Who is ready to kick off college application season for Class of ‘22?

[madteaparty]

1 hour ago, Roadrunner said:

You misunderstood. It’s hard to identify them “as in stats fit right.” My kid doesn’t love any school. He is just not the type who will “love” or get excited over any college. He has academic interests and will listen to advice where he might find better academic opportunities, but he really careless about the rest. He approaches them as his does his clothes shopping - indifference to anything other than function.
 We are too far away to visit anything. We will have to decide what is a right program based on what they offer. Definitely not based on love. He will visit those he gets into and then he can decide what he likes more. If we were on the east coast where a three hour driving radius can net you dozens of amazing places, we would visit. 
@fourisenoughexactly. A lot of what would have been target seems to be sliding into a reach. A brilliant boy and my son’s classmate just got denied at UCSB. There is a collective disbelief. 
 

I got a pile of brochures on the table. He has them ranked now based on the quality of their respective marketing departments. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Send him to meeee.

 

[threedogfarm]

16 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

We will have to decide what is a right program based on what they offer. Definitely not based on love. He will visit those he gets into and then he can decide what he likes more.

That's a great idea.  We waited to visit schools that required travel by plane once we knew what the scholarship situation.  Then we did a whirlwind trip.  One school that would have been written off if we didn't visit is now under serious consideration and just might be "the" school.  I also liked the feel of visiting a college when my teen can ask, "Is this a place I'd like to be?" versus "Is this a place I'd like to be if I get in and receive enough merit aid?"

And like you, we poured through course catalogs.   

[threedogfarm]

On 3/19/2022 at 6:08 PM, Farrar said:

I think... my kid is going to Clark? Maybe. He did the admitted students day and went to a class and ate lunch with students and came home like, okay, I think I'm going to do this. SO. We're all going to sit with it for a week or so. I thought it would be Drexel!

My kid also got into Clark! Our tour at the school was fantastic.  But over the course of the application process, the choice of study has shifted which makes Clark not as great of a fit.  But we really liked the campus, which surprised me.  I didn't think the urban location would be a good fit or draw for my kid, but it was.  I loved the idea of the "Clark distance" and the library was such a hub of activity. Congratulations on a decision that's just about made!

[MamaSprout]

On 2/18/2022 at 1:03 PM, MamaSprout said:

We're narrowed down to two very different schools for engineering. Dd found out yesterday that she got a scholarship for the smaller school to make the cost difference negligible. She been overnight on both campuses and will have friends on both campuses.

She doesn't want to love the big flagship, but they keep making it hard to turn down. We're visiting there in three weeks. Pros: really good honors housing Freshman year, bustling campus, more varied food options (allergy kid), somewhat closer to home. It is less expensive, although the difference disappears if she needs a 5th year- a fairly common thing at the larger school. One of the top schools for her program in the country. Russian classes offered. Cons: bustling campus (no way to have car), more TAs teaching classes, more hoops to jump through for required humanities (so maybe harder to fit in the Russian). Lower graduation rate/ graduation on time rate, especially for her major.

Small school: Pros: better overall housing and great dorm culture. Very safe. Definitely her people. Professors she knows that she likes from a summer program. She's used to a smaller campus (DE) where it's not weird to wander into a profs office and ask a question. One of the top undergraduate programs for her major in the country... but that's a smaller set of competing schools. She could swim D3 and be involved with theater. She likes the on-campus piano prof, too. More chances to minor/ double major with the program structure. Cons: Food will be more limited for her, although the on-campus dining does a great job, other options are non-existent both in town and on campus. Small campuses are like some towns, everyone knows everyone's business. No Russian. Neutral? (but relevant): her long-distance boyfriend of almost a year is very likely to go to the small school. Dd had strong inclinations towards the small school before she met him, but it does muddy things a bit.

I guess we're probably going to be down to gut feeling after the visit to the flagship in a few weeks. It seems like there should be a more scientific process for such a big choice, lol.

I'm quoting myself because we've done a visit to both. 

