@MAandMEmom Since S19 is interested in EE, I didn’t dig into the Civil offerings. They are ABET accredited for Civil, and their automatic merit scholarships are hard to beat. If you asked about CivE options/internships/etc on the UAH boards here on CC they may be able to give more insight into that!
Huntsville as an area has a LOT of transplants due to the military, NASA, and tech companies there, so there is a good mix of people. My husband is Filipino (S19 is therefore half) and felt very comfortable when he saw the diversity on campus and in Huntsville (he was a little leery before visiting).
@parent2one I am sorry that S19 missed that part of campus with brand new glass buildings.
https://lise.fas.harvard.edu/
https://www.seas.harvard.edu/about-seas/map-directions/buildings
My pet peeve with tours is that tour guides are rarely into STEM field. Exceptions were at CMU and a premed at CWRU. My boys usually get turned off by the tour guides and the whole experience is ruined.
I always contact my friends/colleagues and get a tour of their labs. My kids assume there are my friends at every university :))
@payn4ward - It definitely would’ve been nice to see that part of campus! But I don’t think it would’ve changed his mind since the dorms are old and he wasn’t a fan of the dining set up (it’s all about the food rofl). Still, I wish we could’ve seen that section (something more than a vague wave in that direction)!
We’ve been lucky that Harvard and VCU were our only non-tech/science tour guides - we ditched the guide we were supposed to have at GMU when we overheard another one say he was a chem major lol!
Yes, @parent2one, it’s too bad your S didn’t see some of the contemporary labs and buildings at Harvard. Most are state-of-the-art. They are also in the process of updating the upperclass houses and have completed part of Leverett and Quincy, all of Dunster and Winthrop, and are finishing all of Lowell in about a year. They renewed houses are very beautiful. Like @payn4ward said, tour guides are an important part of a student’s first impression, so it’s too bad he didn’t get one who was a better fit.
We’ve only been on two college tours, but I definitely see a huge benefit in having a tour guide in at least a related major. At U Rochester, we had a bioengineering major that we chose and it was a great set of tours (we had both a general tour and an engineering tour).
At U Buffalo, we luckily had the engineering tour first, with an electrical engineering major. Then we had a general tour with a sporty accounting major we were assigned to and it wasn’t nearly as good. Since the earlier engineering tour had gone so well, it didn’t taint d19’s opinion of the college but if it had been flipped in order, it could have. Every time we passed a different tour guide, she would look longingly at that tour group. A friend of hers only did the general tour a different day and wasn’t impressed at all.
So, back to school after spring break week. D19 spent 3 solid days of it doing homework. She did a practice ACT one day and decided she hated it and would rather just try the SAT one more time to up the verbal score a little bit. She worked on her NHS application and essay. But the big news is she found out she got accepted into a summer college research program for high schoolers at a local college. She will be working with college students and professors on a chem/biochem/environmental science research opportunity. And it’s paid! Yay! She’s very happy and letting the teachers that wrote recommendation letters know today. She’s also going to let her summer rec boss know she won’t be there this summer for lifeguarding/swim lessons. So basically, the other first learning experience of the day will be quitting her first job.
SAT in the field house tomorrow! Flashback to the PSAT in the field house. S19 has just decided to take the darn thing. I could call him in sick and he could take a make up next week in a classroom but it’s during a school day so he would miss class. He’s worried about that with APs coming up. He’s going to shoot for upping his EW score but, if it doesn’t happen, he’ll just use what he has. This test could be a real waste of time for him but it’s really a waste of time for the kids who focused on the ACT and are done testing. The state insists on this test (in school) for graduation and kids can’t substitute another SAT for that requirement.
I don’t know if I ever officially reported on Davidson and William and Mary. They were both BIG hits. One thing also garnered from the trip was that more temperate weather would be a plus and it has him rethinking the most northern options on his list. It’s been such a crummy winter here. So cold. Snowing again today. It’s April 9th!!!
My husband and I have also been talking about cost and trying to decide if schools that give no merit (especially if they are matched with cold weather - looking at you Bowdoin) should stay on the list. I’ve told S19 to choose two reaches that would be full price and I’m going to investigate what they offer that might make it worth paying more. Of course, some of those things are a little esoteric. A big brand name. Maybe better alumni contacts for jobs. Without an idea of what he wants to study, it’s challenging as well. Good thing is that we have more time as these apps would be RD anyway. Still figuring it out. In the meantime, he’s got two safeties and seven matches that offer merit. Some of that merit is more competitive than other merit though. Nothing is a gimme.
Our school’s SAT is in the gym, which DS has not set foot in since freshman year. I’m not sure whether this might inspire him or weigh him down.
