<p>APOL - there is a special forum for Musical Theatre. There you will find mucho information. Soozievt probably still participates on that forum and definitely participates on this forum. Her D goes to NYU/Tisch and she is extremely knowledgeable about the MT application/audition process, as are several other parents here.</p>
<p>Bringing this up as I'm sure others are "in the thick of it" and have news to report. My D sent out her first two apps to rolling schools last week. She has two more early ones due this month, two due in November and the rest are the usual Jan 1 deadline. So, slow as it seems at times, progress is being made. </p>
<p>Her GC is new and I think her recommendation is the first one he's ever written. He seems like he's trying to do a good job, I feel for him, it's tough to deal with all of this your first few months on the job.</p>
<p>My D spent last weekend at WUSTL's Discovery weekend. Very interesting, she said that she could have just checked in on Thursday and gone and done anything she wanted until it was time to leave on Sunday. They had many activities planned, but no supervision to speak of, guess that's to be expected as there were about 400 kids attending. Her host was busy with school, so my D and the two other Discovery guests were on their own with one key between them. Some of the other kids went to Greek parties, one passed out and had to be taken to the ER, makes a parent hope they've done their job over the past 17 years. My D took the metro downtown, walked around the Loop, visited a class, sat in on several presentations and had an admissions interview. The interview went well, just a casual chat. And even though she bought a nice pair of chinos for the trip, she decided at the last minute to wear her jeans to the interview instead, so she wouldn't look like everybody else. Oh well, gotta love her, she's just like I was at her age. She liked the campus and thought the other students were a good mix, she'd definitely going to apply and try for some merit scholarships.</p>
<p>OKAY for updates, my s has decided (after much soul searching) that he is only going to apply to the University of Texas - McCombs School of Business. The app is done, he is an auto admit and all we have to do is wait for the acceptance letter! He has had a tough time with the idea of giving up football, and is being pursued by a number of D3 programs, so has really gone back and forth with what he wanted to do. He made his decision after visiting with the admiss. couns. at UT and spending the night with a friend's older brother who showed him the ropes in Austin. I couldn't be happier for a number of reasons: he will be closer to home, he will be going to a great school, we will be paying in-state tuition, etc. </p>
<p>SO, Hook Em Horns!</p>
<p>Entomom, thanks for updating. I'm sure a lot has changed with everyone by now. </p>
<p>Good news here- S retook the ACT and shot from a 29 to a 34! That surely takes a lot of the pressure off, especially where merit money is concerned. He's retaking the SAT on 10/14 and hoping for a similar improvement from his previous 1330/2000. </p>
<p>Applications are being worked on, but unfortunately, the essay fairy hasn't visited our house yet (I truly believe that's how S thinks essays get done :)).</p>
<p>We're flying to Memphis next weekend to visit Rhodes and S is going alone to visit Denison at the end of October. Either of both of those may drop from his list depending on his impressions. Currently, his list includes Rice, UVA, Wake Forest, Davidson, Rhodes, Trinity U, U of Richmond, Denison, Elon, Mary Washington and UF.</p>
<p>Patsmom, Congrats on the ACT score improvement! That is awesome!!</p>
<p>Well mathson is making haste slowly. He's finalized his list - though it might possibly get tweaked. He wrote his NMSF essay - it was very dull, but I trust will serve it's purpose for them. He gave his teachers all the recommendation letters. A fast track application just came in from RPI, so it looks like he has yet another application to do sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>His final list of schools more or less in order of preference (he's a computer geek):</p>
<p>MIT (EA - probably his first choice)
Caltech (EA)
Stanford
Carnegie Mellon
Havard
Harvey Mudd
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute</p>
<p>We figure the top six are reachy-matches and the bottom two are safeties.</p>
<p>Congrats to your son ag54!! All done, I'm jealous! Honestly, it sound like a great choice, and though he won't be playing football, he sure has a great team to root for. Although I'm not sure about the heat, Austin sounds like a wonderful place to live, I envy the music scene there.</p>
