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Hoggirl

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Everything posted by Hoggirl

  1. I really like the Fiske Guide for reading about schools. In particular, there is a "quiz" at the beginning of the guide that can kind of help identify the type of school your ds might like. Also, not all schools care about demonstrated interest. Whether they do or not (and to what extent) can be obtained from the Common Data Set, section C7. You can usually find these by just googling the name of the school and the words "common data set." As you narrow your choices down, you can factor in that aspect when deciding whether to visit a school or not. Interest can also be demonstrated in other ways such as e-mailing or calling the applicable regional admissions person for your area. Some schools will not interview or do overnight visits until fall of senior year. We ran into this when we went to the Claremont schools in California - a long trip for us! At the time we visited, Pomona would interview juniors but not Claremont McKenna College. Or at least not in February when we visited. Ds did interview at Pomona, which was certainly a good experience for him, but he did not wind up applying there, so it mostly served as practice. He did apply to CMC where he was waitlisted. I think an interview would have helped him. My point being, don't jump the gun *too* much on long/expensive trips.
  2. I have no advice, only sympathy. It really irks me that schools do this! Not everyone waits until the 11th hour to commit. We did not personally experience this, but I had a friend whose son did during the admissions cycles two years ago. Money was a major consideration for them. Her ds's first choice was Michigan. He did get some scholarship money, but the Presidential at Alabama was better. He committed at Bama and about a week before May 1, Michigan came back and offered a LOT more money. Enough to make them equal. By then he had changed his mindset and was at peace with choosing Alabama, but such a late offer really makes it difficult to make comparisons. I do not understand why schools do this.
  3. I have no idea what planetary physics even is, but I attended a college class reunion this weekend, and some classmates have a high school sophomore ds who is "into" this. He is in a regular, large, public high school where he is not very inspired. However, he has taken an interest in this topic on his own. They say he spends lots of time doing on-line research about it. I just thought I would check in here with the Hive to see if anyone had any specific resources you might suggest. Are there any Teaching Company courses? Wonder if they know of Khan Academy? Open course stuff? Summer programs (kinda late for this year)? Places to travel and learn/see/visit? I am hesitant to search and suggest, since I don't know what the topic even is really. Not sure the parents do either. We are all a bunch of bean counters by trade. But I knew if anyone would have some ideas, it would be this group! Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
  4. I would not retake the ACT. You don't mention subject tests. I would suggest those instead. Pretty sure the Ivies want them, and I imagine a couple of those others do as well. Two is usually an acceptable number, but ds had three. Not much specific advice on which ones to cut, but if you cut two safeties and two that you have labeled as matches, that gets you down to your desired number. However, I'd keep UNC-Chapel Hill for sure. I assume you are in-state, and that's going to likely be a good value for you compared to others in that category unless she gets some competitive merit. I don't really see much need for more than two safeties. Ds had three, but two would have been fine. Just my$0.02!
  5. While I do tend to agree with this for the most part, I will say that the *location* of a school can be impactful with regard to opportunities. OP's ds is interested in IR. Being in DC could provide much more access to opportunities in the field than being somewhere else. Being there could potentially give her ds the chance to get a paid internship that ties in with his degree. In other words, he might be able to do something more relevant to his intended career path instead of on-campus work-study. Those opportunities aren't going to be available, say, in the rural Midwest.
  6. I think financial rejections are harder to take than institutional rejections. It's easy for a child to say that s/he is fine with a "we'll have to see what happens," approach with regard to aid/merit, but it can be hard to put into actual practice when things don't work out as one had hoped. The whole process is fraught with emotions. Give him a little space and time, and hang in there!
  7. Are you making the decision? I was a little unsure based on some of your wording. When my ds narrowed it down to three choices, he crafted some sort of a spreadsheet with a weighting system. He listed all relevant factors but assigned different weights depending on how important that factor was. I'm not exactly sure how he did it, but I know there many factors that he put on it. We discussed issues at length, but the decision was his to make. If you are uncomfortable with some of choices because of cost concerns either now or in the future (for whatever reasons), I'd remove them from consideration.
