Class of 2011 Official Thread

Parents Forum
21

<p>lderochi -- In person, he's an awesome kid. In the past two years since his Musical Theater Sister went to college, he has blossomed into an outgoing, confident, fun to be around person.</p>

<p>But when you look at him as far as looking for a college, it's all very cut and dry for him. He had a bad experience at a computer camp -- he wanted to participate in the Super Soaker fight and play Capture the Flag. Everyone else wanted to play video games on their computers during their free time. That convinced him he didn't want an Engineering College.</p>

<p>He sees the problems that his sister has getting home (6 hours away) and all the debt she's going to have (private college). That convinced him he wants to go in-state, close to home & friends.</p>

<p>Viola! University of Michigan.</p>

<p>I see all your kids doing research and talking about hand-on approach and curriculum and looking at a college & knowing right away it's not for them. Son talked to Daughter best (male) friend who said U of Mich was a great college. That is the extent of his research!</p>

<p>I love him. I am proud of him. I'm going to miss him when he's gone. But he's not fun to help pick out a college!</p>

22

<p>Screen name: entomom</p>

<p>Is your Junior male or female: Female</p>

<p>Home state: Oregon</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Not in Oregon; somewhere cold and snowy; east or west coast, maybe the Lake States.</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college: Medium to large sized school (5k+); urban or suburban preferred, rural if not too isolated; good balance of academics and other activities. She would really like to go somewhere that has Portuguese. Another important criteria has to do with who at her school wears which college sweatshirts; UArizona, ASU, Duke and UNC-CH are NOT on her list due to this factor!</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: Languages and biology right now, but it keeps changing. </p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Brown, Rice, Dartmouth, Amherst, WUSTL, Cal, Northwestern, UMichigan, UWisconsin, UWashington </p>

<p>Schools we've visited: Cal, Pomona, Scripps, UWashington, UBritish Columbia, Northeastern, BU, Brandeis, Dartmouth, Brown, Harvard. </p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload (tentative): AP English AP Physics, Honors US Government, Psychology, French 2, Band, 2 electives; Vector Calculus and a quarter of third year college Spanish at the local university. </p>

<p>Study Plans for SAT/ACT: PSAT went very well; took it without prep as a sophomore, then used the Xiggi method for about 5 weeks before the junior year PSAT and improved by 30 points! Taking SAT this Saturday (Jan) and will retake in June if necessary or try the ACT. Has taken three SAT 2's already and hopes to take her last one this May along with her AP's (US History, Calculus and maybe Spanish)</p>

<p>EC's of Note: volunteer & translator at low income clinic, marching band (drums), & mountaineering.</p>

<p>Summer Plans: Applying to a few summer programs. If none of them come through, it'll be a combination of volunteering, work and hanging out with her kid sister.</p>

23

<p>Mom60
Male
Ca
Prefers as of now- Ca.. Colorado, Arizona, Montana , surburban might consider rural if outdoor pursuits close by. No northeast.</p>

<p>Schools he has seen- UCSB, Cal Poly SLO, BC,BU, Wesleyan, Northeastern, Lehigh. (during older S's search) not interested in them.</p>

<p>Schools we plan on visiting- Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Monterey Bay, Sonoma State, Univ of Redlands. All within easy range of home. Out of state schools we will visit if he gets in.</p>

<p>What he is looking for- Schools where they teach people who learn differently. Schools with minimum writing (doubt he is going to find that). He has ADD and LD so should have some support system. I am more concerned then he is about this. Doesn't have preference on size. Mom thinks small is better.
Possible areas of study- Math, engineering, Something that combines his love of sports and statistics. Sports management. Construction technology.
Possible senior schedule-English 12 (college prep), econ, US Government, Calculus, AP Stats, Auto shop or AP Physics
Our school doesn't offer all the fun and interesting things that I see some of your kids taking. Just the basic's at our school.</p>

<p>Sat study plans- Is working on learning the Geometry that he missed out on with a bad Geometry teacher. PSAT math was strong except in Geometry. Will take a course that Kaplan's does at his school. Planning on taking April 1 if school can find him a proctor. If not May. Doing some self study with prep books. Is not planning on taking any SAT 2's. </p>

<p>Challenges- above average SAT scores due to high math but grades all over the map. GPA around 3.3 weighed, 3.2 umweighed. Weak in writing and vocabulary due to LD. Essays will not be strong.</p>

