<p>Hey-- 34 jokes and I didn’t manage to offend anyone here?? What happened? Where did I go wrong?? Glad the jokes were a hit. I can’t take credit for them either (transferred them from another listserv I am on), so sjmom2329 (or sticker shock or menloparkmom), feel free to take credit for them. Midmo-- that’s a hoot about your niece and the deer crossing signs!! </p>
<p>I have some really gross experiences with those gargantuan waterbug/cockroach things from my years at UF, but I willl spare you them. Suffice it to say, those suckers are the textbook example of Darwinian theory. They will live another million years. You can step on those suckers, hear them crunch, watch nasty bodily fluids ooze, and when you lift up your shoe they still scurry away!! EEEEEWWWWWW!. Nasty to see those long antennae coming out of the bottom of our toaster. Funny (sort of, in a pathetic way) to see roommmate, who had very tightly curled curly hair) run screaming from the shower cuz one jumped onto her head. Wait, I wasn’t going to tell these stories. Sorry. me bad.</p>
<p>BTW, before we get back on topic, I have a question. I was out with friends and DH tonight watching the good ol’ Florida Gators play an all-too-close, but successful basketball game. However, when we sat down, tehy all turned to me, oh all-knowing- all wise-resident person obsessed with college stuff to ask where the opponent team, Butler University is. I had NO CLUE! Never heard of it! Not seen it mentioned in the hallowed halls of CC or the books I read on this stuff. How totally embarassing! (I have since discovered that it is in Indianappolis, Ind.) Hope I haven’t offended any Butler Bulldog fans out there.</p>
<p>CountingDown – if the state school is a true safety and your son is willing to go there, it doesn’t matter if the rest of the list is top-heavy.</p>
<p>If I learned one thing last year, it’s that there is no such thing as a “match” school – there are either colleges that you are absolutely sure you can get into (+ afford), and everything else is uncertain. So it might as well be the state U + 10 reaches – especially if it is a well-respected state U. I mean… if you think about it, paying for the “match” level private may not be worth it anyway.</p>
<p>Just make sure that your son is realistic about his college choices and that he has at least some chance of getting into the reach colleges, and don’t let him simply throw out a lot of applications to prestige schools with the strategy of hoping that somehow he will get lucky if he applies to enough. His focus should still be on fit – and he should be researching to find the best fit college.</p>
<p>For my daughter it turned out that pretty much everything that met her criteria was a reach: she wanted a strong Russian dept. at a mid-size to large college in an urban area… and there weren’t any that fit that bill and were safeties for her or even “likelies” or “probables”. She did add in some private colleges that were safer bets, but they didn’t offer Russian (she was willing to give up the Russian before she’d give up the city). </p>
<p>But I do question whether the non-reach colleges would really have offered her a better quality of education than U. of California in any case. So at least for our state, I think that the unbalanced list was safe enough.</p>
<p>jym, I think if you go over the posts you will see that there was one particular poster who kept stirring the pot in terms of the fighting… who has not returned in some time. I think things are safe right now.</p>
<p>I’m not anxiousmom, but my nephew chose Rice over CM. He was interested in bio-engineering and liked the residential colleges at Rice. He’s happy as a clam and sad my son said Houston was too hot and Texas too red.</p>
<p>There were plenty of words exchanged all around, but if you go back you will see that there was one poster primarily who was stirring the pot with provocative posts and accusations all around – and basically bringing the subject back to the “fight” even if it had drifted off towards friendliness for many hours. It’s a little big subtle because the tone was more catty than outright hostile… but it was there. Anyway, looks clear now.</p>
<p>I must be blind… it looks like there were 2 or 3 that were throwing the hot sauce into the chicken soup yesterday, but they all seem to have left the building…</p>
<p>Hey, my H went to U of Miami, and it was a similar deal for my D who’s a current frosh. She got the 3/4 tuition and she also got the guaranteed grad school in bioengineering. In fact, a prof from U of M telephoned her one night last April to tell her about the grad school guarantee. It was just what the doctor ordered as she was feeling kinda low from not getting any $$ from her “elite” choices and having to make a decision by May 1. Altho’ she didn’t wind up choosing U of M, getting that phone call really put her back on track thinking she was a valuable prospie and not some loser just 'cause a couple of schools wouldn’t give her money. Guess we’d better go write them a donation check too!</p>
