<p>condor30, I didn't know about the commonapp site. I will look at it, thank you. I didn't know there was a limit to the number of applications you can send out. Shouldn't that be up to the student?</p>
<p>Carolyn, I got it and sent you a reply. Thank you.</p>
<p>mrs. p - i only saw mention of a limit on applications on a cc thread............a poster had mentioned that their particular high school had placed a limit on the number of applications that their guidance counseling office would process. you can check w/your s's school about their policy. transcripts, teacher recs, and counselor reports go through the gc's office. at my d's school, she had to sign a separate transcript request for each school that was to receive the transcript. some colleges require more documentation than others. some will accept sat/act scores that are recorded on the transcript. others want you to send a separate report from the testing source, i.e., college board or act. some colleges offer fast track applications.........your s may see some arriving in the mail.</p>
<p>you are welcome, mrs. p - the common ap site is a good resource. makes the process easier. most universities now also have online applications at their own websites. some are free apps. do a search on cc on free applications and you'll find a list of schools that have free online applications.</p>
<p>If you use the common app, be sure to check the school's website to get any common app supplement that the school may require in addition to the common app. </p>
<p>Some schools even have a school specific School Report Supplement (Harvard comes to mind) that the GC needs to fill out.</p>
<p>I chose Chapman because it fit me better, I liked the film school (I love film/tv/entertainment) and the creative aspect of the school, the location, size, good financial/merit aid and psychology program. Redlands was my other almost choice and I don't think its all that different from the others so I'm not sure its not on that list. I've heard great things about Redlands and it seems to offer a great teaching environment and personal touch with its smaller size. Loyola Marymount, University of San Diego and Santa Clara are all Catholic schools (in increasing academic rigor) around 4000 students with the first two in cities and SCU near San Jose and SF. I thought they were pretty good schools that had a good set of a core curriculum and teacher-student interaction. University of the Pacific sent me a lot of stuff after being admitted and the school seems built on preparation for a career with good programs in pharmacy (good science courses, +for pre-med), dentists, business and engineering as well as getting lots of experience in internships and things like that. </p>
<p>Occidential is as I said, getting very competitive as it has the LA location, small LACish size and good academics as well as being diverse but I don't know much about it besides that. Pitzer is very small, about 800 people but part of the Claremount colleges with about 5000 total. Its more hippieish and laidback with creative, politically/socially involved people and allows you to design your own curriculum and is especially good in the social sciences and international relations. </p>
<p>If you want to narrow it down, I'd think about these things. What kind of location does your S want? You've got the sunny, very warm all year round weather of SoCal that goes from 60-80 degrees year round and the cooler with more rain but still warm from 50-70 weather in Northern California. You can have a city environment with SF, LA or SD with lots of things to do but might have less of a college community with more people going out into the cities, but then again, a small town or suburb might be boring in terms of things to do. What kind of size does your S want? Smaller size schools may have smaller class ratios and be more close but there will be less diversity in terms of the people there. What kinds of programs and school interests are important to your S? There might be good things to have for pre-med in certain schools as well as honors programs, study abroad programs, lots of internships, etc. Does your S want a religious leaning or non-leaning and what kind of political climate does he need from liberal/conservative to activie/apathetic? What does he want for diversity in terms of both minorities and class? What kind of core curriculum would he like, lots of required classes in courses that may not be interested in or a more flexible requirements? If you need financial aid or merit scholarships you should definitely look carefully at the schools for that. What he's got to do is see what kind of college will fit him and make him the happiest.</p>
<p>Good encapsulation of CA midsized schools, Anoel.</p>
<p>Not sure if anyone mentioned financial aspects yet, but if there is no strong preference at this point, I would begin to add financial constraints around each choice. If it's $40K for Univ A vs $20K for Univ B and there is not a strong, strong reason for A over B, then B rises up the list.</p>
<p>Anoel, those are good suggestions to think about. My son did contact one school several months ago after receiving something in the mail. A representative from the school called him and turned him off to the school. The person knew nothing about his area of interest, his major or any programs available that he might be interested in. The woman was a student and was so uninformed, he lost interest. I'm very concerned about that happening again, so I suggested he not put his phone number on contacts with the school. The same thing happened last year when he visited a local university with a friend. They talked to some students who were more interested in parties than academics and it turned him off to that school. So, the little contact he has had with universities so far has not been positive. How would you suggest making contacts that are useful rather than discouraging?</p>
