What boarding school is this again? If they taught your previously substandard-writing daughter everything she will ever need to know about writing in a year, I want to go there.
My unsolicited 2 cents 
:
15 is too young to make decisions that can make or break your future.
A stellar education and academic rigor should be pursued for its own sake and personal growth, not for a means to an end or a career path.
Art majors should get a great grounding in academics. Part of being a successful artist has as much to do with marketing, communication, the business side as it does creating stellar art.
To @Korab1’s point, even after 4 years of stellar writing instruction at a well-regarded, top notch boarding school, my children have had continued growth in their writing ability both in terms of content and style at their well-regarded LACs. Both would regard their college experiences and education as being a huge asset to polishing their abilities further.
@SculptorDad – Glad to hear that your family checked the CHPSE off your list!
We, too, may consider the UC TAG program or UCLA/Cal for our aforementioned child. But even at 19, I am wondering if DC will successfully navigate the unwieldy world of the University of CA system: large, randomly-planned campuses, 30,000+ students, waiting in line to see an adviser (after making an appointment weeks prior), and little to no access to your actual professor.
Maybe it’s different for Art majors?
But I should add that the in-state tuition price tag of $32K is really compelling. . . especially after BS. And the CC price tag is even better
to add to @doschicos unsolicited 2 cents, art majors are especially in need of a stellar education in the liberal arts so that they have something to fall back on in the event their art career doesn’t pan out the way they hope. They call them starving artists for a reason.
also - I keep seeing reference to community college classes completed - I can’t speak specifically to the community college your daughter attended, but CC classes are generally a joke compared to a good LAC. While in grad school, I ended up taking a couple senior level classes at the big name university I attended, having graduated from a well regarded LAC. Those senior level classes were laughably easier than anything I had ever encountered at my LAC. Many (most? every one i have heard of, anyway) well regarded schools wont accept credits from CC’s because of this. State schools are the usual exception to this.
I wouldn’t be so quick t believe that she is no longer in need of academic challenges
^especially since her previous CC coursework seemed less rigorous than her boarding school academics…to me that is very telling.
Thank you for the advises. I am very grateful for all of you!
@Korab1 I said “everything she will ever need” in terms of her successful college and immediate career paths. Of course she will want more - lifelong education. She is a heavy reader in politics and novels. She will never stop learning.
Having something to fall back on was why she was going to get the stellar education in Computer Science or Business. We know something about “starving artist.” My wife and her sister majored fine art. Her cousin that she is hanging around a lot during this Summer is a rising senior at a music school and his best hope after 1~2 years after graduating is getting some underpaid internship.
But those fall-backs take years of additional training and some more years of working full-time right after earning a degree to be developed, and may turnout to be a useless fall-backs if she wouldn’t want to do it. She figured a better fall back for her. If things doesn’t pan out, she can go to a law school. Her good college GPA and test taking skill for LSAT will probably enable her to do that for free if she won’t care school name. Then she can develop an easy paper-filing practice area in her ethnic market which will provide decent income even as a part time practice. It’s something I can help her to setup when and if she needs it.
CC classes are easier than LAC. Many of them were less rigorous than BS. But daughter managed to ace them at much younger age. One of her first classes at 11 was a real college level drawing by a RISD trained professor, and she was one of only a few who aced it, by drawing 20~30 hours per week.
She is much more capable now, and will be even more so next year. UCs, being state schools, will accept all the general education credits so she can focus on art practice. And she may find easier and manageable classes there than she would at a good LAC.
@doschicos, More academics will be great. It’s a sacrifice. But, she will still take few art history courses at UC, and continue her graduate studies sooner or later, while continuously self-learning.
@itcannotbetrue Hopefully it will be better with art major since it’s a small enclosed department? We know some kids doing it fine at UC even at younger ages. I think she will be able to manage it somehow. By the way, in-state tuition is about $13k~14k per year. $32k would include tuition, boarding and some other expenses.