  8. I don't think the University of Arkansas has aerospace or robotics. Also, I know NOTHING about ROTC scholarships, but at Arkansas National Merit is only awarded $10,000 per year. Other merit beyond that (fellowships) is competitive. And, the fellowships have gotten ridiculously competitive. Ds's alma mater only had one student invited to interview this year. He did receive it, but he's also in at Stanford and some Ivies. Pretty sure he won't be taking it. ETA: Arkansas DOES have a well-regarded school of architecture.
  9. 11 3 Big State U safeties - all acceptances to honors colleges with merit. Two with enough competitive merit to be full rides 2 Match private schools - both acceptances. approx $20,000 or so in merit at each 6 Reaches - four acceptances (one with about $22,500 in merit per year), one waitlist (small, private LAC), one rejection (only Ivy ds applied to) The reach schools definitely had the most intensive apps with some having very involved supplements. Ds was very good about pacing himself. I would have liked everything to have been completed by Thanksgiving, but it wasn't. He continued to work on one or two apps even after Christmas. But, none were done at the 11th hour. Many essay questions (outside of the Common App) can be slightly repurposed and used for more than one application. It is, however, a time-consuming process. My ds purposefully saved one easy class (he attended a public charter for high school) for fall of his senior year. He also had all but one subject test completed by fall of his senior year. I think getting testing done as early as is feasible makes the process less stressful.
  10. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/opinion/college-admissions-shocker.html?_r=0 Edit: The actual admission rate this year was 4.69%.
  11. No idea where OP's dear child is attending, AND I don't think this is common, but apparently some schools give credit for certain subject test scores. Here is a link to what Baylor will give credit for: http://www.baylor.edu/irt/index.php?id=74597
  12. Well, I have two friends who have sent daughters to TCU. Neither was homeschooled. One went to public high school; the other to a private Catholic girls' high school. The first one left after a semester. It was too Richie-rich and Greek for her. She transferred to Tulsa and loved it. I have another friend whose daughter is there now. Not as close to this friend, but her daughter appears to love it from what I have seen on FB. She is Greek. I can reach out to her and see what her daughter believes to be pros and cons. I am going to speculate that faith is not integrated at all, that it is Christian in name only. I cannot speak to the quality of music there. I have heard good things about the music department at SMU (for another DFW option), but I do not have any specfics. I do not know if they (SMU) offer Music Ed or not. It's kind of another Richie-rich school, though. If you are interested in Music Education WITH a Christian environment, I would suggest Belmont University in Nashville. When my ds was considering music as a major (performance not education) we visited, and I found the environment there to be incredibly nurturing and supportive. Just one caveat (and I'm sure you know this): college websites are marketing tools for the college. It is in their best interest to instill a "favorable first impression."
  13. Congrats!!! Rice was VERY high on ds's list! He also received a nice merit offer there. Which was actually not prominently displayed in the admission e-mail/notification. Only by being on CC did we realize you had to scroll waaaaayyy down to find the merit link. This was, however, two years ago. No idea what it is like now!
  14. Happy to report ds got a job working as a residential counselor for a pre-college summer high school program on his campus. In addition to the residential aspect of his job, he will also be TA-ing for one of the courses taught in the program. I think he will enjoy it, as it is the same program he participated in the summer before his junior year of high school. Nice balance of work/play for the summer as it runs through the end of July, after which he will get to come home for a bit before classes start in the autumn. Happy for him!