Big engineering school's honors housing/ program was astonishing. It's set up like the British education system- so each floor of the residence is a "house" and there is a great hall. Sadly, no sorting hat. The director of the ISS is an example of an upcoming speaker, and the students in each major get honors classes geared to them. The engineering honors track would be perfect for dd. The food court that can accommodate her food allergy is about a 5 minute walk. It's also the closest dorm to the academic campus. While there are Russian classes on campus, I didn't see any particular presence outside of classes. No cultural events or anything. Dd has friends on this campus, but they are all three or so years older as they are academic friends she made doing co-op language arts and science labs, so really not close enough in age to have shared experiences. The engineering accepted student day highlighted just how BIG everything is, though, and she will still be a very young freshman.

We visited her small school again Friday. The day was an ordeal because of some car trouble. We got there, though, without DH and in my DIL's van. DD has been running some of the social media for the incoming class, so she had friends that met us at the union and the swim team ate lunch with her (I grabbed another table at dealt with some work email). As an accepted student she got an individual tour... and the tour guide was training other guides, so we had three guides, lol. Dd knew the tour guide from her social media work.

While we were touring a professor stopped her car to shout a congrats to our tour guide who had just received a big research scholarship that morning. Dd loved the workshop spaces for students (she hadn't seen them before), and was a little overwhelmed by how busy the union and main public spaces were. She had only been on campus during the summer.

She wants to double major ME with International Studies, but even with the DE she's bringing in it doesn't quite work without extra time. ETA- I looked at it again. She can make it work if she brings in AP Micro. So do-able, but no cushion.

Since the IS department head was out, we met with the German professor, who was awesome. Unfortunately, that professor is on sabbatical next year and the professor who is most knowledgable about what would be dd's geographic area of specialty is retiring, so dd needs to weigh how that would work for her. She's something of an expert-generalist kid, so she really does want to balance the STEM with something else. She's likely to do grad school outside of engineering.

She could swim there, and she's always better academically when she's swimming. The team lacks the cattiness we've seen on other swim teams, and more than half of the meets are home meets next year, so travel would be minimal.

So, I do think she's going to end up at the small school. It's just a matter of if she wants to do the double major and how to make that happen. There's talk of the school adding a concentration in IS (but no minor).

I really didn't think we'd still be undecided at this point. I'm glad we didn't do any schools as regular admit. That would have really confused things!

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by MamaSprout

[fourisenough]

9 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

I'm quoting myself because we've done a visit to both. 

Big engineering school's honors housing/ program was astonishing. It's set up like the British education system- so each floor of the residence is a "house" and there is a great hall. Sadly, no sorting hat. The director of the ISS is an example of an upcoming speaker, and the students in each major get honors classes geared to them. The engineering honors track would be perfect for dd. The food court that can accommodate her food allergy is about a 5 minute walk. It's also the closest dorm to the academic campus. While there are Russian classes on campus, I didn't see any particular presence outside of classes. No cultural events or anything. Dd has friends on this campus, but they are all three or so years older as they are academic friends she made doing co-op language arts and science labs, so really not close enough in age to have shared experiences. The engineering accepted student day highlighted just how BIG everything is, though, and she will still be a very young freshman.

We visited her small school again Friday. The day was an ordeal because of some car trouble. We got there, though, without DH and in my DIL's van. DD has been running some of the social media for the incoming class, so she had friends that met us at the union and the swim team ate lunch with her (I grabbed another table at dealt with some work email). As an accepted student she got an individual tour... and the tour guide was training other guides, so we had three guides, lol. Dd knew the tour guide from her social media work.

While we were touring a professor stopped her car to shout a congrats to our tour guide who had just received a big research scholarship that morning. Dd loved the workshop spaces for students (she hadn't seen them before), and was a little overwhelmed by how busy the union and main public spaces were. She had only been on campus during the summer.

She wants to double major ME with International Studies, but even with the DE she's bringing in it doesn't quite work without extra time. ETA- I looked at it again. She can make it work if she brings in AP Micro. So do-able, but no cushion.

Since the IS department head was out, we met with the German professor, who was awesome. Unfortunately, that professor is on sabbatical next year and the professor who is most knowledgable about what would be dd's geographic area of specialty is retiring, so dd needs to weigh how that would work for her. She's something of an expert-generalist kid, so she really does want to balance the STEM with something else. She's likely to do grad school outside of engineering.

