@VickiSoCal What a great bonding trip among sisters! These are the types of family experiences they will never forget.
Weāre visiting D17 at Temple for spring break. D20 has already toured Temple and Drexel since weāre in Philly visiting from time to time. D17 would love D20 to be nearby, as they are best buds!
Spring break for us was last week. Took D20 to UCLA and USC for tours (we had planned originally for February, but didnāt make it),
UCLA has such a beautiful campus and my daughter said she could really see herself fitting in there. We all liked our friendly, upbeat tour guide and found some students willing to give us their insight into UCLA. What I didnāt expect was that UCLA is so hilly and has so many stairs; the shoes I wore were totally unsuitable for it and I paid for it with blisters later. Overall, we found the vibe at UCLA to be positive and friendly.
Later that afternoon, we toured USC and thought that was a beautiful campus, as well. Our tour guide was also very friendly; there was a tour guide in training along with us, too. The atmosphere at USC felt much more competitive to my daughter. We enjoyed exploring the shops the new USC University Villageā¦we particularly liked the Trader Joes and Target (a smaller version of regular Targets). There are also lots of restaurants and cafes. The dorms at the Village are above the shops, so it must be super convenient just to run downstairs and get anything you need.
Overall, my daughter liked both schools and said she would probably eventually apply to both. I liked that the tours gave her a glimpse of what might be possible if she continues to work hard in high school.
Iāve been reading along but havenāt posted in a while. Our spring break is the week of April 9 and I will be taking D20 and her BFF on a trip from NorCal south and visiting 5 colleges: Cal Poly SLO, UC Santa Barbara, Occidental, UCLA, and Chapman. She really does not know what she wants to study or what size school sheād like, so weāre just visiting a variety for now to give her some ideas. She thinks she doesnāt want small so Occidental may not suit her but I liked it when I visited with D20 so Iād like to let her have a look. We will finish off the week with 2 days at Disneyland, at her request. Her BFF hasnāt been there since she was 3 so my D thought it would be fun to take her!
Did two tours this week. DD seems to be closing in on size and setting of school. Definitely larger than 1200 and more suburban than rural. Also, smaller than 30,000 and not totally urban. A defined campus is a must. Still holding on to her mild weather criteria: no snow and no 90 degree days during the school year. We have identified one reach to serve as motivation for test preparation but it remains to be seen what matches and likelies will join it on āthe listā. She has her summer very full so will not likely see much more until fall break.
Our DDs must have been born under the same moon. Where we live, we can get a little of both, so Iām not sure where this magical land of unicorns and mild weather exists.
@Cheeringsection Iām not sure if you are looking at California colleges, but off the top of my head, Sonoma State fits the mild weather, suburban, mid-size, and defined campus requirements. They have built lots of new housing in recent years, a new student center, and a gorgeous music hall, Weill Hall, that was built to be very similar Tanglewood in Massachussetts. Lots of great concerts on the lawn there.
Thank you @vineyardview but CA is unlikely due to sheer distance. NC SC GA VA are where she is looking currently. That weather criteria may be what has to go.
@Cheeringsection Is DD looking at selective schools and is cost important? The reason I ask is SSU is not super selective (75% acceptance rate) with middle GPA is 3.23 / ACT 19-24. COA for OOS is around 40K/year.
BTW - for everyone, if you havenāt visited collegedata.com, I highly recommend it as they do a great job of summarizing all the college data set information in a user friendly manner. Check it out!
@catransplant, we too are going south from NorCal, same week. Visiting UCI, UCLA, and USC. Will be spending a day in Disneyland as well (for the sake of the younger kiddo). D loves USC (we passed by befor, but without the tour), but it wonāt be an option without a scholarship, so hoping this trip would stimulate her to study harder for PSAT for the NMF chance. I really hope UCI visit goes nice - D needs a safety she likes, and so far found none.
Maybe weāll run into each other on the UCLA tour without even knowing it 
@typiCAmom thatās so funny!
@socaldad2002 what does SSU stand for?
SSU is short for Sonoma State University referenced earlier by vineyardview.
