<p>We visited Ithaca on the first day of classes, and it didn’t feel particularly intellectual to us. Of all the other schools we visited, it reminded us most of a miniature UMass; it feels more like a small state U than a large LAC. The students we saw mostly looked like very normal, mildly jocky middle-class kids.</p>
<p>Another thing to be aware of is that their curriculum tends to the highly structured side. My son put it on his list at first because of the strong music program, but took it back off when he realized that it would be nearly impossible to double-major in music and anything else, because of the highly specific requirements and the lack of room for electives in most majors.</p>
<p>yabe…people can’t help themselves. I was looking at the acceptance thread from last year (trying to gauge when we could maybe expect to hear from certain schools) and I thought it was funny whenever someone’s kid got into a certain school that they had to also say, “Honors Program” as if their kid wouldn’t look as good otherwise for getting into that particular school.</p>
<p>Funny story about talking versus not talking…my very good friend who has a very bright (possibly Ivy ability) daughter in a different district, was telling me that none of her daughter’s friends tell each other where they are applying because they are all so competitive. I told her that it seemed like everybody talked to everyone here in my town, but that it could be because my kid is in a different competitive set. The next day (in the evening) my son found out he got into Indiana. The day after that (in the morning), I got a call from an friend of mine whose son is in my son’s grade, saying, “Oh, I heard your son got into Indiana…congratulations!” Our sons are not in the same social group and don’t really see each other, but the news took only a few hours to reach her…lol!! So much for no one talking!</p>
<p>R2R, did your son put Indiana on his facebook? Perhaps that is how the news traveled. My son put an acceptance on his facebook and if you do that the news is out in seconds (my son new that, and he is proud of his acceptance, so I guess he wanted the news to travel quickly)!</p>
<p>RTR - my son’s school weights by multiplying by a 1.1 for honors and a 1.2 for AP. So if you get a B in an AP, it is only a 3.6 weighted. Many of the schools said that they would reweight and add a 1 for AP and a .5 for honors. One school adds a 1 for AP and honors. Another school takes away the + and -, so his A- grades will become a 5 with the reweighting. </p>
<p>I don’t see Ithaca as a good match based on the information that everyone has shared. He definitely likes flexibility in scheduling. Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about Wittenberg??</p>
<p>wb…thanks for the clarification. I haven’t seen many policies for reweighting, but maybe that’s because we’re looking at big publics that don’t take the time to do it. (I’ve often wondered if they have some way of differentiating a kid who took Algebra II in the 9th grade and Calculus in 11th, versus a kid on a more standard math track with Algebra in 9th and Algebra II in 11th…)</p>
<p>One more comment on Ithaca. My daughter had a good friend from HS that graduated from Ithaca in 2007. She majored in television-journalism and may well have done another major in marketing. She went with a full merit scholarship, did two abroads including an internship abroad. She is now the producer of the local tv stations 5:00 news. Knowing this girl, makes me think a lot of Ithaca.</p>
<p>I visited Ithaca on Friday for a class visit, meeting with a professor, lunch with a student, and a talk with an admissions counselor. I plan on being a TV/Radio major at Park. I am applying ED to the school. I think those who go to Ithaca know what they want to do - especially those in Communications, Physical/Occupational Therapy, and Music. I am choosing Ithaca for being one of the best communication schools in the nation, internship opportunities in LA, and the range of equipment that they only let Park students borrow. </p>
<p>@nightchef - I think maybe you got a different perspective. Ithaca focuses a lot on hands-on learning. They want to students to be able to graduate and be whatever they want to be. Many of the students I met were majors with maybe 2 or 3 minors. 60 credits (for a BS) is taken within the major while the other 60 are taken elsewhere. It gives the “liberal arts” feel to the school.</p>
<p>Ready to Roll, unfortunately I don’t think most colleges “analyze” transcripts that closely. I do think they look to see what the “highest” level math or language or whatnot is taken, but not necessarily scrutinize whether the student was doing it “ahead” of the general population curve. Theoretically the student moving through the curriculum faster goes further unless they exhaust the curriculum. For example, my S2 started French in middle school and will finished the French curriculum at the end of junior year (no AP French or French V). He is no different a position than the student who does French one through four all in high school finishing during senior year. Hopefully GCs take those things into consideration when they check “rigorous curriculum.” Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Kitty56, my personal feelings about Open House vs. your own scheduled tour/interview/info session is that if the school is close enough, go ahead and do the Open House. If your child doesn’t like what he/she hears, you can always leave. You are the buyers, the tire kickers! If the school requires an interview, usually Open Houses do not schedule interviews that day. So if your child really likes what they hear/see at Open House & an interview is required, then you must schedule an off-campus interview or return to the campus again for an interview! That is OK, but if that return visit involves a hotel stay, gas, tolls, etc. that can add up! </p>
