<p>Screen name: Reasonabledad
Is your junior male or female: Male
Home state: PA
Preferred geographic location for college: USA
Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): usually prefers small
Child's possible academic interests: CS, especially Artificial Intlligence
Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Stanford, MIT, CMU, Princeton, Penn State, UIUC, Michigan, Vandy, USC, Cal Tech, Olin
Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there):UCSD, UCLA, USC, Cal Tech, Harvey Mudd, Stanford, Berkeley, Penn State, CMU</p>
<p>cujoe169 - if the Penn comment was directed towards me :) - neither of my kids is going to apply there. "too urban" for one, and it just didn't do it for the other.</p>
<p>By my quick count this thread is listing 28 females and 14 males...I wonder if this is typical for CC? If only we still lived in the age when parents could arrange marriages! I could offer my son and negotiate a deal.</p>
<p>Now to hope he never finds this thread among all the others...</p>
<p>Chapman "shows well" the way a beautiful house infested with termites does. We visited last summer and came away swooning. When D went back for an overnight visit, she was hosted by a student who was failing academically and who was not helpful. She attended two classes in which she said the students were "doing their own thing," including chatting, sending IM's and playing video games instead of participating. In two intermediate classes, no one spoke and there was no discussion. She was horrified that in late April, students still did not know the names of the people who sat next to them in class, and all of the students she met who were friendly lived at home and commuted. She was told that because the campus is "bone dry" that it empties out on weekends, and that only the out of towners and "misfits" are around. In the evening, there was little to do while her host cried on the phone to her mother about the test she had flunked that day, a test that D said was "11th grade math." D called her sister at Oxy and told her to come get her first thing in the morning, skipping the meeting with admissions -- she had enough.</p>
<p>This was a huge disappointment -- we were very excited about the school after our first visit. We know the host program is new, but it was more than the individual host -- including the judgement of the admissions office to have a flunking student host students five nights in a row!</p>
<p>On the upside, the campus and dorms are gorgeous, the financial package was exceptional, and I really wanted my kidsto be close together. Thank goodness, though, that she took that second visit, or the results could have been disastrous.</p>
<p>Carolyn - thanks for suggestions. Amherst and BU are on the list for summer road trip. D won't consider all-female schools.
My-3-sons - I will mention American. She's also interested in Georgetown.
D is a very strong student with a lot of community service work in India and Thailand. She's been attending international schools since pre-K and is totally unprepared for US college culture.<br>
We are not sure whether someone with her background would be happier in a large university or small LAC. Reading some of the 'roommate from hell' stories at this site makes me cringe.</p>
<p>deb922 & Carolyn - thanks for the suggestions. A lot of colleges offer Russian - what I am focusing on right now are places where that will be a "hook" - so ideally I want a college with a well-established Russian department with a declining enrollment. I got this idea after stumbling across a web page that had data from various schools listing the number of students in their first and second year Russian language classes. There are top colleges that have well-established Russian departments that are down to 3 students at 2nd year level. There is one top 5 LAC with a new Russian center and 4 profs on staff, down to only 8 students in 2nd year Russian and with only 6 students graduating with Russian majors last year. How can you keep 4 profs employed with only 6 students taking the advanced level classes? I think the answer is you need to find more Russian students. With her SATs, my daughter wouldn't have a prayer of getting into that college but for the Russian.... it remains to be seen whether Russian is a sufficient hook. My idea is to encourage my daughter to email the profs in the departments of schools like that, indicating her interest and summarizing her background, and see if they bite. She might be shy about trying this, but I think once she gets her first email back she will be hooked, even if they aren't. </p>
<p>Bard is probably NOT one of the schools with enrollment problems, because Bard runs a LAC in St. Petersburg, where Russian students actually can attend for 4 years and get Bard degrees -- so Bard may be one of those magnets where all the scarce Russian students already flock. But, my daughter might not need a hook to get into Bard..... because.... </p>
<p>Bard is completely, totally, unabashedly SAT-optional!!!! No standardized test of any sort required, not even particulary encouraged - they say that about 20 different times on their site. </p>
<p>Not one of those colleges that has some complex alternative, like submitting a portfolio or extra recs and essays -- but a college that truly doesn't ask for or particularly want to see the scores. The only problem for us is that Bard really wants to see stronger math & science. But with the test scores out of the picture, Bard becomes - a match! (We need to see median SAT=1200 for "match" category .... but no-SAT-required also works).</p>
