Parents of the HS Class of 2019 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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Question about campus visits…

Some context: S19 wants to do film v production and screenwriting. We’re in TX, and have one trip planned for Southern CA (we cannot afford another). Finances will be the biggest issue (EFC 0). 4.0uw/32

USC is a far reach (of course)
Chapman - reach (both financially and admit)
LMU - reach (bigger financial reach than Chapman and admit)
UCLA - won’t visit since we’re OOS
Oxy - Academic and Financial fit, but S19 isn’t into social/political activism

Did I read previous posts say we shouldn’t do campus tours for reach schools? If so, what schools should we visit in LA for film? I was thinking a visit to reach school may inspire him to work harder on his app. We would be visiting in July.

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I cannot comment on the best schools for film/tv production, but I actually think it’s OK to visit academic reach schools. It shouldn’t comprise the entire set of schools, but I know that when D19 and I visited a couple academic reach schools, it was early on in the process, and I think she realized that she was looking for a more… well-rounded experience than she perceived one of the schools offered. I think a few minutes with a Common Data Set would drive home the point that academic reaches mean nothing is guaranteed, even with scores that might lead the applicant to think they have an excellent shot.

I think the bigger issue would be one of financial reaches. I wouldn’t visit many, or possibly any, financial reach schools, unless it’s made very, very clear ahead of time that attendance would be dependent upon scholarships, etc. And then you need to do research ahead of time that schools would be willing to meet full financial need or S19 would be a good shot at a scholarship.

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Thanks @BorgityBorg - I agree about visiting financial reach schools. Seeing the facilities at Dodge may make it even more difficult if he gets accepted but we cannot afford it.

Oxy is the only one that would be worth visiting since they meet full need. Problem is, its one of those schools I added to the list - and he didn’t seem excited about it. Maybe a visit to Oxy will change his mind.

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One of the very few reasons we still have for keeping our landline is that for the schools that require a phone number when requesting information about a particular department or such, my kid can give them that one (which we consistently let roll over to voicemail) and they can’t annoy anyone with texts.

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We do the same thing as @dfbdfb and use the no-one-else-calls-us-on-it landline for D’s colleges. She has received a handful of calls from schools, including one school who mistakenly thought she was a senior and was hounding her about getting her application in on time.

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Ugh shoot. We got rid of our landline a while back. Any advice as to whether I should give schools my cell number or S19’s?

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@homerdog – I suggest your cell # so a school/college does not call in the middle of your S19’s class.

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Maybe a Google Voice number or somesuch?

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@dfbdfb I’ll have to look that up or ask Mr. Homerdog. I’ve never heard of that. Thanks for the idea though. It may make the most sense.

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I wouldn’t worry too much about your phone number. Although we get a ton of junk mail and junk email, we get almost no calls (I think we’ve only received one) and zero texts.

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I have a google voice number and have been using it as the “home phone” number. I have it forwarded to my cell but I am good with not answering unknown phone numbers and hanging up on people at hello.

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@romns116 Here are some film schools in LA area you could check out. USC, Loyola Marymount, California State, American film institute

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wow, thanks everyone! Good information…
My daughter is a junior (D19) now will graduate next year 2019. I want to join the forum.
She is interested in doing premed as undergrad. hoping to get tons of advice… :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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Welcome to the forum, @blessed101 Tell us more about your daughter.

It’s so much nicer to be going on this journey with other people. When I started to read up about colleges I felt so alone.

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It is great to have this thread. Besides teaching me and providing camaraderie, it’s saving my D19 from hearing way too much about the college process!

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Following up on @eandesmom 's college list. Here’s what mine looks like. I don’t entirely know what S’s list looks like ;-|

Factors for my S are: Don’t apply direct to major, strong math dept, easy to double-major a + but not needed, opportunity to compete in club soccer, crew or nordic skiing (school with all is + so he doesn’t have to decide now), residential college is +, 5000-7000 undergrads ideally, not too urban, not a ‘tech’ school. Ideally a school where he can have the athlete-scholar experience at a DIII-level (or strong club) on a team with other math/physics/engineering students. Uninterested in big sports culture; he’s never been to a football game and unlikely to start in college. Doesn’t mind being in middle of nowhere as long as school (or team) has strong community feel. Cold is fine. Can deal with arctic weather and no sunlight. Outdoorsy guy.

