D19 seems to like the phrases “study abroad”, and “research opportunities”. Isn’t that every U we visit? ;))
I really wish to be done with the college list now. “We” should be ready to apply in a matter of weeks now. She has landed with some B’s this year in her new school making 3.7 UWGPA. I am not sure if we still want to apply to her favorite schools in NY, MA, and Boston in particular. I don’t even want to count the one impossible to get in U. So, we have 3 on my list and 4 on her, lol. I am just happy that she is not coming up with criteria like “palm trees in rain forest setting”. She is happy going to any urban/suburban U offering engineering majors.
We had a second visit to Franklin and Marshall today so that kiddo could have his interview. We had the full tour and info session last time so we skipped it this time around. We visited sophomore year in January, so it’s been a year and a half since we’ve been there.
Kiddo had a nice interview. The interviewer and I have the same first name, not a common first name, so we had a little laugh about that. Kiddo apparently didn’t talk academics at all during the interview, just about theatre and favorite movies and video games. Sigh. Oh, well. They did talk about the study abroad programs and about visiting artists and about engagement with the local theatre community. Kiddo felt like it was successful.
We walked around campus a bit after our interview. A student semi-adopted us and took us into some of the theatre and dance spaces that aren’t part of the normal tours. There are some nice performance spaces on campus.
Our guide was from a very small town in Connecticut and had chosen to live on campus over the summer because there was more going on than in her town. She was working at admissions and doing a minor independent study program with her favorite professor.
F&M is still on the list and kiddo is working on the supplementals right now. They’re not extensive, but one is the ‘why us’ essay and it’s best to write that when the college is fresh in your mind.
@SDCounty3Mom -Great reviews, thanks! I kind of had been thinking about Macalester and Grinnell for the back burner list if we want to add an extra LAC later, so your thoughts are especially helpful. I didn’t really want to consider Grinnell because of the difficult travel part, but I always hear good things about it. It sounds like it was a very productive trip and glad to hear your aunt is doing pretty well.
@collegeandi urban/suburban engineering in MA sounds like a good fit for WPI where they are giving nice merit packages to girls with decent stats. Your daughter seems like a solid candidate.
UVM has a brand new engineering facility and they like to offer solid merit awards to STEM kids with decent stats. UVM is in a great safe college town.
Good luck.
D19 is still with @homerdog’s son and the other very undecided majors. She has probably ruled out business, engineering and music, but everything else, from philosophy to chemistry to English, is fair game. Neuroscience, Government, Theater–everything looks good to her . . . I definitely want her to have time to explore before she narrows it down.
@SDCounty3Mom, my D21’s tutor is headed to Grinnell next year, and she is one of our favorite people! Brilliant, especially in math, accomplished dancer, introverted with wry sense of humor, parents immigrated from the Middle East. She could have gone more “selective” but got great merit from Grinnell. I think it’s too far from home for us, but I loved your description!
@ninakatarina, we liked Lancaster! F&M doesn’t have D19’s sport (which she has decided is a bigger factor than originally thought) but we liked the size (2,300) and the happy/healthy vibe there.
@homerdog Kinda confusing! I read your post to D19 and she was happy to hear this. Their own website didn’t quite sound like what you’re saying, but a first-person account from staff is probably the best source of info yet. Thanks for helping us sort this out! She’s loving the handwritten postcards she got from her guide and the AO yesterday. Was also charmed by reading the list of first-year seminars from 2017…easily found a half dozen that she would put on her list. (As did I…!!)
D19 really wants to chop down her list a lot now. She’s not a risk taker at all so I’m a little surprised that she’s this content to eliminate schools, but I think this is fine since we have Creighton in her corner and it’s EA so we’d have a result from them in the fall. But she’s wielding quite the little ax here and wants to take her Safety category down to one and her Match category off the table entirely, and not apply to any UCs as financial baselines. Whoa girl! I think that would have her at 9 schools (three high reaches, five low reaches, one likely-admit), which I know is a reasonable number but we had it at 15 for so long that this feels radical… I’m also chuckling at the world because I sent her scores to four likely-admit schools before the deadline to save $$ and now she doesn’t want to apply to three of those four schools. Oh well…learning curve, here we climb…
I don’t know how many of you do this, but it is sometimes helpful to follow the admissions department for all of the schools your kid is considering. You get updates on when important dates are, helpful tips, alert you to when their supplements are officially announce, post stories of successful applicants etc. I generally follow the admissions, sports, general info, engineering dept. from each school, and it gives you a good idea on whats going at campus throughout the year and what kind of interesting projects are happening on campus.
