I really like UD - but not sure that I am the best person to ask. My son definitely does not take advantage of all that there is to offer at the school and in Newark itself - just not the type of kid that he is. I definitely get more of a larger college town feeling than city feel. Wilmington is close by, but we haven’t explored that at all. (FYI my D26 is looking to study Speech Path/Comm Disorders!)
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This is freaking AMAZING!!! SO excited for her!
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Oh, yay! Because my D22’s undergrad degree is in linguistics and not comm disorders, we’re learning that it’s complicated when applying to grad programs – she needs about a year’s worth of prereqs and 25 observation hours, but every school has different requirements. So she’s looking at schools that offer 3-year programs that roll the prereqs into the first year, so she only has to apply once. But the backup option if she doesn’t get a spot is to do a separate leveling program, and then apply to 2-year programs after that.
Your kid will be far ahead of the game by having the undergrad background!
We did not do the stars through the Pitt portal. Independently did it through the stars site. Had zero issues and was done in under an hour. Not sure if it made a difference but I know we had to do that for my older child for some reason I couldn’t remember.
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Glad to hear that works better. D26 has to do STARs for 2 schools so we went ahead and worked on that independently. Only a few questions for her school counselor and should be done! Fingers crossed it will be seamless because I know we are a little on the later side for Pitt.
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My (hearing) D26 is also hoping to pursue an ASL/Deaf Studies minor…. Or similar. She attended a K-8 school that was home to a large Total Communication program. All students learned ASL and, for every school program (choral concerts, plays, etc.), all students signed while singing/speaking. (It made for interesting vocabulary acquisition; she could sign all sorts of Halloween related words in Kinder bc of the Halloween assembly.) Unfortunately her high school did not offer ASL as a second language option. But she is hoping to pick it back up in college.
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Thank you so much for hoping over here and replying!!!
I will most certainly take you up on your offer to reach out for more information in the near future.
I can find so much on RIT as a whole- but not as much on some of the nuances of being a NTID ‘crossed-registered’ student. NTID puts out a lot of information- but really looking forward to getting more firsthand information. (Not just the ‘everything is awesome’ marketing type of info)
Right now - RIT is in a three-way tie 
for top choice. One of the other top 3 is Colorado School of Mines. She is obviously leaning towards schools with the nerdy/quirky student vibe 
. (Those are her people)
That student type/vibe drew her attention to RIT- the ArtEx and other similar programs really solidified RIT on her list. It is funny- but we did not even know about the NTID aspect until more recently. Maybe it a sign 
that this is the best school for her.
We really need to work a visit in- that right now is the biggest obstacle. Hoping to get that done before the end of year!
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Love this! My son’s high school offered ASL, but I think you could only use it for the language requirement if there was a reason stated in the IEP that learning Spanish/French/whatever was unduly hard.
Which was actually the case for my S25 (his developmental dyspraxia extends to speech, and he’s been in speech therapy for most of his life) – BUT his fine motor skills issues meant ASL was actually harder for him, lol. We ended up putting him in two years of Latin, which kind of worked because he didn’t have to speak it much! (Plus his sisters are both hardcore Latin nerds and loved to drill him, haha.)
Did anyone use the old Signing Time DVDs with their kids? We had the original ones, and we watched them umpteen times. All three of my kids were late talkers – for different reasons, as we later learned – but they all learned to sign a handful of useful things pretty early on. And the songs still live in my head. 
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I know Selingo’s book was mentioned here before. I read his article from the New York Times from yesterday (will attempt to include a gift article link) and it had me thinking a bit. One point he was making is that in a survey only 16% of parents say prestige matters to them, but 61% believed it mattered to other parents in their community. Setting aside the ambiguity in the statement, I was reflecting on how one of the things I love about this parents of 26 thread is how much it is not focused on prestige. That folks offer up tips, suggestions, support, etc. for schools needs and questions across the spectrum. And, there are not pretenses like every kid is the highest stat, highest achieving student that ever was. We have some of those kids amongst us, but it is a small slice it seems. I do wonder how much the anonymity facilitates this candor and wonderful realism.
D26 has been reporting on how unbelievably stressed a lot of friends are at her intense private high school this fall. Parents have reported the same to us. I think it is in large part because they feel pressure or expectations to get into at least one of the highly rejective brand name schools with sub-15% (or sub 10%!) admissions rates that are always talked about. D26 is is clearly on the low end of the stress continuum in her grade right now. I think that is in large part because she has a very likely admit school that she loves on her list. One that very few kids from her school even think about, much less consider applying to. It is also likely because she opted out of testing for college so doesn’t have the pressure to get a score this fall that some of them have right now. And, I know all of her friends. They are fantastic and amazingly talented kids who could do well in life from a wide range of colleges. I wish they didn’t feel such narrow expectations and that it is a referendum on all they’ve done or who they are.
