<p>Momcino,
Your D can take a practice SAT online at Collegeboard as well. My D took one and we paid for the online course. It was relatively inexpensive. The online course is nice in that she can track here test improvement. She is targeting 2200, not hitting it yet but is working toward it. </p>
<p>We are planning to also invest in a course in the spring. It will cost $$ but I see it as an investment. </p>
<p>We are not limitiing D geographically. I dont want the constraints that would introduce, quality of program, cost of attendance, right fit. In the end she will end up on the East Coast (my guess) so we will be able to deal with transportation. Those megabusses run so inexpensively between so many urban areas it is really feasible.</p>
<p>Thanks nellieh. Seeing improvement on her own will give D some incentive to keep working at test scores (and more coveted time on the family computer!)</p>
<p>Not sure about expanding geographical range on our part, D is actually more resistant than we are, but that may change as she realizes how much it will open her options. </p>
<p>I quite agree that right fit is worth extra distance – if it works for the family. We shall see. In our case it might be one of the ways we make financing possible, by keeping travel costs low. Not really sure, it’s too early to tell. But it does make sense. I suspect that S1 will venture further. He is a motivated student with excellent grades, and a good candidate for either a “good” school with need based aid or a school with preferential packaging. H and I both know he will go far. Literally. But D is another type of kid and she actually wants to stay closer to home. </p>
<p>I do believe that we will, next year (as she gets serious and takes up the quest), have six schools within a three hour radius.</p>
<p>we saw the description of Hunter in teh Fiske Book (or was it Colelge Insider?) and then looked into Macaulay. It looks incredible, free tuition, guaranteed housing, special funds for study abroad/research. But it looks very, very competitive. Hunter’s acceptance rate is 30% and that’s before the Honors Program. We’d love it but would it be realistic to include it as one of her six, that’s the question. But yes, I love the thought!</p>
<p>^This may give you a better picture of the academic stats for the SUNY Honor Programs</p>
<p>Be careful when looking at the chart. Some numbers are reflected as “middle 50%”. Specific programs may have specific GPA and SAT/ACT score cutoffs.</p>
<p>“Entering freshmen are eligible for admission into the honors program if they have a high school average of 92 or higher AND an SAT score of at least 1200. Students who do not meet these standards may be considered for admission into the honors program after consultation with the honors program director.”</p>
<p>Attached, please find the CUNY Freshman admission profile for gen admissions, McCauley’s honors and SEEK/CD. This way you can see where your D’s stats line up</p>
<p>I have to echo the reviews on SUNY Plattsburgh. It was my D’s absolute last choice school, but it offered her merit money (rare at SUNY schools) with an 82 GPA, no APs or Honors and a 1260 SAT. She did really well her first semester and made the dean’s list and was able to get in to the Honors program, although she did not get a bump in her merit money. She now LOVES the school and can’t imagine herself anywhere else. In fact, I just got off the phone with her - she was out for her birthday with friends.</p>
<p>Plattsburgh also has a community service scholarship for 1st year students that is $2500 which my D earned. She had to do 300 hours of volunteer service and she loved it. Based on your description of your D’s work as a translator, she sounds like an excellent candidate for that scholarship. </p>
<p>She has also been awarded departmental scholarships this year (her 3rd in a 5 year program). This is also her second year as an RA, which gives free room and partial board.</p>
<p>She did not get into NP or Geneseo, she did get into Oneonta and Cortland, Queens and Hunter and U of Hartford.</p>
<p>We live on LI and she takes the Amtrak. This past summer, she took the train to Poughkeepsie and met a friend who she drove up the rest of the way with. You don’t always have to drive. When we went to look at the school, I went by train with D and one of my sons. The ride from Pough is a lot shorter than from LI.</p>
<p>Sybbie, thanks for the Honors stats. D is a match for Hunter but unfortunately not for honors. And without Honors she would not be able to live on campus. </p>
<p>Joan, thanks for the feedback – great to hear your D loves Plattsburg! We have friends whose son goes there (senior this year I believe). I guess the geographical distance is something to really be sure about before dismissing good matches simply because they are farther away. </p>
<p>In your exp, college parents, how often do kids actually come home, anyway? How many times a year or a semester?</p>
<p>Oky just did estimator for scholarship for Platsburg with D’s stats and it came up for $3500 in merit awards. Which amounts to around half tuition. Not yet figuring in Pell and TAP. Silly question – can Pell and TAP go toward room and board or only tuition? </p>
<p>Again, I like the Honors programs for the way they have the potential to keep the kids motivated and engaged, I fear D would get “lost” in a big school. Her stats on the estimator brought up eligibility for the Honors Program – even when I lowered th entry for her average to an 88 – so I bet it is SAT scores or average, not necessarily has to be both.</p>
