My son is an Econ major at Notre Dame, it seems most students double major and I believe the television/film major is also in the LSA school.
D25 was notified this afternoon that she has been accepted into a 6-week summer research program on the UC Davis campus. Right now she thinks she wants to go into bio research or bio medical engineering so this is a really great opportunity to get some experience and feel out what that really looks like. It does mean less time to travel and visit other campuses this summer, but we’re all pretty excited about the opportunity.
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Congratulations!
Davis is pretty darn hot over the summer. Dorms are air conditioned, but biking across campus in that heat can be tough. 
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Our PNW college tours are done, I just posted a summary in the Colleges that Moved Up thread. TLDR; kiddo is a good but not excellent student and wants a safe urban environment and big university. Basically, Univ of Washington, but she also liked U of Oregon.
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I think we’re done with all of our college tours, unless D25 decides she wants to add in one of the guaranteed full ride schools for NMF. She will be applying to 2 more schools. One school doesn’t participate in the common app so she probably won’t use that at all.
Both college apps open in June but they both recommend not submitting until the kids are back in school in the fall. I’m sure D25 will work on them over the summer to get a jump on it.
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Wow! You all are on the ball! Will you remind us of the schools she’s applying to?
Ugh. 3rd 9 weeks ended with DS out sick the last 3 days and somehow he managed to miss making up a Physics hard grade. He had two zeros for hard grade and ended the quarter with an 87 instead of an A. 3 B’s this quarter. He is going to have to bust his a** this last 9 weeks! And hopefully not get sick! He has missed around 11 days from sickness. It is definitely affecting his grades!
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She already applied and got into Olivet-Nazarene in Bourbonnais, IL. She applied just to get an easy acceptance and the free gift (that still hasn’t come!). Unless something bizarre happens, she won’t go there. She will apply to Hillsdale and Dordt University. Both small LAC’s in the middle of nowhere.
Dordt is a safety that we love. Hillsdale admit is about 20% that is now back to test recommended. She has the stats to get in, but essays and interview weigh heavily into that decision, so you never know. The merit/aid is also an unknown for us with Hillsdale.
The NMF school she is starting to consider is Harding in Arkansas.
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S25 took his SAT at Harding as we couldn’t find it closer to home. I drove around while I was waiting for him to finish up and was impressed with the campus.
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D25 has only toured 2 schools on her list (which I am constantly revising). Waiting for summer tour dates to open to try to get some in.
On her list so far…
LeMoyne
Rider
Stockton
Oklahoma City U
Shenandoah
Lindenwood
Jacksonville U
Mercyhurst
Maryville U (MO)
Stevenson
U of St. Thomas-TX
Wayne State
Dean
Goal is to be under 25k for total COA. Non TE schools potentially on her list (WI based, MSEP may be an option)…
U of Southern Mississippi
U of Missouri-Kansas City
U of Louisiana-Lafayette (I visited with S23)
Western Carolina
Southeast Missouri State (SEMO)
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I live near Stockton. It’s nice. It’s close enough to the beach if she likes that and it’s in a quiet little area (lots of woods).
Stockton is a contender. For some reason D25 is really interested in east coast (but her brother doesn’t think she will fit in there). Her only question so far was it seemed far to any shopping or whatever.
It’s not at all. Philly is an hour at most? (I live a half hour ish away from Stockton for reference) Atlantic City is right there along with Ocean City. The Marlton Promenade has some nice spots as well. On a weekend she could drive to the cherry hill mall (rich, bougie area) but that’s towards my direction. Not sure abt the Toms River/ocean city area upwards.
What concerns does she have abt the east coast? South Jersey is rlly different from the New Jersey stereotype of the hustle and bustle. She’s closer to shore culture if she attends if anything.
People are extremely laid back around that part.
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S23 attends Syracuse and he has given her negative input about “New England rich” girls. We are from the IL/WI border in a small suburb and very middle class. D25 has zero patience for anyone trying to be fake, does not wear makeup, doesnt own designer anything, and drives an old Ford Focus with part of the front bumper missing. I think her brother has scared her off a bit but she still wants to try school somewhere outside the upper midwest if possible. She is Latina and diversity matters to her.
Syracuse and South Jersey, specifically where Stockton is are largely different vibes. I don’t know how to describe people here but we’re certainly not New England rich lol. It’s just middle class people working at their family owned business, a farm, or a blue collar job
You would see a lot more of that in New York than here in South Jersey unless you went to Cherry Hill or Ocean City or something. People just do their own thing in terms of locals. Theres also a diverse mix of people in terms of race and walks of life in general. Theres a couple people I know personally that owns farmland around the surrounding area as well so its not like urban cities if that was what you were imagining.
You’ll alwyas find fake people but that’s not the area that Mays Landing/Galloway Township is really (source: went to elementary-middle school in Galloway area)
I think your daughter would be a perfect fit for the area. Of course, if you’re able to visit do that then. Not sure what your daughter is trying to do but I know Stockton is considered a teacher school (people who want to become teachers) and has a strong marine biology program which is what one of my friends is going for. So again, you’re not going to find many unstuck people. I’m not sure if you have any more questions or if I didn’t answer this the way you wanted me to. Stockton’s a great school and had a beautiful campus. I would attend if it weren’t so close to home 
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Excited about a series of road trips this week that will let our 2025 twins check out several campuses that they wouldn’t normally get to see during the school year.
If we end up doing everything we’ve planned, this week will see us going on official tours at three schools, “campus walkabouts” at four more schools, “coffee with alums from their high school” at two of the schools, sitting in on a class, touring the Cathedral of Learning, visiting at least two science museums and maybe two different aviaries, and seeing the eclipse from an area of totality. It should be a fun, if bananas, week.
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Feel free to reach out to me if you want to bounce any ideas. I went to Clemson and am an urban planner, I have a son that is an urban planner in Florida after attending a Florida university, and I have another son majoring in geology at Texas A&M.
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Anyone have thoughts on Lehigh/ Bucknell/ Lafayette? My son has very wide-ranging interests in business, health sciences and engineering. I know, he needs to narrow it down! We are going to be in the area this summer and I was thinking of running over for a visit with him.
Bucknell is very rural! My D really liked both Lehigh and Lafayette, nice towns with easy access to Philadelphia and NYC for travel.
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For those of you doing visits right now, how much time are you spending on campus? Are you doing things beyond info sessions/tours? I’m starting to have heart palpitations about the four day whirlwind “Mom, I can’t miss more than one rehearsal weekend” trip to see if D25 can handle schools smaller than her ideal (because: ballet) or if they’ll get scratched and send me back to the drawing board. Right now we have plans to meet with dance students after three of the tours. The schedule is really, really tight, and I’m looking for any experimental IV caffeine drips that might be available. I’d appreciate any prayers or good vibes for very punctual flights 4/17-20!
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