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College mail is beginning to arrive!


Granny_Weatherwax
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I have a sophomore, but I am not ready to go through this process again! Everything I learned from older ds's college search has to be thrown out the window for ds16. This one is a baseball player who struggles a bit academically and has no interests other than sports and hanging with friends. Quite frankly, I am scared to go through the college search with him.

 

But...he is excited to start the process. He asks daily if I have started researching. He asked yesterday if he should start practicing for the SAT. Like you, we will definitely start looking at colleges this summer.

 

I just wish he had some kind of passion other than sports and friends. It would inspire him academically and inspire me to start the process.

 

Best wishes to you, though! I had fun doing this with my older son.

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I think we may try to squeeze in a college visit or two this summer.

 

Is anyone else doing early planning with their sophomore?

I started the process last summer for my current junior. We made a couple of college visits because we happened to be in the area visiting friends. Since my son is so busy this year with outside & AP courses, I'm glad we made some early visits. He will make a second visit to any places we went to in the summer that he is seriously considering after being accepted so he can be there during the term. The summer visits were great, but the campuses were a bit quiet, and he wasn't able to meet with professors in his department of interest at every school since some were on vacation.

 

This son also has different interests/needs from his older brother, so we are looking at completely different schools.

 

We enjoyed getting all the college mail the first time around after the PSAT, but this time, my younger guy and I agreed that he wouldn't sign up for the college search service through the College Board. Now, the only mail he's getting is from the schools that he's approached directly.

 

We also put a lot of time last summer into preparing for the SAT & PSAT. He took both in October.

 

Brenda

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I'm still trying to pull my head out of the sand, where I put it after the last kid headed off to college!

 

Seriously, with #4 I can't bear to put in more than ten minutes of effort at any one time. Too overwhelming! My enthusiasm for the process has got up and went...(It doesn't help that everything I learned about LAC's and engineering schools is irrelevant to #4, who wants music.)

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So how soon after the PSAT does the mail/e-mail deluge start? We've gotten only a couple of postcards, not the flood we've been led to expect; does it just take longer than I anticipated? Or to rephrase, how long until I have to start appeasing my mail carrier with cookies?

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My ds got his first two PSAT emails today.

 

So...soon! Oddly, my son has an email address just for college stuff and supplied that one for the PSAT, but he's also getting messages from colleges at his regular email address. I wonder what list they bought.

 

I know we'll probably be sick to death of this stuff in a few months, but for right now, it's kind of exciting to find out what schools are out there.

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Yes, our eldest ds is sophomore. Scheduling college visits, a must from our perspective, isn't going to be a piece of cake so he and I have been doing a lot of planning. We have our visit done and four or five more to go. Since our middle boy will leave the following year, and our youngest two years after that, we have A LOT of crazy college prep to do. The middle boy is already very seriously into his college search.

 

It's fun! It's also somewhat heart tugging for me because in a whirlwind, they'll be gone.

 

Faith

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DD, a sophomore, will be visiting some schools this summer and next fall, as she is my third kid to send off, and we have this down to a science, now ;-)

One goal is to take the ACT/SAT early to get an idea of scores, so as to help select schools to visit. Another goal is to visit early, and help her next year select a few schools, and do the bulk of the applications/essays etc. over the summer before her senior year. That way there is less to do once senior year starts, and she can concentrate on schoolwork and perhaps one last ACT/SAT, rather than on applying to schools.

 

If it doesn't look like she is merit aid material, then our local cc will be the way to start. That is what I did back in the olden times of yore - and what her big sister is doing now. But this last kid wants to try and copy her big brother (my Honors Jr. at a local LAC) and win merit scholarships. She certainly is working hard at this goal! But if she ends up at the local CC first, at least she will have visited schools and have a good idea of where she wants to transfer to.

 

I went to two cc's, a state school, a LAC, then UCLA and lastly Northwestern. Plus a couple on-line courses while at CC (and I taught at a college and a university br)iefly I know my way around applying to colleges ;-)Waiting for the PSAT results.... dd wants to visit University of Minnesota at Twin Cites....I need to see if that is within range. Economically it is (I took her big sister to visit a couple years back, too.)

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We've had so much college mail over the past eight years that I ignore it -- if a kid is interested in a school he/she contacts the school directly. And my kids are expert at deleting the emails, but...

 

This year's college mail has definitely begun with a HUGE rush. Dd woke up this morning to TWELVE emails from colleges sent since late last night!

 

Maybe the colleges are sensing that more people are questioning the college decision so are preemptively being more assertive about advertising?

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I might add - the LAC that my son is at we had never heard of ...until they kept mailing us stuff. I finally looked them up on-line. They looked good - we visited. Long story short - out of 11 (ok, too many) schools applied to and 9 acceptances - ds ended up at the LAC we had never heard of before they sent us mailings.

