Thanks! I feel like this date should be very easy to find if I’m paying $75 for the privilege.
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I am totally biased here but she should look at communication. I’m a communication professor, hence the bias. She would receive training in messages and could go in a lot of directions. We have students running hospitals (administrators) who focused more on health communication. Health com also does health campaign messages, provider-patient com, information directory etc. There are paths to work in risk and crisis (PR for organizations, businesses, government, etc.). We have students go to law school after studying persuasion. Advertising, sales, politics, the list goes on and on. A lot of people think it is public speaking which is like 1% of what we study. She could take a class and see if it interests her.
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Interesting. I’ll suggest it. She has a lot of AP credits so should have room to dabble. It’s nice to see some concrete things you can do with a communications degree.
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If she goes to a public university there are plenty of things she could major in and then change if she wanted. My D21 went to Miami of Ohio direct admit for nursing. By october of her freshman year she decided to switch to Mechanical Engineering and in April of her Freshman year she switched to Data Analytics and Statistics and will graduate in May. I only mention this so as to not have your daughter sweat what if I don’t like my major stuff. At public universities you can find your major even it it was something she never thought of.
As @MMB21 mentioned for law school its all about grades and LSAT scores for law school admission.
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The AP credits help with the changing majors. My D21 had about 35AP credit going in covering most if not all of her gen ed requirements. So that definitely helps if changing majors needs to occur
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I am seeing that as well, and I think in our case, S25 is a bit anxious/stressed out with realizing that in a few short months he will leave home and dive into the “unknown”.
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Well, it seems S25 has rethought some things. This part is getting so hard! He submitted another EA app last night, so that’s progress.
His list has shuffled around a bit. He removed Vanderbilt and Pitt. To be fair, he confessed that he had not researched Pitt enough and I don’t think he’s feeling terribly motivated to do so now.
He told us he is still currently seriously considering an ED app to one of the schools on his list, and that came as a bit of a surprise to us. St. Olaf is still a top choice, I’d say tied for first, and he will apply EA, but he’s really weighing how he feels about the distance from home. His cousins and other friends who graduated last year were home from school this past weekend, and it was a reminder for him that it might be nice to be able to come home on the weekends from time to time - not an option from St. Olaf. For the most part, his list feels pretty balanced to me. OK, maybe it’s balanced in its randomness here and there (Clemson??), but they are all places he is genuinely interested in pursuing. I would love for him to add one more safety, but I think we won’t be addressing that until after the ED deadlines have passed to be honest.
Current list includes:
UNH
St. Olaf
Clemson
GWU
Fordham
Colgate
UVM
Middlebury
Colby
William & Mary
and the mega RD reach: Yale (no comment on the many supplementals he will need to do for this one…)
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You two may certainly be onto something. I’ve not really considered this aspect of it, but will certainly keep it in mind.
and
I agree with this also and we discussed this aspect quite a bit. I think she should be active and engaged, but with a balance so as to actually enjoy what is going on. I think the next two weeks may be a sprint (the majority of her apps are due on Nov. 1, and honors orchestra and district auditions will be finished) and then her schedule becomes a lot more open. Unfortunately, at the moment there are more trees than forest.
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Yes! I agree completely. I think especially as these kids mark “the last [fill in the blank]” of so many things. Last Homecoming, last athletic competition, last fall play, last concert, etc. I know for my middle child, when those transitions start coming so quickly, he kind of shuts down a bit because it can be so much to process and the things he enjoyed don’t bring him joy anymore because he doesn’t want them to end. I think it’s a coping mechanism for facing the closure of one part of his life, even if he doesn’t see it that way right now.
Even for kids like my S25 who are excited about what the future holds, that anticipation of stepping into the unknown after so many years of relative predictability has to be at least a little unnerving.
What I do know is that I think all of our kids are going to be OK. They’ve got good support networks at home and we’ve all made sure they are well-prepared for what comes next. They are going to be ok, and wherever they land, the world out there is just so lucky to have them.
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A great list of schools!
What is it that he is most interested in? Middlebury is not quite like Clemson, but that does not make them bad choices on a list together.
