<p>UF also has the 2nd highest # of NM finalists (Harvard is 1st). Again, because they recruit them with $$$.</p>
<p>Thumper, I hear on the tour guides having an influence. Perhaps a topic for another thread but of the schools that I have visited over the last few years the tour guides have been good and bad. The best ones have been:</p>
<p>Villanova, Cornell, Princeton, USC, Williams</p>
<p>Villanova was good because they would only let you go in small groups. </p>
<p>Le me start a thread on this topic . . . I will repost this there.</p>
<p>Perhaps this belongs on a new thread, so just let me know if I should take it elsewhere. But a very valuable thread (Tales from the transfer front) raised something that I haven't seen yet in CC:</p>
<p>Parents' and/or enrolled students' characterizations of 1) dominant social culture in a particular LAC, and 2) dominant intellectual culture in a particular LAC.</p>
<p>Would you all be willing to take a chance doing this for each school you visit? In our case, we can't possibly visit all the schools we should, and, just like the Zagat surveys, multiple inputs are often much more accurate than one, even when that one is my own.</p>
<p>For example, although we have visited a grand total of three schools (U.Wisc, Northwestern, U.Chicago), junior daughter and I wondered whether our impressions were justified in such fleeting visits.</p>
<p>We thought that Northwestern was pre-professional, Wisc was anything you wanted it to be, and Chicago was calm and quiet. The kids from my daughter's high school regard Chicago as true to its stereotype--introverted and socially maladroit. I am hoping this is not true, although where a reputation has persisted for so many decades, it probably becomes self-fulfilling. There is a fancy statistical term for this, but I have no idea what that is.</p>
<p>Thanks very much.</p>
<p>Current tally of rising seniors:</p>
<p>DAUGHTERS: (37)</p>
<p>Anoel - NY
Audiophile - Florida
calmom - California
carolyn - California
Crabbylady - Alaska</p>
<p>csshsm - Louisiana
curmudgeon - Texas
dcmom3 - Maryland
echosensei - Michigan
eppsas - Alabama</p>
<p>fireflyscout - Texas
Flounderingfree - Texas
hayden
holycow - Asia
Juana -IL</p>
<p>ladylazarus - NJ
lalady - California
klmcpa - California
Marny - NY
mezzomom - Michigan</p>
<p>Momnipotent -Ohio
Motheroftwogirls - Mass
movinmom -Maine
musicmomic - Iowa
NCEph - North Carolina</p>
<p>nyc -NY
obesmom - NY
pyewacket -Europe
sent! - DC
shojomo - California
smsmom - midwest</p>
<p>snorky - MI
SplashMom - Tennessee
taxguy - Maryland
theocmom - California
Thumper1 - CT</p>
<p>Yankeegirl49 NY</p>
<p>SONS: (30)</p>
<p>2sonmama - Kansas
3boysnjmom - NJ
ASAP - CA
Beacon - CA
Blizzard - MA</p>
<p>Cali - California
Cathymee - NY
debruns - CT
doddsmom & doddsdad - Germany
DrDrewsmom Idaho</p>
<p>deb922 - OH
Eagle79 - Rhode Island
Eulenspiegel - Oregon
gandert - Indiana
heidi - south</p>
<p>jmac - Idaho
Justadog - 2 sons - CT
kathiep - PA
Katwkittens - NC</p>
<p>Karyblue - CA
Kissy - midwest
Momofthree - Tennessee
MomofWildChild - Texas
Northeastmom - NJ</p>
<p>Northstarmom -
Rascal - VA
Shennie - WI
sluggbugg - CA
Wyogal - MD</p>
<p>Sorry I missed you in my tally - sent! -- but since I posted, Southjerseymom has also weighed in... so now we have 37 girls, and the boys are catching up with 31:</p>
<p>DAUGHTERS: (36)</p>
<p>Anoel - NY
Audiophile - Florida
calmom - California
carolyn - California
Crabbylady - Alaska</p>
<p>csshsm - Louisiana
curmudgeon - Texas
dcmom3 - Maryland
echosensei - Michigan
eppsas - Alabama</p>
<p>fireflyscout - Texas
Flounderingfree - Texas
hayden
holycow - Asia
Juana -IL</p>
<p>ladylazarus - NJ
lalady - California