We toured UPenn and Swarthmore over spring break, UPenn unfortunately was on spring break, so didnāt really get to see lots of undergraduates University is right in the middle of the city (walking distance to Amtrak station) but has its own campus/quad, which is really a plus. The info session was so-so, AO was very nice but spent more time on school visions and other platitudes than real content.
It takes about 20ā for the commuter train from Philly to reach Swarthmore (quite convienient and no car is needed). Even though Swarthmoreās size (400+ acres) is actually larger than UPenn (300+ acres), the actual academic area of S feels a lot more compact than Penn. and we could feel the āsmallnessā of the school when walking with the student tour-guide to the library/science-art/dining hall.
Take home:
UPenn: urban school with āwalledā campus, very different from next door Drexel which does not have a ācampusā per se. Philly is a fun city and the part Penn is at seems rather pedastrian-friendly and seemly safe.
Swarthmore: definitely cares about ādemonstrated interestsā, admin office is checking off names carefully. Very beautiful campus, very small, not sure it is a good fit.
Hi! I donāt know if Iāll stay here or not, but thought Iād jump in and let you know Iām reading 
I have an S20, D22, S26, an S29. So, S20 is my first. Last year I would have told you we were looking at highly competitive schools. ODS is very very smart. He was pondering swimming in college. He was doing very well. And then it all went wrong. We are picking up the pieces after he tried committing suicide in the fall. We are changing our expectations and working towards a new path. His GPA suffered, but itās still nearly a 3.5 unweighted. He is making plans for the future, signed up for driverās ed, and will take his first AP exam this spring. Iām so grateful he is still here and that we have these opportunities. Anyway, so we arenāt looking at Ivyās or really even highly competitive schools (of course we have 3 other kids to put through college so I canāt guarantee we could have afforded it anyway), but heās here and Iām hopeful for his future.
BTW-heās given up swimming (sad face) but will be taking up cross fit, has a job as a lifeguard this summer, plays League of Legends for his school club, and will be picking up a service/volunteer activity since he gave up Boy Scouts. Turns out a life crisis makes one change everything theyāve always done. Iām hopeful that this will help him figure out who he is and where he wants to go.
@redfraggle hugs to you. D20 has had mental health issues this year and we have changed a lot of things, She will also be working has a lifeguard thia summer. She is still swimming but not at a club level, just on the school team for fun and exercise.
Welcome @redfraggle ! I hope things continue to improve for your DS20 and the rest of the family. We celebrate all students here so hopefully you will settle right in.
@redfraggle , welcome to you. It sounds as if youāre making important and valuable changes. I hope the healthy, positive results continue.
@redfraggle You are definitely not alone. My D20 also had some issues creep up this year. She never really wanted to attend an Ivy, so that wasnāt a problem, but it has made us reassess a lot of things and realize that uber competitiveness really isnāt important - or even healthy - for everyone.
Greetings, all! I am a newbie to the board; I canāt believe I didnāt know this board existed, given the fact that I feel like I have joined every message board since now D20 was a baby! I think this is the āageā we live in. In any case, Iām happy to have found it and see all kinds of useful information here, which is wonderful.
D20 is on the autism spectrum (technically, high-functioning autism) and currently attends a very small, private high school. Itās college prep, but it doesnāt have AP/IB classes in the curriculum. Students either āget itā or ādonāt get itā LOL! I find the curriculum is challenging, and certainly, D20, even with her diagnosis and supports, finds it challenging as well. She is currently a 3.6 average student (unweighted) but enjoys her school very much and feels well supported. She is most interested in art and biological sciences, as these are her special interest areas as well.
As a parent of a child on the spectrum, I was curious if there are any other 2020 parents who may have started researching colleges and other resources (scholarships, summer programs, etc.) for ASD support. I just started looking into schools last week (thus, we are behind the 8-ball with regards to college tours), but Iām happy to share any info Iāve found, either via PM or here. Iāll also add that I was once a very competitive āTiger Momā, but having a kid with special needs kind of turns that all on its ear 
and Iām in recovery LOL! Happy to āmeetā you all!