<p>Good morning all! Can’t stay. Off to work. Quiches is in the oven. Much sure you check it before it gets too well done. Coffee is perking. Teas, as always, is available.</p>
<p>See you later.</p>
<p>We have tried over the years to go on a camping trip every summer and to go to a different place every time. So over the past five years or so I’ve made it a point to say to my kids ‘this is Burlington VT, this is where UVM is’; ‘oh, we’re in Ithaca NY, lets drive around Cornell real quick’. It wasn’t really to get them looking at specific schools, but more for them to get a feel for the different kinds of college town atmosphere. </p>
<p>I think fall of Junior year is a good time to start visiting specific schools. I do think that there may be some forgetting, or that they may need a second trip, but we didn’t visit schools until spring break of junior year, when we visited three, and then all of a sudden it was fall of Senior year and it really ended up being more ‘cramped’ than I would have liked, which in part led to second visits last week…</p>
<p>jude, that’s exactly how I want to handle college looks with my freshman S. Well, maybe minus the camping, because I don’t have enough money to pay the bad word fines that result from putting up and taking down the tent.</p>
<p>I plan to take him to Ithaca this summer. He’s heard me talk about Ithaca as H lived there throughout our long-distance, three-year courtship; it’s time to let him see the town! And also its colleges. 
We may also go see Colgate and Rochester while we’re up in that part of the state.</p>
<p>:: puts Oreos of various kinds and milk on the buffet for mid-morning snacking ::</p>
<p>Mint oreos!! Yum. Goes with Mint Juleps. How do like my Derby hat?</p>
<p>Here’s to getting off the waitlist and to falling in love with your choice!</p>
<p>I’ll drink to that!</p>
<p>drinking creme brulee coffee to that…</p>
<p>I also found the senior yr fall visiting kind of cramped–saw a couple over the summer and not as authentic as it needs to be, mostly intense grad students o campuses</p>
<p>UChi is in session through the end of June. I remember that visit. </p>
<p>Yesterday I was down there to sign something. Beautiful weather and </p>
<p>there were some painterly looking peach tulips in bloom all over. Didn’t</p>
<p>see DS.</p>
<p>Be careful about taking kids that are not all that interested on college trips too early on. In fact, be careful about talking about it to a kid who is busy enjoying high school and isn’t ready to talk about college. (Yes, more often than not, these are the boys.)</p>
<p>I had one that was looking at college websites in ninth grade. The other had to be dragged on visits junior year and never once opened a college guide.</p>
<p>They both wound up to be equally successful in college admissions, but both did it on their own terms.</p>
<p>By the way, the one who had no interest in researching colleges is totally focused and on track for graduate school going into junior year of college. The one who was so focused on college early on doesn’t want to discuss grad school at all at this time.</p>
<p>We started college visits in February of S’ junior year - I wish we had started sooner. We could not visit any schools during the summer since S was away and fall of senior year was way too hectic, we actually were not able to visit a lot on our list. Also, S’ best year in terms of grades is the senior year, and I often wonder if he would have put more effort had we started visiting in his sophomore year. Yes, owlice, I, too, have one of those that used to do the utmost minimum and finally came to his senses senior year. All’s well, though, so I can’t complain.</p>
<p>Pretty icky here with rain.</p>
<p>Hi everyone. You all have been busy while I was gone - I just caught up on the 9 pages I missed over the past day or so! Congratulations 2blue and wjb - two new Yalies!! </p>
<p>Owlice, thanks for baking that chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - my favorite! I hope there’s a slice left for me.</p>
<p>We had to go away for an overnight thing for D’s school. It was somewhat of a success, though not quite what she was aiming for - but she’s ok with that and ready to try again next year.</p>
<p>We are planning to do a few college visits this summer (if I can get D to look through a college guide book and choose a few she wants to see). At the moment, she has a few schools on her radar, but they are very competitive. While her grades are definitely in the right range, she has no SATs yet, and even if she does amazing on them, those schools are still super hard to get into - so I want her to look at a few slightly less selective schools - and that’s where we’re having the problem - she hasn’t a clue! Last summer, we visited William and Mary while we were in Williamsburg, and she loved it. I just think that it’s very hard for girls from LI to get into that school, and that even if she does, since we’re OOS, they might not be very forthcoming with financial aid. So, if anyone can recommend a school similar is size/feel to W&M in the northeast, I would appreciate it.</p>
