Thereâs a rambling coffeehouse in a creaky old house elsewhere on campus, and I loved the latte and double espresso ($5 for two big cups) and the atmosphere.
D toured a dorm (not a model dorm room, a la Drew, but a âworkingâ dorm), and said it was big and she liked it - it was a suite-style.
Sewanee has a phenomenal equestrian center out about a half-mile past the athletic complex - the kind of setup you see in Kentucky or Virginia where the millionaires have their horse farms. Itâs a varsity sport and there is competition against other colleges and universities.
The theater tour included the black box theater, the classrooms etc., and dress rehearsal of a play plus talk to cast/faculty. D has decided she doesnât like black box theaters. Not sure how to deal with that. (Sheâs done nothing but musicals, which is the problem: she canât visualize how to use a bbtheater. I think that would change, and I also think itâs mandatory and necessary to learn its ins-and-outs in any theater education - not that I know anything about theater ) Her school only has the standard theater; this school has one 1,000-seat auditorium, but that wasnât on the tour. They do a musical once every two years. But the study-elsewhere program goes to NY and to England, specifically for drama (as well as a ton of other places for other majors).
She enjoyed sitting in on the class, which she described as like her private school in that it was seminar-style, with more of a discussion than a lecture.
Greek life is variously described as 80% and 60% of all students participating. Itâs an open system (no closed parties) and kind of necessary in that there is not much else social life, given the campusâ isolation. Chattanooga is about 40 minutes away. (Still closer than her school is right now; she wasnât fazed at all by this.)
The admissions office was very nice (they have hiking shoes free for use at the office, for visitors who might want to explore the trails, which I thought was great.) Parking was NOT an issue anywhere, which was phenomenal. All students can have cars on campus. There were about 30 students there for tours; about 10 were there for the theater-intensive tour.
The interview with the coach â our first â was really, really nice. She took a solid hour with us. Gave D some good tips on how best to proceed, told her what a D3 teamâs sked was like, that thereâs a fall season (!) in the South, what she liked and didnât like in terms of conditioning and tournaments and recruiting and all that good stuff. She was pleased to discover D is a 19, not an 18, as D is a goalie and no team needs more than two, and the timing of an 18 graduation wouldnât have been much use to her. (Tbh, D is not D1 or probably even D3-level active-recruitment material, but hey, every little hook helps!)
Feel free to ask any questions if Iâve skipped something you were interested in!
@Gatormama It sounds like you had an amazing visit. My friendâs daughter is a freshman on the lax team at Sewanee and loves it. As a matter of fact, she is headed there to see 2 games this week.
Just a word about Sewanee. Students are expected to " dress" for class. It is very preppy. No judgement , but for a more casual student that should be considered .