<p>Ec's- not many. Poker, Video games don't count. Mountain Biking, Some high school team sports but due to scheduling not jr or senior year. Religious youth group. Counselor each summer camp for pre-k children.</p>

<p>Summer plans-Counselor again, will apply to a few summer engineering exploration programs.</p>

24

<p>Patsmom</p>

<p>male</p>

<p>Florida</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Basically the southeast, but willing to look outside that area. He doesn't want to stay in Florida and seems to be concentrating his search in NC and VA for now</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): Definitely wants a smaller school. Older brother attends huge state U (over 40,000 students) and he is really turned off by that. Looking for a suburban area, not really interested in a big city.This may change!</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: Philosophy for now, but this is liable to change, too. He's definitely more a humanities type than a math/science type, though. </p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: American, UVA, Wiliam & Mary, Davidson, Elon, Wake Forest, Mary Washington, maybe Denison. Considering New College of Florida because it would be nearly free for him as a National Hispanic Scholar, but not sure he has the discipline for that very specialized type of program and, besides, it's too close to home for him. He's thinking about Rhodes and Oxford (of Emory), too. He's still intrigued by St. John's in Annapolis, but it's slipping down his list because I think deep down he wants a more traditional college experience.</p>

<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): Only Rice and UF so far. We're doing a spring break visit to American, UVA, Mary Washington, Elon, Davidson, Wake Forest and W&M. That should help him narrow down uni vs. LAC, larger vs smaller. Hoping to see Oxford and Rhodes in the summer if time permits</p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload (tentative): AP English Lit, AP Bio, Honors Economics, Honors US Govt., Honors Spanish 4, Honors Theology, Honors Precalculus. </p>

<p>Study Plans for SAT/ACT: Grammatix has helped, as has doing practice tests in the big blue book. Took SAT as a soph and scored 1240 but is retaking in April. Scored 29 on the ACT in the fall and is also retaking that. Probably a point shy of Commended on PSAT but he should make National Hispanic Scholar, which might help with merit aid someplace. Hoping for good SAT IIs in May His scores are going to have to come up for some of the schools on his list, but he's doing well on practice tests so we're optimistic :)</p>

<p>EC's - Started a reading mentoring program at his school - recruited high school mentors to help 3rd graders at a neighboring elementary school. Also some forensics, religious youth group, previously on swim team but practice conflicted with mentoring duties. Reads a lot of philosophy books and works 15-20 hours a week.</p>

<p>Summer Plans: Nothing definite yet besides working, possibly some college visits.</p>

25

<p>Screen name: kdmom</p>

<p>Is your Junior male or female: Male</p>

<p>Home state: Washington</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Somewhere outside of Washington, but probably not the midwest. </p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): He seemed interested in small LAC's at first, but now seems to be leaning towards large universities. </p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: History, economics, business, who knows? </p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: The list is pretty sparse right now; he prefers not to think about it :-)</p>

<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): Tufts, Northeastern, BU, and Clark (we were visiting relatives in Boston). </p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload (tentative): Heck if I know. </p>

<p>Study Plans for SAT/ACT: Maybe a tutor? He doesn't seem motivated to study on his own. </p>

<p>EC's of Note: Sports and some volunteer activities.</p>

<p>Summer Plans: A job (I hope)</p>

26

<p>OK, how about an actual entry for another Class of '11 applicant?</p>

<p>Screen name: BurnThis</p>

<p>Is your Junior male or female: Male</p>

<p>Home state: CA </p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: New England/East Coast/NorCal</p>

<p>Specific preferences: Challenging academics, Good feeder to top law schools, Not small town or Southern locale, Not NYC -- somewhere in between. Great teachers and good chance to interact with them. Brilliant students who love to debate politics</p>

<p>Academic interests: Classics -- Latin, Ancient Rome, History, Politics</p>

<p>Schools on child's list of possibilities: HYPS, Tufts, Berkeley, Penn, Dartmouth, U of Chi, U of Mich, Georgetown</p>

<p>Schools visited: Will visit HYP, Tufts, Penn, Dartmouth, and Columbia (even though it's in NYC -- just to check it out) this April. </p>