<p>Oh, and I completely enjoyed the stories about twins - so thanks to everyone for sharing. They were hysterical!</p>
<p>Was that you with the Siamese twins in separate car seats?? </p>
<p>I was picturing Halloween–with their little noses painted and dark</p>
<p>chocolate kitten ears!</p>
<p>Nothing really feels like Williams and Mary; it’s a unique place.</p>
<p>However, schools on that level (not the tippy top for variety purposes that might stand in are Hamilton, Conn College, Trinity Col. (CT). I’m out.</p>
<p>I rejected schools that were totally rural, totally hipster, quite competitive,women’s colleges. But in those categories there are many other schools.</p>
<p>I don’t have twins, cottonwood. But I loved that Siamese twins story. </p>
<p>mythmom, thanks for those recommendations - I’ll tell D to check them out. One of my best friends went to Conn College - and I remember visiting her there, but I just can’t remember what I thought of the campus at all. I just remember thinking that New London was not the quaint little town that I had pictured it being…lol. </p>
<p>I sort of thought that William & Mary might be unique. Washington & Lee seems to be quite similar (maybe lindz can answer that for me), but D is afraid that she might not be into the fraternity/sorority scene that W & L is known for and she is also concerned about the lack of diversity.</p>
<p>Davidson as well, but like W&L quite competitive. I know your D will have great stats. I was just trying to dial it down a notch for safety purposes.</p>
<p>:: mixes mint juleps ::</p>
<p>:: pours into tall, chilled glasses ::</p>
<p>:: adorns with fresh mint ::</p>
<p>Drinks are up; munchies will be out in a minute!</p>
<p>:: takes gorgonzola-apple-pear in phyllo appetizer out of oven and onto platters ::</p>
<p>:: slides slices of baguette with fresh chevre, basil leaves, and sun-dried tomatoes under the broiler for a minute ::</p>
<p>:: gets out fresh fruit salad in a waterwelon, adds kiwi slices around the edges ::</p>
<p>:: removes bread/chevre/basil/sun-dried tomato thingie from broiler, places on platter ::</p>
<p>Let’s start with these, shall we?</p>
<p>:: puts platters on buffet ::</p>
<p>owlice, your food sounds so much better than what I just ate! I wish I had saved my appetite! By the way, I am looking forward to trying a mint julep as I have never had one before. </p>
<p>mythmom, where is Davidson? Is it in N or S Carolina? I’ll check that one out myself - I’ve heard of it, but am not familiar with it (although I do think she has gotten mail from them). You’re right, W & L is quite competitive. I keep forgetting that because nobody from her school seems to know about it…lol. I’m thinking of taking her on a summer college tour in Pennsylvania - lots of great schools that aren’t too far away (she really doesn’t want to be too far as she doesn’t want to have to deal with airports when she comes home for Thanksgiving and other holidays). If I could just get her to sit down and read the college guidebook, she could select a few she would be interested in seeing. I think you had recommended a few earlier, plus I was thinking Lafayette and Lehigh.</p>
<p>It’s in North Carolina. Is she determined to be at a LAC?</p>
<p>I can help you make the list. We can get together. I remember that you don’t like to drive.</p>
<p>Davidson is near Charlotte. In the '70s I heard it described as the “Williams of the South.” The schools are similar in many ways. Davidson is, I believe, 20% smaller than Williams (1600 vs. 2000 students), less diverse, less isolated, somewhat more conservative student body, and a bit less difficult to get into. Davidson has D1 athletics, so recruiting for that is different than at D3 schools. Davidson also has a Greek system, although I don’t think it dominates the social scene anywhere near the way the one at W & L does. The people I’ve known who’ve gone there have been extremely well educated. (I’m only comparing to Williams, because of how I’d heard Davidson described and thought you might be familiar with it. Just don’t want anyone to think I don’t know the difference between Williams and William & Mary!)</p>
<p>Since you said your D wanted similar size to William & Mary, Davidson may be much too small for your D. What else appealed to her about William & Mary?</p>