 

You never know.

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DS, a sophomore, has started to receive college brochures and pamphlets. I love it. I am hoping the information will create some excitement and give him ideas of where he wants to attend.

 

I think we may try to squeeze in a college visit or two this summer.

 

Is anyone else doing early planning with their sophomore?

 

My sophomore got his first piece of mail today from University of "Bleed Purple" Evansville. It's a school known for its drama department, I believe, which I don't see my son doing, but he does attend a school with a good drama department.

 

Most of the mail my son's been getting has been glossy catalogs of expensive summer service trips. I would like to go on those!

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I find it interesting how different the experiences are.

 

DS received two from top tier schools and that's it. Nothing from Wash U. (something must be wrong here :) ) and nothing from instate schools.

 

I am disappointed. I have these romantic notions of making files and lists and sitting around the fire discussing club opportunities, internship options and possible majors.

 

DD's high school years were kind of tumultuous and I never had the chance to do much of the college search with her. She now wishes she had paid more attention to my counsel.

 

DS is my only hope to get to plan road trips and such. I will make sure he checks every stinking box the next time he takes the ACT and PSAT.

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and some random MO Science and Tech that I've NEVER heard of...

 

 

That is the former Missouri School of Mines, later University of Missouri-Rolla, which was renamed into Missouri University of Science and Technology a few years ago.

Gets pretty good ratings for ROI and is top public school in Newsweek's most affordable schools list for out-of state students.

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My freshman has received mail from Reed, Stanford and Wash U so far. She was most excited, though, about a gymnastics recruiting questionnaire from WVU. Go figure!

 

ETA: also SMU and Brenau, neither of which is a likely match, but this early, it is all still fun.

 

Terri

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That is the former Missouri School of Mines, later University of Missouri-Rolla, which was renamed into Missouri University of Science and Technology a few years ago.

Gets pretty good ratings for ROI and is top public school in Newsweek's most affordable schools list for out-of state students.

We were looking at their summer camp offerings last week. I showed the eldest the explosives camp description and I thought his eyes were going to pop out. The mining and nuclear energy camp looked cool too.

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For your junior, would it pique his interest if he did a few college visits? Perhaps he can't see himself anywhere but home.

 

 

Four things today!

 

I've considered it, but he tells me he knows what college is all about because he went on visits with his brothers...and being the last one he feels he has experienced it all :p He's currently taking classes at our local 4 year regional university so he's getting some experience. He has definitely decided he needs something more than this particular university although he is being tempted with getting a full ride there because at 16 he has better ACT scores and grades than needed for the top scholarships and the administration has talked with him about it. I'll just keep prodding and pushing the mail under his nose :)

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he is being tempted with getting a full ride there because at 16 he has better ACT scores and grades than needed for the top scholarships and the administration has talked with him about it.

 

This sounds exciting (even if it isn't something he isn't interested in or chooses to do). Congratulations to you and your son on his accomplishments.

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I have to laugh. DS has received a few letters from schools with inserts that have his area of interest preprinted on the form letter.

 

My favorite so far said something to the tune of "Hey, we see you are interested in Marine Biology. You should come check us out."

 

I looked online at the Biology Department and the school doesn't even have a Marine Biology major, minor or club. I am not even sure it has a fish tank anywhere on campus.

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I love the ones that slot the student's name into the letter eight or nine times. My friend's son goes by a nickname, but his given name is Rhadamanthus. His mom showed me a college letter that had me giggling like a fool in Starbucks. "Hi, Rhadamanthus! Rhadamanthus, have you ever considered AreaCollege as part of your future? Since you're interested in geology, Rhadamanthus, give us a look. Rhadamanthus, schedule your tour and information session today!"

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I love the ones that slot the student's name into the letter eight or nine times.

 

That reminds me of the one that my daughter received where the college had clearly had a mail merge issue. It was along the lines of "Hi, STUDENT NAME! STUDENT NAME, have you ever considered AreaCollege as part of your future? ...." And, yes, it actually used 'STUDENT NAME'!

 

Regards,

Kareni

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That reminds me of the one that my daughter received where the college had clearly had a mail merge issue. It was along the lines of "Hi, STUDENT NAME! STUDENT NAME, have you ever considered AreaCollege as part of your future? ...." And, yes, it actually used 'STUDENT NAME'! Regards, Kareni

 

I love the ones that slot the student's name into the letter eight or nine times. My friend's son goes by a nickname, but his given name is Rhadamanthus. His mom showed me a college letter that had me giggling like a fool in Starbucks. "Hi, Rhadamanthus! Rhadamanthus, have you ever considered AreaCollege as part of your future? Since you're interested in geology, Rhadamanthus, give us a look. Rhadamanthus, schedule your tour and information session today!"

