<p>I really love this thread. S will be starting at UMD next year. But also it’s good for me to read about many different schools since my D is starting to think about the college search already. :)</p>
<p>I would encourage some parents to post why their kid didn’t like certain school. Often it’s not a reflection on the school or student, sometimes it’s just not a good fit, but it would be valuable information for perspective students/parents. midkid2 gave a good comparison between NYU and Middlebury for her daughter.</p>
<p>My son is having a great first year at Grinnell–great small classes, lots of friends, fun parties–it’s a great fit! And they gave him merit $$.</p>
<p>I am also enjoying this thread, as the process with DS2 is now beginning. (He reigstered for his first SAT-II the other night.) He is completely different from his brother, so I expect that there will once again be a significant learning curve on my part as DS2 figures out what he wants from his college experience. He immediately caught the significance of major merit money: “If I took a full scholarship somewhere, does that mean you could help me pay for a car?” </p>
<p>Yup, this is an ENTIRELY different ride!</p>
<p>My oldest D is completing her sophomore year at R.I.T. Her freshman year, went very well academically. Although she had many friends in her dorm, she hated dorm life. She was unable to find a work-study job on campus that would fit into her schedule, so found an off-campus job. </p>
<p>This year she is in on-campus apartments, which she likes better. She has learned to negotiate her way out of parking tickets, and also learned that if she gets them, her M & D won’t pay them. There is not parking at the apartments if you come back late on the weekend nights. This year she also found an on-campus job that she absolutely loves. </p>
<p>I would say our biggest disappointment was the Job Office’s lack of any type of understanding or help in the inability to find an on-campus job Freshman year. They just said “all jobs are posted - go to the sign-ups”, but when she would get there (as soon as the sign-up was put up) they would be filled.</p>
<p>Spent the weekend with daughter at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. She said that she can’t picture herself anywhere else. She has some good friends, grades are fantastic. She has a work study job and a fellowship. The dorms leave something to be desired, but what the heck, she’s a college freshman. (A little suffering won’t kill her.)</p>
<p>DD1 loves Denison. She has made fast friends, actually likes the food, really enjoys her professors, feels challenged but not over her head. The one thing she wishes is that her dorm had air conditioning.</p>
<p>dlbarber, my d is finishing up her 3rd yr at RIT and has never had a problem finding w/s jobs. In fact, she often has 2 at a time. I believe they post the jobs online so she should keep her eye on that. If she’s a top student, she should ask about being a notetaker. My d has been paid many quarters to do this for hearing impaired kids. She goes to her class and takes notes, then makes a copy to hand in. It’s a win/win since it ensures she actually goes to class. Your d would have to sign up for classes with sign language offered (meaning there’s a sign language interpreter in addition to the professor). Housing and/or admissions needs lots of kids so she could inquire now for fall. Or ask in her academic dept or any academic dept for next fall. Get a jump on the freshman who will show up looking for jobs. ANother way is find a senior with the job you want and ask if you can replace the senior…</p>
<p>My D is finishing her freshman year at Emerson College in Boston and absolutely loves everything about it. She is definitely a “city girl” now! What we did not like about Emerson (no true campus) she loves …basically having the city as her “campus”. She has been very happy with the classes and professors, the social life and dorm living.</p>
<p>I think it’s been pretty much as advertised. The computer science courses have been challenging. The dorm is much bigger than expected. The food is just as bad as everyone said. There’s more segregation by major than I would like, but I knew that would be both an advantage and disadvantage of the way Carnegie Mellon is set up. Interestingly, my son thought he got some undeserved A’s on history papers. I felt he had excellent history teachers in high school, with high standards, nice to know I was right.</p>
<p>Right now my only concern is that he’s done very little to find a summer job. He’s done the basics, given his resume to the career office and made a proposal for google’s summer of code program, but that’s been it. He seems to think something will fall into his lap.</p>