I’ll stand over here in the corner and secretly root for the Pack to find its way to the top!
But, your reasoning for VaTech makes a lot of sense. Wishing him lots of wisdom in his decisioning process - from what you have shared with us the past few months, he will likely have many options.
Totally feel your pain. Ours came home last week and was like, “all of my friends applied to schools that had their backup major in case they change their mind between now and May…” So now they are looking at (re)adding an engineering safety. I was like, well if you think you may want engineering (they swear they don’t–just want to be safe)–then add a target and a reach as well. We will see what happens!
I have one that has gone back and forth on engineering too - so list is a mix of schools that have it, and some that don’t 
Trying to make sure has a good mix of both is tricky!
ETA: It turns out she had inputted her SSN incorrectly. All’s well!
Has anyone tried the Direct Admission option at Appily/Match? I had heard about it on a podcast and D25 put her stats in…and one of the schools she was planning to apply to came up with an offer! Hurray for an academic admit; it takes one supplemental off and she now “just” needs to audition. BUT, the “Get My Offer” button doesn’t work. She’s tried three different browsers with the same response. Thoughts? Words of wisdom? I helped her with an email to Match/Appily’s help desk and was assured “will respond within 1 business day”. Or not, hence my reaching out to the ethernet. Thanks!
ps–1st college on Common App in as of yesterday. Yippee! Her words: “Mom, it feels like it’s all coming together.” The next two weeks are going to be a little nuts with filming and supplementals, but I agree. (However, I would appreciate all prayers/well wishes/good thoughts as she managed to pinch a nerve in her back and now has lovely pain in her leg. It’s improving, but she doesn’t have a lot of extra time to heal and do these pre-screens.)
Hope she feels better quickly! We are also in the thick of pre-screens. Can’t wait for Dec 1st when all of them will be turned in and we can relax for a little bit.
C25’s application list, in rough order (but very specifically says it will change as they learn more about each school):
Union College (NY)
Dickinson, Lafayette, Allegheny, Ursinus
Marist, W&J, Bucknell
Gettysburg, Wooster, Wheaton (MA)
Those are the 11 (from the original list of 45 we started from back in December). Only 1 was ruled out entirely on cost without hope of any merit at all (Vassar).
Here’s S25’s schools - my order v. his order
Me:
Va Tech
UNC Chapel Hill
Clemson
Pitt
JMU
Tennessee
UCONN
His:
UNC Chapel Hill
Clemson
Tennessee
VA Tech
Pitt
UCONN
JMU
(and here’s where I wish @fuschiachop and I could switch residency so both our kids could get in state rates and still go to their top choice schools… Sadly, it doesn’t work that way…)
This school list represents three different majors, only one school (Virginia Tech) offers all three, although Tennessee comes close, as it’s got two out of three (and the third can be a sub-concentration within his second choice major, just doesn’t stand on it’s own).
I want him to love VT because to my mind it isn’t appreciably different from Clemson and Tennessee, it’s much cheaper, it gives him all the options, and although it’s not close to us (four hours) it’s still closer than all but one school and it’s got a huge alumni network that might help him get a job that is not too far away. But he just didn’t love it. Sigh.
D25 has applied to many more schools than I have listed but I think these are the most cost effective and best options for her. I will probably be wrong (as I was with her bro S23).
Yeah, that thought has crossed my mind a few times, too …
Keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed for both our kiddos that for them, the OOS numbers will work in their favor.
EDIT: Keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed for ALL the kiddos going through this application process, that they land in a place where they feel wanted and where they want to be.
Oberlin emailed saying that they have a Midwest scholarship that is $25k/year. It makes me kind of wish it was higher on C25’s list.
It’s too bad about Ohio, because I was going to offer up Ohio State and U. of Cincinnati, too. Has he thought about U. of Maryland (another one that’s a must to apply EA if he wants to do it) or Rutgers? And I’m pretty sure he nixed it before, but I’ll just mentioned Appalachian State again, as it offers urban planning, construction management, and geography (the 3 majors, right?) as well as mountainous surroundings and a sticker price of about $37k. Plus, he could be competitive for the full ride Chancellor’s scholarship.
I’d love it if you share any impressions about any of the campuses on your D’s application list if you end up visiting them, as they don’t get a lot of airtime on CC.
By the way, did your D consider Calvin, Cedarville, and/or Franciscan U. of Steubenville? They all offer nursing and they seem as though they have some similarities to the schools on her current list.