klmcpa - California
Marny - NY
mezzomom - Michigan</p>
<p>Momnipotent -Ohio
Motheroftwogirls - Mass
movinmom -Maine
musicmomic - Iowa
NCEph - North Carolina</p>
<p>nyc -NY
obesmom - NY
pyewacket -Europe
sent! - DC
shojomo - California</p>
<p>smsmom - midwest
snorky - MI
SplashMom - Tennessee
taxguy - Maryland
theocmom - California</p>
<p>Thumper1 - CT
Yankeegirl49 NY</p>
<p>SONS: (31)</p>
<p>2sonmama - Kansas
3boysnjmom - NJ
ASAP - CA
Beacon - CA
Blizzard - MA</p>
<p>Cali - California
Cathymee - NY
debruns - CT
doddsmom & doddsdad - Germany
DrDrewsmom Idaho</p>
<p>deb922 - OH
Eagle79 - Rhode Island
Eulenspiegel - Oregon
gandert - Indiana
heidi - south</p>
<p>jmac - Idaho
Justadog - 2 sons - CT
kathiep - PA
Katwkittens - NC</p>
<p>Karyblue - CA
Kissy - midwest
Momofthree - Tennessee
MomofWildChild - Texas
Northeastmom - NJ</p>
<p>Northstarmom -
Rascal - VA
Shennie - WI
sluggbugg - CA
SouthJerseyChessMom - NJ</p>
<p>Wyogal - MD</p>
<p>Hi folks - I want in! Sorry I'm late - I work on a campus, so I've been a little out of CC touch the last week until we got the seniors graduated:</p>
<p>Screen name: GAdad</p>
<p>Is your junior male or female: female</p>
<p>Home state: Georgia</p>
<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Any (though we haven't seriously anything west of Texas)</p>
<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): Combine top-level academic environment with conservatory-level music performance program</p>
<p>Child's possible academic interests: Vocal performance, theatre, creative writing. liberal arts</p>
<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Furman</p>
<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): NYU, Yale, Davidson, Duke, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Furman, Emory; will visit Northwestern and Michigan next weekend</p>
<p>Finally, Carolyn compelled me to post and join the group!</p>
<p>Screen name: ThatMom
Is your junior male or female: Female
Home state: Georgia
Preferred geographic location for college: East of the Mississippi
Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): Urban, mid-sized university, (Mom prefers LAC)
Child's possible academic interests: English, psychology, Spanish, Pre-Med
Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Furman, Wake Forest, Emory, WashU, UChicago, William and Mary, Mary Washington, UNC, Tulane, Rice?
Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there):
Swarthmore, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Amherst, Tufts, Duke, Washington and Lee, Emory, Ga Tech, WashU, Uchicago, Tulane, Nothwestern, Wake Forest (We started in 9th grade)</p>
<p>Screen Name: ncsu1987</p>
<p>Is your junior male or female: female</p>
<p>Home state: virginia</p>
<p>Preferred geographic location for college: virginia and then north</p>
<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.):
Variety of majors that will enable her to change her mind if need be. Prefers small/mediumish, but will go to large. </p>
<p>Child's possible academic interests: Enginnering, Computer Programming, Political Science</p>
<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: UVA, William and Mary, UMich, NCSU, Swarthmore</p>
<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): None yet, getting ready to start in June.</p>
<p>xmere said: "Parents' and/or enrolled students' characterizations of 1) dominant social culture in a particular LAC, and 2) dominant intellectual culture in a particular LAC."</p>
<p>I would appreciate just such a thread. Of all the LAC's we are looking at we only know one that we have an accurate impression of. So a thread like this would be so useful.</p>
<p>Now here is m info to add on.