  15. ^ Y'all need to get off this "Cal would have been better," jibber jabber! Ha ha! His major is now Management Science & Engineering. It's a hybrid type of degree. Stanford does not have an undergraduate business school. This major incorporates the engineering core, lots of statistics, math & science, some CS, some finance, optimization, etc. Closet thing is probably Industrial Engineering. I know he was looking late fall, and we have made sure he is not waiting on one answer to apply elsewhere. He has put in to be a residential counselor at a camp at Stanford. To my knowledge, he has not yet heard back. Site said two - three weeks, and I think their placement is sort of rolling. He is in the middle of final exams now, so I am trying not to bug him too much. Interesting point about the paid v unpaid. One of his classmates has secured a summer internship with the US Ambassador to the UN. No pay, no housing. And in NYC! So, I don't really understand the "rules" for payment of internships for government internships. Ds interned at our local Congressman's office last summer. That did not pay nor did the Congressman's internships in DC.
  16. I don't think that is it, Laura! I do think, however, that some of it is degree-related. It doesn't seem like the CS kids have ANY trouble finding internships. I don't really know how/where all he has looked. He certainly hasn't limited himself to Silicon Valley. I know he had an interview with a company outside of Chicago and another with a hedge fund in Connecticut. He got a second round with the latter (they came out to PA to recruit) which was a group thing. Interestingly, he said at least half of those there were history/poli sci/philosophy types.
  17. What are your kiddos doing over the summer? Although I know he has had some interviews, ds has had no luck in obtaining a summer internship. I find it difficult to know how much to ask him about this. I don't want to be too pushy - I know he IS trying, but I honestly don't think it's best for him to be home all summer either. Being on a quarter system when our area is not means he doesn't finish school until over a month after the local students are out. And next fall his classes don't start until September 26th, which is more than a month after classes start here, because of when Christmas falls. I seriously doubt his ability to get anything local, even at a minimum wage rate b/c of the timing issues. I guess I'm just feeling a little anxious for him. ETA: Oops, I asked specifically about Class of 2018 b/c one of the things ds is saying is it is difficult for sophomores to get internships. I don't know if that is specific to his location or true everywhere. ETA, again: "specific to his location specifically." Ha ha ha! Good grief!
  18. This. All of this. I cannot imagine my college experience any other way besides living on-campus all four years. It wasn't *required,* but something like 87% of students did. I attended a small, liberal arts college. Some moved off campus their senior year. Most of those were more of the "wild" variety of students. I absolutely loved my time on campus. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. My dh attended a Big State U, and he lived on campus all but his senior year. He lived by himself in a one-bedroom apartment that year, primarily because he was ready to be out of the fraternity house. Now, that same Big State U only requires living on-campus freshman year and cannot accommodate very many on campus beyond that. It's pretty much SOP that one lives off campus from sophomore year on. There is an elaborate bus system, so many students don't have to drive in. Which is good since parking is a beast as well. I have no idea what the "policy" is at ds's school, but pretty much everyone lives on campus all four years as the off-campus housing is completely unaffordable (Silicon Valley). In fact, I believe all the graduate schools there provide on-campus housing as well. And I think faculty housing is subsidized by the Universtiy. To me, one loses SO much of the "college experience," moving off-campus and living in an apartment and commuting in. And having to fix all of one's meals? What a hassle! To me that makes college seem more like a job. I know not everyone values having that "college experience," but it was one of the best parts of my life. I loved that intermediate four years between being a child and "adulting." I really think my thoughts on this were taken to heart by ds when he was doing his search. I also realize that in some places it might be more affordable to be off-campus, so that would certainly have to be considered. I just think if one can get that four-year, on-campus experience, it's worth it!
  19. There was a young woman who graduated from ds's charter school a year after he did who was accepted to UC-Berkeley (OOS). She chose to attend Harvey Mudd because it was less expensive because she got financial aid at Mudd. Nada at Berkeley.
  20. I agree 100% with Regentude. Also, you have to remember that college is just about all anybody ever asks seniors about. They are constantly questioned about it from parents, friends, relatives, friends of parents, etc. They get sick of talking about it!
  21. Fantastic! Wonder if we can petition for a grad/professional school forum??? Seems like it's time!
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