He’s going to sit for one more standardized test over the summer, either the SAT or ACT, unless the SAT comes out with his target score I’m not sure what that target is. Math is his least strong area, so the ACT is friendlier than the SAT.
@ninakatarina Ok then. The boys are pretty much in the same boat. Giant room with 100s of kids for standardized testing. Glad our school isn’t the only one that does this. Good luck to your S!
@mom22girls Congratulations on the summer program! That’s fantastic!! And I agree with you, the tour guide makes a huge difference. We didn’t get a choice at Harvard, they just had the folks who were sitting there early go with the first that showed up. I don’t think it would’ve done much to change his mind though - we were also seeing it AFTER seeing MIT, so it had a lot to live up to for a STEMhead kid :). That’s a good idea about taking the ACT practice test… S19 thought he would take ACT to see what his score does, but I might encourage him to do a practice test before even signing him up. He might prefer to retake SAT.
@homerdog William and Mary is a great school (sadly they don’t have S19’s major). I went there during one summer in high school for Gov School and loved it. The area is beautiful and for downtime, aside from the local area, it’s right near Busch Gardens and is 45 mins/1 hr from the beach, 45 min/1 hr from Richmond… we’re on the beach side and head to Williamsburg quite often to use our season passes at BG and Water Country :). He’d just have to get used to driving through the tunnel.
Good luck to the kids taking the SAT in the gym. That does not seem like a great place to take a test.
Our school does not offer the sat during the school year. We have to sign up on our own. Our school only hosts the test maybe once a year, so the kids can select to take it at neighboring schools. They all off the test on Saturday mornings, when they offer it. So my kids have driven over to another high school and tested there a few times. They are usually assigned a class room to take it in.
I don’t think there is a state mandate that forces kids to take either test, and we have to play for them all, no free tests.
@parent2one We weren’t sure how S19 would feel about W&M since it’s bigger than all of the LACs on his list but, while it definitely seemed bigger, he felt like it had a lot of the things that make a LAC special. He went to a class. It had more students than the classes he’s gone to at other schools (maybe 30 kids instead of 15) but the professor was the only one so far who talked to him before and after class and seemed interested in HIM. He also seemed to know all of the kids’ names and S19 thought he could really fit there. I’ve read that it’s a pressure cooker but we didn’t get that impression at all. Kids seemed happy. And, honestly, all of the schools on his list are pretty rigorous so that’s not a downside. He went for a run on campus while the rest of our family ran around Colonial Williamsburg. He LOVED the nature on campus. The wooded area with the amphitheater, the ropes course, and the art building in the woods are a huge bonus. It was a Friday and we saw tons of kids in the sunken garden playing frisbee and soccer. It might be the most beautiful campus we’ve seen.
It’s OOS for us and it looks like only a handful of kids get merit so I’m not counting on that. Still, the sticker price is $15K less than the other schools on his list and we don’t even know what kind of merit he will get at those schools (if he even gets in). It’s quite possible that many of his schools could end up costing about the same as W&M. I’m thrilled that we visited and that he liked it!
Any other parents getting freaked out? We are around 5 months away from the beginning of app season and I have a lump in the pit of my stomach already.
We are not able to afford to visit out of state schools until D is hopefully admitted and we know we could afford it, so she needs to do as much research this summer about the schools on her ‘interested’ list and kind of apply blind. It’s so intimidating for me to read about kids that had a school as their number 1 until visiting, and then it drops off the list completely- it really makes me wonder which schools D would actually like enough to apply to if we were able to visit. But I know many of you are in the same boat- and it will work out for the best no matter what.
We are in the homestretch of Junior year- 8 weeks left, 5 AP exams, 2 SAT subject tests coming up… it’s a stressful few months. D was invited to represent our county at the all-state Academic Trivia championship in a few weeks and can’t go. Not only would she have to miss 2 days of school, but her music recital is that same weekend, so it’s a no. So disappointing.
@homerdog We saw W&M a few weeks and we all really liked it. It is high up the list for my son now. The funny part was a rep came to visit at his High school back in November and he didn’t do a great job of selling the school because my son came home and told us to take it off the list because it didn’t seem like a good fit. Then when the open house was cancelled at Virginia Tech due to snow and we threw in W&M last minute it was a great substitute. Our son was surprised at how much he liked the school. He was engaged on the tour and he liked the campus.
We’ve made the decision to have son stop with standardized testing. He has taken the SAT 3x’s and the ACT once. We are still waiting on the ACT score because he took it in school in mid March and apparently it takes 6-8 weeks for the scores to be mailed to us. His SAT score is acceptable, could it be higher, sure, but the stress he goes through with the test makes it not worth it anymore. According to his score report his score is in the 97% percentile and we told him to have his subtest scores begin with a 7-- and they do. He is a horrible test taker when it comes to standardized testing. Plus with IB orals in May and the Extended Essay and other IB IA exams, he needs to be over this hump and just concentrate on ending the year strong. I have to believe that there is more to admissions then standardized testing.