She could swim there, and she's always better academically when she's swimming. The team lacks the cattiness we've seen on other swim teams, and more than half of the meets are home meets next year, so travel would be minimal.

So, I do think she's going to end up at the small school. It's just a matter of if she wants to do the double major and how to make that happen. There's talk of the school adding a concentration in IS (but no minor).

I really didn't think we'd still be undecided at this point. I'm glad we didn't do any schools as regular admit. That would have really confused things!

 

Thanks for the detailed update; excited to hear her final decision!

[MamaSprout]

9 minutes ago, fourisenough said:

Thanks for the detailed update; excited to hear her final decision!

Maybe TMI? I know students often debate small vs. large and I really wanted to do a PSA about how unexpectedly great an honors program can be for the right student. That, and I don’t have anyone IRL to tell this. 🙂

[matrips]

On 3/24/2022 at 5:47 PM, Roadrunner said:

You misunderstood. It’s hard to identify them “as in stats fit right.” My kid doesn’t love any school. He is just not the type who will “love” or get excited over any college. He has academic interests and will listen to advice where he might find better academic opportunities, but he really careless about the rest. He approaches them as his does his clothes shopping - indifference to anything other than function.
 We are too far away to visit anything. We will have to decide what is a right program based on what they offer. Definitely not based on love. He will visit those he gets into and then he can decide what he likes more. If we were on the east coast where a three hour driving radius can net you dozens of amazing places, we would visit. 
@fourisenoughexactly. A lot of what would have been target seems to be sliding into a reach. A brilliant boy and my son’s classmate just got denied at UCSB. There is a collective disbelief. 
 

I got a pile of brochures on the table. He has them ranked now based on the quality of their respective marketing departments. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Have you looked at the Honors Colleges within your safeties and would they be a ‘match/target’?  Or other special programs within them?  Don’t just go by the stats of the whole school. 

[matrips]

4 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

Maybe TMI? I know students often debate small vs. large and I really wanted to do a PSA about how unexpectedly great an honors program can be for the right student. That, and I don’t have anyone IRL to tell this. 🙂

No, not tmi.  We would have neglected to consider large state schools based on size and stats, except that’s where the money is.  And we found amazing opportunities available in their honors college and other special small programs.  So I think it’s a good PSA. 

[Roadrunner]

1 hour ago, matrips said:

No, not tmi.  We would have neglected to consider large state schools based on size and stats, except that’s where the money is.  And we found amazing opportunities available in their honors college and other special small programs.  So I think it’s a good PSA. 

CA schools don’t seem to have honors colleges. 

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, Roadrunner said:

CA schools don’t seem to have honors colleges. 

https://honors.ucsc.edu
https://honors.ucr.edu/admissions/requirements

http://wp.due.uci.edu/chp/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2020/10/Freshman-Handout-Discover-2020.pdf

https://honors.ucdavis.edu/admissions/freshman

https://www.duels.ucsb.edu/honors

https://revelle.ucsd.edu/academics/honors-opportunities/honors-programs.html#Revelle-Freshman-Honors-Program

ETA: I just googled. Should have more. DS16 is on spring break this week so I’m too free

Edited March 28, 2022 by Arcadia

[kokotg]

Got the financial aid package from Baldwin Wallace, and it’s surprisingly great—like a little better than what his brother gets at Macalester, even though BW isn’t a need met school. The net price calculator really undersold it. So that’s good news. All of his acceptances are doable for us, so he won’t need to factor that in when he decides.

[fourisenough]

1 hour ago, kokotg said:

Got the financial aid package from Baldwin Wallace, and it’s surprisingly great—like a little better than what his brother gets at Macalester, even though BW isn’t a need met school. The net price calculator really undersold it. So that’s good news. All of his acceptances are doable for us, so he won’t need to factor that in when he decides.

That’s terrific!! We just got one where the NPC totally oversold it…(like total cost +$20k from what we were expecting). Oh well, moving on…

[MamaSprout]

50 minutes ago, fourisenough said:

That’s terrific!! We just got one where the NPC totally oversold it…(like total cost +$20k from what we were expecting). Oh well, moving on…

I'm think you all are due for some good Karma... ETA- we had one that came in as 70K per year. 🤯 Def not what the NPC was. Glad we didn't try to visit ahead of time.

