I’ve already gone in Naviance under S19’s password and added schools to his “colleges I’m thinking about” list. I don’t think he’s ever gone on there by himself to look anything up. I feel like that’s ok though. We communicate all of the time about schools so he won’t be surprised if he logs on at school and sees our list. :))
We dont have Naviance at our school. I have asked about it, and so far they are not moving towards getting it. Meanwhile we spent yesterday at UAH. to get into Univ of Alabama Huntsville, all you need is a 2.9, and 20 on ACT, BUT
once you hit the 30 ACT range (and similar range on SAT) and have at least a 3.5, Tuition is FREE. a weighted 4.0 and 34-36 is a full free ride.
The really roll out the red carpet at their visits. They are small groups (unilke GA tech where there were like 100 kids and parents). The presentation was interactive with lots of Q and A. They gave S a water bottle, but more importantly, (to S ) lunch . They set up meetings with admissions and the Dept head of major you are looking at. The dorms are probably the nicest I have seen in the 10+ college visits between S and D17.
In the end, S said its a good safety school that he would attend. Also thinking about the money we would save that we could provide him after graduation. He would apply honors college. The downside, I dont think he was really impressed with the CS Dept, and being in Huntsville, the focus would be more on working for a Defense contractor than for a gaming company. RPI is still top on the list, and we still need to see RIT, Stevens, WPI, and he wants to see CMU (where I went; he will never get in though).
I do that too @homerdog
I only add schools she has shown interest in, but d19 rarely going on naviance and I have more free time for it. I don’t know offhand which of them are ones with boom awards and medals handed out at the end of this school year, so any she had shown a glimmer of interest in, I add for her. That way, in case the counselors are deciding those awards and look to see if any students are interested, they will see her name.
@mom2twogirls what are boom awards and medals?
Sorry, it was a typo for book awards. My understanding is that typically they are awards given by alumni to potential students. If a student is accepted to the school, they will get a merit award. For example, one of d’s friends has an older brother who got an RPI medal for, IIRC, $15k a year. If he were to be accepted, it would be part of his financial aid package. He didn’t end up going there.
Basically, it’s a marketing tool some schools use. It may not make a difference financially anyway, but just in case I like noting which schools my d has interest in just to keep that window open for her.
@sdl0625 I wish UAH was closer to us. It’s a little farther for travel than my d would like but otherwise seems like it would have been a good fit for her.
@mom2twogirls Wow! I’ve never heard of awards like that. Alumni can see your Naviance to see who is interested in a particular school and then possibly offer them money? Are these alumni of the high school who dip back in to see who is interested in their college?
I did make sure that Davidson is on our S19’s list because he will need the GCs to nominate him for the Belk Scholarship and I wanted the GCs to know that he’s interested in the school. I highly doubt any of our GCs are looking at the junior’s Naviance accts right now though. They are pretty bogged down with the seniors. I think attention moves to the juniors in Jan.
The grand trip report! I’ll try to condense my voluminous notes so this isn’t a book.
WVU:
Pretty uninspiring breakfast spread (donut holes, store-bought mini muffins, cinnamon buns, apples, coffee & juice), considering that we were about to commence the Bataan Death March of college tours.
There are two campuses a couple of miles apart. The monorail - called the Personal Rapid Transit was so cool to use. Also tons of shuttle buses.
It’s not exactly gorgeous - kind of a jumble of meh red brick buildings scattered everywhere, up and down hills, with the newer campus, Evansdale, more spread out and suburban in appearance. We imagined it would look pretty bleak in winter. And omg, the snow and ice on those steep hills - I was freaking out just thinking about it.
The morning was academics - we stuck with theater tech as there was no way to cover all of D’s interests in the two hours allotted.
This paragraph is a detailed theater summary; skip if not your thing: The assistant to the dean gave us full tour - over an hour - of the Creative Arts Center, a monstrous building that appears to have been added to several times - very utilitarian in the behind-the-scenes spaces (tiled or painted concrete block walls) with five theaters, practice rooms, dance studios…plus there is also a downtown theater used by WVU. It seemed like five stories of rooms and auditoriums and lab theaters (black box-types)… There were two shops, upper and lower, and pulley systems allowed huge backdrops to be worked on at the top and bottom. They were constructing sets for use in another theater, downtown, and all the parts had to fit in a uHaul, so that was cool. We couldn’t actually visit the main theaters, though, because every one was in use. A cello day with dozens of cellists performing; a Miss WV pageant; auditions for “A Christmas Carol” … Six main WVU shows a year; one dance, one music and the rest dramatic. 800 students in the College of Creative Arts; 150-200 in theater. There is a BA theater track in addition to BFA tracks.