Back is December you were complaining about the strict writing structure her BS required - do you know anything about legal writing? They don’t encourage or reward prose. Law school isn’t exactly a fall back position - it’s 3 years (full time, longer if you go part time) of school after college, and then you have to study for and pass the bar exam of the state you intend to practice in, then await the admission process if you pass. It’s a 3.5 year minimum process to get your license. Skill on the SAT, SSAT, GMAT, MCAT or any other standardized test is NOT indicative of success on the LSAT, it is testing for entirely different things. A word of warning - almost no one goes to law school for free. They give you basically unlimited loans that have to be paid back.
For her sake, I hope the art thing works out!
Is she connecting well with same-age peers? Most kids are so bonded with classmates, they can’t imagine not graduating together. I wonder if other boarding schools saw something in her that made them suspect she might not stay through graduation and whether that might have affected her admissions results on M10.
In any event… Your daughter sounds wildly talented and independent. It is clear that she wants to carve out her own unique path in the world. And it sounds like she is in a great hurry to grow up and live on her own!
@Korab1, “Back is December you were complaining about the strict writing structure her BS required” I wrongly did that. Now both I and my daughter appreciate the training very much. The art is main and she won’t likely be a great lawyer that way but will pass the bar. Law in this sense is a part-time income backup she may or may not do, but she showed good promise with practice LSAT already.
It seems law school scholarship heavily depends on GPA and LSAT, and applicants with high GPA and LSAT can choose more scholarship from a lower tiered school. My niece gave up 50% scholarship from Hastings to go get UCB degree. Perhaps she can give up Hastings to get 80% scholarship from a lesser known? We will find out.
“For her sake, I hope the art thing works out!”
Thanks and that’s what this is all about. Being able to do what you are passionate is a luxury that not many can afford, yet I am hoping she can do that.
@CaliMex, Her best friend, and majority of good friends are rising seniors. They graduate in a year. I guess it affected her decision a lot. She sees herself emotionally as ready as her older friends are. It was a side effect of taking several junior level courses last year. I am very grateful that Grier took a chance with her. It gave so much to her when she needed them. I believe she too has and will contribute to the school, and will consider herself an alumna regardless of technical terms.
Just waiting while DC gets last haircut before leaving for school. I’m smiling, but my heart is breaking.
He will be back in no time. Thanksgiving is only two and half months away.
@AppleNotFar Will you be able to visit the school for family weekend?
@doschicos I will, and know I’m lucky to get to visit a few times during the school year. Perhaps the anticipation of the separation is getting to me, and the realization that it feels like we’ve just gotten back to the point of taking it for granted that our family is all together.
Glad you won’t have to wait until Thanksgiving, @AppleNotFar. It’s definitely hard, regardless. I lived relatively close to mine at the time and was able to see them weekly but it was still challenging emotionally not having them at the dinner table and in their beds down the hall on a nightly basis. One silver lining is that we all came to appreciate one another even more with the absence and in different ways that made us closer than before even if we weren’t sharing lives on a day by day basis.
Dropped off a very happy new sophomore today, but now her cat is crying for her. @-)
I still have a week before sending dd off. We won’t be seeing her until Winter because we won’t be there for parents’ weekend and she will visit her friend for Thanksgiving. But I have texted often last year and didn’t feel that I was much missing seeing her face to face.
@SculptorDad Do you guys do skype or some other video chat? I’ve found that helps me a lot when my kids have been at a distance for a period of time. Hearing from them any way is great, but really nice to see their faces.
We leave tomorrow–first for NYC, then school move-in. We are all packed and ready to go 
One of us will be there later this month (for crew regatta/confirmation), Parent/Long Weekend, and then again in February and the end of April. Vacation budget = BS visits. :-c
I just realized I posted the wrong emoji due to MAFSS (Middle Aged Far Sighted Syndrome). Lol.