Need to shorten list of schools - Input appreciated

Parents Forum
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<p>My D2 is also a junior, and also has a very wide range of possible interests. Having gotten D1 (Astrogirl) established this year, I find myself being much more laid back about the entire process. It's a world of difference between the 2...D1 targeted Astrophysics as a 7th grader, and never wavered....was definitely the math/science geek; her school lists were very focused. However, at this point in time, even for her, she had 20 schools on her list. I wouldn't stress too much about whittling the list down just yet. It will happen, as she reads more, talks to more people, etc.</p>

<p>I'm encouraging D2 not to worry about deciding what she wants to major in; everyone knows the statistics about the high % of kids who change their majors. Instead, I've asked her to look at schools that offer a lot in all the areas she's interested in. I'm always big on spreadsheets to help figure out tough decisions... I know it will come down to making a column for each area of interest and then trying to rank-order the schools on those, as well as other factors that she deems important (in/near a large city, ability to stay active in dance-even tho she won't major in it, etc.)</p>

<p>I lean towards larger schools, altho the ideas of focusing on the Five Colleges sounds good too....someplace that is not going to limit her if she needs to try out some areas before she decides where to focus.</p>

<p>Good luck, and relax. You'll have plenty of time to hyperventilate about college stuff this time next year! I'm trying to enjoy the "lull"---if you could call it that!</p>

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<p>Googled YMMV - "Your Mileage May Vary" which translates to it may work for you or it may not.</p>

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<p>Well I put that in because my choices were arbitrary, like Williams, not Amherst. Both are fine; for a young lawyer I would definitely choose Amherst; for some in marine sciences, Williams, but there are other factors.</p>

<p>Bowdoin and Connecticut College are both on/right near the water, so I imagine marine biology is big at those two schools too.</p>

<p>Clark would go more into the safety column IMO (In my opinion.)</p>

<p>I left out Harvard and Yale because I didn't see the kind of a hook that would get her in, though some posters have said their wonderful kids who did not have these amazing hooks were admitted. If they're her dream, well go ahead. We didn't because as LI'ers the competition is so fierce here that even kids who you would swear were qualified were not admitted and we didn't want to enhance there admissions (or should I say rejection) statistics. And neither kid had a burning desire to go.</p>

<p>I did not choose Bates because they seem to be heavily into yield management and may consider your daughter over qualified for their school. Yes, that does happen, and it's a pain, particularly if your kid really was considering attending.</p>

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<p>Why not Brown? It has excellent ties with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. How about UNH or URI? Mybe not for her, but maybe worth looking at--at this stage she should be keeping her mind open.</p>

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<p>You do not have to be a Williams student to do the Williams-Mystic program. Many students come from the "Twelve College Exchange Program" (Amherst, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Trinity, Vassar,
Wellesley, Wesleyan, Wheaton and Williams) and other colleges throughout the country.</p>

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<p>I would pick between Colby, Bates and Bowdoin...picking the one DD prefers.</p>

<p>I would also pick between Middlebury, Amherst and Williams.</p>

<p>Then I would pick between Providence, Holy Cross, BC.</p>

<p>I would pick between Conn, Wheaton, and Fairfield.</p>

<p>Pick two from Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, MIT, Harvard, Tufts</p>

<p>RPI, WPI (and maybe MIT)...if her interests are as broad as your post indicates, I would drop all three of these from the list.</p>

<p>BU, BC, Wheaton, Tufts, Northeastern, Brandeis are all in Boston or the Boston area. Pick two.</p>

<p>It sounds to me like this OP's daughter may be more interested in a school with a large variety of academic options. You may want to consider this.</p>

<p>Also, at some point, this student may decide rural vs. suburban vs. urban. If that happens MANY of these schools will drop off of the list. For example, if she decides on an urban school...Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury will just fall off of the radar screen. If she decides rural, those schools will stay, but schools like the Boston schools will go.</p>

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<p>And why Amherst instead of Williams for someone aiming for law school?! (Post #23) Williams has one of the best track records of any college in the US for getting kids into YHS Law Schools.</p>

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<p>1) Just a caution about "too many schools from column A". If you make a few visits and your daughter loves ... say....Bowdoin -- it would make sense to keep the similar schools on the list. Then add whatever Ivy's she might like best for super reaches, and some of the safety schools (wouldn't Wheaton in Mass be a safety for her?)</p>

<p>2) No PSAT scores yet for some idea of SAT's will be?</p>

<p>3) The Journalism issue has been discussed on numerous threads on the parents forum and others. If you look at the bios of most Pulitzer prize winning journalists...and even less prestigious journalists...you'll find that a very high percentage did NOT major in journalism in college. Many majored in English or worked on their school's newspaper or other publication.</p>

