You might want to think about his final career goals. If he is heading into academia, I suspect going the BS/MS route is THE way to go. Then he can apply to grad school for his Ph.D. with some VERY advanced classwork already under his belt. If he is heading into industry, he might want to investigate whether having a MS in comp sci is helpful or not. I have heard that it is not, but YMMV and I suspect there is a broad spectrum of opinions on that one.

We filled in the class names for the spring semester classes but put (planned) after the title. that way the college could know what dd was interested in taking but she still had flexibility in case the class filled up before her turn to register.

My son's experience studying abroad was VERY mixed, but he went for an entire year. It totally derailed him academically (he realized that he wanted to switch majors before he went but Oxford doesn't let you change your tutorials once you sign up, so he had to stick with his original plan). Since your dd's program would only be for 9 weeks and would be during the summer, I can think of NO academic negatives and lots of positives, both academic and in terms of employment. My kids have had both grad programs and employers act VERY happy that they had spent time abroad (one academic, one for an internship), though whether it is because of their broadening their horizons or just as an indicator of independence I don't know.

I think you definitely get the "last kid to leave home" award! Sounds like she will have a great year!

Distance is also relative. I have a kid in Maine and another Chicago, both 16 hours away by car, so I consider my youngest "close to home" even though she is 4.25 hours away by car! Hey -- I can drive to her college and back in one day if I have to, so it's "close" (for certain values of close!).

If it's the right school for the right kid, go for it! Regardless of distance! But -- do be aware that going to a far-away school does increase the chances of your kid finding that significant other and either staying in the area or relocating even further away! (I know -- kids can go to the college down the street, marry their hometown honey, and still end up living on the other side of the country, but attending a college far away from home does increase the risk!) Do NOT underestimate the desirability of having a good airport nearby! Our ds2 lives in a region far away from any airport. For him to fly home he has to drive to the nearest big city (4 hours away) and do a flight with one layover or drive to the closer city (1.5 hours away) and do a flight with two layovers! He's found the 16-hour drive to be preferable.....but obviously he doesn't do that very often! Going from small city to small city by plane is a difficult process.....

I have two nieces and a nephew who attended a top prep school for high school. Despite the school's amazing reputation, they took oodles of tests -- SAT-2's, SAT, ACT, etc. (They only took a handful of AP's because the school had moved beyond them, but they did take a handful of AP's.) My dh and I took lots of tests in high school. We went to a top public high school in MA, and basically every honors-track student at our school spent lots of Saturdays filling in bubbles. So I guess I don't think twice about homeschoolers needing to take tests. At schools where the admissions rate is 20% or less, the schools get to call the admissions shots. (Now, why less prestigious colleges require more tests of homeschoolers is a complete mystery to me! But it's their loss -- if homeschoolers don't apply, the colleges loses out on some great students!)

Dd2 is enjoying life. She is a transfer, and she is loving living in an on-campus apartment with three apartment-mates. She has a fairly light schedule this year -- due to an abundance of transfer credits she is taking a minimum full-time load. She is loving having lots of practice time, and for the first time in about eight years she actually has some FREE TIME!!!!! She got a horrible cold last week that turned into an infection, but a trip to the medical center resulting in a prescription for an antibiotic seems to be helping. Last year dd drove 4 hours each way once every three weeks or so for an organ lesson. This year she has a weekly lesson with the same prof. She is LOVING seeing him on a weekly basis!

And you can always apply without the required tests. Much to my surprise, one young lady I know was accepted to multiple colleges that required SAT-2's, even though she had not only no SAT-2's but no AP's and no CC classes. So weird things happen sometimes! I am NOT recommending applying without the required materials, but I am mentioning this under the "you just never know" category. If I didn't know the young lady in question pretty well I'm not sure I would have believed it, but I do and she did. Who knows what goes on in the minds of admissions people.....

The funny thing is that I had always thought science was a more expensive area and humanities were less expensive for colleges. I'm finding out the analysis isn't so simple -- as a music major, dd has lots of hands-on classes with 6 or 7 students. It takes a lot of profs to provide those classes! Also, the cost of instruments is a huge issue. While violinists bring their instruments, organists and others who play "odd" instruments often have them provided. (One college had a leak in their instrument storage facility, which is how this issue came to my attention -- the loss was quite significant!) And one nice organ will run in the millions.

