fourisenough
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Posts posted by fourisenough
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2 hours ago, Farrar said:
I would definitely consider Michigan a slight reach even with those stats, especially for nursing. What have you considered and rejected? The first place that came to mind was Pitt... but I don't know if Pittsburgh is "cool" enough city.
You know, if she's happy with her safeties, it's okay to apply to the safeties and thrown in a bunch of reaches (especially with strong stats like that) and see what happens. The right "balance" is different for everyone. Loyola Chicago and Seattle are both really strong programs in nursing, even if the overall school would be a "safety."
I agree with you about Michigan. It would be the most affordable option and we adore Ann Arbor, so I really hope she gets in, but I’m not counting on it.
We were considering Xavier, but bumped it off the list today. It seems very similar to Loyola and Seattle U, but in a smaller, less exciting city (I love Cincy— the hills, the river, the Zoo, the ball park, etc), but it seems small/dull to her. If no supplemental essays are required, we may toss in an app. I will say their marketing materials/admissions outreach has been fantastic!
MSU, as mentioned above, was considered/rejected. I gave her a 90-second elevator pitch about a few LACs (Rhodes, Kenyon, Washington & Lee) thinking she could knock out pre-reqs then do a 2nd degree BSN, but she thought they were too small and not in her desired locations. We considered Case Western and NYU, but eliminated both because the NPCs were scary high.
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59 minutes ago, Farrar said:
And if she's keen on Boston, Simmons has a great nursing school.
I’ll look at it— never heard of it.
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1 hour ago, JennyD said:
Belmont University has a well-regarded nursing program, if she's keen on Nashville. I think it might be more of a safety with her stats, though, and I have no idea about the financial aid options. It is also Christian; students don't have to be Christian, but faculty do.
Thanks for chiming in. We prefer secular schools, but she’s willing to make an exception for Jesuit schools (of which there are many with nursing programs) because of their social justice/service focus. I think she would definitely not fit in well at a Christian school!
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1 hour ago, Kristini2 said:
Loyola Chicago and Seattle U were two of my soon-to-be college freshman’s safety schools. University of Portland was also on her list and it’s supposed to have a strong nursing program. It is in a residential area, but it’s easy to get to downtown.
Do you mind sharing here she’s going? PM if you’d rather. Will check out U of Portland.
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5 minutes ago, MamaSprout said:
Michigan State? I know they have both nursing and a classics department. (ETA- It’s on our list of “worth a look”.)
MSU campus is so luscious & green. One of my favorite college campuses, but DD thinks East Lansing wouldn’t meet her big city or great college town parameters. We have lots of extended family in the greater Lansing area, so she views it as a pretty blue collar, rust belt kind of town (because that’s the part of town she’s familiar with). Sigh.
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DD will be applying to university this fall. Today we were refining her list of schools. First, thank goodness, she isn’t married to any of them!
She has 2 admissions/financial safeties that she would be happy attending. (If I’ve learned anything here at all, it’s to love thy safety!) Right now, her safeties are Loyola U Chicago and Seattle U.
She also has 5 lottery schools. She knows that if she isn’t admitted there, it’s no big deal. Although her stats put her in their middle 50th-percentile, all have acceptance rates below 20%, thus all are lotteries. They include: Penn, Georgetown, Boston College, Duke, and Vanderbilt.
Where we’re lacking is on-target schools. I’m sort of hesitantly considering our state flagship, U of Michigan, an on-target school. Honestly, though, with an acceptance rate of 23%, it might also be considered a lottery.
She’s planning to major in nursing (or at Duke and Vanderbilt she’d likely do their 5-year master’s of nursing program), and she wants to attend school either in a big city OR a super cool college town. She prefers a school around 7k in enrollment or larger. Georgetown may drop off the list because the NPC is substantially higher than anywhere else (at least $10k more). Other lotteries may drop-off if she develops application fatigue. We’ll work in order of target, safety, and then lottery.