<p>Senior year courseload (tentative): AP English, AP Physics, AP Wold History, Independent Study Latin (will have completed the two LAtin APs), Advanced Seminar in Mathematics (it's the class for those who have finished AP Calc BC), AP US Gov't and Politics, AP Comparative Gov't and Politics. He's taking six APs in Junior year -- English, US Hist., Latin, Calc BC, Bio and Geography and took one as a Sophomore (Latin).</p>

<p>Study plans for SAT: Will take four ninety minute lessons to deal with some multiple choice problems (he tries to out-think the test writers and gets easy ones wrong). Lost 12 points on PSAT that way (still had a 218, which should be NMSF for Cali). Took SATII Math II, got okay 740, Latin, got 770. 5 on the Latin AP last year, hasn't taken any others yet) </p>

<p>ECs: Junior Classical League -- he founded his school's chapter, has run the chapter for three years, is a state officer (hopes to be prez next year), captain of Certamen team, coach of his and the other teams, National Latin Honor Society, National Latin Exam Gold Medal, Top Academic Achievement at the Cali JCL Convention for High School Advanced level, third place in the Nation in Latin Lit and Latin Oratory, etc. Multi-dimensional, no. Passionate, oh yeah. Last year he made it to the state Debate finals his first year, but dropped debate to concentrate on JCL this year.</p>

<p>Summer plans: Not sure. Would like to work at the Getty (where they have the antiquities) or for a Classics professor. May take a summer school class in Greek. Attend the National JCL Convention and hopefully come in first this year!</p>

27

<p>
[quote]
I see all your kids doing research and talking about hand-on approach and curriculum and looking at a college & knowing right away it's not for them

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Not my kid, that's for sure. Although I will say that so far he's visited 5 campuses, with the result that he's scratched ALL 5 off the list. I'm scared to keep taking him places. On the other hand, he'd be more than happy to attend a school sight unseen due to the fact that his Uncle (his idolized Uncle) is an Assistant Professor there and flagrantly (IMHO) recruits him with college apparel.</p>

28

<p>thisyearsgirl - Glad you posted here. Just a note- with your college plans so heavily focused on sciences, I think you need to have some SAT IIs in the sciences for a number of the schools you're targeting. And it might be better for you to take Math II - I'm not the expert, but check on that.</p>

29

<p>Like thisyearsgirl, I'm actually a student. My parents have always had a hands-off policy when it came to my education (all they want to do is pay, LOL) so I'm in it by myself.</p>

<p>Screen name: theothermuse</p>

<p>Is your Junior male or female: I am a female</p>

<p>Home state: California</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: The east coast but not the south</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): Urban or suburban, 7000 students or less, good theatre scene</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: International relations, Chinese language & literature</p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: SMITH, Bryn Mawr, Middlebury (trying to get over the rural factor), Tufts, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego</p>

<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): CSU Sacramento, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Stanford</p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload (tentative): AP English 12, AP Government/Economics, AP Biology, AP Spanish Language, Statistics/Problem Solving, Elementary Italian (at local CC)</p>

<p>Study Plans for SAT/ACT: I've read Grammatix and the entire Xiggi thread so I'm going to use some of those techniques on the blue book practice tests. I'm not doing anything special, really.</p>

<p>EC's of Note: Mock Trial (team MVP, club VP), stage manager for school drama dept., swim team, Girl Scouts (Gold Award recipient)</p>

<p>Summer Plans: Work, summer reading, relaxing, starting college apps.</p>

30

<p>Welcome, theothermuse. I hope we can help you (and you can help us!) over the next year. Are you going to be able to make an East Coast visit?</p>

31

<p>Mootmom
Is your little one planning on playing water polo goalie in college? My sorta stepS is hoping for that, and wants CA school</p>

32

<p>Peggy: sight unseen I totally adore your S!!!! (In many, many respects, he "mirrors" my boy (who, after one semester at college, is hard to call a "boy" any more...but can't quite get past my mother's tendency to think of him as my "baby" and so can't quite call him a "man" yet--even tho he really is)...if the parallels are as in sync as they seem from your post, you're in for a wild & wonderful 18 months...</p>

