Grey Hairs... Any Advice?

Parents Forum
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<p>The high school has unexpectedly changed, leading to a possible graduation this year (and college next year) instead of next year. Which means a head-first plunge into college applications in the middle of September!! :eek:</p>

<p>Which means:
SAT I (And test prep books!)
SAT II, after figuring out which colleges require how many tests, and which tests can be taken
ACT
PSAT, though now useless for NMS purposes
Essays (thankfully, two are done)</p>

<p>The scariest part is that the college list has not been finalized!! As of now, it's something like:</p>

<p>University of Florida
Brown</p>

<p>(Hey, at least it's evenly matched reaches/matches!)</p>

<p>Other possible additions include Yale, Vanderbilt, and Cornell for their entomology programs, which leads me to my main question. Would it be better to apply to these schools now, and decide if they should have even made the list when the luxury of time is available? No visits have been planned, nor are likely to happen. The logistics are just unworkable.</p>

<p>Any other advice is of course welcome; this is literally giving me grey hairs!</p>

2

<p>We did just that for S. He was taking his time about applying and showing no interest in college visits-I didn't have grey hair, I had NO hair from pulling it all out! We decided to apply to a bunch of schools -
GC helped with some of the choices based on SAT scores, GPA and known acceptance rates for previous kids from our high school. We wound up applying to 13 schools-probably more than we should have.
He wound up getting into 11, rejected from 1 and waitlisted at one. We just didn't have the time to see all of the eleven so I researched (not my S) and chose about 6 to look at. He would have gone to any of them-had very little opinion about each one. He wound up at a larger university and we are still not sure if it was the right choice. He is contemplating transferring now as he has changed his major and it is not offered at his school. Ironically, 3 of the schools he got into that we didn't look at, have his major and he could have still gone there and made a lateral move into a different dept. But, who knew?? My advice is to know your child-if he/she will help with the decision process, than try to schedule a few visits if possible. If not, do all the applications and perhaps your decision will be made for you and you can go visit those that are most interested in the spring. You have a very diversified list right now-perhaps some research on line, college guide books and GC will help prepare a list of 7-9 schools.</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, the GC is currently unavailable in prepping the classrooms for standardized testing. No appointments until mid-October. Thanks for your advice, though. :)</p>

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<p>Is he hoping to apply ED or EA anyplace?</p>

5

<p>Just regular application at this point. All the tests still need to be taken, so there's really no way to get everything in by EA or ED.</p>

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<p>As you already know, you're not giving yourself or son much of a chance to explore all of his options. If there were a school he knew he wanted to attend, it would certainly increases his chances by applying EA or ED; however, he's not going to have that option. I don't really understand the situation with your son's HS, but it sounds to me as though he'll be graduating a year prior to his original intended graduation date. Does he have the maturity to begin college next year?</p>

<p>I just wonder if you're rushing this process because it's an opportunity for him to begin college earlier when you and son should be exporing options and visiting schools. </p>

<p>I'm not sure I'm getting the situation. Are my assumptions correct?</p>

7

<p>BUGS??? Are you kidding? LOL! just joking. That's wonderful!</p>

<p>First, I would suggest Rugg's Guide to narrow down the list if entomology is a definite must-have. Try the library.</p>

<p>Second, as someone who picked up and went 2000+ miles to college sight unseen.....I disagree w/columbiamom. It's not that awful. Especially now with all the websites available. 30 years ago we didn't have even that.</p>

<p>The truth is, there is more than one college at which our progeny will be happy, successful, and secure. CollegeConfidential notwithstanding, don't obsess over it. Do your best with printed and online resources to make a list, and visit after he's admitted.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
just wonder if you're rushing this process because it's an opportunity for him to begin college earlier when you and son should be exporing options and visiting schools.