If you have any on-target schools to suggest, I’m all ears... Oh, stats are ACT composite 33/Superscore 34 (taking one final time this weekend; 1-point more in math would give 35 Superscore); gpa 4.4 (weighted on 4 scale); 7 APs (Lit, Lang, Art History, Stats, Psych, Calc AB, Bio). Strong writer, sparkling LORs lined up, interesting hook? (pre-professional ballet dancer moved away from home at 13 to train with top company schools). May want to minor in gender studies, Latin, or art history.
If you made it this far, thanks 🙏🏼 & hit me with any ideas!
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No experience her either, but I have an extended family member who will be impacted by this when they apply in a couple years. Please come back and update us if/when you know more. Best of luck navigating the process!
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I joined the same sorority my older sister was in (at the same school). It was nice to have an ‘automatic’ set of friends. I was President of my pledge class and later Service Chairperson. I think it enhanced my resume and leadership skills; my first internship was a direct result of an alumna connection. All that said, by senior year I was over it and de-activated. It was time consuming and expensive and I really just wanted to study, spend time with my boyfriend (DH), and get ready for grad school.
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DD thinks Lit & Psych went fairly well last week. She’ll finish with Stats on Thursday. She’s worried because she thinks her brain has hit the wall and is already in summer mode. I told her to do whatever mind tricks necessary to stay in school mode for a few more days; she also takes her final ACT next Sunday!
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6 hours ago, Gary Balance said:
If you want to learn the basics of writing a letter of recommendation and found difficult in writing a letter, so you should look into it.
https://medium.com/@vacancyoptions
Reported
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There we’re definitely many schools who switched to pass/fail grades during Covid. It would not look out of place at all.
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28 minutes ago, MamaSprout said:
I made a dummy student account for the Common App and invited myself to be a counselor. The who thing seems much more do-able now that I have a sense of what we will need. Much less scary.
That’s on my to-do list for next week! Thanks for making it seem do-able. I know none of this stuff is rocket science, but I’ve just been mildly dreading it so long it’s become a habit!
Today I banged out a pretty decent first draft of my counselor letter. Shared that and school profile with my oldest DD for some feedback. She’s an excellent writer and just a very good sounding board on most things. I’ll incorporate her feedback into second drafts by next week.
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Nice work, everyone! Thanks to some cool, rainy weather over the long weekend, I made significant progress in our basement playroom/storage space. DD12 and I pulled most things out, cleaned thoroughly, and re-arranged the furniture after washing and replacing the slipcovers on couch & chair. We eliminated a couple of bags of ‘stuff’ (that I’ve already trashed or dropped off for donation) and she created a new craft/work space.
Unfortunately, I didn’t touch the huge, overstuffed bookcase of homeschool stuff nor the 10 or so bankers’ boxes of books. I really need to downsize the collection, but haven’t found the motivation to begin! At least the room is decluttered and clean, which will reduce my aversion to that room, anyway!!
We are scheduled to finish our school year by Saturday morning, so beginning next week, I will at least have much more time on my hands!
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1 hour ago, MamaSprout said:
My ulcer is fired up and ready.
Same, except my anxiety-induced illness of choice is debilitating insomnia! 😆
Let the fun begin!
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Welp, I told myself I’d get started working on DD’s college app stuff in June, and here we are!
I have a pretty good start on her transcripts and course descriptions. Both need to be updated with end of the year stuff and plans for 12th grade. Today I began my first draft of the school profile. I have some rough thoughts re: her counselor letter, but haven’t begun writing it.
She and I will sit down next week to refine her list of schools, establish a timeline, and begin making to-do lists: essays she’ll need to write, test scores she’ll need to send, LOR’s she’ll need to request, etc. She’s very laid-back and easy-going; I think this process will be much smoother than with either of my first two (but they both attended PS for high school, so luckily I was much more hands-off).
Any words of wisdom? Beyond the priceless wisdom contained in the pinned motherlode threads (literally don’t know what I’d do without them)?! Anyone else ready to begin the college application process?
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9 hours ago, bibiche said:
I was wondering what type of student would be ready to go abroad first semester. I was thinking it would only be for mature, dedicated students who don’t need the hand-holding that first year (and more!) students seem to require, but then I saw that these are satellites of the actual universities and it made more sense. They can still keep a close eye on their young students and provide them with the same support and services they’d receive at home. No way the typical first year student could integrate into a large university in another country.