It was a brutally hot day - 86 and full sun. We dragged our way onto the PRT (it was all free transportation, free coaches shuttling everyone, free meals, much free swag) – and went to the downtown campus and fell on the lunch at the Mountainlair (student union) like starving cavemen. Food wasn’t particularly exciting though there are tons of dining options, cafes in many of the dorms, big cafeterias, food courts with chains like Burger King, Starbucks in a Barnes & Noble.
WVU had all of its dorms open. There is a cleaning service every three weeks for all the dorms. Most had “show” dorms but the Honors College dorm was a “working” dorm room which was nice. Depending on the age and facilities, the cost varies - we visited one brand-new 10-story dorm with apartments – we saw one with four single bedrooms and a kitchen/LR fully furnished + TV. Most dorms were basic suite style, updated, but not super swanky. There were some sweeping vistas in study lounges up high, courtyards overlooking the Monongahela River that snakes through the town. Laundries in all dorms, all costing $1.50 a load.
Had nice chats with RAs (D loves the idea of being an RA and getting free room/board) and Honors College students (they said the lack of partying in their dorm was a bonus, that they liked being surrounded by “like-minded” students, though diverse in majors), with student ambassadors everywhere we went. They all did great jobs talking up the school. Lots of enthusiasm and effort. We were struck by the fact that almost every student we met was from WVA. We met one from NJ; that was the only OOS student.
Back at the Mountainlair, there was an info. fair with a bunch of clubs, then reps from all of the college departments, so we got to seek out reps from her other interests, but really, by then, our eyes were glazing over. One rep tried to help D with her myriad interests by pushing a triple minor that results in a BA in interdisciplinary studies, which sounded interesting, but again, information overload by then!
Last was a talk by the Honors College people, who extolled the virtues of the smaller cohort, priority registration, special trips, exclusive dorms… There is an interesting “Not My Major” program, where they mix it up with tours/events for students who are not taking relevant majors. So, as the professor described it, a theater major gets to put her arm inside a cow to get the contents of the stomach to investigate what microbes are growing in the grass being digested. D’s face was priceless at that description.
All in all, an extremely impressive college tour, considering how difficult it is to give a personal touch at a huge university. It seemed like a cast of hundreds of students posted at every conceivable corner, giving directions, finding answers, taking us where we needed to go, handing us off like batons from one rep to the next.
Then on to Ohio U.
We didn’t have as much time here because it was pouring, and so we didn’t do as much wandering as planned.
But Athens is hands-down a better college downtown. Cobblestone streets, lots of college-oriented shops. A Chipotle within a block. A great old arts cinema. Kind of like a South Street in Philly vibe if you know that area.
OU wins the early morning repast contest, hands down. Homemade bakery items were to die for.
Gorgeous campus, red brick historic buildings, laid out in squares with shady groves of massive old-growth trees. Easily walkable, some hills but nothing like WVU. Frequent shuttle buses throughout campus. We toured two theaters - a really grand main 2000-seat auditorium with mezzanine, and a smaller theater where they were staging a play and took time to tour us through the shops. Had an hourlong talk with a crazed genius prop master (think Doc Brown in “Back to the Future”) who specializes in sword-making. Several other talks on acting, costume design, etc.
Huge amount of housing, all in the same red brick, even the brand-new buildings. Toured a “working” dorm room in the fine arts-specific dorm. Dormer room was fairly spacious. All dorms have floor to ceiling wall units in addition to desks, so lots of storage space. This building had community bathrooms; but sinks in rooms. Laundry on bottom floor. Practice room on bottom floor.
Sports complexes all grouped together. Impressive rec center, with several floors of gyms, squash, basketball, volleyball courts, indoor track, climbing wall. Separate building housing Olympic pool. Baker student center is five floors (with escalators) - like a Galleria - including movie theater, food court, store with Apple genius bar, lots of organizations housed here.
Friendly students - one random student stopped in the rain to ask if we needed help when she saw us studying a map.
