Parents of rising seniors: Let the games begin

Parents Forum
141

<p>Carolyn: 2 neighbor daughters going to Western Wa in the fall, girls all good friends, now D2 will not even consider Western. Relieved they are not going to UPugetSound (her first choice so far). D2 focusing on Very East schools, determined to MAKE HER OWN CHOICES.Guess she hasn't seen the airfare or time for D1 spends Boston to AK.As if that entered into her pretty little mind-NOT</p>

<p>klmcpa: D1 met Prince Charming junior year hs- She went to Boston, a town with a gazillion college students. HE went to Portland Oregon- dramatically different "ponds"....They study very different stuff, live very different lives.
She's in a shoebox dorm.... He's in apartment with 2 other guys.
We were expecting the " TURKEY DROP" at Thanksgiving.Sure that just the time difference alone would take a tole..... NOT!!!!!!
NOW we're at the end of freshman year- with the help of unlimited long distance on her cell phone, cheap phone cards for him and careful airfare shopping, they haven't skipped a beat. D1 likes the security, likes feeling she's not prey for another horny college student (or being one). BF is a good guy, he works hard.They have both stayed focused on their goals. Just wish she had met him junior year or college, not junior year of high school. So what will be-will be.</p>

142

<p>Justadog,</p>

<p>I promised only one post for this thread but no-one's addressed your post.</p>

<p>For a smaller, suburban/rural engineering school, providing you or S don't mind being a loooong way away, consider Harvey Mudd - egnineering school under 1000 students but member of the Claremont group of colleges with 4 other colleges (total undergrads ~ 5000) about an hour east of LA. </p>

<p>Closer to home - Lehigh, Lafayette, Worcester Poly.</p>

143

<p>Updated/Corrected List:</p>

<p>DAUGHTERS: (33)</p>

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

<p>csshsm - Louisiana
curmudgeon - Texas
dcmom3 - Maryland
echosensei - Michigan
fireflyscout - Texas</p>

<p>Flounderingfree - Texas
hayden
holycow - Asia
Juana -IL
ladylazarus - NJ</p>

<p>lalady - California
klmcpa - California
Marny - NY
mezzomom - Michigan
Momnipotent - Ohio</p>

<p>movinmom - Maine
musicmomic - Iowa
NCEph - North Carolina
obesmom - NY
pyewacket -Europe</p>

<p>shojomo - California
smsmom - midwest
snorky - MI
SplashMom - Tennessee
taxguy - Maryland</p>

<p>theocmom - California
Thumper1 - CT
Yankeegirl49 NY</p>

<p>SONS (22):</p>

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

<p>doddsmom & doddsdad - Germany
DrDrewsmom Idaho
deb922 - OH
Eagle79 - Rhode Island
gandert - Indiana</p>

<p>heidi - south
Justadog - 2 sons - CT
kathiep - PA
Katwkittens - NC</p>

<p>Kissy - midwest
Momofthree - Tennessee
MomofWildChild - Texas
Northeastmom - NJ
Rascal - VA</p>

<p>Shennie - WI
sluggbugg - CA</p>

144

<p>Eagle79, that's a great article! I've printed it out for my s to read. That's the kind of thing you just can't pick up from the college guides and I really appreciate your posting it.</p>

145

<p>Prince Charming: If your D does not want to consider life without him, ask her to at least apply to some schools farther away and make her choice in the spring. How sad it would be to end up no longer a couple and yearn for more options.</p>

<p>That being said, I stayed home near my prince charming and feel I missed out on the whole away at school experience, so am pushing it for my Ds. My school was "perfectly good," but not exciting or challanging or horizon-expanding. Prince charming, though is now my H, so things work out ;)</p>

<p>Some one was nervous about posting info and I agree I feel the same, especially after I recognised my good friend's sone on the board 4 years ago- I knew all his college info so immediately recognised him. Most poeple are recognisable after enough detail is posted and the nice thing about online posting shoud be the anonymity.</p>

<p>Bad Hosts: Freps mentioned a bad host at Chapman...my D had a girl in the suite at a school back south be "busted" for drinking and the RA's method of enforcing the honour code was a real turn-off, in many ways that hosting was the biggest negative DD mentioned when discussing that school, which was a pretty strong #2 and where my H would have chosen! Scary that the hosts (and roommates!) can be so risky!</p>