The homeschool coop that I teach a class at has a bewildering array of contact options -- through Edmodo, through the coop website, and of course plain old email. I am having to tell my students which option(s) I will use at which times. And I thought technology was supposed to make things simpler!

What kind of things add up at a private uni that don't add up at a public one?

Mostly the financial offers came a week or two after the acceptances. Dd1 did have one weird school that wanted her to accept a merit aid offer in January or lose it. She lost it! (This was not a ED school). It's high stress, but mostly it seems to somehow work out. I do know a few people who have had to attend CC because finances didn't work out the way the families wanted, but that is by far the exception, not the rule. Every family has a different version of how the finances worked out, but mostly the do. Breathe deeply. It will somehow work out. Breathe deeply again. And pour yourself a glass of wine! :crying:

We definitely had merit aid packages that merely served to put the potential school into the financial realm of what we would consider for that school. I think the term "false merit aid" may be harsh, but I do understand why some might use that term. It is funny how often merit aid packages from wildly different schools end up with the schools costing VERY similar amounts..... But I disagree that all or even most college merit aid is based on parental income. Merit aid serves as a carrot to get kids to consider schools that, for whatever reason, they might not be whole-hearted about attending without the financial incentive. I am concerned that by not speaking out about my kids' experience I will merely further cynicism about a messed-up system. Since my kids were accepted to a wide range of schools, I do know both what the FAFSA thought we should pay and what top colleges seemed to think we should pay. And then there was Washington & Lee, where thanks to the outrageous generosity of an alum named Johnson who gave $100M to the school, 10% of the students receive a full-ride (in addition to other merit aid for other students). The Johnson Scholars come from all kinds of backgrounds -- the only requirement is to be extremely talented. And students can also apply for Johnson grants for the summer -- again, regardless of parental income. This enabled my dd to spend a summer doing an unpaid internship in Holland and another summer doing an unpaid internship at the Smithsonian. You may feel that parental income should be taken into account, but for better or for worse, the summer grants, like the Johnson Scholarships, are allocated purely on the basis of the student proposals. And we are very thankful to Mr. Johnson. Merit aid can be purely that -- merit aid. And if the program interests you, check out Washington & Lee!

The funny thing is that having kids leave IS a blessing. (Yes, I'm still cry at the drop of a hat because dd2 just left.....) But my 25yo has been living at home for the past three years -- one because he worked nearby and another two because he was getting a master's at the Public Ivy down the street from us. But now he is ready to leave, and he can't find a job. So please when you are sad that your kids are leaving, remember also that you are blessed that they ARE leaving -- strange as that may sound. They are moving forward into their future. Some families have adult children who will never leave home due to disabilities. As much as we may mourn our kids leaving, we really do want them to leave! Their not being able to leave -- whether due to disability or lack of a job -- is NOT a desirable alternative!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/achenblog/wp/2015/08/24/at-college-drop-off-weepfest-remember-these-three-words/?tid=sm_fb This is an article about the "dropping the kid off at college weepfest". At least those of us weepfest participants know we have company!

Ask the college. Don't assume. * How many DE credits can a student have and still apply as a freshman? * Are transfers eligible for most merit aid opportunities? Our experience -- dd2 applied this spring as a transfer student. She received about the same amount of merit aid from the same caliber schools as she did when she applied the year before as a freshman. Since I had heard that transfers don't really receive any merit aid, I was pleasantly surprised .

Thanks. The hardest part was going to the grocery store yesterday and realizing that I have no reason to buy cottage cheese. No on else eats it, but my youngest ate it like there was no tomorrow. Funny how a little thing can nearly trigger tears. (I can just imagine trying to explain to some stranger in the grocery that I am crying because I no longer need to buy cottage cheese!) Ds1 is job-hunting, which is a beyond-painful process for an introvert. He would like to be gone from the nest but has nowhere to go. This part of parenting is just heart-breaking. So oddly enough, at this point I look forward to having a really empty nest!

I skipped orientation. Dd2 is child #4.I think both she and I knew that I wasn't going to learn much by attending. She is put-together and can figure everything out on her own. We never talked about my bugging out after lunch before all the lectures and talks. Parents were invited to stay until 7:30. But after lunch, she stood up, gave me a hug, and left. Quick, sweet, and done. I'm still reeling 5 days later, but she is launched and I didn't cry (much). Safe sailing to all of our "little ones" who are now setting their own sails!