<p>Bump, because it occurs to me that this is a really important question…How many times a year do kids come home, in you folks’ experience?</p>
<p>Had no idea that Amtrak ran to Plattsburgh.</p>
<p>momcino: Older son is at Plattsburgh and yes you can use tap for tuition, room and board, books, etc. Son has found that the professors are very approachable and he has blossomed while attending Plattsburgh! One negative to Plattsburgh’s scholarships is that even the academic portion is tied to living on campus which isn’t a problem for the first 2 years but does limit housing options as an upperclassman… It was the only school that tied academic scholarships to a residency requirement. Another SUNY school with excellent scholarship money would be SUNY Potsdam. They offered son free tuition (he chose Plattsburgh however) plus tap,etc. Potsdam runs “Bear” buses to NYC and Long Island for all major breaks and is actively recruiting to increase diversity.</p>
<p>Good news on the merit money at Plattsburgh! I think Oswego’s scholarships are also tied to campus residency. Pell and TAP are applied to all charges and any unused balance is refunded so the student can use it for unbilled expenses like books and transportation. With an EFC of 0 she may also get additional grants like SEOG and SUSTA, which vary by school. Btw, I don’t believe the $300 SUNY tuition increase that went into effect this year applies to TAP eligible students - pretty sure that all of the SUNYs are supposed to give an offset for that. I don’t know if the same is true for CUNY.</p>
<p>We’re very lucky to have so many Amtrak routes here. IIRC, Amtrak offers a student discount card/package so check their website. In my experience, frequency really depends on the student. My D was really stressed/homesick first semester, even though she liked the school, was making friends, had no roommate/class issues, etc., and she came home at least once a month. After the first semester she felt more “normal” and it dwindled to breaks and special occasions by the second year. Now her off-campus apartment is home base for her as she’s there most of the year. </p>
<p>Some parents don’t allow their kids to come home much first semester…obviously, I’m not one of them and it worked out really well for us. Change can be very stressful and your D may or may not have a tough transition but you can cross that bridge if/when you get to it. It can hard for a couple of weeks or months, but they all grow and settle in eventually.</p>
<p>The SUNY tuition increases were applied proportionally to TAP eligible students., ie if you qualify for full tap the school covers the full tuition increase! SO, if your EFC is zero, your TAP grant should cover tuition but not fees. But then the scholarships, and Pell grants will help there. Good luck and hope your daughter finds the perfect affordable place since student loans are a big burden especially in this economy.</p>
<p>“How many times a year do kids come home, in you folks’ experience?”</p>
<p>Too many! That’s from my perspective, but the bride would disagree. S is 5+ hrs. away and a 45 min. $60 Jetblue flight. I told him I didn’t want to see him until turkey day, but I picked him up yesterday for the second time. I wanted him to immerse himself, which he has done, but mom has encouraged him to come back. Kids at SUNY’s, from what I know, have buses to their avail all the time and use them.</p>
<p>Son always found rides home during the breaks and never needed to use the train. There are plenty of students from Long Island and it’s relatively easy to hitch a ride with one of them and get dropped off along the way. He would chip in for gas and buy the driver a meal when they stopped at McDonald’s or wherever during the drive home.</p>
<p>Another option is to fly to Burlington, VT and take a pre-arranged cab ride to Plattsburgh. This is a more expensive option, but it is an option.</p>
<p>Plattsburgh’s Student Assoc. used to arrange a chartered bus ride downstate during the big academic breaks. You may want to ask if they still do this.</p>
<p>“Entering freshmen are eligible for admission into the honors program if they have a high school average of 92 or higher AND an SAT score of at least 1200. Students who do not meet these standards may be considered for admission into the honors program after consultation with the honors program director.”</p>
<p>Even if your daughter doesn’t gain entrance into the Honor’s College, the college is small enough where she should not feel overwhelmed. There are only around 5,700-5,900 students at the school. Professors care and they are very accessible. </p>
<p>Our older 2 attended colleges 4 hours from home, waited until Thanksgiving for first visit freshman year. Exception was made for #3, 3,000 miles; we made him stay put during Thanksgiving and discover West Coast cousins instead (first year); then he had college friends’ home hospitality invitations every other year. Just too expensive with flights.</p>
<p>OP’s situation more closely resembles our older 2, 4 hours away. Flights were bad between points; they used Greyhound or Trailways, or if I could swing it from work, I’d drive and return home same-day with them. About 50/50.</p>
<p>For the first child, we drove to campus for “Family Weekend” in October which addressed (our, only our…) loneliness. It also let the youngest sibs finally see him in college since he asked us not to have them tag along for Freshman Move-In and we understood that. </p>