<p>My next D is a rising junior so I will follow every one's stories with interest.</p>

146

<p>Screen Name: 2sonmama
Junior:Son
Home State: Kansas
Preferred Location: Southeast
Interests: Engineering, probably Electrical
Schools Visited: Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Tech, U. Missouri - Rolla, and University of Kansas (where he would go only as a last resort since EVERYONE around here goes there)</p>

147

<p>Does anyone fantasize about raising a Mr. Potatohead? </p>

<p>I have 2 kids. As a hs senior, my S got pretty decent SAT's, with a very good GPA. He refused to apply to any - repeat, any - reach schools. He then refused to apply to any school that required a second essay of any kind. [you do NOT want me to replay the dinnertable conversations] When he got 3 - repeat, 3 - e-mails from Penn State telling him they want him to apply to the Shreyer School, he said he wanted to go to Penn State, but refused to fill out the paperwork for Shreyer. [No, I am not writing this from prison, which may come as a surprise to you by now.] He's now a sophomore in college. At least he's out of arms' reach.</p>

<p>Now we have my D. Decent GPA, lackluster SAT's. Passionate about her interests, with EC's to match. Passionate, dedicated, hardworking. And she wants to go to . . . . . of course !! Reach schools.</p>

<p>Mr. Potato Head, where are you when I need you? If I could just put his SAT's with my D, and then paste her passion onto my S . . . . </p>

<p>Of course I love my kids the way they are. But the process is a royal pain in the rear end. But as my son would say, with a straight face, But Mom, if you were Mrs. Potato Head, you could take off that rear end, and replace it with . . .</p>

148

<p>Screenname:jmac
Junior: Son
Homestate: ID (but I lived in Alaska for 17 years-Hi crabbylady)
Preliminary College list: Colorado College, Univ of Denver, Whitman,
Lewis and Clark, Pomona and Pitzer.
Interests: Writing, film, music (not a music major, but he is a fine classical
pianist-he also plays in a rock band.) He built his first computer at age 8
and gets his best grades in science, but he says he doesn't want to
study these subjects in college. . . . </p>

<p>We have visited Pomona and Pitzer and we are going to Colorado in June.
Thanks to all esteemed and knowledgeable parents who contribute here.</p>

149

<p>Thanks for your suggestions. I've been lurking on CC long enough that I had heard about Harvey Mudd, in fact we went to one of the 5 college Claremont dog-and-pony shows last fall. I was <em>very</em> impressed with the Mudd presentation. It's on the list for one son, probably a little out of range for the other.<br>
We know someone who goes to WPI and really likes it. I've suggested both Lafayette and Lehigh, and we may visit them late this summer.</p>

150

<p>junior: daughter</p>

<p>home state: NY</p>

<p>prefs: warm weather, not too big (under 5000)</p>

<p>deal breakers: 2 seasons track/field; at least 3% black</p>

<p>interests: math (also art and arch); wants to study abroad but minimal interest in foreign lang</p>

<p>ec: 3 varsity sports (v'ball, swim, track/field) since freshman year; competes at regional level, D-1 jumper and sprinter (regional champ in all 4 of her events); community service; tour guide & proctor at boarding sch</p>

<p>considering: CMC (reach?), Furman, Rhodes, Vandy, Wake, URich, Scripps (D would pref co-ed), Pitzer (too hippie?), Occidental, Elon, Case Western, Carnegie, Lafayette, Trinity, Bucknell, URochester (friend loves it), Hamilton, Earlham (we're suckers for Quaker values)</p>

<p>too big: Tulane, UMiami
too many boys & too much alcohol: Lehigh
she might get in, but would she graduate: Stanford, Mudd, Duke
already spent 4 years in western MA: Amherst, Smith, Williams</p>

151

<p>Is that Trinity U in Texas or Trinity College in CT on your daughter's list? If Trinity College, she might want to check out Trinity U.
She might also want to take a look at Southwestern College in Texas, they have a very nice pre-arch. program there and a strong math program as well. Hendrix College in Arkansas has been suggested to me as a good alternative for Earlham (also on my daughter's list) but it is not as diversified as Earlham, the only small LAC where we saw a noticeable number of african-american students. Would she consider an all-female school? If so, Scripps or Mills in California might fit the bill.</p>

