OK, both visits planned (WUSTL and Carleton), after some tense negotiations involved–S24 wants to minimize missed school and time away generally, D30 wants to maximize missed school and is fine with time away, and I wanted just to use the available direct flights which in practice put me on D30’s side. But then Mom weighted in and we went with the short schedule that nonetheless involves connections. So look forward to my “amusing” missed-connection anecdotes . . . .
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Missed connection=time to check out airport cocktails… Godspeed!
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Stanford. Wins on weather and I can’t imagine a better school for a student that is interested in tech/start-ups.
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Now that is solid thinking. We’re flying Delta and connecting through DTW both times, and generally I have positive impressions of DTW, but one can always do a little advanced scouting just in case . . . .
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Parent of a Rice humanities major here. No info on perceptions in the Northeast, but I can speak to non-STEM students at Rice. The majority of Rice students are interested in STEM fields, so in practice, humanities and social science majors benefit from very small classes and incredible interaction with faculty. My D22 was contacted by the chair of the department for her major (unsolicited) about a paid work opportunity within the department! She has found the teaching to be excellent across the board, and her biggest problem is that she wants to take more humanities courses than she can fit in her schedule.
Re: reputation, many students go on to graduate programs, and the reputation of Rice as an undergrad school is fantastic. For those wanting to go directly into jobs after undergrad, it’s harder to generalize - depends on the field, the type of job, and the geographic region. My understanding is that there are definitely opportunities in consulting for humanities/social science majors, but that’s not my kid’s path, so I don’t have any specifics.
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Ha! Our complicated journey is also passing through Delta DTW on both sides.
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We are doing a quick trip back to UAH for admitted student day this weekend. It’s bad timing for missing a day of school, but she wants to see it one more time before committing to going.
One more month of school, plus a bunch of days back for IB exams. She is ready to be done, but is doing a great job of finishing up her IAs in various classes. I think two are in this week and one next. Then just the exams are left. Yay! Then end is in sight!
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I’ve been meaning to reply to this thread, because those of us in California whose kiddos applied only to California public colleges (UCs and CSUs) were in a unique category/circle of hell - since the systems do not have early action/early decision and have become a total crapshoot since they went SAT/ACT test-free and volume of applications sky rocketed.
S24 did 2 applications (UC Apply and Cal State Apply) for 12 schools. March is an agonizingly long wait for the “average, excellent California students” waiting for UC decisions.
S24 did receive surprise early admittance to SDSU before the Christmas break. If that hadn’t come through, S24 would’ve applied to 3rd application for his true safety (100% acceptance rates) California Community College (CCC), see Backdoor way into UCSB thread. Public Policy Institute of California explains: “In particular, it specifies that UC maintain at least a 60:40 ratio of junior and senior students to freshman and sophomore students to ensure adequate upper‐division spaces for CCC transfers. To do so, UC aims to enroll one new California resident transfer student for every two new California resident freshmen.”
UC & CSU stats below
Major: Physics
CA public HS; Local to Cal Poly SLO
Not 1st Gen / URM / Need-Based
No Supplemental/Augmented Review for UCs
ACADEMIC:
UC - ELC yes
4.00 UC/CSU UWGPA / 4.33 Capped WGPA / 4.46 Fully WGPA for 10th-11th
4.17 Cal Poly SLO Capped WGA for 9th-11th
National Merit Commended Scholar; AP Scholar with Distinction
a-g courses 9th-12th in Years
4 English
5 Math (including Middle School math)
6 Science
3 Foreign Language
3 Social Science/History
1.5 Visual/Performing Arts
2.5 College Prep Elective
—
25 years for CSU, but considered only as 48 a-g semester courses for UC, because the 2 DE courses only count as 1 course each for UCs vs. 2 year long courses for CSUs
UC/CSU approved Honors/AP [17 courses] + 2 DE classes = 19 for UC or 21 for CSU
Completed in 10th-11th
5 year long AP Euro (5), US History (5), Calc AB (5), Biology (4), Physics 1 (4)
1 DE - POLS 202 Government w 3.0 credits - A
In Process/Planned in 12th & planning to take AP exams May 2024
3 year long AP in process/planned: Calc BC, Chemistry, English Lang;
1 semester AP Microeconomics
1 DE - ENVS 200 Environmental Science w 3.0 credits
UC NON ACADEMIC FACTORS - limited due to family obligations
Extracurriculars included sports at school and outside and steady work during summer and school year
A reader could glean evidence of teamwork, humility, collaboration, empathy from PIQ and EC/Work descriptions.