Resource fair here too. Honors Tutorial College (HTC) rep and individualized studies degree rep were both encouraging with D’s varied interests in saying she could put together her own degree. HTC req: 30 composite score on the ACT or a combined score of 1300 on the SAT - they do superscore.
I would recommend going to either school’s preview days - they are really well-done despite having hundreds and hundreds of visitors at each. I loved OU. I really liked WVU. The surrounding towns influenced my perceptions more than I thought they would. (Morgantown has very Appalachia, down-at-the-heel sections). I would be happy with her going to either but the scary mountains in Morgantown wigged me out (and we live in mountains, so it’s not like I’m a flatlander). If it’s between those two schools, it’ll really come down to merit money, methinks. Both offer decent merit for OOS but they would probably still be more than our in-state safety cost; affordability would be tough.
@homerdog alumni can’t see it but I believe they ask the guidance counselors (who have access and also meet with the kids in person) for nominations on who to present the awards to.
Hi all–
I think its time to introduce myself–DC born, currently living in MA, with a 2016 DS (currently a sophomore at OU–so Gatormama I’d be happy to answer any other questions you might have, including merit $ ones) and a 2019 DD.
My 2019 child is very different than her older brother, so I almost feel like I am starting over. She’s more math/science oriented and is currently interested in pursuing genetics. She does prefer bigger schools and would like to go away from home (ie not MA, and not New England if she can help it). Personally I think she will end up in the Midwest like her brother (who is a Media major in the process of transferring to OU’s journalism school).
DD has relatively good grades (3.7 UW), takes mostly honors with a couple AP thrown in, and tests reasonable well (I think we are looking at 1300-1350 for the SAT, though she may decide to go with the ACT). So she a bright kid, but not a lottery school kid, by any means.
Looking forward to being part of this group! (I pretty much lurked on the 2016 board).
Spoke too soon about D19 not having a lot of homework. All of a sudden, she’s as busy as she was last year. I asked her about it. Her teachers said that they took it easy on the students for the first 6 week grading period because of Hurricane Harvey. But now that the second grading period has started, they are going to increase the workload significantly.
What sucks is they start doing this now, just before D19 does her standardized tests. Because she had so much free time, we decided to get her tests out of the way now. PSAT is tomorrow. October 28 is ACT and November 4 is SAT. We thought she’d have a lot of free time for prep. Then she’d have so much more free time than her friends who are taking it in spring semester. But now it looks like she won’t have a lot of free time.
@sdl0625 You’re talking about Alabama and merit scholarships. Is that in-state only? I’ve heard that UA (and Auburn, to a lesser extent) are very generous with merit aid. (I assume both Tuscaloosa and Huntsville), All I found on the UA Tuscaloosa website was info about an award for 32 ACT. It’s $25k/year, which is not quite full-ride. But I’m unclear as to how many awards they give.
Some say that everyone with a 32 gets the award, but that doesn’t seem possible. Most other colleges I’ve looked at say that you are eligible for an award with a 32 (or 34, depending on the school), but it’s a competitive award and only a few are given away each year. A college actually giving away $25k/year for every single student who gets a 32 sounds too good to be true.
We’re going to speak with the UA people at college night tomorrow. And we’re probably going to visit in person in November.
Because D19 is gunning for pre-med, every dollar we don’t spend on undergrad is a dollar we can save for med school. We aren’t going to qualify for any need aid, so every school that is generous with merit aid is something we’re interested in.
Since @Gatormama gave a trip report on WVU, a possible bit of amusement: My sister was a recruited music major (seriously—there were letters of intent and such involved. It was kind of crazy), and eventually went full ride to WVU, where she got a degree in music performance (for percussion). Of course, WVU doesn’t have the most, um, high-profile academic reputation, and it was even less so then, so she gave me a verbatim disclaimer that she requires me to offer every. single. time. I mention that she got her degree from there: “But she’s told me that I’m required to say that it’s okay, because they have really, really good programs in percussion performance and mining engineering.”
They’ve improved overall quite much since she was there, but she hasn’t lifted the disclaimer requirement.
@gusmahler UA Huntsville is smaller and less of a big name (doesn’t have the big football team) but is an even better deal financially from what I’ve researched. The majority of the merit at the Alabama publics (Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Huntsville) is not competitive and based on stats. Tests scores and GPA (weighted counts) gets lots of $ at them.
