We had an actual productive talk with S20 tonight! He has asked for recs (I didn’t know that) and has a list! He is planning to do his essays this summer as much as he can. I feel like a weight has been lifted since he’s told me NONE of these things until tonight.
More on our Philly trip…
After leaving Penn on Monday, we drove an hour and a half north, to Lafayette College. Drove around the small campus. For some reason, DH and D20 refuse to get out and walk around. But we didn’t see any sort of strip near campus. One of D’s criteria is to have a town within walking distance. Just some shops and restaurants, doesn’t have to be big. But we didn’t see that at Lafayette.
On Tuesday, we visited Lehigh…in the pouring rain. Their info session was also pretty boring. One AO talking for an hour. He spoke too quickly and repeated himself. Here, we ran in to D20’s middle school science teacher, who was touring with her own son. They did the tour even in the torrential downpours. The library was incredibly beautiful. It reminded me of the mansions in Newport, RI. The campus is set on a hill, which makes for some nice views. The view from the main dining hall was stunning. There is a town strip a couple of blocks from campus, that seemed to have some good shops and restaurants. The info session was not memorable, but the campus tour was, even in the rain. The only downside is that it’s harder to get to. It’s at least an hour north of Philly and with traffic could be much longer. But we liked it. It will stay on the list for now.
Overall, it was a good trip. We loved Philly. We liked all the schools we toured, and D found her dream school in UPenn.
@momzilla2D I’m sorry you missed Easton. Right down the hill from Lafayette is Easton, PA. When we toured Lafayette, they told us there was a shuttle that kids could take there, but most of the kids I know that went, just walked. Its a small downtown district with a bunch of restaurants, bars and a few stores. There are lots of festivals there (garlic, bacon, heritage day, etc).
@MuggleMom Oh darn, we missed it. I’ll blame google maps. Google maps sent us on the craziest routes the entire trip. For Lafayette, it took us on 22, where there was a fair amount of traffic due to construction. We barely got off the highway and were right on campus. After driving around campus, DH decided to just drive around the streets adjacent to campus (apparently the wrong direction). We saw maybe one pizza place, and then google sent us on a long circuitous route, and eventually over to I-78, which was a much better highway to get back to Allentown, where we stayed overnight. But we never saw the downtown area of Easton.
Recently did a walking self-tour of UC Santa Cruz. It’s a college in the middle of a forest. There were trees 100+ feet. tall. Don’t be misled by the high acceptance rate.
Engineering is much harder to gain an acceptance. UCSC is a good back-up to those hoping for Cal and UCLA. Scheduled for a UC San Diego trip soon. Will see if the stories about the concrete jungle of UCSD are true.
@myrna97 - S20 is trying to get into CSE and I think it’s probably only a 50/50 shot for him. I really don’t think he’d like living in the cities anyhow, so it might be a blessing in disguise if he gets denied. We’re going to visit next month so he gets a feel for the campus, but I’m guessing he’s going to get there and be overwhelmed by the size and people (although maybe not so many people in the Summer). Who knows, maybe he’ll surprise me and will love it.
@onthewestfence did you get the invite to the UCSD summer showcase?
My D17 hated that campus more than any other we saw I think.
D20 thinks any SoCal UC/Cal State will be too much like high school.
@VickiSoCal Yes, he did. Looking at selected UCs as matches in case the flagships are unavailable. Prefer to stay near the coast if possible. Likely schools in the running include a couple of FL honors colleges due to the Benacquisto Scholarships. Sending you PM.
Last summer, D20 took a summer course at UCSD and didn’t really like the college culture or the campus even though La Jolla/San Diego is beautiful. Unless your kid is a STEM major, I would pass on this UC campus.
My kid is a STEM major but the UC’s don’t grab her.
Some people don’t like the UCSD campus but my D17 does - but then she likes modern architecture and doesn’t like “traditional”-looking college campuses. She’ll be transferring to UCSD this fall as a junior and it was her first choice. She’ll be majoring in Cognitive Science and they happen to have the oldest department in Cog. Sci in the world and it’s very big and broad, offering both a B.A. and a B.S. and with 5 specializations possible with a B.S. I don’t know if people consider Cog Sci to be a STEM subject - it means different things at different schools as it is an interdisciplinary field but it typically combines aspects of psychology, linguistics, computer science, neuroscience and philosophy to try to study what is the nature of cognition. At UCSD it requires students getting a B.S. to take Calc 1, 2, 3 and Linear Algebra. Anyway, just wanted to mention that if that’s an interest for anyone’s child; especially if you are in-state for CA or looking at UCs, UCSD is a school that should definitely be on your radar.
My oldest is a cog sci major (neuroscience emphasis) at UC Davis and I agree that it is a great major for a variety of fields.
Neither of my kids cared for UCSC. Then again, neither like Berkeley (my alma mater) either. One liked San Diego, the other didn’t.
@VickiSoCal I don’t understand the comment about any UC/CSU feeling like HS. The schools are so diverse and each has their own personality. Is she saying that because they are large schools?
No summer school here so it is nice to not have to think about any additional grades for UCs or CSUs.
He posted quite a bit about AP Seminar and AP Research if anyone is interested in those tests.
@lkg4answers
Is AP Statistics out?
@brown2024 I haven’t seen stats yet. I will keep my eyes open for it.
@lkg4answers I am interested in AP research. Thanks for posting about APUSH.
@VickiSoCal and others in CA- Do the UCs still cap applicants GPA at 4.2? I used the Roger’s Hub calculator and it didn’t cap my son’s GPA. Also do you happen to know if UCB is the only UC that considers Freshman grades? Many thanks in advance!