<p>My S kept me on the fringes of his college search (drove me nuts!) when he finally started thinking about it, and he categorically refused to even think about the concept of college until the summer between his junior & senior years -- in April of his junior year, he was asking if he could take a fifth year at his HS!!! He visited only one of the five schools he chose to apply to--and that one only because his GC told him he "had to"--he surely wouldn't do any visits on my advice! ("I'll visit if I get in"--only then he broke his ankle and had to have surgery to repair it 2 days before we were to leave on his accepted school tours, and he couldn't make the trips--I definitely feel "cheated" out of the college visits phase of parenting!) </p>

<p>He wound up getting rejected at the one school he visited (thus proving, in his mind, his claim that it just makes it harder to visit & fall in love w/a place before you know whether you can go there)...accepted to the other four, and chose among them w/out visiting...He's now at Cornell, doing well & loving it...</p>

<p>Like you are of your S, I"m so proud of him I could burst...and if I could borrow Hermione's time-turner (Harry POtter reference), I'd redo his junior & senior years of HS in a heartbeat...they were grand for him and despite his lack of interest in selecting a college until months after it was a priority for me, it was a fun parenting time, too...good luck to him and to all in the Class of 2011.</p>

33

<p>Thanks lderochi. We won't be able to afford a full blown trip to the visit all the schools I want to look at but I'm seriously considering ED1 at Smith so that's the one school I'll visit over spring break.</p>

<p>Even so, I'm terrified that I'm going to be let down. TheDad and Mini have made it sound so good that I have rather high expectations. It sounds absolutely perfect. I don't know if I'm setting myself up for disappointment, but we shall see...</p>

34

<p>Screen name: mother<em>of</em>perl</p>

<p>Is your Junior male or female: Female (Perl Girl, after her favorite programming language)</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Anywhere not too close to home, although prefers not freezing cold, and not in the south (but negotiable)</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): Wants academic challenge, prefers city or near a city, size of school less important than depth of courses offered.</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: computer science or physics or something similar.</p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: MIT, CalTech, Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia SEAP, U of Chicago, Swarthmore, Stanford?, Princeton?, Rice? Still working on list. Accepting suggestions for matches and safeties.</p>

<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): Princeton, Carnegie Mellon. Will visit some schools (not sure where) over spring break. </p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload (tentative): AP English 12, AP Chemistry, a bunch of math, science and computer science electives (already taken AP BC Calc and AP computer science, and currently taking AP physics and AP stats).</p>

<p>Study Plans for SAT/ACT: Refuses to study, a strategy that has historically been successful (for better or for worse). Took ACT in October (35 composite), will be NMSF from PSAT, taking SAT in April. Took SATMath IIC in 8th grade (800), will take additional SATIIs (physics and Latin) in June. Also has old SAT scores from 8th grade (1530).</p>

<p>EC's of Note: Various computer science activities, math tutoring. Not a lot of ECs. </p>

<p>Summer Plans: Has done physics research last two summers, will do research again this summer. Also looking at 3 week summer program abroad (has never been abroad).</p>

35

<p>Class of '11 is shaping up here, welcome everyone!!</p>

<p>bookworm, he's hoping to keep going with water polo, although it may have to be at club level depending on the school. (Outside of CA and the Ivys, not a lot of water polo teams out there...) What position does your sorta stepS play, goalkeeper also?? (Just as an aside, he may be the family baby but he's far from a little one anymore: 6'5" and no sign of slowing down... (sigh) And man, what water polo does for the physique! :) )</p>

<p>And Alumother, you may change his nickname to TJWD if you please! I, who have to live with him, will still probably think of him as TJFH, but I'm hoping he'll surprise me second semester this year....</p>

36

<p>I'm like thisyearsgirl -- I'm a junior too, but here's my info anyways.</p>

<p>Screen name: chillaxin</p>

<p>Is your Junior male or female: Female</p>

<p>Home state: California</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Either east coast or California, though I'm planning on applying to Rice and Northwestern because I love their medical programs.</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college: Medium sized (5000-12000 undergrads sounds good), suburbian location (though not too picky about this as long as it's not innercity), not too close to home, preferably someplace where it doesn't rain all the time. Snow and California weather both make me happy.</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: Biology/chemistry. Pretty much definitely premed.</p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Stanford (first choice), UCs Berkeley, LA, Davis, Irvine, and SD, Yale, Princeton, maybe Dartmouth, Cornell, Northwestern, Middlebury (I loved Vermont when I loved there as a kid; to this day, it's the prettiest place I've lived in out of all 8), Washington U of St. Louis, and Rice. Yes, many many applications.</p>