Screen name: sweetkidsmom
Male
California
Northern Cal, Pacific NW
Up to 4000-5000 size, challenging but personable, small class size, healthy recreational choices, tight knit community with excellent support staff. And this is the deal maker or breaker here: Must be able to get Glutin free foods on campus, so Bon Apetite must be the food provider on campus as they offer the best chance. Fortunately they serve just about all the LACs we are looking at. Must have access to high quality health services (24/7)and pharmacy. LAC's preferred. </p>
<p>economics, sociology, political science, post grad-law school possible</p>
<p>Whitman, Lewis and Clark, Reed, Wilamette, Santa Clara University, University of San Francisco, Dominican.</p>
<p>none;just getting started this month, will be seeing Santa Clara this month I think. Strating in the dining hall with the chef and manager.</p>
<p>Screen name: Mommab</p>
<p>Is your junior male or female: Male</p>
<p>Home state: TN</p>
<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Midwest, Mid Atlantic, Northeast</p>
<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): the perfect instrumental teacher and awesome orchestra</p>
<p>Child's possible academic interests: music performance, music theory, music composition, music history, music... (get the picture?)</p>
<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Cleveland Inst. Music, Oberlin, Northwestern, Indiana U, Juilliard, Curtis Inst. Music, U Rochester (Eastman), New England Cons., and probably more</p>
<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): Indiana U, CIM, Oberlin, Juilliard</p>
<p>Okay, will take new thread to Parents' Forum. </p>
<p>As to the list:</p>
<p>Screen name: Xmere
Female
Greater metropolitan DC/Maryland/VA area
Preferred location: MidAtlantic, Midwest
Looking for...we don't know.
Academic interests: History, philosophy,
Extracurr: Debate, theater lighting designer and operator, play director
Schools on possible list so far: Wisconsin, Michigan, Chicago
Schools visited: Wisconsin, Chicago, Northwestern</p>
<p>Xmere, I posted this on the transfer thread, but here is one discussion from the archives that touched upon college cultures:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=24971&highlight=masculine%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=24971&highlight=masculine</a></p>
<p>I think the best antidote to ending up at a school with the wrong culture, is for a child (and parents) to spend some time thinking about what type of culture would fit them first, before starting to look at colleges. Questions I like to suggest for students to think about: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>How would you describe yourself? How would your best friend describe you? How would your parents describe you? (Ask your best friend and parents this question!)</p></li>
<li><p>How would you describe your best friend? Your group of friends? Are they conservative, liberal, preppy, alternative, partiers, nerds, involved, individualistic, etc.? What do your best friend and your group of friends do for fun? Would you prefer be surrounded by the same type of people in college, a very different type, or a mix? If different or a mix, what type of people would you like to be surrounded by? Why?</p></li>
<li><p>Which student or group of students do you admire most in your school? Be as specific as possible in describing their traits, the way they spend their time, their attitudes towards life, even the way they dress. </p></li>
<li><p>Which student, or group of students, do you dislike the most in your school? Be as specific as possible in describing their traits, the way they spend their time, their attitudes towards life, even the way they dress. </p></li>
<li><p>Picture yourself as you'd like to be four years from now when you are a senior in college. Describe who you would like to be and who your friends are. What do you and your friends do for fun? How do you and your friends spend the biggest chunk of time outside of classes? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Asking these types of questions - and paying attention to the answers - can help narrow down the type of college culture that might be a "fit."</p>
<p>Welcome to all the new parents! It's so good to have you aboard the S.S.Junior boat! </p>