@gusmahler Its for instate or out of state. not sure how the Alabama publics do it. For the main campus. For Huntsville all you need is a 30 and 3.5. Its purely on Stats. To get in, you dont even need an essay, can submit in Aug/Sept, and hear back within a week. Also they will accept ACT/SAT scores all the way until Aug of the year you are attending, so you can take the tests in the Spring/summer of your senior year to reach merit status. Story about one kid who had a 29 and then that June before coming got it to the 30. Also in the lower ranges they also give merit, just not 100%. I can try to send a picture of the chart for at least UAH
Thank you for the awesome trip report, @Gatormama!
So last night DD and I went to a Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UVA, Wellesley admissions event. Apparently they travel around the country doing these. I did not go in with high expectations but was very pleasantly surprised. Important caveat here: these schools are lottery schools for anyone but especially so for my kid. For a variety of reasons Princeton is on our radar and my judgement of DD is that she can be inspired by but not crushed by thinking about a school she is not likely to get in to.
The format was each presenter spoke for 10 minutes or so about their school, then the panel took questions from the group for 30 minutes, then the presenters spread out and you could go and ask questions about an individual school.
I thought I’d share a few of my key takeaways with you.
- I would totally recommend this event if any of these schools are at all on your radar. It was a very efficient use of time. The schools clearly sent their A team to the event so the presentations were engaging and very college is wonderful inspiring. The presenters were so respectful and supportive of each other's schools that it really took the edge off that you must get into and come to this exact school vibe that I've felt on some school tours.
- The Harvard presenter reminded people that EC's don't have to be the traditional school sports and music, etc. He said, we recognize that lots of people need to work or provide childcare or do housework to enable parents to work. Some of you are heavily involved in your churches or other organizations outside of school. Don't forget to tell us about those activities. They are important and we recognize how these things contribute to your growth and prepare you to succeed at our schools.
- One person asked what NOT to do when applying. The responses from the panel included don't be arrogant, don't submit dozens of recommendations, don't have your parents write your essay, don't pretend to be someone you are not, and don't submit your app without having someone proofread it.
- In the informal question time afterwards I was stunned by the number of kids who asked simple questions that not only could be answered in a two minute search of the website but were answered in the information packet THAT WAS HANDED OUT AT THE EVENT. Things like, "Do you require SAT 2 tests?", "What is a typical range of SAT scores?" That information was clearly laid out in a compare and contrast chart for the 5 schools on the folder they handed out. Not only that but the same question was asked more than once. Clearly some kids were just determined to ask a question and went with their prepared question no matter what had just been asked. The presenter was very patient but you could see her eyes light up when someone actually asked an intelligent question.
- There was one kid from the local STEM magnet school (T.J.) which is an incredibly difficult school to get into. He asked the classic question (trust me, if you go on college visits at the top schools in Virginia you have heard this question before) about whether he would be penalized because so many kids from his school apply. The presenter smiled and asked if there were any other TJ students in the crowd. There weren't which she said was a surprise. A parent nudged the one one TJ student and said, "I guess you're in then." "NO," she said, very strongly. "We get lots of applications from TJ every year. Some years we admit tons of TJ kids and some years we admit none. There really is absolutely no quota or limit from ANY school. We take into account the opportunities available to you at your school, we do not weigh you against your classmates at that school.
Thanks so much for your report, @mom23travelers ! We are going to this same event next week and were VERY curious what to expect. I will have D ready to ask more detailed questions if she so desires and I am going to have her read your review. This one is intimidating, that’s for sure, but I wanted D to have the opportunity to hear about these schools even if she isn’t interested in applying. We wouldn’t get the chance to tour these schools even if she did want to apply, so we are very grateful that they are making a stop nearby.
Ooh, we got an invite for one of those events and I wanted to go, but it’s on the same night as dress rehearsal. So glad to hear your report, and looking forward to other people’s opinions.
We spent some time last night talking about the difference between rolling, ED, EA and SCEA. Kid has decided that as of this moment Yale is the dream school and he wants to apply SCEA. If he keeps his grades up and gets good PSAT/SAT/ACT scores I’m happy with that, but if any of those slip I may pressure to go for a less exclusive school EA and the lottery schools in the regular round.