Edited March 28, 2022 by MamaSprout

[kokotg]

And ANOTHER waitlist at Vandy/Blair. This one’s a little complicated—it’s PROBABLY one of his top choices, but he hasn’t visited and his short virtual lesson with the clarinet prof was plagued with tech issues, so he didn’t get a good feel for how they’d work together. So I guess we need to get up there and see it.

[fourisenough]

27 minutes ago, kokotg said:

And ANOTHER waitlist at Vandy/Blair. This one’s a little complicated—it’s PROBABLY one of his top choices, but he hasn’t visited and his short virtual lesson with the clarinet prof was plagued with tech issues, so he didn’t get a good feel for how they’d work together. So I guess we need to get up there and see it.

Good that the door is still open, at least partly!

[Terabith]

Lyr has formally accepted their full tuition scholarship at Hollins University.  

[kokotg]

8 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Lyr has formally accepted their full tuition scholarship at Hollins University.  

Great news! And so nice to have a decision 🙂

[fourisenough]

47 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Lyr has formally accepted their full tuition scholarship at Hollins University.  

Congratulations! 🎊 

[kokotg]

We're in Ohio for college visits! Oberlin tomorrow and then Baldwin Wallace Friday before heading to Wisconsin for Lawrence on Monday. He's scheduled to sit in on 5 classes at 3 colleges between now and Monday, plus have 2 clarinet lessons and watch assorted rehearsals and performances. He's also supposed to hear tomorrow about scholarships at Columbus State, his lone in-state option. The clarinet prof e-mailed to tell him and make sure he's still interested...I remember feeling very awkward about that part last time around, where some schools wanted to check in CONSTANTLY to try to gauge where they are on your list. Fortunately the answer this time was pretty straightforward...it's one of his current top two. Multi-tasking by doing a tour at Oberlin tomorrow with my 10th grader and taking him to see College of Wooster while Milo's at BW all day Friday. And the 9 year old is getting a peek into his distant future, too. Sorry, kid! 

[MamaSprout]

7 hours ago, kokotg said:

. And the 9 year old is getting a peek into his distant future, too. Sorry, kid! 

Dd is youngest of 4. By the time she put in her college apps she had been on close to thirty college campuses for various reasons, including touring with siblings. She had opinions for sure when she started to apply.

[easypeasy]

5 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

Dd is youngest of 4. By the time she put in her college apps she had been on close to thirty college campuses for various reasons, including touring with siblings. She had opinions for sure when she started to apply.

There's a huge advantage for the baby, isn't there? 🥰 My son had been on countless college campuses and had exactly in mind where he wanted to be. Which is why, in the end, I suppose he applied to one school and was one-and-done! 🙃 (it was a very selective school and program, but he was on the fence of taking a gap year. Decided to apply to Dream School and if he got in, great! If not, he'd take the gap year, lol)

I'm seeing the huge contrast with BK. He (was) an only child who is very much struggling to prioritize what he wants in a school. Very similar to my oldest's struggles in determining which college she wanted.

[kokotg]

On 3/31/2022 at 5:31 AM, MamaSprout said:

Dd is youngest of 4. By the time she put in her college apps she had been on close to thirty college campuses for various reasons, including touring with siblings. She had opinions for sure when she started to apply.

That's where my 16 year old is. We toured UGA a couple of weeks ago because we were in town for something else, and he spent his time telling the tour guide that he was most likely going to be applying to small liberal arts colleges. She was like, "well, I admire your honesty." 

[kokotg]

Oberlin: he sat in on a class and met with the clarinet professor. I think he's done all he can do now and we'll see what happens. He told him that 56 people auditioned (for, we figure, 4 or 5 slots) and that his audition was "right up there."  On one hand, doing the music school thing is so straightforward compared to holistic college apps: either your audition is good enough or it's not. On the other hand, even though there's a lot less second guessing about what exactly went wrong or which of a million things you might have done differently, it's still frustrating to be SO CLOSE and know it. 

Baldwin Wallace: they sent him a fully scheduled day with a clarinet lesson, two classes, lunch with current students, a tour, a chat with admissions...and then he and his brother went back in the evening for a wind ensemble concert. He had a good time and is feeling pro BW at the moment, but says it may well be because he just went there. 