<p>We did an Open House at HWS, and if S had liked it, he probably would have needed to schedule an off-campus interview. But he decided not to apply there, so we don’t need to schedule a return visit to Geneva. The other schools we have looked at involve day trips, so it will be easy to return & visit again if necessary. </p>
<p>When they have those Accepted Student Open House Days, they are really putting on their best show I think to entice the students to enroll! </p>
<p>Funny, we were talking about Ithaca, H & one child did a big road trip & signed up for an Ithaca Open House. They didn’t make it through the tour, they left and visited Howe Caverns on the way home. (brought home lots of tourist trap fudge) and she became a geology major! So that is my Ithaca story! If S wants to visit we will go, but he wants a rural type environment & I don’t think Ithaca falls into that category.</p>
<p>Thanks to everybody on this forum, especially nightchef and rodney. Evidently I left this page open & went off to the kitchen on Sunday (was watching the Giants game) and my S read all the comments about Ithaca! This afternoon we were looking at the Excel Spreadsheet of possibilities & he told me to take Ithaca off the list! S said he read everybody’s comments about Ithaca & he felt that it just wasn’t the right place for him! This will certainly cut out one big road trip for us! I had no idea he would even read anything on here! When he asked how many students, that kind of clinched it, too, I think it is about 6,000 undergrads!</p>
<p>My son decided not to apply to Syracuse. We’ve never been to visit, but he says he just doesn’t want to go there. I guess I’m glad he narrowed things down on his own, and especially eliminated what can be a pricey private school, but I wish I knew more specifically why he isn’t interested! (I’m not sure he knows himself!)</p>
<p>Like the idea of U Hartford, U Delaware, U Vermont, Quinnipiac, U Denver. Can anyone suggest more great schools for the 3.0, 24 ACT student with enrollment closer to 5-7K undergrads, and does anyone know of Div III schools of this size with this kind of breadth of curriculum? Your help is appreciated : )</p>
<p>Kitty, I wish I knew the Tour vs. Open House answer! I find that Open Houses give you a much better look at faculty and pose much less risk that a great or lousy tour guide will make your child’s mind for him or her, but a much worse look at the students on a normal day. And neither gives you a look at what the students do after the last class on Friday, so many advocate a tour/interview; Open House; and overnight visit–which is a ton of effort and (for distant schools, expense).</p>
<p>Onasearch, I am not sure of enrollment numbers, but think 3.0/24 is competitive at the following, many of which are around that size: URI; UWVA; St Josephs; Towson State; Rider; Fairleigh Dickinson; Monmouth; and a lot of the PA DIv. III schools, such as Blooomsburg; Lycoming; Elizabethtown; Stroudsburg and Scranton.</p>
<p>Onasearch - University of Delaware is not even a reach for a 3.0, 24 ACT student. S has the same exact stats - 3.0, 24 ACT. The schools that we’ve applied to that fit your criteria are University of Scranton, Marist College (reach), University of Hartford, URI (bigger than 5-7,000 though), Hofstra, West Chester, ¶, York ¶, Kutztown ¶, Towson (bigger than 5-7,000), Sacred Heart (CT). Good luck with your search and applications. PM me if you want any more info.</p>
<p>Back to the question of tours versus open houses… We visited Drexel yesterday and had an admissions presentation and tour. The biggest (maybe only) disappointment was that none of the classroom buildings were unlocked since the kids had off for Columbus day. That meant that we could not see the inside of ANY classroom. The tourguide just told us the names of the buildings and what was inside. For my technical minded son and his friend, this was kind of a disappointment. Not so much that they took it off the list, but to see it in full will certainly mean another visit. We did see the student union and a dorm, but stood outside of the other buildings while the tour guide explained what was inside.</p>
<p>It never occurred to me that not only would the buildings all be locked but that the tour guides would also not be able to access them. The admissions officer assured us that on a regular school day, the buildings would be open and on an open house day, the heads of the different schools will be doing presentations. Now I wish that that was the option we had taken. Just hearing about buildings did not mean that much. I was concentrating so much on son not missing a day of school that I missed the forest for the trees.</p>
<p>Kathiep, do not blame yourself. Since Columbus Day is a major high school holiday, I am surprised Drexel did not anticipate a deluge of visitors, all of whom would want access to class buildings at a tech school even more than a liberal arts school. I think it is unusual for a college not to have classes that day.
At least you saw the campus and neighborhood, which turns off some visitors, and were able to speak to the guide.</p>
<p>kathiep - That is what happened to us this weekend. We didn’t get to see the inside of any building except the library. It was all outdoors. This was very frustrating since we flew to visit. The plan is to apply and then revisit if he is accepted. </p>
<p>One of the schools we visited this weekend was Belmont in Nashville. My ds was not interested because of the very “christian” overtones, but I think that this place is really cool, especially if you are artsy. They have a huge music industry department and it was interesting to hear what some of the kids were planning for their futures.</p>