Parents of rising seniors: Let the games begin

<p>Screen name: klmcpa
My junior is a female
Home state: CA
Preferred geographic location of college: Now, CA. Pre-boyfriend - East Coast or Mid-West (needed to be convinced to consider CA schools.)
Any specific things child is looking for -- Little or no Greek life. Would like to play lacrosse, but it's not a deal breaker.
Possible academic interests -- Pre-med (pre boyfriend), engineering, accounting (yes, she is all over the place!)
Schools currently on list: UCSD, University of San Diego, UCLA, UCSB, Notre Dame, Stanford (pre-boyfriend, and a reach too)
Schools we've visited (although not necessarily interested in applying):
UCLA (liked the campus, hated LA) UCSD, Univ. of San Diego (fears that the kids are too "rich"), SDSU (sis goes there). We will do more this summer.</p>

<p>This whole thing would have been much easier to answer before she met PRINCE CHARMING. She is still ambitious, just not eager to leave SD, much less California. This has been discussed at length at our house. Any advice on how it was handled at your house would be appreciated!</p>

<p>Screen name: Flounderingfree
Is your junior male or female:female
Home state:TEXAS
Preferred geographic location for college:northeast
Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.):she just wants to feel at home near a large city but could be without
Child's possible academic interests:Art HIstory, Music vocal and music theater and pre law
Schools currently on child's list of possibilities:Princeton, Rice, Dartmouth, Northwestern and as a safety school for DAD Texas Tech
Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there):University of New Mexico, TCU, Texas Tech, University of Houston, Texas A & M, Univeristy of Texas, Princeton, Rice, Clemson,</p>

<p>klmcpa,</p>

<p>I have been where you are!!! </p>

<p>SOOOOO sorry to hear about about Prince Charming! Hopefully it will explode like my D's prince Charming did after about, oh, 5 months. We too are in Southern California, and my D's search was all fcoused on LA schools... We <em>made</em> her widen her net... she did... BF went ::Poof:: and now she's going many, many states away for College. </p>

<p>She even said "You told me so and you were right!" without any rancor, just gratitude. </p>

<p>Keep your chin up!</p>

<p>Screen name: BEACON
Is your junior male or female:M
Home state:CA
Preferred geographic location for college:CA, OR, AZ, NY
Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): Urban
Child's possible academic interests: Arch/Eng
Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: UCB, UCSB, Cooper Union, NYU
Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there):</p>

<p>I'm late to the game, too! </p>

<p>Screename: ASAP
Junior is male.
Home state: CA
Preferred location: California, & west coast states, but starting to be a bit more open if "they are really special for some reason",whatever that means.
He's not really sure what he's looking for - size is negotiable. Wants outdoor opportunities, academic challenge, (but not hyper-manic like his sister), with strong community feel .
Academic interests: physics, environmental science, math, business, technology, economics, politics, media studies.
Schools on our lists so far: UCB, UCSD, UCD, UCSB, UCSC, Whitman, Claremont- McKenna, Bowdoin
Schools he's visited: So far just a few UCs.</p>

<p>OK - here's the updated list so far:</p>

<p>DAUGHTERS: (31)</p>

<p>Anoel - NY
Audiophile - Florida
calmom - California
carolyn - California
Crabbylady - Alaska</p>

<p>csshsm - Louisiana
curmudgeon - Texas
echosensei - Michigan
fireflyscout - Texas
Flounderingfree - Texas</p>

<p>hayden
holycow - Asia
Juana -IL
lalady - California
klmcpa California</p>

<p>Marny 1 NY
mezzomom - Michigan
Momnipotent Ohio
movinmom Maine
musicmomic - Iowa</p>

<p>NCEph - North Carolina
nyclyzz - NJ
obesmom - NY
pyewacket Europe
smsmom - midwest</p>

<p>snorky - MI
SplashMom - Tennessee
taxguy - Maryland
theocmom - California
Thumper1 - CT
Yankeegirl49 NY</p>

<p>SONS: (20)</p>

<p>ASAP - CA
3boysnjmom - NJ
Beacon - CA
Cali - California
debruns - CT</p>

<p>DrDrewsmom Idaho
deb922 - OH
Eagle79 - Rhode Island
gandert - Indiana
heidi - south</p>

<p>Justadog - 2 sons - CT
kathiep - PA
Katwkittens - NC
Kissy - midwest</p>

<p>Momofthree - Tennessee
MomofWildChild - Texas
Rascal - VA
Shennie - WI
sluggbugg - CA</p>

<p>Screen name:doddsmom (doddsdad is DH)
Is your junior male or female: male
Home state:we reside in Germany (work for Depart of Defense Dependent Schools)
Preferred geographic location for college: KY, TN, IN, OH (within 6 hours or so from family in KY)
Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): small, LAC, Co-ed, liberal to moderate faculty and student body, must look like and feel like how he images college would be, cultural and entertainment opportunities on campus or nearby, study abroad opportunities
Child's possible academic interests: education, history, political science, math
Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Centre, Denison, Kenyon, Notre Dame, Earlham, Hannover (his dad is looking at Grinnell too)
Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): Kenyon (1st choice so far), Centre (2nd choice, probably H and my first choice for him), tied for third-Earlham, Hannover, Denison, fourth-Notre Dame. Visited Vanderbilt and Oberlin and eliminated them during the visit-Vandy was too preppy and arrogant for him and Oberlin was too liberal (mean spirited and intolerant student behavior) and weird (Son's words, not mine).</p>

