wild iris on SLO; My dd goes there. She loves the school....she is marine bio. ..... She knows engineers thru her dancing. Huge congrats "Go 'Stangs"!!!

My dd had to re-do calc at her technical college. But, it was on a higher order of problems, techniques, depth of theory, etc. Her school has various "grades" of calc offered: eg calc for engineers, calc for comp. sci., calc for math majors, calc for physical sci. majors, calc. for bio and chem majors. She said it helped to have had calc. her sr. year in high school but, she did think that maybe having some statistics would have been more valuable, especially since it is often used in analyzing lab data....they offered a quick over view of what was necessary to do the lab reports but, she said she really would have liked to have had more background.

Hi Hivers - It has been a while. My dd is a Jr. in Marine Biology at CalPoly San Luis Obispo.....She adores the place. It is a "learn by doing" kind of place that requires a lot of STEM courses for the major. She applied to U of Miami, the New College, UNC Wilmington, College of Charleston, University of San Diego ..... which met her geographical and academic criteria. She has done well and has a conservation/research internship for this year. They offer diving certification and refresher courses periodically. They have revamped a lot of their marine bio facilities and well, the kicker for us was that when we were out on the pier, there were whales breaching in the distance and a sea otter came by and played. The school is in a small town and it is a real beauty but, it is far from cosmopolitan (unlike Miami, Charleston or SD). She has found plenty to do outside of academics, namely dance. There are alot of sports on campus and her roomies are heavily involved. The downside, to me, is that it is not a liberal arts school. I really felt my dd should have more under her belt as part of a "complete" education. But, she feels that the quality of the STEM courses makes up for that. We did look at UC Santa Cruz and UCSB but, my dd felt they were just too big......maybe for grad school. Hope this helps.

The dd from CA is home. Let the xmas decorating and bake-a-thon commence!!! It is nice to have another night owl in the house again and one with a sweet tooth besides! We're not sure whether she's coming home for spring break yet. There are loads of field work things to be done that she might want to participated in as well as a research diving certification trip. Since her school is on the quarter system, it is hard to find good summer internships/jobs around here, so she will probably be spending time arranging for those closer to school as well. Next up chocolate white chocolate macadamia nut cookies!!!!

Creekland - My dd loved Eckerd, but decided against even applying b/c she wanted a larger school. She loved the whole marine science curriculum, etc. I thought she would have done v. well there. Fingers crossed that it will work out for your ds. My dd is also a native Floridian and thought she wanted to return "home". But, then she saw CA ......... BTW - we recently did a drive-by of UH at Hilo .... a v. intriguing-looking possibility for grad school????

Gaudy Night!!! What a kid! What a book! I may have to search the LPW/HV series out to read yet again!!! Fingers crossed that the interview goes "well" (whatever that might mean to the Brits?). Even my husband loved those books. He thought they were the "perfect" romance novels.

We got all the guides in the summer betw. sophomore and Jr. years and independently looked at schools. We all made lists in the back of the places we thought were "cool". We visited some of the cool places that were on our way to somewhere else. In Jr. year, the dds started narrowing their choices and we visited what ever ones we could. In the summer between jr. and sr. year, the dds and I made up a binder with a section for each school, with tasks to be done for each application. We had a weekly meeting, and looked at the calendar and decided what each of us should be doing next. This made it less stressful for all of us as we all knew what we should be doing. Oddly enough, the binders are something that both dds will not let me throw away ever!!!!????? We received a variety of financial aid offers for both dds. The best came for my eldest from a slac, we paid very little for her education as a result.

Big congrats to your DD. BTW - we are from a low cutoff state but, eldest DD got great aid from a top LAC due to her being a finalist to some extent.

Fingers crossed here!!!!

Just off the top of my head....Rice University?

We did a CSS and FAFSA for the year before for my dd's ED school. Then we submitted a new one after she had been admitted. Her aid went up nicely.

I had two different types of kids applying, one applied ED b/c she did not want to wait until April....she has v. little patience about things like that. She did submit her apps to the large state schools as soon as they could be accepted. These schools constantly reminded their apps that money was given out 1st come 1st serve. My second child did as many EAs as possible and decisions slowly rolled in but, she still had to wait until April to make her decision. She liked the waiting and having a choice.

We went for prestige with my older dd, who lives and breathes prestigiously! She had no idea of her major (she thought Math to begin with). We looked for a well-rounded school with strong departments across disciplines. She did not major in Math....allegedly b/c the department was not good....but she was able to find a suitable major in which to hone her analytical skills. She got a job in her "work field" immediately. It had been her minor in college. With the younger dd, we went for a school with a good program in her specific area of interest. She applied only to schools with good programs in her major. I did insist that they all appear at least adequate in some very unrelated areas in case of a change of heart. I have no idea how these selections will end up playing out in their professional and adult lives.

San Luis Obispo CA, Northampton Mass, Walla Walla Washington, Tallahassee, FL, Charleston SC, Oxford Miss., Bloomington IN, .... just a few that we've visited that were splendid. The first one is our new favorite but, it is v. expensive.

We did the college visit 2 different ways. For my oldest, who was not sure what she was looking for, we went on many, many, many, college tours; mostly on the way to someplace else. We did 2 really dedicated trips for 4 colleges each for a few days. She ended up with 10 schools and applied to 8. The 2nd kid did all her searching from afar, chose where to apply, and then we waited. We visited the schools that she had been accepted to. We went to two accepted students days. The other places, we just took the tours and she took a dance class (dancers are really great resources for finding out a school's vibe). When we did the visits for my eldest, we went to all the talks and took the tours. It seemed that every info. session always left me with one "take away" thought about the school or the admissions process in general. Mostly though my dd just liked to sample the school vibe, we ate lunch (UPenn won for best sushi), we hung out at coffee places (Princeton, best espresso), she took dance and other classes......I watched students drifting by. At every campus, we spontaneously met folks to talk to....lots of info from them (I'd say they provided the deciding info.). The whole process was FUN both times!!!!

