Thank you so much for the support and advice!! D26 is trying to motivate herself- she’s starting to make headway on her summer work and is putting together a schedule for college prep stuff. Her school does college prep in their junior year, which has its pros and cons; she’s kind of on her own with getting started on the Common App. Luckily she has a great relationship with her guidance counselor so once she’s back in school, she will have some assistance.
So we travelled to Pittsburgh and West Virginia this weekend. I am very glad that we looked at the schools first because her opinion of them completely flipped. First- Point Park. She didn’t think she wanted an urban campus and at first, she was not enthusiastic, especially after seeing the dorm showroom. But after seeing the theater, film, and media spaces and with very positive meetings with admissions and the conservatory- it has rocketed to the top of her list. She now wants to try for the Film BFA program because you can earn your MBA concurrently (although she knows she may only get into the BA program first and then move into BFA later- they said you can definitely do that). She also liked the admission requirements- they are test blind and do not require an essay at all- it takes some of the pressure off for sure! And she fell in love with Pittsburgh (YAY!!!).
Next came West Virginia. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. We were bussed to the campus from the admissions welcome center, which was a little weird. It turned out the entire tour was on a bus (with spurts of walking in between) because it is so spread out. She realized quickly that such a big school is not really for her. Plus there is not really a program for her, unless she switches to a theatre major. Finally, she wasn’t a fan of the surrounding area. I doubt she will even apply.
The best news though is that she is reinvigorated. While she’s still not thrilled for her senior year, she is looking forward to the classes that will help her get her portfolio ready for the BFA application. All in all, a very successful weekend! The next school she wants to see is Quinnipiac- their film program and facilities look great and the campus is more what she thinks she would like. Plus it is a metro-north train ride from NYC, which she absolutely adores.
Well if it makes anyone feel any less worried they are “behind”, D26 just logged into her Common App portal and not a single school has downloaded her application. She feels like it has been a little anticlimactic now that she knows not a single school has her application yet.
D26 had her first day of school today. She meets with her counselors this week. and they’ll make sure Common App account is good to go. 8 schools. 5 reaches, one high target and 2 safeties. but the UC application is its own beast - S24 did not apply to UC schools. Her IB extended essay draft is also due this month. Just a lot of papers. Have to admit it was nice to just focus on the fun senior stuff for a few days.
I’m putting this in the “Things we’re glad to be learning at the begining of August before applications have been sent.” column. D26 came back from a summer math program. She’s always loved STEM and has been (and still is!) toying with being a physics/astronomy major. But today she announced, “Well, maybe I’m more interested in public policy.” Wait, what?!
A lot of her ECs have been in that middle ground of STEM and advocacy/policy, so it’s not a complete pivot, but turns out that after her summer math program she thinks, “Well, maybe I’m just better at humanities and social sciences.” So after a little chat about finding that Venn diagram of things you’re good at, things you enjoy, and things that’ll pay you, she wants to toy around with the idea of science in society or science policy. So, the list isn’t completely destroyed, but turns out that our summer vacation trip next week may just include one more college visit to test her thinking a bit!
To be fair, one thing we’ve talked a lot about is optionality, so her list is full of colleges that do multiple things well. This was my pushing for certain colleges to stay on her list (yes, I am patting myself on the back, thankyouverymuch!) But it was still interesting to hear her finally say that she might/maybe/could be interested in something else!
Anyway, back to ask her when that next version of her Common App essay is going to come along…
This is exactly why I was loathe for C26 to have any of the art-focused schools that offer architecture on their list - and like you, doubly glad now that they have decided they might be interested in engineering as well. I always thought that if they pivoted it would be something in STEM.
It sounds like your D learnt good things about herself from the summer program!
Right at the beginning of the architecture program, they said - you will get value out of this, even if what you learn is that you don’t want to do architecture!
This is similar for my D26. In about a week or so- things get crazy busy from yearly outside of school programs that she is involved in. That really is the only reason that she is chugging along to get things done ‘early’.
It is impressive that she was able to get applications actually submitted! Great job on her part. My daughter is about done with her essays and the common app. Probably still 2-3 weeks out before actual submission- mainly because she needs clarification on a few things and she has a counselor meeting mid-Aug. Could ask earlier- but no real need to rush. At this point, all the time consuming/ need to ‘deep think’ parts are finished .
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It is so awesome that some of y’all’s students have classes/programs dedicated to getting college stuff done. D26s school does not even have a dedicated college counselor. And she is only scheduled for a 10 min meeting to go over what she needs to with her regular counselor (who has 250 students- 60-70 seniors).