<p>So definitely we'll keep Bard in mind. It probably is way too far from the city for my d's liking, but she has 2 friends who got accepted this year, so she's got a favorable view right now. So I'm looking pretty closely at the instant decision program.</p>
<p>Hi Holycow,
My kids have grown up in Asia (12 years) as well and have attended international schools. To ease adjustment, we focused on schools with relatively high % international students (though if your child is a Third Culture kid actually they are are not included in this statistic). My eldest son is at a small LAC with a very high% internationals, and my younger son will be at one of 2 Urban Universities which also have a high % of internationals . In the Northeast, for international studies/business I would suggest (keeping the high % international kids in mind)...Tufts, Middlebury, Penn, GW, Brown, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins. Our school urges kids to look at LAC's...and for one of my sons that is the best option, but honestly for the other he probably needs a school with at least 4000 kids (not for when he is a freshman so much as when he is a junior or senior)...</p>
<p>I might also suggest a summer program at a university to give her an idea...the Georgetown International Relations summer program was one my son attended and gave him an idea of what a moderate sized college program would be like, as an example.</p>
<p>Screen name:Katwkittens</p>
<p>Is your junior male or female: Male DS#2, #4 kitten</p>
<p>Home state: North Carolina</p>
<p>Preferred geographic location for college: None, has lived on both coasts so is absence of any preferences, his words "I've lived in Vegas, it really doesn't matter where I go to school!!"</p>
<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.):Middle to smaller, not HUGE (but will apply to UNC-CH)</p>
<p>Child's possible academic interests:Is great at math, physics, bio, chem, history, for lang.....has no fav, would like to use them all in some way, some capacity</p>
<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Duke, Carolina, Georgetown SFS, Princeton, AF Academy, Penn (wharton)</p>
<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): We visited zero. He spent last summer at Duke doing research, UCSD med school summer before doing research, Carolina this summer doing.....research.....he doesn't want to go into research...he's done</p>
<p>Son is the rah-rah type, 3 sport athlete (football), URM, and likely val...and is taking 8 APs this week and next year, maybe 7-8 next year....and he has no idea what he should study, although he LOVES the idea of flying jets at Mach 2, sooooooooooooo....</p>
<p>did I mention he drives me absolutely NUTS!!!!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Screename: Shennie
My junior is male
Home state: WI
Preferred location: Midwest, NE
Looking for a small to medium sized school that will allow him to play in a good orchestra (viola) without having to compete overly much with performance majors. Wants urban or access to a city.
Child's area of interest: Biology at the moment (not pre-med)
Schools currently on the list: St. Olaf, Haverford, Swarthmore, Weselyan, BU (I know, doesn't fit the criteria but it is on anyway) Brown, Middlebury, Rochester, Ithaca, CMU, Oberlin.
Visited: St. Olaf, Carelton, Macalaster, Chicago. Will visit the rest this summer.</p>
<p>
[quote]
cujoe169 - if the Penn comment was directed towards me - neither of my kids is going to apply there. "too urban" for one, and it just didn't do it for the other.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>hardly!... it was at all the prospective parents FORCING their kids to apply to penn even if they don't want to go... plz stop making competition for me :)... and besides i'm doing penn seas... not the college</p>
<p>OK - here's the list so far - (I think) -- if I've left anyone out (which I probably has) - it is unintentional -- so you can just add yourself back in. I'm trying to keep a running total, but I'm not usually too good with tallys & lists:</p>
<p>DAUGHTERS:</p>
<p>Anoel - NY
Audiophile - Florida
calmom - California
carolyn - California</p>
<p>Crabbylady - Alaska
csshsm - Louisiana
curmudgeon - Texas
echosensei - Michigan</p>
<p>fireflyscout - Texas
holycow - Asia
Juana -IL
lalady - California</p>
<p>Marny 1 NY
mezzomom - Michigan
Momnipotent oHIO
movinmom Maine</p>
<p>musicmomic - Iowa
NCEph - North Carolina
nyclyzz - NJ
obesmom - NY</p>
<p>pyewacket Europe
smsmom - midwest
snorky - MI
SplashMom - Tennessee</p>
<p>taxguy - Maryland
theocmom - California
Thumper1 - CT
Yankeegirl49 NY</p>
<p>SONS:</p>
<p>Cali - California
DrDrewsmom Idaho
deb922 - OH
Eagle79 - Rhode Island</p>
<p>gandert - Indiana
heidi - south
Justadog - 2 boys - CT</p>
<p>kathiep - PA
Katwkittens - NC
Kissy - midwest
Momofthree - Tennessee</p>
<p>MomofWildChild - Texas
Rascal - VA
Shennie - WI</p>
<p>ladylazarus - there are several of us who have visited Rhodes and quite like it. Head over to the Rhodes board so we can discuss.</p>
<p>Thanks for the recap, Freps. Love your analogy about the school showing like a beautiful house infested with termites, lol.</p>
<p>Screen name:debruns
Is your junior male or female: Male</p>
<p>Home state: CT
Preferred geographic location for college: Northeast, within 4 hours or so from CT</p>
<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.):Middle to smaller, not HUGE
Child's possible academic interests: He does well in English, likes to write and study history. Likes his religion class's too (catholic school) Seemed to enjoy Algebra and Geometry but hates trig so he doesn't want to do a lot of math in college
Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Haverford, Swarthmore, Fordham, Brown,and our state school so far.
Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): We visited one. We were in the Bronx and saw Fordham, Rose Hill campus and he had a tour and learned about the honors program and talked to some students. Wesleyan is near us and we know a student, but it seems like it wouldn't be a fit. Will visit a few in the summer and re-visit if possible in the Fall. </p>
<p>Son is the quiet type, loves basketball, but plays chess and competitive scrabble when it's possible. He's sings in various chiors and would love to continue that also. He doesn't want a big party school or too large of a campus...his limited requests so far. : )</p>
<p>Screen name: 3boysnjmom
My junior is a male
Home state: NJ
Preferred geographic location of college: Northeast, Pennsylvania,
Mid West
Any specific things child is looking for -- ??? (wish I had an inkling)
Possible academic interests -- Film, Music, African studies
Schools currently on list: Tufts, Middlebury, Dartmouth, BU, Bates,
Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Brown, Penn, GWU, Northwestern, NYU,
UMichigan, Vanderbilt
Schools we've visited (although not necessarily interested in applying):
Tufts, Middlebury, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Northwestern, Pomona</p>
<p>Okay, I'm in.</p>
<p>Screen name: hayden (some people seemed to have thought this was a person's name. But I took the name from the Hayden valley in Yellowstone because I love the buffalo)
My junior is: female
Preferred location: USA
Specific thing she is looking for: prefers schools >6 - 7,000. Prefers urban, but if the school is really large could accept non urban
Interests: East Asian studies / Japanese language & culture / graphic arts
Schools she's interested in: BU, American, U of Washington, U of Michigan, U of Wisconsin-Madison, Penn State, Florida, Maryland
Schools she's visited: American, NYU, GWU (great Asian program, but not Graphic Arts), Penn State, Ithaca, Maryland (who knew it was such a nice campus!)</p>
<p>And I can't wait to spend the next year with you all !</p>
<p>Scream name: SLUGGBUGG</p>
<p>Junior: MALE</p>
<p>Home State: CALI</p>
<p>Preferred geographic location of college: AS CLOSE TO MY GARAGE AS HE CAN GET (where all of his band equipment is located); NOCAL*</p>
<p>(*No matter where he goes, he'll be living on campus, not here!) </p>
<p>Type of College: URBAN; BIG; CLOSE TO A MAJOR CITY</p>
<p>Interests: MATH; PHYSICS; MUSIC</p>
<p>Schools On His List (one-stop shopping): UC BERKELEY; UC SANTA CRUZ; UC DAVIS</p>
<p>Schools We've Visited: All of the above, but not because he was excited about college. He's been to Cal because we went to a Beck concert at the Greek Theater last August. He went to summer school at UCSC last year, and he's seen UC Davis only because we drug him around with us on a visit with our D two years ago. I believe that was the trip when we drove the entire rest of the way home in silence...except for an occasional swear word from each one of us. </p>
<p>And, omigod, don't try to talk to him about any other campus or location. We've learned to zip it when the wonderful college brochures arrive almost daily in the mail. His college list will evolve, we assume, as he evolves over the next year. We're just glad that he broke up with the !#@* college girlfriend and has decided to attend his last year of high school. Yay! Let the countdown begin... :D</p>
<p>Katwkittens - your son sounds like he might be Morehead material - is the in-state competiton fierce?</p>
<p>Just wanted to wish all of you Jr Parents and your children the best of luck with admissions for the class of 2010! Hold onto your hats....it's a wild ride!</p>
<p>3boysnjmom - If your son is very interested in African studies and is OK with a big school in the midwest, have a look at Wisconsin. They have an excellent African studies dept.</p>