<p>Patsmom, Wonderful news, that's a significant jump in test scores! As far as essays, I think your son is kinda right, seems like all of a sudden they get an epiphany and everything falls together :). Rice is on my D's list too, it sounds like a wonderful school from all aspects. Has he visited it yet? If accepted, my D hopes to see it during Rice Vision weekend in Feb.</p>
<p>A quick update as well. S has completed all but one application. ED at Elon is in the mail and we'll see how that goes. Most of his other schools are rolling and some were pretty easy (i.e. no essay! no recommendations!) so he was able to get some safety applications out. </p>
<p>Accepted at Lynchburg, Emory & Henry, Lenoir-Rhyne so far.</p>
<p>EDIT: And congrats Ag! You might want to change your screen name though :)</p>
<p>entomom - we visited Rice a year ago. It was the first college S visited other than tagging along 3 years earlier when his older brother was looking. He really loved it, especially the residential colleges. </p>
<p>ag54 - I'm so happy your S decided on a school you are all happy with but I'm disappointed that we won't have a chance to meet and be Trinity moms :)</p>
<p>lderochi - you're so lucky that your son is practically done with apps. I do envy you! Best of luck to him with Elon -- maybe we'll see you there in the fall!</p>
<p>Here's our update. Our son completed his applications and submitted them all about 3 weeks ago, and they are all now complete. His final list:</p>
<p>Washington University St. Louis (RD)
Miami University (ED)
Case Western (EA)
Bowling Green (RD)</p>
<p>Bowling Green is his safety, and he was accepted there today. Next up will be Miami or Case in December. </p>
<p>He really worked hard to get all of the materials in, the recommendations from teachers, etc. Now that he officially has an acceptance in hand, even though not his preferred school, he plans to enjoy sitting back and watching his classmates scurry around getting things done. ;-)</p>
<p>Actually, sitting back is not an option for him, with band and the other mass of activities he is involved in!</p>
<p>Jeff</p>
<p>Congrats to the BG acceptance, and to being done! And good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks patsmom -- Dec. 1 seems like a long way off right now, but I'm sure it will be here before we know it.</p>
<p>Yes, Iderochi, I think the Ag part throws people off! Our blood has never run maroon! It may turn burnt orange though! We are Texas fans from long ago (my husband played for UT back in the late 70's) Our older S is at UF with Patsmom's oldest, so we both have a tinge of blue and orange!</p>
<p>Funny story - My older s called and told me I had to watch the UF - Alabama game because he and his friends had 2nd row student section tickets. So, I dutifully watched and looked for him when they panned the crowd - AND, yes, I did see him....PAINTED BLUE from head to waist! He may not have been actually playing on the field, but I'm sure he and his friends thought they were helping win that game!!! Makes a mother proud ;)</p>
<p>Just saw this thread come up again. A quick update - S has submitted all four (so far anyway) applications. Wisconsin and Colorado are rolling admissions, U Mass and UVM are EA. Took all the paperwork into his guidance counselor today. He knows that his teacher recommendation is back, don't know if the GC is ready to submit his, that might be what holds his package up.</p>
<p>Took SATs and ACT last spring, 630 CR, 570 M, 27 ACT (can't remember the writing score, but both essay were 9's or so. 5 on the APUSH exam. Weighed GPA is 3.8, top 15% of class. I know Wisconsin is a reach, but am thinking that the other schools are closer matches or hopefully a safety with U Mass. Any suggestions re additional safety schools. He has plenty of time to pull more applications together or change his mind. Is taking the SAT again in a few weeks, and should hear from everyone before Christmas.</p>
<p>mathmom, Dull but done is great! I keep telling my D that her NMSF essay needs just a modest amount of work since she's not trying to get one of their scholarships. But she hasn't touched it yet, time for me to shut up and let her work things out on her own.</p>
<p>Congrats to everybody on completed applications and acceptances!</p>
<p>massmom, Thinking along the lines of great state schools, a few come to mind: U of Washington, can't beat Seattle & the surrounding area; Indiana U - Bloomington, just know it from reading, good academics and a nice college town (plus I always think of the movie Breaking Away); U of Oregon, I'm not sure if it's worth the money OOS, but it is a very student friendly town and there's lots to do if he likes the outdoors. My D has applied to Wisconsin too, thinking maybe we'll hear sometime in November??</p>