Would he come home on weekends from GWU or William & Mary or Clemson (I lived in Vermont for several years and for some reason I have in my head that you are from that area)? They are more likely a plane ride (same as St Olaf) for a weekend.
The colleges give schools some time. These are probably automated. I think it’s not uncommon for schools to send it all out on Nov 2nd, for everyone at the same time. If you are past the deadline, I’d send a polite request to the CC to send the information.
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He loved the Middlebury campus and got a great feeling from the place when we visited last February. It is strong in his areas of interest (poli-sci and maybe econ), and I’d say his biggest reservation with it is that it’s “too close” to home, which honestly it isn’t really. You can’t get there from here - to use a Vermont phrase. I think he’s worried I’d randomly show up for lunch or whatever all the time. I love my kids, but not likely. I totally agree about the Clemson thing, and I hate to say it, but I think his interest in it is at least partially driven by the allure of a big football school. I will be so curious how that all sugars off (to use another Vermont phrase).
GWU and William & Mary are still a plane ride away, yes, but it’s one plane ride instead of two! Haha! I think it’s less likely he’d come home on weekends than it would be from say UNH or even Fordham, but in his mind it’s closer to home.
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I think our S25 prefers a school closer to home, but he’s also worried that we’d randomly show up for lunch 
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Omg my D25 started complaining that some of her friends have already heard from some colleges and they must have amazing applications and it must be nice to have heard already. I was like, yes they did something that you didn’t and really set themselves apart…they finished their apps and SUBMITTED them!! 
Also they applied to rolling admissions schools which your counselor recommended but you declined to do. Smh if this child does not submit these EA apps soon it will be the end of me.
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Okay, last night S25 submitted 3 applications. He will do another 8 Thursday when he doesn’t have school (SATs he already took). This whole SAT optional thing is stressful, especially in regards to merit. We sent it to 3 of the 11. He may add another 2-3 applications. It’s pretty easy with the common app and a kid who loves to write. Sadly, he did NOT want to go for the traditional ice cream! I was crushed. He is absolutely exhausted from school and work and homecoming and shooting his films for creative supplements. I think he just wanted to lay down. It is the most stressed I have ever seen him. He can handle it, but it is hard to see as a parent! I hear it all gets easier once they get an acceptance in a school they like with an offer we can afford. Hope that comes sooner, but we may be in for a long ride!
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Same here with filming music supplementals and all the extra essays that come with them. The stress level is also something I have never seen in him.
We are also probably in for the long haul because his favorite school doesn’t notify until late March, I think.
I hoping for a short break from the stress after prescreens and before auditions but I really don’t think that will be much better. Just different stress.
Can’t wait until April when we are all celebrating these kids’ successes!
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Yes, and so many of the music auditions are on location. That is so hard for them. They have to get their hopes up enough to get motivated but not so much they will be crushed. Is it April yet? No! We can’t start wishing ANY time away with these seniors. It is gunna go so fast!!!
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My dad showed up at my college door one night unannounced (we lived 9 hours away). In hindsight I think we both wished he didn’t do that!
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I’m having this flashback. There was a Harvard undergrad who was a super talented bike racer (as in, winning national races). Her parents felt that it was unfeminine for her to have such strong legs and were worried that she wouldn’t get into med school if she spent time bike racing (spoiler alert: they were mistaken.) At some point they heard from a roommate that she was out on a bike ride and decided to end it once and for all. They drove up to Boston from North Carolina unannounced and refused to leave until she gave them her bike. Fortunately for her, they didn’t know much about bikes. She relinquished an old fixed gear that she used for winter training rides and they left without realizing that her racing bike was still safe in team storage. I don’t think she ended up doing much more bike racing after that experience, however.
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We had your ice cream for you…. Coming back from a late evening pediatrician appointment to confirm that my kid does not, in fact, have pneumonia (apparently a particularly virulent strain is going. Through our high school right now, and kid has been coughing and wheezing for a few days).
He didn’t really merit ice cream, but I had a hard day at work, so I decided we could get some even though he needed to be working on homework. And then I made him promise to remember that I took him for McDonald’s soft serve against my better judgement when he is off in college and to call me and say hi…. ( 
at my own crazy self.)
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