Thank you to the College Confidential community @Gumbymom @lkg4answers @tamagotchi @eyemgh & much more! I’ve learned so much from you all.
S24 was prepared to receive at least 2-3 rejections and 2-3 waitlists from the 12 schools, based on data from acceptance % by major/college per threads UCs, Cal Poly MCA circa 2013 + Cal Poly enrollment projections, SDSU, SJSU Impaction Index
0 of 2 Lottery < 15%: UC Berkeley (rejected), UCLA (rejected)
2 of 3 Reach 15%-30%: UC Irvine (waitlisted), UC Santa Barbara (accepted), UC San Diego (accepted)
2 of 2 Target 30%-45%: Cal Poly SLO (local) (accepted*), UC Davis (accepted)
2 of 2 Likely 45%-60%: San Diego State (not local) (accepted*), UC Santa Cruz (accepted)
3 of 3 Safety >60%: UC Riverside (accepted*), UC Merced (accepted**), San Jose State (not local)(accepted)
*Invitation to apply for honors and ** Invitation to apply for honors & Chancellor’s scholarship
Overall, S24 is happy he has good options and visiting UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara and opting into UC Irvine waitlist. Cal Poly SLO is just too close to home. UC San Diego Eleanor Roosevelt College was not a fit.
We’ll be back for S27!
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Could you look at the school and see their job placement? Is UIUC in-state? If it is, I would pick UIUC. If you’re paying similar pricing, I would pick UPenn. I just don’t think Rice has high equity (it’s not because of the school, it’s the employer recruiting priorities) with engineering recruiting. I’m a Chemical Engr and I still help my company with recruiting. Grinnell seems more liberal arts from just a quick passing. I’m not sure where you are from but flagship (not far away, so S24 wouldn’t like it) could be a great idea. Honestly, engineering curriculum is so similar across the board. I can almost tell you what he will need to study for chemical engr since it honestly hasn’t changed in 30 years other than last year you kinda pick your specialty. So the key is job placement and internship placement.
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It irritates S22 when I do this for mechanical engineering. I got my degree in 1995 and the classes really are the same. The applications are different, but he is taking what I took back then. I enjoy bugging him 
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You’re flying Delta through DTW to get to MSP??? MSP is one of Delta’s biggest hubs.
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Sometimes the 1 stops are less $$
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You are preaching to the choir!
We are flying direct back, but the last direct flight there left at like 4:30 in the afternoon (side note, I have found this is a common pattern for non-hub to hub services, I assume because much later than that and you are not plausibly making many further same-day connections out of the hub).
Anyway, I was like, OK, works for me. And D30 was like sweet, another half day off school. But S24 didn’t want to have to miss any extra school periods that day! Industrious jerk.
So now we are leaving like 2 hours later, non-direct. Which means we will get there like 4 hours later, and yet we will still have to motor to make the connection.
It is like this kid does not WANT me to have a cocktail that night! Shameful.
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How long is your connection?
In this case, it also cost us like $50 more a ticket!
He better learn a LOT in those last couple periods.
(OK, to be fair, apparently this has something to do with his Senior Project, which gets him out of third-term finals and such, but there is a strict limit on missed classes or they will rescind the project approval, and I gather he will be bumping up against that limit already. Whatevs.)
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Looks like more Fafsa delays and issues coming…
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/01/politics/fafsa-problem-financial-aid-award/index.html
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74 minutes. We should be arriving at a B gate, going out an A gate. Absent delays it should be doable, but I am getting too old for having to jog through airports.
Incidentally, for St Louis (similar problem, we are using Delta even though another airline flew direct due to the better flight windows), it is 61 minutes going out. Again, should be doable, if absolutely nothing goes wrong . . . .
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Anything over an hour is usually fine, especially if you sit closer to the front (which I assume you paid extra for - or have status and picked the seats closest to the front).
Of course leaving later in the day/evening usually results in compounding delays from earlier flights.
The biggest issues are mechanical, lightning, or a crew change.
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That one (although just on the flight legs going into the connections–these are short flights so otherwise I feel no need).
I have a S24 enrolling in WUSTL this fall. It was his top choice and he is beyond excited.
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