The countdown is on until the end of the year. Our 3rd MP ends this Thursday and the 4th MP starts Friday. I can’t believe this is the end of his junior year. So many emotions…
@SunnyFlorida22 I freak out all the time but I try to keep it away from the rest of the family. Glad to have this anonymous message board to do it at.
Our third MP ended two weeks ago but they haven’t officially posted the grades or updated the rankings yet. Kiddo had a very strong quarter and I’m interested in seeing whether it moves him up in the numbers. Or at least, he had a strong quarter judging by the numbers on the grading board two weeks ago. Until the late teachers put their grades in I have no idea whether those A’s stay A’s.
@SunnyFlorida22 I hear you. I seem to be the only freaking out in my house, though. S19 is now focused on the APUSH exam coming up next month. And the SAT in June. The positive visit to Penn State has kicked him into gear though. I told him that getting into PSU main is a numbers thing and that the better his SAT, the better his chances of admission. He then brought up Kahn Academy without prompting.
To be totally honest, I’m just freaking out about how things will change when he’s out of the house. I’m so incredibly excited for him to move on after high school because my college years were amazing (his dad and I met in college). But I’m going to miss his daily presence. Gotta enjoy this next year with him.
Of course, once he’s off to college, it will be time to start this whole process with S21. 
@SunnyFlorida22 I’m not particularly freaked out, as I just went thru this with my older son who is now a freshman at Northeastern. I sort of know what to expect, kind of, lol.
I more anxious to just get it figured all out, as opposed to being nervous about it. I’d just like him to find a place son19 will be happy with for 4 years. He knows that there a multiple schools that he could attend and do well at it, so it’s not like he’s applying to a “dream school” or anything.
Once son19 figures out what he’s going to be doing for college my wife and I can decide what we want to do and where we want to live down the road. We are ready to move on, but we are sticking around for the kids at this point.
@RightCoaster That sounds like my husband and I… we were just having a conversation on Saturday about where we want to move to, etc… but we are waiting to find out where our son goes to college. We are ready to move away from the DC area and back to NC. But we want to know where he is going and how much its all going to cost before we start figuring out the 2nd half of our lives.
We are also considering our transition to retirement. We had kids late. My H is 63 and really ready to go. I’m a few years younger but not that far away. We know we have to stay put for one more year so that S can finish high school, but after that, who knows? One of my favorite pastimes is looking at homes for sale in potential retirement spots.
@SunnyFlorida22 I think I already had my freak out, hopefully I am allowed to have a few. The first time was when I found out about everything that would be required in order to get to this point in junior year, I think that was a year ago. I guess I’ll freak out again once the applications start. Before, I thought my D would have a chance at a private college (in or out of state) with high merit aid, but as this school year and SAT testing has played out, I see that we are not going to have to worry about that route and now are focusing on in-state public universities, and not the University of Texas, which is difficult to get in to. Texas residents are guaranteed admission to UT if they are in the top 6% of their class. That is not happening for my D in a highly competitive HS. D wanted to go to school outside of Texas, but now I don’t really see that happening.
We have done several campus tours, but TBH, that is more to get my D excited about finding a U or college she is interested in, not because she chose to visit, but because I found it and told her we are visiting. And some of the tours we did were just for fun as we were visiting, like when we went to UCLA and UC Irvine. Ha. Also visited USC but that would require serious merit aid as it is pretty darn expensive. SIL and MIL are alumni, that’s where I got that idea to visit.
We are going to see University of Houston next month with a friend after AP tests are done, so that should be interesting as D actually wanted to see the school. Then still hoping she can get her SAT score up a bit in the June test. Fingers crossed, we get through this period easily and can have a fun senior year for my D.
I’m trying not to stress too much about the process, but I know a lot more about what it is like than my son does (having recently done it with my daughter), so I am worried. I also want us to have a good relationship through the process. I can’t decide if I should have him try the SAT or just stick with his ACT scores. He will take two subject tests so it might be good for him to just go ahead and take the SAT, but I just don’t know what is best. There are also a lot of things he turned down, mostly because of time, that could have been helpful int he application process, but I can only do so much. Basically S will apply to our two very good state flagships and then several reach schools (either in terms of getting in or in terms of getting a big scholarship). I know how much work those applications for the reach schools take, so I would have liked to have gone to visit some, but he didn’t want to do it over spring break. Now I feel like we lost an opportunity. At least he got a bunch of homework done over the break and also worked on his Extended Essay. Maybe we’ll visit a few schools over the summer but I know it’s not the same. I just need him to narrow down some choices and he is not much help in that process. Ugh