Sorry that your daughter doesn’t have more counselor support. It sounds like she is really on top of things from what you said. Hopefully she gets what she needs from her regular counselor in that meeting. If anything folks here can do to support, I’m sure we’d be willing. You are way ahead of us.
We had a meeting with the essay coach today. He was really good at drawing stuff out of C26 and I think we have a good topic for the main common app essay, yay! Which is still a long way from getting it done but a good first box to check. They did a few drafts for English last year but nothing really inspired them, and I think this does.
Counselor updated everybody’s GPAs on SCOIR today. Looks like D26’s UW & W GPA are a smidge higher than I thought they’d be. That was a nice surprise. D26 said they were going to be “doing stuff in SCOIR tomorrow in class.” I’m going to drive her bananas every day asking what did they do today in the counseling class.
Anyone know how much applying undeclared is a negative? My daughter knows she wants to do STEM but now that we are getting to the actual application -she is unsure about major and career path. She’s interested in applying ED to a school with a VERY robust Explore (Undeclared) program -so I think that path might be okay?
Update on the Counselor switch issue (from a few weeks ago now) – her old counselor was very happy to write her the counselor letter -so no issues!
I haven’t seen EXACTLY how that works in the Common App (my daughter hasn’t gotten to that part yet) -but hopefully it will be seamless.
Same situation here. Fortunately, athletic recruitment has forced her to have to meet with her counselor when she started getting roster spot offers in the spring so she’s on his radar. They’re targeting September 15 for their application date. Hoping she can get her ducks in a row by then.
I don’t know the answer to your question, but will say that my D26 is planning to apply undeclared and I have never gotten the impression that would be perceived negatively at all. Now, she is applying to small liberal arts colleges mainly if not exclusively, so perhaps it is perceived differently at different schools/school types or perhaps I’m wrong about it not being a negative. But the places where she’s mentioned having several interests and being unsure of major, the admissions reps have responded positively indicating it is very common, lots of undeclared, and lots who switch even if they name something at outset.
If the school has a specific Explore program, then yes, it’s totally fine. One of the schools my D26 is applying to has a similar program but only within each division (so you can explore different majors in the Arts college, or in Engineering, etc). Unfortunately the three majors she likes there are in three different divisions.
At other schools, I would read closely their policy on switching majors. At Ga Tech, for instance, a student cannot transfer into CompSci after starting as something else.
D26 said she turned in the TA application late last week at school. Today, they were all given a long survey to fill out in SCOIR with a bunch of different questions to answer. I can tell that some of the survey/questionnaire is for helping the counselors find some additional colleges for students to consider AND so the counselors can get some extra info to include in counselor LOR.
Also, D26 reiterated her geographic restrictions today, which are:
‘nowhere too cold’
‘nowhere in the South’
‘nowhere within a 6-8 hr drive from Grandpa’s house’. (background info: my dad is not a nice person and I’ve purposely kept our distance from him because of his toxicity; AND he has a nasty habit of deciding to just show up to surprise people without any advanced notice and D26 doesn’t want to experience that while away at college)
I am losing my mind, y’all. D26 and I are butting heads because she just will NOT do her summer homework. School starts next week the 14th, and it’s due on the first day. I asked her to go to bed at a reasonable hour last night, then get up and finish the assignment for the first book, at least. (She has finished reading and annotating it, just needs to do the short answer questions which are like a couple paragraphs each.)
She had a band meeting today at 4:30pm and then rehearsal from 6 to 9pm. Well, she got up at 3pm. I was fuming, and then I had somewhere to be, so I left the house at 4. Did she eat? Bring dinner with her? Make it to rehearsal? No idea. For sure she didn’t do her work. And tomorrow she has something at school from 11am to 3pm, and then again rehearsal from 6 to 9pm. When exactly is this stuff going to get done?
And then, we’re moving S25 into his dorm this Saturday. Kinda losing my mind over that, too. Today he said a friend of his advised him to get a good shower head (LOLOL) – but THEN I read a couple parents on the FB page say they switched out shower heads because the old one was gross (and switched it back when their kids moved out).
So, I bought a shower head. It was 20% off. My husband is going to have me committed. I also bought a rug. And a bathrobe. And a Brita pitcher. And some folding shelves.
Oh, and I am marching band mom this year, and one of my tasks is to hang the banners of the seniors on the fence of the football stadium. But the football and cheer moms always push band to the very bottom, off to the side – and apparently my job is to stand up for our kids and make sure they get a decent spot. I am sooo not good with confrontation. I didn’t know this would be part of my duties as band mom, LOL.
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled college planning.
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