<p>Son's early schools are Cornell (ED), Binghamton (EA), Wisconsin (rolling) and Michigan (rolling). Apps are all done at Bing and Wisc; Cornell main app is done but not the supplement; Michigan is done except for one of the three essays. Counselor is sending in his stuff today. One of two teachers has submitted a recommendation; the other is promised for this week or next. All schools have his SAT scores except Wisc which has been requested on a rush basis. So, we're getting there.</p>
<p>With the possible exception of Binghamton, Son knows these are all reaches or megareaches, so he's in a good "what the heck, give it a shot" frame of mind.</p>
<p>My parents don't read CC, but y'all are like my adoptive family, so hopefully you won't mind a student posting. :)</p>
<p>I've decided against applying early anywhere because (a) I need to compare financial aid offers, (b) I'm afraid of commitment, (c) I need more time to work on my photography portfolio, and (d) I can't even think about the future without having a nervous breakdown until my Extended Essay is out of my hands. I'm relieved to have delayed the (inevitable) panic for a little bit longer--and besides, I'm still working on my list, which currently looks like this:</p>
<p>Amherst
Brown OR Princeton (I have to decide!!)
Dartmouth
Swarthmore
Williams</p>
<p>University of Chicago
Middlebury</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr
Macalester
Wellesley</p>
<p>As I've said elsewhere, my school limits the number of applications to 10, and while I'm sure that 11 wouldn't be a disaster I really don't want to argue with my college counselor, who already thinks I'm an insufferably stubborn prestige whore with no sense of perspective.</p>
<p>I'll be retaking Biology-M (680) and Chemistry (650) in December, as well as taking Spanish for the first time (I already have an 800 in French, but since I'm self-studying Spanish I'd like some external measure of how far I've come). </p>
<p>And... I think that's all for now.</p>
<p>entomom - November would be nice. Thanks for the suggestions. I just hope that the counselor gets everything off in a timely manner. I think that S is one of the first ones to be complete. Sent SAT/ACT scores a few weeks ago, that was easy, only took cash.</p>
<p>theothermuse: you sound a lot like my D, a California girl, who is a freshman at Tufts. She loves it and I am glad to see it on your list. She, too, loves theater and is an IR major. Not as well known as some, but meets all of your specifics, especially IR, which is the number one major on campus. UC's are way too big if you are looking for a school with approx 7000 students. She looked at Hopkins, Georgetown and Smith as well as other NE schools, but loved the feel at Tufts; (some magazine rated Tufts kids as the "happiest" and the dorm food as someof the best :) if that means anything to you!!!) We can compare notes as you go thru the process. Good luck!</p>
<p>I'm so happy to hear of other parents who are not letting their kids wait on completing their applications! As for us, first DD dragged her feet all summer writing her essays. Now the two teachers D asked to review her essay have not gotten back to her yet (2 weeks later)! She's reminded both, but so far, nothing. This is holding things up for us! We gave ourselves a deadline of Nov. 1 to complete everything (we have 7 more applications to go); looks like it's going to drag on until Christmas at this rate. Today and tomorrow are standardized testing days for the underclassmen, so hopefully the teachers will have time to review them and get them back to her by Friday!</p>
<p>A quick update on my D's status: State U app is in, Early App is almost done - just lacking the main essay. Not that she hasn't written one, in fact, she's written no less than five - but she doesn't like any of them. Of course the one I like - she hates. There are days I want to strangle her. Oh, and then there's the essay that she loves but it's a piece of creative writing that says nothing about her. I will say her college counselor has been absolutely wonderful with regards to reading and commenting on her essays (and she values his opinion much more than mine - which she probably should, now that I think of it). Cross your fingers that she decides on an essay this weekend and will finally move on to the common app and all the supplements that await.... I am counting the days to January 1.</p>