Lastly, his piece also got me reflecting on one of the unintentionally more harmful things I often hear from college admissions officers and college consultants on podcasts and elsewhere. They often say, without more context “take the most rigorous courses available to you at your high school.” At schools like my daughter’s and at many competitive public schools, that framing makes some kids feel like they need to take on absurdly difficult schedules to stand out. Every year the counselors at her schools are talking kids down from impossible workloads (the regular workload is already super intense). Kids are grinding the summer after freshman or sophomore year to take an extra math or language class so they can attempt to skip up a level for the following year to get closer to the highest levels the school offers. And at other schools with no AP limits, kids are taking absurd numbers of APs because those are “available” to them. College admissions officers often decry kids stressing too much, and pay lip service to the importance of student mental health. But they, particularly at the selective schools, are often reckless in how they describe what they expect in ways that ramp up the anxieties and craziness of kids and families in order to get into those places.
Ok, that was longer than I intended. Thanks for indulging my morning ponder. I’ve attempted to gift link the article below.
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Thanks for sharing the article.
The author said, “We aren’t going to be able to change the rules of the admissions game — the elite colleges are the ones setting them. So we’ve got to stop playing.”
But considering great enthusiasm after the release of US News ranking from this forum itself, it may just be wishful thinking.
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I will note, I haven’t seen mention of the new rankings at all on this Parents of 26 thread, so there is that.
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Yeah, this is a sub forum/thread. But there are threads under College Headline, and the discussion seems to be warm.
I know that. I have commented there. My point and focus this morning is on what this thread has been about and contributed and means to me. In my experience, this is my community of parents who are going through the same thing I am re admissions and are supportive and not focused on rankings. The other threads are full of folks who just like to talk about this stuff. Many of whom have kids who have long since graduated and no longer have skin in the game. Different communities, same forum in my opinion.
Edit: that said, your larger point about maybe it being wishful thinking writ large is likely correct. But, people can, as we have done here, individually and collectively block out the noise and refuse to play the game and instead focus on fit, educational quality, affordability and value (broadly defined).
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Yeah I’m not really interested in whether there is a material difference between #10 and #20 lol. C26’s list clearly prioritizes fit over ranking (current top choice is 2nd lowest in ranking).
The comment about it mattering to others.. strikes home here. Good Bay Area school but not hyper competitive like the South Bay. There is a segment of parents who clearly are very focused on name. One thing I noticed at the parent session recently is that some immigrants (judging by accents) of first to college kids had no idea how competitive the landscape for top colleges was till they saw the presentation
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That was an interesting article. Thanks for sharing it with all of us!
The draw of attending an elite college still remains strong everywhere. Some parents in some circles (i.e, not all parents everywhere) also are very focused on their child(ren) getting into an elite college and that does put additional pressure on students.
1 of D24’s BFFs is a 1st generation American student whose parents are from south Asia. Parents paid for college for the older sibling, but told BFF that she would have to pay for college entirely on her own & they would be providing no financial assistance. BFF is living at home and attending the in-state public university in the metro area. During the application process, BFF’s parents kept pressuring her to apply to Berkeley & Stanford. BFF is very level headed and practical and asked her mom & dad, “UCB is, like, over $60,000/yr. Are you going to pay for that if I get in?” Her parents said, “Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.” So she said, “Then I’m not going to apply just so you can have bragging rights with your friends & relatives back home.”
And the kid is killing it at the college she’s attending.
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I love this kid! I wish I could bring their energy into my everyday interactions.
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Here in northern NJ, I’ve found it’s lots of folks beyond parents, which surprised me. Last year, we had a meeting with my S29s’ middle school teacher. My D26 had the same teacher way back when, so they asked about her and what she was thinking about for college. I mentioned Rutgers as the sort of “one to beat” here since it’s so good and cost effective. He was downright surprised and didn’t hide that surprise. “Oh, I thought she’d want something more.” It’s just such a thing here to hate on the local instate options.
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So rude and misguided. As someone who spent several years in the Philly area, it is interesting that Rutgers is hated on in North Jersey, when one state over Penn State is treated like the holy grail by tons of people.
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This 1,000,000,002%!!! I have been thinking about this quite a bit lately. Why should D26 take a higher level math class that would bring her to tears daily and tank her GPA just to show “rigor”? She made a very calculated (no pun intended) choice with her senior schedule to focus on electives that will better prepare her for her major and career. The other thing is that these classes are not “easy” A’s. Some of the electives have college-level expectations; you will not get a good grade in Digital Media and Design if you don’t focus and work hard. Media Production is a very hands on class with a ton of outside work. She will definitely be taking advantage of the “additional information” section to give the reasons for her course selection.
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Welcome! I’m also curious about UDel and surrounding area. D26 is applying, but hasn’t visited. We will wait to see if accepted and then what cost would be to then decide whether to visit. Glad to hear your son is doing great there!