 

That's hilarious! I need to open ds's letters now and see what they are like. He isn't too motivated to do it :p

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That is the former Missouri School of Mines, later University of Missouri-Rolla, which was renamed into Missouri University of Science and Technology a few years ago.

Gets pretty good ratings for ROI and is top public school in Newsweek's most affordable schools list for out-of state students.

 

My daughter got mail from this school a couple of days ago. I looked so informed when I was able to tell her, confidently, that it used to be called the MO School of Mines and is a pretty good small engineering school. We also laughed that their brochure touted campus safety. Good to know, of course, but not what I would think of putting in my marketing brochure. We figured it was code for "located waaaaaay out in the boonies with no neighbors other than the cows and sheep." Not that that is a bad thing, of course.

 

My favorite letter so far has been from UVa engineering--it was one page and very specific, not glossy, and it did nothing more than sell their program. I am sure their marketing person will be fired after this. She received it on the same day she got something from Swarthmore, which proclaimed that their faculty are "pushing the envelope of human understanding." She said, "I don't even know what that means," and we decided it probably means that she is not Swarthmore material. Their loss!

 

Terri

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...We figured it was code for "located waaaaaay out in the boonies with no neighbors other than the cows and sheep." Not that that is a bad thing, of course.

 

...She received it on the same day she got something from Swarthmore, which proclaimed that their faculty are "pushing the envelope of human understanding." She said, "I don't even know what that means," and we decided it probably means that she is not Swarthmore material. Their loss!

 

Terri

 

I liked the brochure that said, "No fences. No gates." We puzzled over that one a bit until we looked at the competition.

 

I'm still happy that my youngest looked up the crime statistics for the area of the school that phoned multiple times and offered him (as a sophomore!) free tuition if he would come. That's something I wouldn't have thought to do. They were horrific.

 

It seems like most of the engineering brochures that came for youngest all had the buzz-words "global" "leadership" "hands-on" "real-world problems" "project-oriented" "innovative" and "collaborative". We laughed over this because the college the older two were at was doing this and these other colleges probably couldn't do it nearly as well. Did they require that all freshmen have a passport? That is "global". Did a large portion of the students take welding? That is "hand-on". Is there an honour code? Is there a cap-stone project? Do they split the students into groups and penalize the whole group if one person does something wrong? THAT is collaborative. I don't think that marketing was aimed at our particular family LOL.

 

Nan

 

ETA - And you know, although I remember that brochure with the palm tree and white beach well, I can't actually remember which college sent it... oops...

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We also laughed that their brochure touted campus safety. Good to know, of course, but not what I would think of putting in my marketing brochure. We figured it was code for "located waaaaaay out in the boonies with no neighbors other than the cows and sheep." Not that that is a bad thing, of course.

 

 

I think it can be a very good marketing argument. We are actually eliminating one very good school, in a for us convenient location, due to campus safety concerns.

 

As a grad student, I spent a few months at a university where students had a student escort service walking them between classes and the library because it was too dangerous to walk alone on campus. All ladies' restrooms in the lab building were locked and only females had keys, but nevertheless there were emergency call cables a foot above the ground in all stalls so that you could reach them and call police if somebody threw you to the ground. A very disconcerting experience that would greatly distract from fully participating in college life.

 

We are definitely investigating crime stats for any school where DD applies and are considering campus safety an important issue.

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I think it can be a very good marketing argument. We are actually eliminating one very good school, in a for us convenient location, due to campus safety concerns.

 

As a grad student, I spent a few months at a university where students had a student escort service walking them between classes and the library because it was too dangerous to walk alone on campus. All ladies' restrooms in the lab building were locked and only females had keys, but nevertheless there were emergency call cables a foot above the ground in all stalls so that you could reach them and call police if somebody threw you to the ground. A very disconcerting experience that would greatly distract from fully participating in college life.

 

We are definitely investigating crime stats for any school where DD applies and are considering campus safety an important issue.

 

YIKES! Might one enquire where this school located?

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YIKES! Might one enquire where this school located?

 

The one with the escort service and the bathroom cables? That was UPenn in the 90s. To be fair, I hear it has gotten much better in Philly and crime is way down, that must have been the worst time - but the experience clearly highlights to me the need to look at the crime stats for any school where I think of sending my child.

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The one with the escort service and the bathroom cables? That was UPenn in the 90s. To be fair, I hear it has gotten much better in Philly and crime is way down, that must have been the worst time - but the experience clearly highlights to me the need to look at the crime stats for any school where I think of sending my child.

 

Fair warning. Thanks.

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Five pieces today! Some of them are pretty funny--somehow knowing that a school flies the UN flag is not something that's going to get ds to apply...