<p>Is the list of AIM screennames? nyclyzz is my screenname, but not my cc username :)</p>

<p>Dear klmcpa, </p>

<p>If Prince Charming is really Mr. Right, he'll still be there for her during vacations and perhaps weekend visits. Pre-College is too soon to make a permanent commitment, your D owes it to herself and her future to pick the best college for her academic-career needs and it wouldn't hurt to "shop around" a little, either.</p>

<p>Shennie -- Thanks for info on African studies at Wisconsin. We think S is better suited for medium sized schools. Larger schools -- GWU, BU,
NYU -- are on his list mostly as safeties (hopefully!). Another issue:
many schools have African American programs but not African studies.
Again, this interest is not carved in stone.</p>

<p>
[Quote]
If Prince Charming is really Mr. Right, he'll still be there for her during vacations and perhaps weekend visits

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>That's the thing I would push. In reality, the most it will typically last is until 2nd semester freshman year.</p>

<p>Wow, I've been traveling (NOT on college visits, LOL) so I'm sorry to be late to jump in here. (Causing stress for Calmom's tally sheets...)</p>

<p>Screen name: dcmom3
Student: female
Home State: Maryland
Preferred location for college: Not too far north, not too far south, this side of the Mississippi
Specific Interest/need: wants to play a varsity sport
Academic Interest: Allied health, pre-PT, athletic training
Current List: Bucknell, Delaware, Loyola, Georgetown, Tufts, Saint Joseph's, UMBC, William and Mary
Schools visited: American, Bucknell, Catholic, Denison, Dickinson, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Lehigh, Loyola, Mary Washington, Muhlenberg, Richmond, Saint Joseph's, Salisbury, Scranton, Towson, Miami of Ohio</p>

<p>My junior is D number 3 so I am looking forward to next May and being DONE with this process forever. (Maybe I will take the dog on college visits if I suffer withdrawal ;)</p>

<p>Screen name: Northeastmom
Male
Home State: NJ
Preferred geographic location: Within 7-8 hour drive
Specific things he is looking for: Strong business school, safe surrounding area, small to middle size, little to no TAs
Possible interests: accounting, finance, or some other business major are strongest
List of possibilities: Babson, Bentley, Bryant, JMU, Towson, College of New Jersey, Northeastern, Quinnipiac, Marist, Hofstra, UConn, Ithaca
Schools visited: All of the above (only our son saw NE and he liked it a lot)</p>

<p>jmmom, thanks for the descriptions of BC, Tulane and Tufts! Tulane and BC both sound great. Tulane's been getting some good press with those big gifts to the engineering school. I have a sophomore s who is interested in engineering so Tulane will be on his list, too.</p>

<p>Heidi,</p>

<p>Don't know if your Junior is interested in engineering. If they are, you should be aware that BC does not have an engineering school. However, they do have a 5 year BA/BS in engineering program with BU.</p>

<p>BC has an undergraduate school of Business, Nursing and Education along with their school of Arts & Science. Students who qualify could also go to other 5 year engineering programs and get 2 degrees.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

<p>Screen name: shojomo
Female
Home state: California
Preferred Location: probably California or Pacific Northwest. Would like to stay within an easy plane trip from home, preferably a car drive from home.
Specific things: diversity of student body, including spectrum of political/social attitudes and ethnicities. Good English/creative writing/journalism programs.
List of Possibilities: UC Davis, UC Irvine, Scripps, Pitzer, Lewis and Clark, Wash U, U of Puget Sound
Schools Visited: Lewis and Clark, Reed, Wash U, Emory, Vanderbilt. Planning to visit UC Irvine in 2 weeks, and hopefully UC Davis right after that before school gets out for the summer. Planned trips to Claremont colleges and Puget Sound in the fall. Possibly Whitman.</p>

<p>Hi Eagle! My junior is most emphatically not interested in engineering - it's history or philosophy or business for him. He also loves sports so BC seems like a good choice for him in many ways. The GC put it near the top of his list.</p>

<p>klmcpa,
You have my sympathies. Daughter had crossed Lewis & Clark off her list two weeks then it magically reappeared after her boyfriend visited U of Washington this weekend and declared it his "first choice" school. She didn't say that's why L&C went back on the list, but I found it odd that it went off and on again so quickly. </p>

<p>Anyone else have a kid who is worried that someone from her high school might end up at the same school she does? My daughter wants her ultimate choice to be UNIQUE, which, seeing as how she is mostly looking at very liberal schools but attends a fairly conservative Catholic high school, should not be a problem. :)</p>

<p>To all of you who have commented on our Prince Charming issue, I thank you. It is nice to know that I'm not alone in dealing with this issue! </p>

<p>He will be attending a local university, that's how UCSD popped back on to our list!</p>

<p>Luckily, there is a lot of time between now and the time that applications are due. PC will have part of a semester under his belt by then as well. We'll just keep our options open and see what happens.</p>

<p>I wonder what I'll be posting next April??</p>

<p>Heidi, if Arts & Sciences or Business are preferred by your junior, BC is an excellent choice. Here is an interesting article on Philosophy at BC where there are more Philosophy majors than at any other university.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/chronicle/v13/f17/philosophy.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/chronicle/v13/f17/philosophy.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>