Mine are: Match/safety. cost. We are full-pay, but S has strong GPA (close to 4.0 UW) and good test scores, so I am factoring in merit aid.

I expect that once we do an east coast tour over spring break, the list will change. Unfortunately ‘no tech’ and place where S could do 2 out of 3 of his sports seems fairly incompatible so list has tech schools that S will likely nix.

Case Western
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - S will likely nix any polytech schools but he hasn’t visited any yet
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Rochester Institute of Tech
UC San Diego, $$$ ack but if he wants to do his main sport, this is a good place.
Univ of Victoria (safety) - S would prob go to UW over UVic
Colgate Univ (not sure re cost and probably too techy for S)
Dalhousie Univ (safety, main sport)
Univ of Vermont
Western WA (safety) - Again S would prob chose UW over WWA
Univ of Puget Sound (soccer)

Places that seem like good fits but are very expensive or very hard (though not entirely impossible) to get into
Dartmouth, 1-2 students from his HS get in each year.
Stanford, 1 student gets in every other year

Right now S is weighing how much he wants the residential college and team experience versus bigger university. If he decides he wants the LAC experience, then St Lawrence, Oberlin, St Olaf, Grinnell, Whitman, UPS will be on the table. S will want Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, and Williams but those are full-pay for us while the others will have some merit aid given his grades and stats.

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I so much hear you on the ‘place to vent my college obsession’, @3SailAway - right now my son is caught up in rehearsals for the spring musical. Poor kid comes home exhausted every night. He’s center stage for most of the dance numbers and singing just at the edge of his range. Last night he was asleep by 8:00. It would be cruel for me to talk colleges to him now, he just doesn’t have the mental energy.

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@liska21 that is quite the list, all over the place!

If $$ is an issue and he doesn’t mind freezing weather and likes the outdoors, have him look at Clarkson too. He’ll get in and should gets lots of merit. They have a pretty good math program there and good engineering. They have a bunch of clubs, outdoors center, access to the wilderness, skiing etc. It’s not a super fancy name, but it is a nice place and just down the road from St Lawrence. It is remote and hard to get to. And cold. I don’t know if they have crew there, but the school is located right on a river. It’s not really super techy, kind of a blend of tech and other majors. Not very diverse though if that’s an issue. The kids seem to get some decent jobs coming out of there though, and I enjoyed my visit there, more than I thought I would.

We don’t have any sort of concrete list at the moment. Son19 does not know exactly what he wants out of a school or what kind of environment. He said he was fine going anywhere last week. Easygoing works for us!

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@RightCoaster The list has some schools that you would not expect because of his main sport, which is a niche sport. Big in Canada and Europe but basically unknown in US except in 3 places. Most of the other schools have an active nordic ski team that is not closed (meaning you don’t have to be a national champ to get on) and rowing. Other theme is strong STEM, outdoorsy element. I knew about Clarkson… because they have a nordic ski team too :wink: But I didn’t list since they seemed pretty engineering focused.

We’ll try to hit some of these schools on a spring break tour and then hopefully S will have a better idea of exactly what he wants.

We have saved $ for college but H and I are not convinced that paying 2.5 times what Univ of WA will cost us makes much sense. That’s just us. If S wants to head out of state, then we are pushing him to look into schools where he can use his grades to bring down the cost. The kids in his HS like to leave the state for some reason (serious wanderlust at his school) so I’m sure he has his sights on something far afield.

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Well @liska21 he’d probably get something like a 1/2 price merit offer at Clarkson with good grades/strong gpa/test scores. He may even be able to play DIII soccer there if he reaches out to the coaching staff soon. The vibe there wasn’t as “geeky” as I thought it would be. The only sport people care about up there is hockey, they live and breather it. But the people I met in admissions and coaching staff were very nice and it seemed like a very tight knot community there, like they actually cared about your kid there. Also tons of outdoorsy kids there with mountain bikes, kayaks, skis etc. I thought my son17 would like it a lot, but the remoteness was not to his liking in the end. He wanted city life.
I’d be curious what your son’s list would look like. I think my son’s would literally be all over the place, or comprised of only 1 school, lol.