[/quote]
Of course, some have been known to ...er... over-research the problem :o</p>

<p><em>checks post count</em></p>

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<p>The PSAT is not useless for NMS purposes if the student goes to college from his junior year. They just use the college grades instead of the first semester senior year grades.</p>

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<p>My son also didn't want to do much in the way of college tours -- we did one to the state college an hour north, but he didn't want to go 4 hours south to Portland to look at a couple of LACs. "It really doesn't matter, Mom," he'd say, when I suggested that getting a feel for the culture and the campus would be a Good Thing, "it's about the classes". </p>

<p>Anyway, this company, <a href="http://www.collegiatechoice.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegiatechoice.com/&lt;/a> , has videos of campus tours of many, many colleges, and the video prices are pretty reasonable. They're not produced by the colleges, just the equivalent of home movies taken by someone going on an actual canpus tour. Might be worth trying.</p>

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<p>My Junior also has no desire to tour campuses. You know the phrase "All Dressed Up and Nowhere to go"? Well, I have all this knowledge about various colleges and what to look for and what to do. He talked to one kid from our high school that is at a college 30 minutes down the road. And that's where he wants to go. We may convince him to check out a couple more places, and he has actually come up with a couple of "wants" for colleges -- he wants a big college with a big football program. But I don't think he cares if he tours a college, discusses the details, or considers more that Univ of Michigan. Isn't there someone out there that needs to be "mothered" with all my worldly CC wisdom??</p>

<p>Peg</p>

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<p>This thread has made me realize that a misconception I thought was limited to a few people is in fact much more widespread. I'm not a parent, but a student. I post a lot in the parents' forums, so the confusion is understandable, but I have referred to my graduation and coursework on other threads. I'm sorry for the mix-up. Everything I have posted, though, is true (even, unfortunately, the title of this thread!)</p>

<p>The lack of college visits aren't because I don't want to visit, but because logically, I can't. Most of these places are really far away, and the absences would be next to impossible to arrange, never mind the airfare.</p>

<p>As the situation now stands, I may be graduating a year ahead of my original graduation date. I believe I have the maturity to enter college. I may be rushing this process because I didn't realize it was an option until recently; I'm not trying to graduate just for the sake of graduating early, but for other reasons, too. </p>

<p>Entomology's not a must-have, wyogal (I was planning on majoring in biology), but I will check out this list. I also have Fiske's book, and will check that.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice about the videos, Moominmama; I agree with your son that it's more about the classes, as I am not very social anyway.</p>

<p>Dmd, have you/your children gone through the early graduation/NMS situation?</p>

<p>Thanks, everybody, for your advice and information; again, I'm sorry about the mix-up!</p>

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<p>What's the average time for SAT scores to be reported to the colleges? If I took my SAT-IIs on December 3rd and the ACT on December 10th, would they be reported to the colleges by January 14th, do you think?</p>

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<p>Yes, willow, my son left HS after his junior year to go to MIT. He became a NMSF in Feb of his freshman year there. PM me with questions or post them if you want.</p>

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<p>willow, there is such a thing as "rush" score reporting-- I believe it is about 2-3 weeks after the test. Check with the College Board.</p>

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<p>The College Board does have rush reporting; however, some schools will not accept those rush report. I would contact the schools you are interested in and ask the admissions office whether or not the scores will be received in time. They will have the answer right away.</p>

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<p>I emailed Cornell and Brown's admission office; UF will get them in time, and I can't find Yale's admission office email address.</p>

<p>My next question (they will stop sometime, I promise) is if anyone knows of any books or web programs that find colleges similar to other colleges? I'm trying to find more "match" colleges, since my list is 75% Ivy League at this point. I did find a few possibilities through the Fiske book, as well as the College Board search and the College View search. I'm going to stop at the library today to pick up a copy of Rugg's Guide. Are there any other resources that might help me?</p>

<p>Again, thanks to all of you who are answering my questions. This is stressful, and it's very helpful to be able to talk to people who have gone through this already, especially since my guidance counselor is unavailable.</p>