It will be interesting to see what he thinks of Lawrence...I think at the moment it's pretty much a toss up between BW and Columbus State (with, of course, wait lists lurking waiting to complicate things more). 

[Eos]

9 hours ago, kokotg said:

doing the music school thing is so straightforward

To this day it truly blows my mind that 20 minutes - one audition - can determine the life path of these students. 

Still crossing my fingers for him, and I think it was smart to do the visit.

[fourisenough]

9 hours ago, Eos said:

To this day it truly blows my mind that 20 minutes - one audition - can determine the life path of these students. 

Still crossing my fingers for him, and I think it was smart to do the visit.

In a lot of ways, I much prefer this to the horribly nebulous, murky process that is holistic admissions!

I’ve recently described the current college admissions process to be like trying to buy a house (that you have no way of determining the price of until AFTER the sale goes through), but the catch is— you’re not sure exactly what the sellers even want, so you spent years gathering all the ‘documents’ (at great expense) that may or may not even sway the sellers to accept your offer. Ugh— I need a detox. A month at the beach with no internet. And lots of Sauvignon Blanc.

[Roadrunner]

16 hours ago, Eos said:

To this day it truly blows my mind that 20 minutes - one audition - can determine the life path of these students. 

Still crossing my fingers for him, and I think it was smart to do the visit.

Yes!

And you can manage that in less than 20. 🙂 

At least SAT you can retake. Live audition (which I prefer over recorded ones because those sessions are excruciating at home) is it. 

[kokotg]

On 4/3/2022 at 7:54 AM, fourisenough said:

In a lot of ways, I much prefer this to the horribly nebulous, murky process that is holistic admissions!

 

I don't know which I prefer at this point! The process was a lot more agonizing for my non-music kid applying to mostly very selective schools, but I think that's more about his personality...in the end he was able to apply to enough schools that he had lots of great choices even though there was a lot of rejection (well, mostly near-rejection in the form of waitlists) along the way. With this kid, I feel like if he could have auditioned at 16 schools, some of the reaches would have gone his way, but...that just wasn't possible (and there aren't a zillion conservatories that have more similarities than differences like there are with SLACs). There seem to be kids who are very clearly top of the pecking order musically who get in everywhere (or, like, everywhere except Curtis), but then for MY kid, who is, apparently, the next tier down, the highly selective music schools feel like crapshoot territory all over again, like top 20 LACs for kids who have great stats but don't necessarily stand out from all the other kids with great stats. And it's a lot easier to reassure yourself that it doesn't really matter much where your kid goes to college when they aren't aspiring to something like a career in classical music performance, which is already incredibly difficult to break into and where most of the people who manage to do it DID go to one of a handful of top conservatories. 

[kokotg]

Lawrence: He had a full, exhausting admitted student day on Monday--two classes, a couple of info sessions, a tour, sitting in on a wind symphony rehearsal. The rest of us didn't have a whole lot to do--DH and I went to the opening welcome thing, which was nicely done. Then we all did the tour--nice campus, close to a fun downtown area, right on the river--but nothing really stood out from all the other LACs we've seen except how dominant the conservatory is (I think they said that 25% of the students are in the con (by which I gather they mean either majoring or double majoring). I think just looking at the college, Lawrence would be the frontrunner (not counting waitlists). But then he had a clarinet lesson the next morning. He liked the clarinet prof a lot...and he told him that he's retiring at the end of next year. Which was not a shock; we knew that he's at that age and has had some health issues...but that probably knocks Lawrence out of the running--the clarinet teacher is just too important to have that much uncertainty. DS grudgingly agrees with me...but he doesn't seem to want to eliminate ANY of his choices...which isn't really sustainable. Lawrence would also be the most expensive, and it's the farthest away. 

Now we leave on Tuesday to go see Blair/Vanderbilt and then one more trip to Columbus State the week after. This month is exhausting! But he really needs to see Vanderbilt in case he comes off the waitlist...he just doesn't have enough info to make a decision on it right now (but definitely doesn't want to turn down Vanderbilt due to a lack of information if it comes to that). And I do think it probably can't hurt (except for my bank account) to make a visit and show that he's really interested if they go the waitlist (which they say is unranked, so perhaps still room to make a good impression and up his chances). And he hasn't sat in on classes at Columbus State yet, and he really wants to do that (I kind of feel like he's been there 3 times already over the past few years and has plenty of information, but it's not MY giant, life-altering decision. 