My daughter has Type 1 diabetes, not a learning disability, so our experience may be atypical, but ..... 1) We have dealt with accommodations at three colleges (long story there....) All three had VERY set policies, and as long as you followed the set policies they were reasonable to deal with. 2) If a doctor said an accommodations was required, no questions were asked. Any accommodation not listed by the doctor was automatically suspect. 3) For legal reasons (according to a very close friend who is a dean of students), accommodations must be requested and legal formalities must be followed. Some profs will just "be nice", but colleges discourage this for legal reasons -- bending the way things are done can be seen as unfair to other students if things are not handled according to the accommodations documentation.

Dropped dd2 off at college yesterday. She is a transfer and is living in upper-class housing, so much to my surprise and amusement we didn't meet a single sole on campus in the 5 hours we were there! (Upperclassmen were helping freshmen move into the freshman dorms, but she doesn't live there!) There were three other lonely transfers moving into her 100-person apartment complex, but no one (including an RA) said more than hi. Her apartment-mates are all moving in tomorrow. Dd2 left right after lunch for a mandatory meeting, and I managed to not cry too much! She has met a bunch of people and is enjoying herself.....

We held off telling older dd about younger dd's diagnosis with a serious physical condition. Telling her immediately wouldn't have changed anything, and dd1 was in the middle of final exams. (The delay was only about 48 hours.) Since older dd was leaving straight for Holland for six weeks with no time at home, we all drove out to tell her in person and have a quick family visit. Older dd always respected how we dealt with that.

Thank you all!

Drop-off for my last is Tuesday, but in order to be there at 8 a.m. we are leaving tomorrow. I was watching her play in church today (she's an organist) unable to really understand that this was her last "performance" here -- going to hear her play at churches, performances, competitions, and accompaniment gigs has been my part-time job for years! Dh is with his family because of a death in the family, so I'm doing this alone. GULP! I am choosing the post-drop-off music carefully and bringing lots of kleenex. This past week Dd2 has been hanging out with friends almost non-stop. I think she may be preparing for dorm life! Hugs to everyone about to do drop-off. I think this is one of the hardest moments in parenting.

I think how many hours a college students works depends on -- 1) The student's other commitments. A sport team? A Greek organization? Heavy involvement with theater productions? Those will all seriously limit the number of hours a student should work. (And sometimes those "extracurricular" activities can be more meaningful or more career-related than the actual classwork! Extracurriculars aren't necessarily just fun and games.) 2) The types of classes. Lab? Heavy writing requirements? Heavy reading load? One semester ds1 spent 12 hours a week in class and dd1 spent 23 hours a week in class. They were at the same college and he was triple-majoring. But the classes were VERY different -- she had a lot of labs. 3) Student preparedness and subject-specific academic ability. For example, since dd2 is transferring, she needs to take two classes this semester that she has already covered the material for. These classes should be super-easy for her. But last year she found a writing-intensive philosophy freshman seminar ate up every hour of her available time and then some, even though she got a great score in an English AP exam and definitely was "academically prepared" for it. She is not a humanities person, and she found that class beyond challenging. Two of that type of class in the same semester would have totally sunk her. 4) Student reaction to stress. Some kids thrive on stress, and some just shut down. If juggling a time-intensive job would cause a kid to shut down, obviously he/she shouldn't do it. 5) Oh -- and the individual professor. Dd2 had a math class that she ended up dropping last semester due to time issues. It was a class that she should have done well in given her background and personality, but the fellow teaching it expected students to be able to regurgitate EVERYTHING. She could do the work well given enough time -- she had the highest grade in the class on homework -- but the tests required complete memorization, and she didn't have the time for it. (He was a prof with lousy reviews and lots of complaints, but it was the only math class that fit her schedule and had room. She was really not happy that the help sessions were mostly done in Chinese!) Two of her older siblings also had taken this subject at a different college, and they both thought dd2's prof was beyond the pale. Thankfully her dropping the class wasn't a problem for dd2, but it is an great example of how one class can throw time expectations to the winds. The colleges my kids have dealt with all recommend ~6-10 hours of work per week MAXIMUM for freshmen and 10-15 hours per week MAXIMUM for upperclassmen. I would take the college recommendations very seriously until a student proves that he/she can easily handle that load..(And just because John Doe down the street can do it doesn't mean your kid can!)