 

My daughter received a big fat envelope today from a school in Minnesota. The envelope had a quote from famous alum Kofi Annan. It's not making the short list.

 

Terri

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The one with the escort service and the bathroom cables? That was UPenn in the 90s. To be fair, I hear it has gotten much better in Philly and crime is way down, that must have been the worst time - but the experience clearly highlights to me the need to look at the crime stats for any school where I think of sending my child.

 

U of Chicago is similar. It's main campus is located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago which has a lot of serious crime -- numerous break-ins, robberies, sexual assaults and random murders. Although the campus feels safe enough, the crime can get really bad, really fast just a few blocks away and that crime does filter onto the campus occasionally.

 

Despite the numerous safety precautions -- blue light safety columns, phones in bathrooms, good shuttle service, a small army of security (not sure if it's still the largest in the Midwest) -- if my child went there I'd want him to be extremely cautious.

 

Crime stats for that area and a College Confidential discussion of crime at U of C.

 

http://www.uchicago.edu/community/safety/reports/violentcrime/

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vibe/the-university-of-chicago/comments12.html

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The one with the escort service and the bathroom cables? That was UPenn in the 90s. To be fair, I hear it has gotten much better in Philly and crime is way down, that must have been the worst time - but the experience clearly highlights to me the need to look at the crime stats for any school where I think of sending my child.

 

 

I know a young woman who is currently taking a class at UPenn through a reciprocity arrangement that her college has with them. I asked about the bathroom cables and the escort service. She reports that the bathroom cables are present in the library's bathrooms but not in all the academic buildings. There is still an escort service.

 

She has said it is interesting to note the differences in the safety announcements she receives from Penn versus those she receives from her own campus safety office. Penn's tend to announcements reporting armed burglaries and the like; her own campus' safety announcements are more along the line of 'student reported missing; student later found to be in in library' or 'drunk student escorted to infirmary'.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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The one with the escort service and the bathroom cables? That was UPenn in the 90s. To be fair, I hear it has gotten much better in Philly and crime is way down, that must have been the worst time - but the experience clearly highlights to me the need to look at the crime stats for any school where I think of sending my child.

 

Ha. I went to Temple for my undergraduate degree. Very similar. I could tell you stories. Glad to hear things have changed. DS16 may consider it.

My daughter received a big fat envelope today from a school in Minnesota. The envelope had a quote from famous alum Kofi Annan. It's not making the short list.

 

Terri

 

Oooh - I think I know that school. Went off our list too. Ds got an early acceptance last year, but no merit. That bummed us out.

Lisabees, my freshman is like this. He is very much the typical jock. Therefore, we are looking at sending him to college for a degree in the kinesiology field. There are many different fields to choose from, some of which I never would have thought. He seems most interested in majoring in athletic training with a minor in either coaching or recreation program management. Time will tell how this pans out.

******

Adding to the rest of the conversation...

 

I have two juniors this year, and the amount of college mail is unreal. Yesterday we got somewhere between 10-15 letters from as many schools. I'm drowning in college mail!

 

Ds would love to go to school for something like that. I have never truly researched it, though. I really should, as he is now talking business. I think those classes might just bore him to death! He cannot sit behind a desk and be happy.

 

As far as mail, I tell my kids to mark on the PSAT that they do not want contact with any schools. They very, very rarely get college junk mail.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Gotta love the day after Presidents' Day--seven pieces today!

 

 

Only 3 here today plus one from some College Assistance deal that opened by saying my son (insert his name) has an appointment with them blah, blah, blah... call to set up the time... we find money, money, money, first visit is free, but then we offer additional "stuff" (with no costs listed, of course). That REALLY irritated me as someone who is new to all of this could fall for their wording. It's merely a scam like many others, but it just seems to promise more except for their one sentence saying they can't guarantee anything. Their first sentence literally makes you think your kid set up an appointment with them (or someone did). IF so, why do we need to call to get a specific day and time?

 

Deceptive advertising at its best (worst?)!

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My alma mater finally came through Saturday. They are a little late to the party (well not really--she is a freshman), but I sent my family a picture of the brochure with the caption, "CalTech who? Now this is some mail to be proud of." I don't know if I would want her to go there anyway, but it was still fun to hear from them.

 

Terri

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Macalester? Are you saying you'd not consider a school(which has some pretty good stats) merely because of one certain alumni? I find that a bit odd. I can see the weather, maybe, playing a part, but most universities graduate a whole spectrum of people.....

 

 

Yep, I would cross one of the twelve thousand colleges out there off of the list because of the alum they choose to feature on their envelope. And that was such a nice thing to say--"odd." Made my day.

 

Anyway, she got mail today from my alma mater's arch rival--truly, there is no rivalry that approaches this one. I burned it and sent her video of the card's going up in flames.

 

Terri

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