Data analytics and/or data science might be good options to consider, possibly combined with journalism. I could easily see someone with those strengths in a position where they’re writing reports on data (whether for a company, government entity, lobbyist, etc) and/or writing articles for the general public to help make the data clear and relevant for them.
Yes! That is exactly what I think would be a good fit for her. Thank you!!
Note that as hard as it is to get accepted into engineering school as a high school senior applicant, it is generally far more difficult to transfer into a college of engineering once at a university (much easier to transfer out of engineering).
However, if the commitment is low and the heart really isn’t in it, it will be a big challenge to complete the degree.
not that one, but kid has gotten into a bunch of their likely schools on Niche- it is pretty simple!
definitely all true!
Kid is applying to engineering when engineering is offered for just that reason (easier to drop than to add)… BUT some of their top choices don’t have engineering at all --though have strong programs in another area interest that aren’t always strong at engineering schools he liked). We are trying to make sure have a good selection of both come spring! I feel like after 8 months of real physics and calculus one of the paths may be clear by May 1…
One trick is there are ALSO a couple of ECs they want to continue, too, that aren’t all that common - so overlaying all that is a puzzle!
FWIW, I just hired a data analytics contractor and am paying them an obscene amount of money. For people who are good at this, they can definitely make a good living.
I was pushing App State pretty hard - it would be a great safety for him as it has everything he’s interested in, has the big sports, it’s in the part of the country he most loves, and even without the scholarship it would be affordable. At the end of the day it came down to him just being a snob, frankly, which doesn’t make me very happy. He said “I would never want to tell anyone where I go to school”. That’s not the way I want my kids to think, and we had a talk about great students going everywhere. But still. His answer to me was “a great student might go there because they can’t afford something else, or it has something unique or special to them that no one else has. Neither of those is true for me.” Sigh. We live in a super prestige-focused area, and up until that moment I’ve been really proud of him for not getting sucked into the crazy of only applying to tippety top schools business. But that, was disappointing. At the same time, though, the same way I’m not going to make him go to VT if he really doesn’t want to, I’m not going to make him go to AppState just because it checks the boxes. College is important for a lot of reasons, and the education is a big part of it. But part of it is also finding your groove and growing as a person. And if you aren’t happy and confident and ready to take it all on and to try to enjoy it, you’re going to miss out. So off the list it came. It was on until about 6-8 weeks ago as a safety. He told me that if he didn’t get into Pitt early via rolling admissions he’d send in an application to make sure he had something. He was clearly placating me and confident he’d get in to Pitt, which he then did.
Re: Rutgers, he was really (really) turned off by needing to take the bus around campus. One of the schools we visited (NC State) had a similarly large campus where his program would be on one side and he would need a bus to get to the other - and he really didn’t like it.
Maryland has a proximity problem. We live in VA, but inside the beltway and very close to DC. I could be at College Park in probably 30 minutes (on a good traffic day). He doesn’t want to be that near to us.
Frankly, he’s being kind of like Goldilocks. I think he’s just done with the process and doesn’t want to think about it anymore or add any more options. So I’m trying to let my obsessive over planning (“but what if X or what if Y???”) self go. I do think VA Tech is the right answer for him, but I also know that VT sometimes has very very weird admissions for in-state students. (My older boy got waitlisted, and it sure looked like yield protection.) The program he’s listing at VT as his first choice - building construction - is within the engineering school. It’s a little different in that it’s nested under the subset of the College of Construction. I’m HOPING that those kids aren’t treated the same as the regular engineering majors, but who knows.
Any suggestions on majors that intertwine those skill sets AND lead to employment after college?
For majors, a related one to technical writing might be a bachelor’s in scientific communications. If she is good with statistical data, a bachelor’s in marketing analytics or data analytics may be an option?
Edited to add- see similar suggestion already by @AustenNut
I went to high school with a friend who was big into writing and a super theater kid. She went to a local commuter uni and lived at home. She majored in English and either minored in something technical or just took some classes but was still doing theater. She has been involved with engineering/electronic industry since graduating. She does the industry podcast and speaks at the trade shows. She started out doing more of the translating tech jargon to layperson speak. Turns out she talks good, writes good and there was a hole in the field looking for someone. Lots of people don’t know exactly where they will end up after college, her job didn’t even exist when she was in college.
Right there with you. Obsessive over planning is my go to. And it drives my family insane.