<p>FWIW, we have a good friend who went to Butler. He was a bio major who liked to take apart his mom’s appliances as a kid. Started a biotech business and invented various instruments. Just sold the company for lots of millions. Very good education to be had at Butler. Also good for ballet degree.</p>
<p>mercymom-
Thanks. I was thinking about trying to make some funny comment that ties the biotech and ballet stuff together, but its late and I am tired. Can’t think.</p>
<p>My Michigan-born mother, transplanted to Florida, used to call the loathesome creatures “palmetto bugs”. Like not calling them “giant mutant ninja roaches” would make it better somehow.</p>
<p>I’ve been following this thread for days now. If it’s still alive when S gets the rest of his decisions, I may be asking y’all for input…it’s unlikely, but it MIGHT come down to Cornell for $$$ vs CUNY Honors for freefreefree. A no-brainer? Not according to S’s father.</p>
YEP!! Exactly the same effect for my son. I know my S got quite a few emails and mailings subsequent to the acceptance, but I don’t remember any phone calls. Interestingly, even though my son got the Hodson Scholarship offer from JHU, the school didn’t do much to follow up on the offer. I thought they dropped the ball on that a bit, considering the nature of that scholarship. Ironically, it was Duke, from whom my son received nothing merit based, that actively and persistently recruited him. His admissions officer emailed reguarly, extremely individually-oriented letters with information pertaining to his specific areas of interest. She called two days after the online acceptance and spoke with him for a LOOOONG time. She even emailed him before we brought him to Durham for the first time and wanted to meet us for dinner. I have <em>NEVER</em> seen anything like that. In the end, this extremely welcoming and intensely personal interest in my son won out (of course the moola made this all possible! ), especially as Duke was his “heart school” from the beginning.</p>
<p>I continue to be impressed by UMiami though. It is a great school, and I think they work hard to attract and retain great students. I’d be very proud for any of children to attend school there!</p>
<p>A kid gets a call from a professor at a school she has been accepted to and the professor totally changes her thinking, and her emotions in a very positive way. She is now feeling really good about herself after having self-doubt.</p>
<p>sorry. it’s late but i’m actually not just having random neuron firings; in addition to the friend who went to Butler, i have a friend who’s d just graduated from there with a dance degree, and their focus is on ballet. i’d never heard of it before either, but h is origlly from indy, so…</p>
<p>Wow Pack Mom. Just a month? Is it like the reserves?</p>
<p>I’ve lived with Palmettos (they fly to the warmest thing in the room at night–your face) and Alphabet City roaches in Manhattan. Not a fan.</p>
<p>I once got a call from the Assistant Dean after initially blowing off an August waitlist acceptance. I started to blow him off too–and he told me that he would call back in a week for my decision. A week later, I took the offer which was triple the cost of the original school. My parents were so freaked out, they told me to find my own ride to school! I did.</p>
<p>Think of the CC post thread they could have started! Haha.</p>
<p>HelimomNYC, I have a feeling you are going to know more about the CUNY than other posters. Congrats. Good luck with the decision. I guess with those acceptances, Pitt is out. I guess I’m not getting a tour report from you. :)</p>
<p>we must all be typing at the same time. she wound up at Pitt and loves it. loved it from the first time she set foot on campus. they gave her tons of money too. it’s just that when her elites gave her no money in april i suppose it was an ego bruise (she’d got money from tulane too, another good merit school), which is crazy 'cause a lot of kids don’t even get admitted to those schools, but anyway, she was never really interested in u of m, just applied 'cause her dad went there (same for tulane, i went there). she wanted an urban school up north and that’s what she got.</p>
<p>we live in the south and she’d had enuf of heat and (yes) roaches. esplly the flying kind.</p>
<p>the campus is very clean. the whole place is super impressive. lots of top notch facilities, good faculty, smart kids. she’s met kids who turned down MIT, Columbia, Berkeley and others to go there. she turned down Rice and U Chicago. there’s a kid on her floor who’s parent is a prof at MIT. Pitt’s a great place and attracts great people. what’s not to like?</p>
Glad the jokes were a hit. I can’t take credit for them either (transferred them from another listserv I am on), so sjmom2329 (or sticker shock or menloparkmom), feel free to take credit for them. Midmo-- that’s a hoot about your niece and the deer crossing signs!! </p>