Rent all the "college and school" movies you can think of and watch them all, eg. we liked Legally Blonde and The Paper Chase and the "Bonzo" movies and DaddyLonglegs. Discuss what was attractive about the schools and the social and learning situations..... That way kids and parents can decide what is important. Then just start looking....let parents and child follow their intuitions. Talk, talk, talk to each other and then go on some fun visits together.

I had 2 dds. So our Goldilocks were very much affected by the hormonal status of the day :laugh: .

My dd had to go to the "writing workshop" counseling center everyday for her first 2 to 3 months at her SLAC. She had gotten 4s on her AP English exams. It was a shock when she got her first couple of papers back from her frosh writing seminar with horrible grades and lots of red comments. She said it wasn't until her jr. year that she felt entirely comfortable writing about anything. But, then one day she got a "real" A- on a paper :hurray: and she felt confident from that point on.

The AP bubble burst long ago here. In public school, the above is what happened. Homeschooling offers the opportunity to do so much more, if the student/parents are up for it.

The state that we live in is at the bottom. I grew up almost bilingual in French due to our public school system that offered advanced classes at a fairly early age.....They were a pull out a few times a week but, we spoke French for the whole hour. I was able to take upper level college lit classes in Jr. and Sr. year in high school as a result. But, that was then....

I studied abroad years ago as a science major in France. I took chemistry class as a "programmed learning" correspondence course with my American university and I was able to set up a "lab tutorial" to get my labs done abroad. I took 2 psych classes (perception and developmental) at the French university (I had made up my own neuroscience major which had not yet been standardized or invented!). I found the science classes very difficult at first due to my language deficiency but, I taped all the lectures and tutorial sections and eventually was able to keep up quite well. Needless to say, I spoke/listened to a lot less English than the other Americans in my group. To this day I still think of perception and child development in "French" terms. My dd is a bio major and her school recommends waiting until jr. year to go abroad as coursework at that point is mostly seminars and special-subjects electives which apparently are more easily done than "general" "required" courses. We shall see. Joan thanks for this, my eldest dd is thinking of going to grad school in Europe. She will apply directly to the universities she is interested in. She would like to go to UK or France to do Art History or Philosophy.....She wants to work for a year first, and then she will know more what she is interested in doing more academic work in. A China 1/2 year is not out of the question.

My counselor hat looked different for each dd but, we started the same way. We each grabbed one of those big college guide books (like Fiske) and just looked through them whenever we felt like it starting at the end of Freshman Year in High School. We each had a list in the back cover of the schools we thought would be good for each student. We visited some that we had selected and visited others that were on the way to vacation destinations. That way we could absorb "what college is like". We visited large and small, city and country, private and public. We ended up seeing about 30 schools when all was said and done. Some schools we visited twice when narrowing down the application list (they were also close to family that we were visiting). Then we went on College Navigator and College Confidential and looked at all the numbers to see if there were schools that we should add or subtract from our lists. We looked at scores and cost of attendance and also grad. percentages. The kids liked Unigo for info as well. My eldest dd had no idea what she wanted to major in so we looked at schools that had fairly well-rounded liberal arts. She wanted an active dance program so that winnowed our lists further. She was Natl. Merit so, we looked at schools with good honors programs and good merit aid. She applied to large and small LACs and some state schools. Then one day, she decided to apply Early Decision 2 to a school (and a surprising choice at that!). She got in. Aid was great, that was done. My youngest dd was determined to go to a school no farther than 20 min. from the beach. She did not want a cold climate. She also wanted and active dance program. We did a lot more internet searching (we watched many videos) and visited just a couple of schools. She chose 10 to apply to (local state uni included). All the ones she applied to seemed to be a good fit test score-wise, three were definite reaches (she did not get in). We visited most places that she got into. She chose the one that will be the most messy financially for her and us but, it felt right for her, the minute we got out of the car. (This happened with eldest dd's school as well) (Ahhhh Mother's Intuition.....neither child had selected their ultimate choice when they were looking....I found both schools and felt a tingle???? ) The biggest thing that I took away from the whole "counseling thing" was to talk freely and listen to each other and make the process fun. It is an exciting time and enjoying the process and its ups and downs make for great bonding moments between parent and child.

Eastern Washington State....There's a volcano in the background and a bay in the foreground of the pictures. Have a friend whose son went there for industrial design....loved it. We loved Conn. College - so prep!!!!

Join the admitted students facebook page to start with. Some of them are quite chatty and have loads of ideas about "places to go, things to do and people to meet" once you get on campus. Keep up with the xtra-Cs you did in high school....particularly if you enjoyed the social aspects. And definitely join the outing club and try adventurous things. Always eat your meals with others, in a relaxed, family-style way if possible. Joining the person eating alone might be a good way to start.

I went through this last year. I filled out all the FAFSA and sent it in with out using the retrieval tool and ran into a whole problem with schools needing something called a tax transcript. But, had I waited, I would have been able to retrieve our tax info about 21 days after I sent them in (non-electronically). I would suggest filling out as much as possible and then using the retrieval tool when you are able to. I'm going to try this this year. Hopefully......