It came up in this thread recently. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/652476-looking-for-a-small-intellectual-liberal-arts-school-average-sat-score/page-2 http://ctcl.org/ursinus-college/

I have never been but I know some young adults who have gone there and years later they still rave about their experiences and recommend it often. I don't know what the vibe is like on campus, but the graduates all have an intellectual bent and express themselves well. They are kind and fun-loving, and I can't imagine them being anything short of welcoming to people of different traditions. I once went to a homeschool conference where some speakers happened to be educated at Christendom and I was so impressed with their knowledge, logic, and eloquence. It got to the point when I heard a speaker who was even better than the previous ones, I decided to go up and ask at the end of the talk, "Where did you go to college?" And, sure enough, the answer was Christendom. If my high school senior we're not so science focused, I would consider it. Christendom should still have a price match program that is worth checking into. As far as how a Protestant would feel there, it's hard to guess. Hopefully, all would be welcoming. It would be easier if one came from a more conservative tradition. There is a dress code and I suspect no opposite sex visits in the dorms. I'm a rather traditional Catholic, but I would be fine if my kids were interested in more conservative Christian college as long as I thought they wouldn't be challenged about their faith every minute, they would be accepted as a fellow Christian, and had some other Catholics to get together with. I think you might be able to find out those types of things if you go visit. I hope this helps.

You can always call college admissions offices to verify. We are not in FL nor applying to FL colleges, but I had a similar problem because D, who is in a B&M high school, will not have the four years of social studies that are recommended by some colleges. I started calling around to admissions offices before she chose her senior year classes, and the admissions reps were not surprised by the question and very helpful. My D is not applying to very selective colleges so that may have played a part, but I found that all of them were much more flexible than I expected, at least as far as social studies go. D will have two years of US History and AP Psych, and every college said that was fine as long as she met the requirements for graduation.

That's a good fit, for me at least. Merit and good sciences in suburbia. Thanks, lisabees. I wish all schools offered the type of educator's scholarship that McDaniels offers.

That's a great story. Thanks. Ursinus is one of the closest LACs that would offer the kind of education dd wants.

That's interesting about the vibes from Lebanon Valley. I can see some of that and was considering cancelling out visit. To me the campus small, isolated and claustrophobic in the tiny town, but D liked it. And then, the professors really went out of their way to talk to us personally and get to know D and learn about her interests. Kids can start the summer before freshman year doing research and then stay over the summer to do research. D is all about connecting with people and doing research, so that clicked for her. But in the end, it will be about $. McDaniel has an a special scholarship for the children of teachers. I think it might be as generous as any they offer. Have you ever been to Ursinus? I think I signed us up for one of their visit days and I'm hoping D doesntget scheduled to work.

A Profile school is a college that uses the CSS Profile to determine financial aid. https://student.collegeboard.org/css-financial-aid-profile Schools that use only the FAFSA never consider home equity in determining financial aid, but schools that use the CSS Profile often do. The Profile asks a lot more questions and is supposed to be a PITA, but it gives colleges a much more complete picture of a family's financial circumstances. It's not free like the FAFSA. I think you have to pay to use it and for each college you will send it to.

We really like the same schools! And I also am suspicious about getting enough aid & scholarships at the same schools you mentioned. And I'm hoping to avoid doing Profile schools because their npc's never turn out well for us, but Muhlenberg seems better than most. If D really wants Muhlenberg, I'd see if they would consider a pre-read of our finances and decide whether or not to go forward with the Profile. I think Denison is a Profile school, too. Blech. So I won't suggest it and wait to see if she brings it up. I wasn't going to ask her to look at Allegheny but then I saw they won an award for undergrad research, so then I thought it might be worth it. I am also worried about the price at Juniata after doing their NPC twice. I am interested in having D apply to Ursinus, Elizabethtown, Lebanon Valley, and maybe Susquehanna and hoping for a big merit scholarship.

Lisabees, I'm enjoying this thread. My d sounds quite similar but more moderate than liberal and perhaps more nerdy than hipster. Her test scores are a bit higher at 1370, which is helpful because she really need merit, a lot of it. All the comments are very helpful. Beloit seems like a great match for her, despite frequently being described as liberal. If there were an active Catholic community, it might work. I would love to go visit Lawrence and Beloit, but I can't even manage to get there for a visit so I worry about Dd getting back and forth. We've been focusing in on Pa for that reason.

I'd like to hear any personal thoughts on Mt. Union. :) It came up on a search recently. I had never heard of it before.

I think I might do that. I also used a neuro-ophthalmologist once and he was absolutely the most knowledgeable doctor I've ever met when it comes to understanding various medical issues. He was really kind, too. I might be bold and dig up his email address.

OneStep, I'm curious if you have slow focusing, too?

Yes, this makes me feel better and it is very likely given her slow focusing. Thanks!

I haven't visited for awhile but something weird happened at D's optometrist appointment and I'm curious for feedback. D has had vision therapy. I should have gone back for a follow up last year but things have been very good and money was tight so I didn't bother. She had been diagnosed with convergence excess, a tracking problem and accommodative spasms. Her focusing is really slow. The covd found her optic disks in her eyes are also unusually large like you might see in glaucoma, but her eye pressure was normal. The size and pressure has not changed. During the test today, the regular optometrist (not our covd doc) had her read lines. He then did other things with her and had her read the same lines again and she could not read them at all. He's thorough but really chill, and he made sure he got my attention without alerting DD so I could also see what he was noticing, the being able to read a line and then not. Meanwhile, he goes through some more eye doctor stuff and asks her to a line again. And she looks and asks, "Wait, are those letters or numbers?" ?? DD is eleven and very bright and reads extremely well, and she has normal vision. And for a minute couldn't tell if she was seeing letters or numbers!? So then doctor started using shapes for awhile, like you would with a kid who didn't know their letters yet. He then did some tests of her focusing speed which seemed worse than ever. Though he's not a covd optometrist, he did some VT training in school and will do some special tests if he's trying to figure out to refer to the covd doc. He is having D come back for a visual fields test to be thorough in light of what happened today, since he feels there a lot of weird stuff going on. This could be related to processing, right? We do have other kids with weaker visual processing. Could it be ADHD related even though DD was attentive and participating well? We're going ahead with the visual field test but then I will probably run it by the the covd guy and maybe an consider an ophthalmologist. Any thoughts?