Yes, I had similar thoughts. Not sure my DD would even qualify for Rome Start as she has never lived abroad nor completed a study-abroad during high school. But, since she moved away from home at age 13 to train with professional ballet companies’ schools, living in Dallas, Seattle, Miami, and NYC, she has plenty of experience navigating new places, living independently, and mixing with all sorts of people. Hopefully we can make a case that she’d be a good fit (that is, if she decides this is something she wants to pursue).
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1 hour ago, SDMomof3 said:
How many hours a week did you dd spend on Latin?
She said, “probably about 2-4 hours depending on the week.”
She is a v fast, efficient, organized worker. And she isn’t a perfectionist. Does reasonably well, but not perfect scores by any means!
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28 minutes ago, NewnameC said:
I don’t know anything about that program.
I have an acquaintance whose son planned to do this program.
https://international.fsu.edu/FYA.aspx
(Our paths no longer cross, so I can’t tell you how it went.)
Oh, that look s interesting, too. I’ll take a closer look when I have time later.
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Stumbled across this program: https://www.luc.edu/internationaladmission/romestart/
DD is very intrigued. Does anyone have any first hand experience with this program? Does anyone know of other similar programs? Essentially a study-abroad program that students do as freshmen rather than as an upperclassman, where their merit scholarship will fully apply. I feel like this would really be a great way to kick off the university experience *for the right student*! We’ve traveled a lot internationally and DD has taken a lot of (and loves) classical studies, Latin, and art history in addition to her career interest in nursing or prep for med school.
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On 5/26/2021 at 7:30 PM, WTM said:
Nothing like moving to help you figure out how to winnow mercilessly.
How about you do a thought exercise where you pretend you're moving?
I keep telling people I need to either (1) move house or (2) have a baby so I go through the nesting and all the cleaning/purging/organizing that goes with it! I’m definitely too old for a baby, and I have no interest in moving, so I guess I’ll have to buckle down and find other motivation to clean out our basement playroom and storage area. Youngest is 12 so we should be able to get rid of most toys, right?! I really need to purge 15 years worth of homeschool curriculum and book hoarding! I guess I’ll just advertise for free on local boards; I don’t find attempts to sell at all worth the time/trouble!
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2 hours ago, MamaSprout said:
I wish dd had room in her schedule. Who is teaching this? ETA- maybe link it here? Outschool's search feature needs work.
Not @Farrar, but I think I found it!
https://outschool.com/classes/ap-comparative-government-part-one-sQUUXImL?sectionUid=34f1eaea-a7e1-4c2c-b96e-4b1ba1f54d61#usDy2IjqlqIt looks really good; I also wish DD had time/space in her schedule for it!
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1 hour ago, Dmmetler said:
Mine-planning to major in bio with a focus on organismal. High school includes Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry, Microbiology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Animal Behavior, Geology, and a lot of special projects. Not only got into multiple schools and honors colleges but some really great scholarship offers as well. (Before high school, science included college level general bio and chem, animal A&P, invertebrate biology/entomology, limnology, and, of course, a lot of herpetology). Science actually has the LEAST outside coursework with grades of any subject area, although some really, really awesome letter of recommendation.
Said very gently and with deep respect for the hard work you and your profoundly gifted student have done over the years, I just want to point out for the OP and others who might read this and gasp, feeling inadequate, this is not at all typical, expected, or standard. I would venture to guess this high school science progression is accomplished by .01? .001? of students?
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If you’re interested in an online AP Bio class, another/a new option is Blue Tent. DD will take it in the fall, so no btdt experience yet, but we’ve been happy with all other classes taken there. We considered the PAH class, but reviews were pretty mixed.
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@PeterPan Thank you. I’ll pass these resources along.
Need some more on-target schools
in The College Board
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Ah, interesting insights on Georgetown and Vanderbilt. We’re reluctant to do ED anywhere due to cost. It’s such a gamble.
I see what you’re saying about Belmont. Let me dig into their site a bit. Thanks again for sharing.