<p>The 2nd child was uninterested in having us show up for October Parents Weekend, so we didn’t bother. She came home first time November.</p>
<p>Freshman year, everyone (x3) came home for every academic vacation (excepting that West Coast/Thanksgiving situation). They did no other “just a weekend” - not ever in 4 years. </p>
<p>Once sophomore year hit, they had other friends and better plans for Spring Break but came home the other academic breaks.</p>
<p>For the older 2, 4 hours away, we sometimes showed up on campus to see them in a performance piece. I know other parents go to sports games sometimes. Once my H claimed he had a business trip nearby and showed up to take eldest and a few new friends out to a restaurant lunch (very supportive thing to do).These parental appearances also reduce the student’s longing to come home between breaks. They remember how truly irritating we can be :)</p>
<p>A big factor is our kids launched into college from a house and town in which they did not grow up, so no high school friends attracted them for home visits between regularly-scheduled college vacations.</p>
<p>Update – SUNY New Paltz Open House. D had a chance to meet rep’s from the various academic dept’s and to tour campus. Huge turnout, huge. They don’t bother to take registration. It is super organized. Great conversations with Sociology (D’s favorite, i think), Latin Am studies and Honors program students – who showed us honors lounge and talked in general about the program. Lounge is nothing spectacular but hey pre-reg and an extra faculty advisor are worth it in themselves. Director thought from the sound of it that a 90 average with APs and honors in a rigorous HS would be considered the equivalent of the GPA usually looked for (average given in stats is a 95%) She actually said that honors students at NP – where there are no extra financial awards – tends to be “self-selecting.” Kids who are motivated enough to apply usually can convince the director that they should be in the program.</p>
<p>SUNY NP does early action. It’s non-binding and the kids apply by Nov 15 for a Jan 1 acceptance/denial/rollover. A rollover typically means they want to see mid-year grades before accepting the student. </p>
<p>The freshman class often fills up before the official cut-off date of April 1st. </p>
<p>D seemed to really like it. “Love” is too strong a word but she kept finding positive things to point out. The students with whom we had a chance to interact all had good things to say. </p>
<p>Will be looking for a second SUNY and rconsidering geography.</p>
<p>Oh, and re-taking Chem Regents – turns out there will be a re-take in January. Prep sessions at HS shoudl help make up those two points by which D failed to pass in June.</p>
<p>Dean said they do recalculate GPA and they also take rigor of courseload and reputation of HS into account. Which will go in her favor…</p>
<p>Was very glad to have someone else try to explain to D that she should keep an open mind toward different majors/career paths this early in the process since she has gone through stages of toying with journalism, teaching, nursing and other-health fields and social work. Some kids know already what they want to “be” and are ready for a career path; others need to figure it out at college. NP seems like a good place for any of those except nursing – which they have discontinued – but D admits she would hate the work of a nurse! She is not a hard science person so NP should be fine for something leading to public health, nutrition, etc. By which I mean to say NP is good for her expressed interests.</p>
<p>First year, we took D up for the Odyssey Program in mid-August, a freshman wilderness adventure program that allowed us to move her in a week early. It was several hundred dollars, but it was her HS grad present and we used the $ we would have put to a grad party because she didn’t want one. She met a bunch of very kids there. We then visited for family weekend in late September. Her first trip home by Amtrak was for Thanksgiving. She then spent winter break at home, did an alternative spring break volunteer program and was then home for the summer in mid-May.</p>
<p>Second year, she became an RA and we drove her up a week early again. We did not go up for family weekend. She was home for T-giving, winter break and spring break. Each time, she took Amtrak or the bus or got a ride from a friend. She then came home in May by train. Since she’s an RA, she is allowed to store belongings there and she left some stuff with friends who are off campus so we didn’t have to drive up to get her. She went back in June for a summer job on campus, came home when it ended and went back up for RA prep (that was the time she took Amtrak to Poughk). </p>
<p>She hasn’t been home this year yet but will be down for T-giving. Winter break, she’ll be home about 10 days and is then going on Birthright to Israel. We may visit in the spring this year.</p>
<p>I bought her an Amtrak advantage card and some of the bus lines honor it. The school does run busses but she hasn’t taken them - as an RA she can’t leave until all kids are out of the dorm.</p>
<p>As for merit $ being tied to on campus residence, that is why my D applied to be an RA. Since she had to stay on campus to keep her merit $, becoming an RA provides a great excuse for not leaving campus and really reduces the money you have to pay.</p>
<p>Check out Amtrak.com for the fares to Plattsburgh. I have gotten her tickets for as little as $52 and that’s all the way in to Penn Station.</p>
<p>My D liked NP - until she visited Plattsburgh.</p>