<p>Schools we've visited: Berkeley, Stanford, Davis. I'll be touring the east coast over spring break.</p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload (tentative): Well, not tentative at all for me. It's pretty much set in stone. AP Economics, AP British Literature, AP French 5, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, ROP Sports Medicine, semester of Peer Helpers and semester of American Government.</p>

<p>Study Plans for SAT/ACT: PSAT was great (238). SATI, I'm done with (2370). I've taken 3 SATIIs (800 Math IIC, 800 Chem, 770 French) and I'll be taking my fourth one (Lit) this Saturday. ACT I already took and got a 34 on but I didn't do as well as I would've liked on my SATI writing so I'm retaking my ACT to prove that I can write. I have Kaplan for Lit and many many ACT books.</p>

<p>EC's of Note: started a charity to build a library for an impoverished Chinese elementary/middle school (it's registered with the IRS for non-profit status and everything; this means that donations are tax-deductible). Lacrosse. Hopefully KEY Club president next year (I'm an officer right now and I'e always been the most active member in the club). Numerous clubs of which I'm an officer of. Volunteer at a rehab hospital doing room visits, helping out with physical/occupation therapy, and working individually with patients on recreational therapy.</p>

<p>Summer Plans: Applying to a few summer programs. TASP, RSI, CCIS, MITES, the usual. If i haven't gotten an acceptance letter by the end of March, I'm applying for these 2 programs where you get to do research but you're paying them $$$$. If those don't fall through, it's begging professors to do research and a combination of fundraising for my charity, KEY Club, and lacrosse. And of course, summer homework and writing my application essays.</p>

37

<p>

My one reservation about the science SAT II's is that I've heard that they're based on the AP curriculum much more than the IB curriculum, and that IB kids sometimes have a hard time because they've covered different topics in class. I'll have to ask my GC about this once we start the process (the first official college counseling meeting is tomorrow, but it's a group affair with the whole grade plus parents). </p>

<p>I'm not sure what to do about math, because it's definitely not my strongest subject--I understand it and get good grades in SL (standard level) math, but it's not something that comes naturally to me. In terms of the sciences, I can do math *as applied in science<a href="except%20possibly%20physics!">/i</a>, but "pure math" can get too abstract for me. I'll need to talk to my GC about that, too.</p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions! :)</p>

38

<p>mootmom
Yes, also goalkeeper, 6'2" or 6'3". wow, is yours ever tall. hoping waterpolo will help him get into a UC</p>

39

<p>HIS VERSION:</p>

<p>Screen name: Wouldn't come to CC if my life counted on it.</p>

<p>Is your Junior male or female: Male</p>

<p>Home state: NY</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Not South</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college: I have no idea</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: Engineering</p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Whomever I've received mail from that particular day.</p>

<p>Schools we've visited: None. (Unless you count the horrible schools my brother toured.)</p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload (tentative): AP stuff </p>

<p>Study Plans for SAT/ACT: Killing myself studying for SAT! I'm going to ACE it.</p>

<p>EC's of Note: Playing video games, hanging with girlfriend. Oh and cello, stage crew.</p>

<p>Summer Plans: Play video games, hang with girlfriend, be bugged by mother.</p>

<p>MOM'S VERSION:</p>

<p>Screen name: Weenie (aka Cindy)</p>

<p>Is your Junior male or female: Male</p>

<p>Home state: NY</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: NE or MidWest</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): Must have an engineering program. (Beyond that???)</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: Engineering</p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Whomever he has received mail from that particular day.</p>

<p>Schools we've visited: None. (Unless you count tagging sourly along on big brother's tours.)</p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload (tentative): AP Calc, AP Euro, AP Stats, AP Physics, religion, orchestra (I think)</p>

<p>Study Plans for SAT/ACT: Is supposedly being paid $15 per practice test. (In leiu of paying for a study course). Must not need the money.</p>

<p>EC's of Note: Cellist, stage crew</p>

<p>Summer Plans: Getting a job. May go back to Camp CAEN if he gets his butt in gear and gets a counselor-in-training spot.</p>

40

<p>chillaxin-- good to see another lacrosse person check in here....are you hoping to play in college? Stanford certainly has a great program, very competitive. Strong recruiting opportunties w/ the Ivies and many other top schools, like most you've named.....big commitment though.</p>