<p>One other tip for new parents: there have been many reports about college visits in the parents thread. Do a search for "college trip report" in the parents thread and you should turn many of them up. Or, just do a search in the parents thread for the name of the school. Sweetskidsmom, My daughter and I have visited many of the schools on your list -- do a search using my name and "trip report" and you should turn up the trip reports. Disclaimer: my daughter is looking for a quirky and kind of off-beat school and I've found that her impression of schools is often very different from mine (and other parents/kids on CC)</p>
<p>Carolyn, I actually have 2 kids in the college-picking process. My son wants to go back to school in the fall. He needs to transfer -- and he needs to figure out where to transfer to. Not a problem for fall -- because he will probably go to a community college to pick up some basic courses and also bolster his GPA - or else he might take some courses via the extensions. All the Calif. universities have extension programs that let you enroll part time without being admitted to the university. </p>
<p>But after that - don't know. Maybe you have some suggestions. He's coming from a crunchy LAC that was too open-ended in curriculum -- but he still wants a student body filled with tree-huggers, or in his words, a "hippie" college. But he needs more structure -- so Evergreen is out. He's looking at Lewis & Clark, but he will need financial aid so I think he needs to expand his search somewhat - or he may be disappointed.. Doesn't want a big university, or a LAC that's too small. </p>
<p>My d. thinks it is too weird that her brother will be looking at colleges at the same time she is.... and even stranger if they both end up at L & C. (L & C still offers free online apps, so d. will definitely apply there -- what's to lose?)</p>
<p>I'm not adding son to "our" list, though - he's a transfer, not a freshman, and he doesn't live at home any more. I'm kind of wondering what it will mean for financial aid if he is in the process of applying to colleges at the same time she is - he won't show up as a dependent on my tax returns for either 2004 or 2005, but as he is only 22 he will have to list my assets on a FAFSA. It seems to me that I should then fill out the FAFSA's for both kids saying that I will have 2 in college..... but I'm not sure how it works on the FAFSA to claim a kid in college who is not a dependent. Legally, he can't be listed as a dependent for tax purpose unless he is in school during 5 months of the year.... and that simply won't be the case any time before 2006. </p>
<p>Anyway, this will all keep my life interesting next year.</p>
<p>Time for my midnight post of the current tally:</p>
<p>DAUGHTERS: (41)</p>
<p>Anoel - NY
Audiophile - Florida
calmom - California
carolyn - California
Crabbylady - Alaska</p>
<p>csshsm - Louisiana
curmudgeon - Texas
dcmom3 - Maryland
echosensei - Michigan
eppsas - Alabama</p>
<p>fireflyscout - Texas
Flounderingfree - Texas
GAdad - Georgia
hayden
holycow - Asia</p>
<p>Juana -IL
ladylazarus - NJ
lalady - California
klmcpa - California
Marny - NY</p>
<p>mezzomom - Michigan
Momnipotent -Ohio
Motheroftwogirls - Mass
movinmom -Maine
musicmomic - Iowa</p>
<p>NCEph - North Carolina
ncsu1987 - Virginia
nyc -NY
obesmom - NY
pyewacket -Europe</p>
<p>sent! - DC
shojomo - California
smsmom - midwest
snorky - MI
SplashMom - Tennessee</p>
<p>taxguy - Maryland
theocmom - California
ThatMom - Georgia
Thumper1 - CT
Xmere - Greater metropolitan DC/Maryland/VA area</p>
<p>Yankeegirl49 NY</p>
<p>SONS: (33)</p>
<p>2sonmama - Kansas
3boysnjmom - NJ
ASAP - CA
Beacon - CA
Blizzard - MA</p>
<p>Cali - California
Cathymee - NY
debruns - CT
doddsmom & doddsdad - Germany
DrDrewsmom Idaho</p>
<p>deb922 - OH
Eagle79 - Rhode Island
Eulenspiegel - Oregon
gandert - Indiana
heidi - south</p>
<p>jmac - Idaho
Justadog - 2 sons - CT
kathiep - PA
Katwkittens - NC</p>
<p>Karyblue - CA
Kissy - midwest
Mommab - TN
Momofthree - Tennessee
MomofWildChild - Texas</p>
<p>Northeastmom - NJ
Northstarmom -
Rascal - VA
Shennie - WI
sluggbugg - CA</p>
<p>SouthJerseyChessMom - NJ
sweetkidsmom - CA
Wyogal - MD</p>
<p>I have a similiar situation-
S willl be 24 this fall, went back to CC last fall. D is a Jr- never thought with 7 years apart between kids we'd have 2 in college at same time, but that is now true. S was on his own, now is back home. Boomerang!</p>
