<p>As only a Junior in HS, my son seems to be very excited about attending college in two years.</p>
<p>He already has a good idea of the schools that he is planning on applying to. Right now he is interested in majoring in Public Policy, Business, or Sociology [all for a Pre-Law Major].</p>
<p>He is more interested in going out of state [Ohio] then we would like for him to be, but in the end I believe that he will end up outisde of Ohio.</p>
<p>The schools that he is looking at closely right now:
-Syracuse
-George Mason
-St. Louis Univ
-Marquette
-Duke
-UNC CH
-Wake Forest</p>
<p>I have a few questions for those of you who have time. My biggest question is: how do you get kids to move in when they go to school 7 or 8 [even more?] hours away? Do you drive? How would you transport everything needed for college on a plane? Any tips in that sense?</p>
<p>Also, my son has not yet taken the SAT or SAT II but has gotten a 29 on his ACT. We understand how to register for the SAT, but the SAT II’s draws some questions. He would probably take Math I, World History, and English Comp. How do you register for these and when are they taken.</p>
<p>Also, any other colleges that could interest him that are strong in those majors?</p>
<p>It turns out to be quite easy, imo. Everyone has their upper limit re driving. If you drive, you stuff the car to the gills, squeeze yourselves in, get to the dorm room and find out it doesn’t all fit :D, take the excess home. If you fly, many of us have gone with a combo of the Bed, Bath and Beyond pack-and-hold program (lots of threads on that, too); each parent and the kid take their allotted two checked bags plus carry-on and ship any excess ahead of time. The schools all have arrangements for shipping ahead and they will send you all that info the summer before he takes off. For some kids (boys especially), you won’t need all that luggage capacity. For our S, we had a total of 3 large checked bags, and one carry-on each.</p>
<p>You can go to College Board’s website to see the schedule of when the SAT II’s are offered and the deadlines for registering for different dates. You can do it online. The most common recommendation I have seen is to take each SATII as soon after completing the relevant hs course as possible, while the subject matter is fresh in his mind.</p>
<p>Have you already checked which of his schools require/recommend SAT IIs? Not all schools do and I think there are several on his current list which don’t require them.</p>
<p>Without knowing more about his “stats” (GPA, rank if the hs ranks…), it’s hard to recommend other schools yet. The list does seem to include a nice range of selectivity, but it will take a little more info to see if it’s well balanced for him in terms of reach/match/safety. The other important info for recommending other schools to consider is the “soft” information: does he prefer urban/rural, Greek-less Greek atmosphere, a place where he can play a sport/root for a big-name team…? We can infer from the list, but better to hear his preferences. And, if he hasn’t visited yet, the preferences may evolve as he does.</p>
<p>My advice is that before you figure out what colleges might be best for your son, take a very close look at your finances including doing something like using the financial aid calculator on CC’s site (I think there’s a link on the home page).</p>
<p>The U.S. has thousands of colleges, and for that reason, there probably are many colleges where your son could flourish. Consequently, if finances are any kind of an issue, figure out first what you can do financially and then look for colleges that you can afford (and this may be with financial aid and/or merit aid). Make sure that wherever he applies, he has at least one financial safety that he knows he’ll be accepted to, knows that he can afford, and would be delighted to attend.</p>
<p>I also suggest that you think about any other things that may be important to you as you consider what you’re willing to pay for. How far away from home would you be willing to send him? Keep in mind that the farther he goes, the more difficult it will be to get him and his belongings to college and to those summer orientations that now many colleges expect students and their parents to participate in. Things like attending parents’ weekends also may be difficult nor not possible depending on how far away he goes.</p>
<p>You’ll also find plenty of information by using CC’s search function to find answers to some fo the questions that you raised.</p>
<p>I noticed that you posted the below on another board. Just so you know, it’s OK for students to post on the Parents’ Forums. These forums can be good places to get advice from some caring, informed adults who enjoy helping young people. There’s no need to pass oneself off as a parent when posting here.</p>
<p>"I am looking for a perfect University. I have already visited most college sites (College Board, Princeton Review, College Prowl’er, Fiske, College Confidential, etc) and have spent endless hours searching and researching what I think will work. I already have a list together, and I am using that list to see if any of you can confirm some of my selections. If you have the time, I really will value any responses.</p>
<p>My Stats:
Junior in HS
29 ACT - Have not yet taken SAT’s, but will take SAT/SAT II’s for schools that require it.
4.3 GPA Weighted on 4.5 Scale
Quite a few EC’s, Toughest Schedule Possible
Ranked 7/105
"</p>
<p>Actually, I think the OP really is the parent. Only fossils like us would use the outdated term English Comp to refer to what was most recently known as the Writing SAT II. :)</p>
<p>By whatever name that test is known, it is now extinct (because with the new Writing section that was recently added to the SAT, it would be redundant). The term SAT II is also extinct, at least officially. On the College Board site, those tests are referred to as SAT Subject Tests.</p>
<p>Note that the World History Subject Test is NOT given on many of the test dates. If your son wants to take it, he should be really careful about his choice of test dates so that he doesn’t miss out.</p>
<p>Most colleges that require SAT Subject Tests at all require only two, but a few require three, and a few require specific tests (sometimes different ones depending on what program the student is applying to). Make sure to check the Web sites of individual colleges.</p>
<p>UNC-CH is extremely selective for out of state. Some people claim that if you don’t live in NC, it’s actually easier to get into Duke than UNC-CH. I’m not sure whether this is true.</p>