Thanks. I'm curious to look into that.

It's very possible to have a lot of ASD traits but not severely enough to qualify for an official diagnosis. The current diagnostic criteria requires that the traits be severe enough to impair functioning to a significant extent. Research shows that family members often have ASD traits, but not all will have them severe enough for an ASD label. It's tricky to know when we cross the line. In part because it's a spectrum, there can be some subjectivity in diagnosing. Regardless of the lack of a clear diagnosis, I think it can be helpful to understand ourselves with ASD or Aspergers in mind. ***** Jean made a great point upthread about stressful situations intensifying Aspie traits. This is soooo true. I see it in myself (no diagnosis and would probably not qualify for one at my worst times) and my D. My D got a dx at a time that she was recovering from a depression. Her traits were mild enough at their worst that a highly recommended specialist recommended us seeing someone else because she didn't see it but couldn't be sure. Now that D is in a much better emotional state I don't believe she'd get the same dx. She's always been a tough kid with attention and EF problems. She has a history of mild perseveration and (atypical) repetitive behaviors. So the traits have always been there but the depression amplified them. Now they fall into the benign category and I doubt they are severe enough to warrant a diagnosis in the eyes of most professionals. Some things really helped her functioning: An SSRI and therapy for the depression. Interactive metronome made a huge difference with perseveration. ADHD medication helped with impulsivity. She had a chance to start over at a new school last year. She has good, caring, reliable friends now. Her academic success has boosted her self-esteem. (Her EF is horrible but she studied for days for her finals without me in her back.) These things will not take away ASD, but they might help with the intensity of specific issues.

My D loves it as well and has learned so much. I think it can give quiet, serious kids an opportunity to excel. It is very inexpensive and perhaps because of that, I've seen more diversity than in other extracurriculars. Females are a minority, though, at least where we are. But my D has felt very welcomed and gets a lot of encouragement and recognition. The particular squadron can make a difference so if you have different options ask around and visit. Our squadron does a lot of service in our community and before our time, helped out after a hurricane. There are three areas of focus/study: leadership, aerospace, and physical training.

Having lived in Japan where very warm or hot baths are a daily occurrence, now I'm curious about rates of autism in places that have this custom.

Is esophageal cancer not genetically influenced? Maybe there are different types? I have a neighbor whose father had esophageal cancer and she got it, too, in her forties. And I believe a teacher we once used had to have regular checks because her father had it. Not to scare anyone...

My D2 who is stem-focused high school junior used CLE after stress overload with Singapore early in. Conceptually she was amazing but had no retention of math facts in the primary years. Very glitchy. CLE was great for her but did not develop her conceptual skills as well as I'd like. I don't think AoPS would have worked for her. She is not a whiz but more if a slow and steady type. For my last one at home, I'm using Singapore but along with a review program. It would not work otherwise. For daily review: I've used Evan-Moor Daily Math which was a bit light. This year I used Daily Math 4 Today. It was alright but ends at fifth grade. Next year I'm bumping up to Simple Solutions. She has a short attention span so it might need to be modified. I'm trying to capture the best of both worlds.

My DD's SAT is a bit higher, but not too far off. Her interests are different from your DS's but also specific and with plans for graduate school. What I have done so far is search for schools that offer her field of interest as well as see how those interests could be met at our closest public colleges. With that preliminary list of schools, I ran the net price calculators on each of the schools' websites with our tax return and bank statements in hand for the best chance for reliable results. Among the results that fit for our very low budget, I further limited schools by faith opportunities, in our case, as Catholics, Mass availability and active faith based groups. I also limited by geography in most cases, because why add the expense of travel (and medical insurance since our plan is local) if price and opportunities were similar? More distant schools are on the list only for good reason. DD can add or subtract to the list but she understands our financial limits. Our local publics are the most affordable but not too far off from the net price calculator results of some less selective private colleges. Commuting would be a burden if she attended our local publics, so I have considered having her live in campus the first year and work hard at trying to get an RA position for future years and then re-evaluate commuting. One really important thing I learned is that going to CC will probably not help much because D would lose the scholarship opportunities as an incoming freshman. Our local public unis offer very decent merit scholarships for her stats but only to incoming freshman, cancelling out the financial benefit of CC.

Creekland, I'm thrilled for you and your DS!!!

The antibiotics that can cause these problems are not in the penicillin family and are prescribed to people who can't take penicillin or need a wide-spectrum antibiotic. Flagyl is used for GI infections.

This really sounds like Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. There's a saying people use when talking about EDS: If you can't connect this issues, think connective tissues.

Did you take any of these antibiotics? ciprofloxacin (Cipro), gemifloxacin (Factive), levofloxacin (Levaquin), moxifloxacin (Avelox) and norfloxacin (Noroxin). Flagyl can also cause nerve damage. I had to take it for a very long time and was afraid of this side effect. I had pain for a few years and it wound up being allergies.