@me29034 - Dayton, Marist and Scranton are also Catholic and seem to have happy students and solid reputations…
(I have to say that I love it when Mrs. InfiniteWaves speaks of Mr. InfiniteWaves due to the image it brings to my mind. Certainly a surfer’s dream come true! Or possibly this is the fitting emoji: :ar! )
@RightCoaster Congrats to your S! Fabulous accomplishment! As parent to a runner, I know how incredible that win is.
Marist has not been a Catholic School for a while
@suzyQ7 - Oops! Now that I am reading your post, I remembered that. Goes to show how old I am… 
@EastGrad :))
I grew up on the water. The beach is my happy place. Arrrgggggghhh. :ar!
While my S has no objection to schools that aren’t Catholic, I do think that Poughkeepsie will not pass the urban test for him. He wants big city. Likewise I think Scranton is also a bit small. Also Marist has gotten much harder to get into. Last I checked, they had a 40% acceptance rate.
Loyola Maryland could be a possibility if he gets his SATs up a bit. He is still below their 25%.
Dayton is on his list but there’s no direct flights from Boston to Dayton so it’s not one of my favorites, just for logistical reasons. There are many other schools that are much easier to get to.
@me29034 is he willing to stay in MA and is Boston the only big city he would consider? My son’s favorite is Wentworth but I know your son is not into engineering. They also have business now as well I believe.
I’m planning a three-night trip over spring break. Three days, one official tour each day, possibly some drive-by/quick stops at other campuses if we’re feeling up to it. Which tour order is better, (1) high reach, (2) meh match, (3) high match/low reach (the current favorite)? Nevermind, the tour scheduler will be the decider - already the times I wanted for #3 on the third day are filled and there is only one time left on day 1 at school #3.
@evergreen5 - I found that even with a three-day trip, sometimes kids are pretty tired by the end and like last schools less. Maybe it’s good to see the current favorite first if you think your kid has a pretty good chance of getting in.
@evergreen5 I’d go to the school that you think might be best for your kid first. See if they really like it. Go visit the other ones and use the first school as a measuring stick.
@me29034 how about someplace like Emerson, Emmanuel or UMass Boston? That’s real city living.
if he gets his SAT up a bit maybe UVM or St Michaels in Burlington VT . Great college town.
I know a few kids at St Joes in Philly and they seem to like it there.
When I was looking at colleges back in the dawn of time, my mother and I took a 9 day road trip over spring break. The first college we visited was Wellesley, which ended up being my reach school. The last college we visited was Bryn Mawr, which ended up being my favorite school. It was a strong match and I really wanted to go there. I ended up getting into Wellesley, to the shock of everyone involved, and being denied for Bryn Mawr.
I’ve always thought since that I didn’t get in to Bryn Mawr because I gave a lousy interview because I was tired after over a week on the road and seeing so many colleges. We could have day-tripped or weekend tripped up to Philly at another time, maybe I could have given a better interview and got in.
Ah, water under the bridge. But that’s why I’ve been resisting the long college trip with my DS. I remember that it didn’t serve me well.
S19’s current top choice has made it clear that participating in activism in response to current events will not hurt students in the admissions process. I keep liking this school more and more. Hope he gets in!
If you scroll down to the bottom of this article, there is a link to the growing list of college and universities also making this statement. I’m not making a political statement here. Thought this would be helpful for those interested. Not participating in walk-outs or having a differing viewpoint on the whole thing is totally cool by me. My kid is interested, though, and I want to support him.
@evergreen5 Just one opinion here, but we aren’t planning on visiting any big reach. Just psychologically, I don’t want S19 to fall in love. And those schools do not track demonstrated interest so they do not care.
I’ve preached to S19 over and over how low the admit rates are for most of his schools but, any school below 15%, we are not visiting. Even though he knows in his head that those are reaches, I think it will be easier for him to keep reasonable expectations if he doesn’t see the schools in person. If we go and he loves them, he can tell us he’s keeping his head but I’m afraid he would still be overly hopeful in his heart. We are trying very hard to make a list of matches and low reaches that he has visited and likes.
That being said, I agree that he should see best matches first so he’s fresh!
Sometimes, D19 is very vocal about her thoughts about a college visit. E.g., I knew she hated Georgetown before she even started the tour because she sent me a text saying so while waiting for the tour guide with her mother. But sometimes, I really don’t know.
We were looking at her ACT score report and she noticed to which schools she sent the report. She asked, “why did you send it to Tulane? I don’t want to go there.” I explained that it was once one of her top choices, which is why we visited there. She then said that she didn’t like New Orleans or the campus and doesn’t even want to think of going there.
It was strange because we didn’t go on a formal tour. The campus was closed for Thanksgiving, so we just walked around. She never said anything negative about the city or the campus while we were there. I figured we’d go there again during one of their open house events this fall to do a real tour. But she doesn’t even want to consider them any more.
@gusmahler Same thing happens here. I think these kids’ brains are always percolating without us seeing it…and then they make these statements that surprise us that might have been months in the making.
Dd gave me a checklist of what she wants in a college: includes: “chirping birds” “trees to do homework next to” (Gilmore Girls reference), dorms “as fancy as it gets with rooftop garden, patio”, weather “no rain”, atmosphere “fun but not billions of sorority girls” yet “fashionable”. I don’t know why I even try.
Oh God, @amandakayak ! Lol!!! I can totally see a teenage girl saying that. I can’t even imagine how much eye rolling you did! God help us.
@homerdog Yeah, I don’t even want to go to that reach. It’s somewhere around 15%. (I’ve never been and yet I was rejected from there twice, undergrad and grad. Perhaps I am, as the kids say, salty lol.) But, my guess is that she won’t like it compared to the current favorite, which would be a huge plus. If there are going to be high reaches on the list, then I have one or two others in mind, ones we could visit later after acceptance.