<p>digmedia, how do you know what financial package a school will offer you before you apply? An example, I talked to a mom whose son was accepted at LMU with a 4.0 but no offer of scholarships was ever made. He contacted admissions and they wanted to know if he planned to attend before they made him an offer. He couldn't decide without that information, didn't want to lose a spot with definite financial aid, so he accepted another school while he was waiting for LMU to come up with the numbers.</p>
<p>Some schools have merit scholarships that you can compute in advance, depending on the SAT scores and perhaps other things....</p>
<p>For example (not pushing this one, but using it as an example), see:
<a href="http://www.ohio.edu/admissions/gateway/index.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.ohio.edu/admissions/gateway/index.cfm</a></p>
<p>If your kid has an SAT of 1130 or higher, and is out-of-state, it's an automatic $4500 per year scholarship plus another amount based on the SAT scores, from $500 up to the amoutn of full in-state tuition (>$8000 per year). And those are renewable for 4 years. I think there have been posts about other colleges with merit aid to look at as well.</p>
<p>So suppose your kid had a 1280 on the SAT (CR+Math). The scholarship amt would be $1500+$4500=$6000 x 4 years = $24,000 scholarship.</p>
<p>Plus, with a SAT of 1170 or higher, there is a $750 discount on the housing costs....</p>
<p>The point is, you don't have to have a 1400-1600 to score some bucks. Plus, while Ohio Univ "only" ranks 109 on the list of colleges in USNWR, some department are stellar, like their Scripps School of Journalism.</p>
<p>Well your son has to remember that one or two people is not a good representative for the school. At least talk to admissions people as they should be helpful and if they don't know something, will tell you who to talk to. Look for faculty or students in his major or any area of interest and either ask to talk to them or email them. And just remember that you might have to keep trying to get in contact with someone who will really help you.</p>
<p>As for financial aid, LMU didn't give me scholarships as well, the only one that didn't so I wouldn't call them good with merit scholarships. All the rest did from 10,000 to 15,000 with me having a 3.3 UW gpa with lots of honors/ap classes and a 1350 SAT. Did he take mostly honors classes and is that is weighted gpa? I think he'd probably be in the running for some scholarships. To know more about how good financial aid is at the school, check out the collegeboard cost and financial aid profiles for the colleges and/or ask carolyn. And remember a lot of the schools I talked about may also give PLUS loans to cover need although besides San ta Clara U, its usually not too bad.</p>
<p>It is too much to expect any student picked at random to know the specifics of any one program. You really need to talk to a student who is a major in that program to get the full scoop and to scope out the departmental website. It would be a shame to toss out a perfectly good school because one student didn't know details.</p>
<p>Anoel, he has a 3.5 uw. His school doesn't recommend students with heavy ECs take honors, so he couldn't take any. He may take one AP next year if it fits into his schedule since he's cut out the ECs. He goes to a very competitive school, with many students applying to Ivies and the UCs, Stanford, etc. so even the non honors classes are difficult. There are no "easy" classes there. Is that 1350 SAT based on all three tests (new SAT) or the old one?</p>
<p>ellemenope, this was the person the university selected to call him, so I assumed they were representing the school. Why would their intial contact be someone with no information about the school? It was a very uncomfortable call.</p>
<p>I'm sure it's the old one!!!!!</p>
<p>1350 Math + Critical Reading</p>
<p>Yep its the old one, I had a 2000 on the new. If your school's classes are hard for non-honors courses, you'll have to check with the school to see the track records of kids who are like your son. Check to see the school profile to see if it acknowledges and maybe even check with the school to see if they realize how hard the school courses are. Some schools have good reputations which may help compensate for it.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>Why would their intial contact be someone with no information about the school?<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Because they probably expected the "usual suspect" questions--how's dorm life, do the professors teach, etc. I think the admissions department has a hat that kids throw their names into and the department picks from them at random, because I have heard some horror stories about over-night visits hosted by students who didn't care to put their best foot forward.</p>
<p>Anoel, that may be the case. The school sends students to many of the top schools in the country, so their reputation may speak for itself. I did check the school profile and can see that it would appear to be a competitive school from those numbers.</p>
<p>ellemenope, that makes sense. My friends' children are more interested in the social life than academics. Mine is different. Also, the call was unexpected and he didn't have questions planned. He does now.</p>