 

[kokotg]

He liked Vanderbilt, but didn't love it. Clarinet prof told him they're only taking TWO clarinets next year. So...maybe he doesn't need to worry about how much he likes Vanderbilt anyway.

[fourisenough]

6 minutes ago, kokotg said:

He liked Vanderbilt, but didn't love it. Clarinet prof told him they're only taking TWO clarinets next year. So...maybe he doesn't need to worry about how much he likes Vanderbilt anyway.

So is he ready to make a decision?!

[kokotg]

14 minutes ago, fourisenough said:

So is he ready to make a decision?!

not at all! I don't know how he's going to decide. Columbus State and Baldwin Wallace are pretty deadlocked right now. We go back to Columbus State next week, so maybe that will offer clarity one way or the other. Really, the easiest thing would be for Oberlin to call tomorrow and offer him a spot (and good enough FA). They should just do that. 

[fourisenough]

24 minutes ago, kokotg said:

not at all! I don't know how he's going to decide. Columbus State and Baldwin Wallace are pretty deadlocked right now. We go back to Columbus State next week, so maybe that will offer clarity one way or the other. Really, the easiest thing would be for Oberlin to call tomorrow and offer him a spot (and good enough FA). They should just do that. 

I hope they do!

[Eos]

12 hours ago, fourisenough said:

I hope they do!

Same!!

[threedogfarm]

On 4/10/2022 at 12:17 PM, kokotg said:

Lawrence: He had a full, exhausting admitted student day on Monday--two classes, a couple of info sessions, a tour, sitting in on a wind symphony rehearsal. The rest of us didn't have a whole lot to do--DH and I went to the opening welcome thing, which was nicely done. Then we all did the tour--nice campus, close to a fun downtown area, right on the river--but nothing really stood out from all the other LACs we've seen except how dominant the conservatory is (I think they said that 25% of the students are in the con (by which I gather they mean either majoring or double majoring).

 

Thanks for the write-up on Lawrence!  It's helpful to hear other people's impressions since I'm not sure we'll be able to head out there before the application process starts.  Do you think that having a dominant conservatory would be a con for a non-conservatory kid?  My DD is musical - but for her, that means playing electric guitar in a rock band and singing. 

[Roadrunner]

30 minutes ago, threedogfarm said:

Thanks for the write-up on Lawrence!  It's helpful to hear other people's impressions since I'm not sure we'll be able to head out there before the application process starts.  Do you think that having a dominant conservatory would be a con for a non-conservatory kid?  My DD is musical - but for her, that means playing electric guitar in a rock band and singing. 

They are also big on physics as I understand. I could be wrong. 

[kokotg]

2 hours ago, threedogfarm said:

Thanks for the write-up on Lawrence!  It's helpful to hear other people's impressions since I'm not sure we'll be able to head out there before the application process starts.  Do you think that having a dominant conservatory would be a con for a non-conservatory kid?  My DD is musical - but for her, that means playing electric guitar in a rock band and singing. 

I don't think so...I would think for a kid who likes music but doesn't want to major in it it would be a positive thing--always lots of performances going on and that kind of thing. Even if my 25% figure is correct, that's still 75% who aren't involved in the con.

[threedogfarm]

On 4/17/2022 at 3:21 PM, Roadrunner said:

They are also big on physics as I understand. I could be wrong. 

That's good to know!  But I know she won't be studying that physics or other science either.  She asked me in 10th grade if there was a list of colleges that do not require students to take any math courses 🤣 (And, yes, there are good liberal arts colleges that will allow her to graduate without taking a math course!)  That said, she has done really well in math but will stop when she finishes precalc. I know, I know - it doesn't meet the "rigor requirement" but fits my kid to a T.    

[fourisenough]

Folks, I started this thread on June 1 last year, which seems a lifetime ago. I’m jubilant that my third DD’s college application process has wrapped up and we are moving into transition mode. I’m physically and psychologically clearing out all the clutter— tossing all the mail, purging the files, tidying the piles, deleting emails, unfollowing stuff on social media, etc. It feels so dang good! (I compare this to the post-baby maternity clothing bonfire I always fantasized about!)