<p>Independent student status on FAFSA is the first set of questions you answer- and student must be sge 24 in Fall to qualify. I know of no escape from it. From what I know, he will have to use your financial info. I don't yet understand how colleges look at it beyond FAFSA, but my son did get a pell grant and Calif. Gov. Fee Waiver at CC this fall. </p>
<p>He is thinking that he will stay at CC until Spring right now, as he needs GPA higher. When he quit CC 2 years ago, it was after the withdraw date, and it killed his GPA.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any other qs.</p>
<p>Screen name: mep'smom
Is your junior male or female: Female
Home state: Tennessee
Preferred geographic location for college: Eastern Seaboard, Southeast
Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.):small to medium private
Child's possible academic interests:international affairs, government, political science, languages
Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: GWU, Georgetown, College of William and Mary, Cornell, Duke, UNC
Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there):
Vanderbilt, LSU, UGA, U of A, Auburn, UT. Now we are starting on the top end of the list</p>
<p>Also, my daughter attends a top rated public academic magnet high school. She has 4.0 GPA, is a very high level athlete in a club sport in which she has been active since she was three, she is a National Honor Society Member, a member of Mu Alpha Theta, Spanish National Honor Society, was on the winning team for the Dell Technology Challenge in which the prize was a $24,000 mobile computer lab for her school. She has been on SGA for three years, did model UN for two, attended the National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intelligence and Diplomacy and is a Counselor in Training for Church Camp. She works one to two evenings coaching gymnastics. She got a 28 on her ACT with a 10 on writing and is waiting for her SAT results right now. She will take both tests again in the Fall. I gave all that detail because she has weighted her list toward the high end with more reach than safety. It's making me nervous. When you put all the accomplishments down on the page they look like a lot., but at her school she would only be middling. Fortunately, they don't rank the class. Her school is a lottery school, they send lots of kids to the Ivies as well as other good schools. Her brother graduated from there and was able to attend a service academy having only a B average. The school's reputation is strong. Does anyone see anything glaring that should be addressed in the next year to make the schools on her list more of a possibility. I should add that only about half of the schools on her list recruit for her sport and she would probably not be a scholarship athlete in any of them because she will have a substantial monetary award traveling with her to any of the schools and since her sport is a headcount sport she would be ruled out and would have to walk on.</p>
<p>mep's mom, I confess that I have no experience in the elite college admissions process yet (my D is jumping into the fray this summer), but have been researching my brains out, reading CC and many books on the subject, so take what I say with that in mind. Your daughter sounds amazing, but her standardized scores are a bit weak for elite schools. Perhaps a test prep before she takes them again? Of course, this could be moot if she's a URM.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>she will have a substantial monetary award traveling with her to any of the schools>></p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>What does this mean??</p>
<p>Calmom, PM me with the name of the school your son wants to transfer from - I would hate to name the same school!</p>
<p>That said, I'll take a chance and name some schools. He might take a look at the University of Oregon as an alternative to L&C. If he's willing to look outside of the PNW, he might take a look at some of the schools on my daughter's list - she's also looking for a structured curriculum but a somewhat "hippie-ish" student body. Her list includes L&C but also Earlham, Beloit, Hendrix, and Goucher. He would have a good chance of strong aid and or merit at the last three if his stats are decent. A few more suggestions: Pitzer, UC Santa Cruz, Skidmore, Guilford (NC), Wesleyan, Oberlin, Reed, Sarah Lawrence, Bard (NY), Bennnington, Antioch (probably the ultimate in "hippie college").</p>