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<p>Well...once your daughter is more involved in this search, you may find a very different slant to the college list and length of list altogther. Our daughter only wanted to apply to three schools. At the last minute she added a mega reach, and we asked her to add a school closer to home. Total...5. The school she is at was in her initial group of three. She knew what she was looking for...and once she got involved in the search and selection process, many other schools just disappeared from consideration. </p>

<p>And just my opinion...15 schools is a LOT of schools to apply to.</p>

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<p>As the mom of a D who has wanted to go to law school since she was four I know she would have loved Amherst's legal studies major. Sometimes would-be lawyers have difficulty finding a major. Yes, many majors can funnel into law school, but if the student is very interested in the law s/he may want to pursue this focus immediately. Williams doesn't offer such a major.</p>

<p>And as I said, this was a totally arbitrary list, just one example of the way a very extensive list might be broken down. Ditto Amherst, not Williams, on the young lawyer's list. </p>

<p>I did not mean any of these comments to be written in granite.</p>

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<p>To seashore- Brown is on the list. URI was removed last week and UNH was not considered (I am probably biased to growing up hearing of it as the big party school).</p>

<p>To MYSweetBamboo-Thanks for identifying the 12 college exchange participants</p>

<p>To Thumper1-Thanks for making groupings to use ina norrowing process. Suburban vs urban will happen once we begin visits. As for the 15 applications, the number 15 is hopefully visits. Applications has to be much less.</p>

<p>To-2Boysina-PSAT were taken twice. Not impressive but w/ no effort or preparatory work. Currently prepping for MArch 1 w/ studying & mock tests. Lastest pratice test was CR 640, Math 760, and WR 660.</p>

<p>To-Mythmom-D came home and I showed thread. She corrected my "Africa" information. Her interest in is would not be marine but medical so that is another plug for Williams.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
1) Just a caution about "too many schools from column A". If you make a few visits and your daughter loves ... say....Bowdoin -- it would make sense to keep the similar schools on the list.

[/quote]
I think this is an important point.</p>

<p>I've read some posts fully here and skimmed some others, so apologize if this point has been made: The OP's immediate concern seems to be the difficulty of visiting 23+ schools. Agreed, but my thought is .... it is not necessary to visit them all. Certainly at this time.</p>

<p>Possible ways to cull from the list: Certain schools pay no attention to "demonstrated interest." If DD is certain, eg, that she wants to apply to Harvard, no need to visit, at least at this time. Once accepted, she can visit it along with any other finalists.</p>

<p>If she has visited few schools, she can visit "types." She may decide she dislikes certain types/locations/sizes/atmospheres. That will help her to cull some. </p>

<p>I would suggest visiting, on a first trip or two, a manageable number that are high priority for her and are fairly different on key dimensions (size, location, etc.). By "high priority," I don't mean her top choices. I mean one or two that might be safe (she needs to find one she loves), one or two that are "good chance" but not safe, one or two she thinks are top choice but doesn't know enough about. Once she's visited these, she will likely - as someone above said - be more engaged in the process herself, do/have done more reading, etc.</p>

<p>Re not having done much of the reading herself, we had a kid who hadn't done much of the upfront research himself. DH and I enjoyed that part of it; DS had given us his criteria, self-generated and from discussions with GC and us. We used the GC recommendations and our love of flipping through guidebooks, websites etc... to come up with Master List of Suggestions. When DS <em>did</em> want to do reading was while we were on the trips themselves. He could read in the back seat and did a lot of that, as well as in hotels, airplanes etc. So the first visits could serve that purpose as well.</p>

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<p>Smoda, It sounds like you haven't done any visits yet. Here is what we did on our FIRST college visit trip (which was combined with a family vacation...it was NOT just for the purpose of visiting colleges and happened summer before DD's junior year in hs). We visited 6 colleges on that first trip. They were urban, rural, suburban, private, public, large, small. Our list was U of Richmond (suburban and private), Elon (rural and private), U of SC (urban, large and public), UNC Greensboro (smaller urban, smaller, public), College of Charleston (urban, smaller, public), and Davidson (rural, small, private). This gave DD the chance to see a broad variety of college types. She realized she did NOT want to be in the boondocks, wanted a place where she wouldn't need or want a car, and wanted a medium sized campus...not huge, but not too small either. It didn't matter to her whether the school was public or private. But you get the idea. After our trip to U of Richmond, she said she didn't need to see or hear about any other suburban schools. After Elon, she said she didn't need to see or hear about any schools in rural or small town areas. Oddly she did apply to U of SC because she liked the broad range of academic options they offered. She is attending a private, medium sized (4500 undergrads), university in an urban area with public transportation and lots to do. That first visit helped. I'm only suggesting this because as I view your list, you could make a trip to Amherst, Middlebury, Williams, Colby, Bates, Bowdoin and you would be seeing all schools in small somewhat remote semirural locations. KWIM?</p>