I also bookmark the school Newspaper and peruse them when I have some time. Great way to learn more about the school and students.
@3SailAway, It sounds like Vassar could be a good choice for your D with their open curriculum! 
Do they have her sport? Yes, I wish Grinnell wasn’t so far.
Good thought @RightCoaster! I had been thinking that most of the supplements for S’s schools would stay the same as what has been on their websites, and I have confirmed that for some (of course he hasn’t really gotten that far with writing). However, we just got an e-mail yesterday from U. Richmond yesterday with their new questions for this year so that was helpful.
@RightCoaster what do you mean follow? Like on Facebook or Instagram?
I follow a lot of facebook and twitter accounts that are official school sources. It has been helpful though the years I follow my older son’s school right now to get the latest news, some school clubs he is part of, their sports teams, etc.
I started following some of son19’s colleges of interest last year and I’ve learned some good nuggets of info.
I’m not really a facebook guy, but I use it for news on places I visit, local news, sports teams, some hobbies interests etc.
I mostly just use twitter and it’s a daily mess of news of all of the info accounts I’ve subscribed to. I never comment on anything, it’s pure reading only.
I follow all of the schools that my DS19 is interested in @RightCoaster . I did for DS16 and the social media liason mentioned to my son that she noticed that I liked and followed the Honors College posts when he interviewed for the Honors College in 2016.
I agree that following all the schools on Facebook is informative – both the school itself and the Office of Admissions. You get some heads-up here and there but also get a sense of how they present themselves and what’s important there. Worthwhile. Of course now my Facebook feed is a looooot of college pages, but I’d rather that than some of the alternative content I could be rolling my eyes over, so it works. It’s also led to my getting a ton of ads for college counseling, test prep, etc…not exactly an asset but I do click on the occasional ad.
S19 isn’t into social media. He has FB and instagram accounts but never looks at them. I told him that he should probably follow his schools as another way to show interest but I don’t think he’s gotten around to it. He was working on a supplement last weekend and used his laptop to see the school’s instagram account and get a better idea of the activities there. It was helpful. But he won’t put the Instagram or FB apps on his phone.
Thank you for your suggestions, @RightCoaster . Yes, WPI is on the list. I have researched UVM but D is not very sure. Looks like a good school to me. I guess we need to come up with at least 10 colleges to apply; UVM needs to be there. She has near perfect test score with single attempt. I hope it will help a bit with the application.
We went through the common app the other day. The extracurricular section is going to be a challenge for us. D19 has a long list and the space on CA is very limited. She is in a funny situation- she has awards in some activities but no leadership in them. She could not continue with some activities this year. We need a long vacation once the application season is over 
@carolinamom2boys , would you describe Clemson as urban/suburban? Our GC suggested it during our conversation. She mentioned the excellent engineering program there.
@collegeandi there are a lot of schools that will meet your daughters criteria. My son has gone thru a similar search.
Are you seeking the most merit aid, some merit aid, or just “best” highly regarded program she can get into? Or a combination of all those?
If I had a girl in STEM with good test scores, I would go with the approach of trying to get into all different sorts of schools and see where the money comes in and how she feels about each place then.
@collegeandi Clemson is definitely suburban, some city dwellers may even argue rural. You can get to Greenville in 40 minutes, Charlotte in a little over an HR and a half and Atlanta in 2 hrs. It’s a great location. 3 1/2 hrs to the beach. They do have an excellent engineering program. My friend’s son went to University of SC for engineering. That is an urban setting. Not as well known or respected as Clemson ,but he did have a job when he graduated.
@RightCoaster , we are looking for the “best” highly regarded program in our budget of 35-40k per year. We don’t really want her to go to a school offering her full ride just because it comes as “free”. She has worked hard, she is a good student.
Thank you, @carolinamom2boys! That helps a lot. We have lived in many rural, suburban, and urban places during the last 8-9 years. D19 has taken up the urban/suburban liking recently. I will convey her the description. IIRC, we have driven by the nearby area 3 years back.
We will definitely visit both, Clemson, and Univeristy of South Carolina for sure. As you mentioned regarding USC, she is slightly concerned about the ranking implications on the job prospects. I like the milder weather. She might like the idea of yearlong beach access!