She has about three weeks of classes remaining and two AP exams to take. She’s hip-deep in housing contracts, roommate-matching apps, study abroad plans, and a summer job search. 

So here I’ll ask: who’s ready to END application season for the Class of ‘22???

[madteaparty]

4 hours ago, fourisenough said:

Folks, I started this thread on June 1 last year, which seems a lifetime ago. I’m jubilant that my third DD’s college application process has wrapped up and we are moving into transition mode. I’m physically and psychologically clearing out all the clutter— tossing all the mail, purging the files, tidying the piles, deleting emails, unfollowing stuff on social media, etc. It feels so dang good! (I compare this to the post-baby maternity clothing bonfire I always fantasized about!)

She has about three weeks of classes remaining and two AP exams to take. She’s hip-deep in housing contracts, roommate-matching apps, study abroad plans, and a summer job search. 

So here I’ll ask: who’s ready to END application season for the Class of ‘22???

Does anyone want to start/resurrect a “best dorm supplies” thread? 

[MamaSprout]

7 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Does anyone want to start/resurrect a “best dorm supplies” thread? 

Sure!

[kokotg]

Last visit done! Columbus State AGAIN (at this point he's been to Baldwin Wallace three times and Columbus State four times, so no one can claim he's not being thorough). He likes the style of the prof more at Columbus and thinks the ensembles are probably better, but likes the classes he sat in on and the school as a whole better at BW. Interestingly, he sees the weather as a pro for BW. I think he might be one of the few people in the world who would rank northern Ohio weather ahead of middle Georgia weather, given that he won't be there in the summers...but he says he hates heat. And two of his Ohio visits were in cold, snowy/rainy weather, so he knows what he's in for. His wind symphony director has an open invitation out for people to talk to him about college decisions, so he might take him up on that...one big issue with this decision is that there aren't nearly as many people who can talk knowledgeably about it with him as there would be if it were regular old college. Someday maybe I'll get a kid who makes a college decision before the last week of April, but this is not that kid. 

[kokotg]

...and he just got offered a spot at Blair/Vanderbilt! Argh! That doesn't make things any easier! Very interested to see the FA package. 

[Roadrunner]

19 minutes ago, kokotg said:

...and he just got offered a spot at Blair/Vanderbilt! Argh! That doesn't make things any easier! Very interested to see the FA package. 

Oh wow!!!!! Congratulations!!!!! 

[fourisenough]

10 hours ago, kokotg said:

...and he just got offered a spot at Blair/Vanderbilt! Argh! That doesn't make things any easier! Very interested to see the FA package. 

That’s an exciting development! Well, exciting for those of us watching from home— nerve wracking for you decision-makers! Good luck and do keep us posted!

[kokotg]

Whoa. The Vandy FA is AMAZING! It's nearly a full ride. No loans. And it's just making him sad because he likes the clarinet professor better somewhere else. C'MON KID. Vanderbilt for FREE!

[ScoutTN]

3 hours ago, kokotg said:

Whoa. The Vandy FA is AMAZING! It's nearly a full ride. No loans. And it's just making him sad because he likes the clarinet professor better somewhere else. C'MON KID. Vanderbilt for FREE!

Music City is a good place to go to school. Esp for almost free! 😉

[kokotg]

He was nearly ready to decide on Vanderbilt, but wanted to talk to his clarinet teacher about it. We were all SURE he would just be like, "duh. Go to Vanderbilt." But he WASN'T! He spent forever talking about pros and cons and assorted questions Milo could contact each school to ask and was just like, "well--I don't know what I'd do! Let me know what you decide!" And now Milo is back to having no idea. OMG. This will never end! 

[kokotg]

He just deposited at Vanderbilt! So many big, conflicted feelings still, but I think he's relieved to have a decision (as am I). 

[bibiche]

Congratulations, @kokotg! What a ride!

[fourisenough]

7 hours ago, kokotg said:

He just deposited at Vanderbilt! So many big, conflicted feelings still, but I think he's relieved to have a decision (as am I). 

Congrats! 🎉