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<p>Cross-posted with thumper and we are on the same track.</p>

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<p>To Jmmom- Thanks for the input and as for daughter input - it will come as she has time like for your DS.</p>

<p>To Thumper1- DD saw 13 schools 4 years ago w/ DS (MIT, BU, Northeastern, UPenn, Leheigh, Cornell, Syracuse, RPI, WPI, Tufts, U Lowell, Norwich, NYU) . Most are not relevant. Only made specific "not interested" impressions. Cornell - size, distance and Norwich - SOOOO rural, U Lowell - disjointed campus, NYU - TOO much city. She does love country settings we spend 90% weekends 2 locations in Maine but she loves city - we live 20 min outside boston. She loves the location her brother has which is Tufts - outside city but easy to get to. BU is still on list despite size because of vast offerings. I do think that as she gets visiting some will be eliminated w/o being visited.</p>

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<p>connecticut college is an easy 10 minute ride to mystic, and students with interests in marine biology have the opportunity to volunteer, work, or conduct research (their own and/or help with professors and mystic scientists) there.
very well known dance department with a ton of opportunities for non-majors to be involved, and great neuroscience as well. </p>

<p>conn is often a very solid backup for students who dont get into williams and amherst, and from your daughters interests, definitely worth keeping on the liit</p>

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<p>Thanks, will give it a serious look.</p>

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<p>I agree with huskem55 on Conn. And they do have a wonderful dance team. A girl I danced with is now dancing there - she loves it!</p>

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<p>smoda, I loved college visiting and was prepared to make a career out of it much to my family's dismay-- but I want to give you a reality check. Some schools-- quite frankly-- "show" better than others. This is no reflection on the quality of the education a kid can get there, and is certainly not a reflection on whether a school might be a good or even adequate fit for a kid once financial reality and the admissions options become clear, but I know several families for whom the visiting of 10+ schools was really counterproductive.</p>

<p>Case in point.... kid like your kid-- Harvard was the mega reach, Wellesley was the reach, BU the match, and Northeastern the safety (this was before SAT scores came in.) Family shleps to Boston and no surprise-- Harvard is gorgeous with all that Georgian architecture, Wellesley's got the rolling lawns, BU smells of urban exhaust and family gets a parking ticket while picking up a campus map at Northeastern. So kid wants Harvard and Wellesley more than ever, won't even think of Northeastern, and only grudgingly will apply to BU. Scenario is repeated in several cities- and kid ended up at her flagship state U which was rural (not what she wanted) affordable (reality check- schools like BU are not known for being generous unless you are very poor or your kid walks on water) and not what she thought she was looking for. So after the exhaustive visits where, no surprise, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. all look gorgeous and appealing, the schools which represented more realistic options all had something "wrong" with them.</p>

<p>If it were me..... I'd do a quick sampling of urban, rural, big, small to get a feel for what she likes; I'd then wait for SAT scores to get serious about the visiting. I would also have quality time with your school's scattergram (or a meeting with the GC to find out where kids like your D have ended up in the last 4 years) to find out how much of the high end of your list is even realistic.</p>

<p>Your daughter sounds fantastic-- and if her SAT scores are in line with the SAT 2 score you can eliminate most of her safeties and several of the matchs. If her SAT scores are closer to her PSAT scores than you may need to eliminate most of her reaches and focus on the middle of her list.... but why visit schools she can't get admitted to if that will color her reaction to the more realistic choices????</p>

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<p>To CEH89- Thanks for the input</p>

<p>To Blossom - Good points for us to keep in mind. Our big visiting trip will be over April vacation and we will probably be trying to visit those moderately more distant schools. By then we will have back that first set of SAT's. Meanwhile, trying to not waste valuable open days I have planned a few visits pending continued interest in the schools.</p>

<p>Afternoon Jan 25 - 3 schools out of 23 were open, doing tours and info; BU, NEU and Harvard. Since Harvard is the least available (only weekday) figured we would check it out.</p>

<p>Saturday Feb 2 - NEU (only one open for tours etc)</p>

<p>Feb vacation week - Colby and Bowdoin - using one day</p>

<p>Good Friday March 21 - Bates - we are in Maine again that weekend</p>

<p>March 29- BU - Husband away and won't mind us visiting w/o him</p>

<p>Then it is April vacation (19 - 27) - and how to spend those valuable days?</p>

<p>Saturday May 10 - Only providence, RPI, Northeastern, (if not before) and WPI options</p>

<p>Saturday May 17 & 24 - Only Providence, Northeastern and RPI options options</p>

<p>By this point, if not before, schools (except Northeastern) are on a summer session and will give a different feel w/o the students on campus.</p>