152

<p>Screen name: Eulenspiegel</p>

<p>Is your junior male or female: Male</p>

<p>Home state: Oregon</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Not south east, except maybe Duke</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): LAC or medium-sized private university; transportation aggrevation a minus</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: Economics, math and science, history; maybe some non-major music</p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: (no order) Brown, Dartmouth, Yale, Stanford, Pomona, Amherst, Carleton, Northwestern, Whitman. Open to suggestion; also, need safeties!</p>

<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): (some very prematurely on casual visit; some mere walk-throughs) Stanford, Pomona, Yale, Brown, Williams, Amherst, Princeton, Swarthmore, UPenn, Georgetown, Virginia, W&Mary, Reed, Lewis & Clark, Cal Berkeley, UCLA, Cal Tech, Occidental, UC Santa Cruz, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, U Michigan, Oberlin</p>

<p>Miscellaneous: 1st in class; not yet perfect test scores; 6 AP's by 11th grade; tons of music but not at recruited level; sports at honored participant level</p>

153

<p>Does anyone fantasize about raising a Mr. Potatohead? </p>

<br>


<br>

<p>Hayden, this made me laugh so loud my dog looked at me strangely. :)</p>

<p>I, too, could use a little potatohead action in my house. My son is the type of kid who gets A's without effort, scored higher on the SAT in 7th grade than my daughter in 11th grade, plays football, drums, etc. He tends to be a little...hmmm, how should I say it?....full of himself at times.</p>

<p>My daughter, on the other hand, is a good, solid student who knows what it's like to buckle down and hit the books. She's more "quirky" in her extracurriculars and social life but she seems to do very well on college interviews because she understands herself so well and has a terrific sense of humor. If I could put the two of them together in Mr. Potatohead fashion, hey, we'd be heading to Harvard with no problem!</p>

154

<p>Eulenspiegel, Welcome! The more the merrier.</p>

<p>Some possible "safe bets" for your son: Occidental, Kenyon, or Grinnell maybe? Sounds like he has terrific stats --- it will be fun to see where he ends up!</p>

155

<p>Screen name: Motheroftwogirls (new to board)</p>

<p>Is your junior male or female: female</p>

<p>Home state: Massachusetts </p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: east coast</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): interested in LAC and some universities; would like a campus feel, not all "preppies", more artsy, active minded people. On swim team, may make a Div. III team, but not sure she wants to swim in college. Willing to do so to boost her chances of admission.</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: psychology; chemistry </p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: Middlebury, Skidmore, Colgate, Union, Vassar, UVM, Colby, Bowdoin (could use more suggestions)</p>

<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): NYU, Vassar, Colgate, Hamilton, Skidmore,UVM</p>

156

<p>screen name: Karyblue </p>

<p>Is your junior male or female: male (junior this fall)</p>

<p>Home state: S.California</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: California</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college: urban, suburban with potential research</p>

<p>child's possible acadamic interests: engineering/bioengineering - interested in research.</p>

<p>schools currently on child's list of possibilities: CAL, UCLA, UCSD, maybe Harvey Mudd, CIT(brother in law alumni wants him to go there, tough school tho) </p>

<p>Schools we visited: CAL to get sweatshirt (husband is alumni,a couple years ago) UCLA - Book festival</p>

157

<p>Screen name: Blizzard</p>

<p>Is your junior male or female: Male</p>

<p>Home state: MA</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Northeast or other with proximity to mountains, national parks, etc.</p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college (large, small, urban, etc.): Active outdoors and service programs, not Greek dominant, most live on campus</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: English, writing, environmental studies</p>

<p>Schools currently on child's list of possibilities: U Mass Amherst, Holy Cross, Clark, Wheaton, UVM, St. Michael's, UNH, Colby-Sawyer, St. Anselm's, Colby, U Maine, St. Lawrence, SUNY-ESF, Hartwick, Marist, Loyola MD, U Colo, U Montana, UNC-Asheville</p>

<p>Schools we've visited (whether or not child is still interested in going there): U Conn, U Mass Amherst, Hampshire, Assumption, UVM, St. Michael's, Colby-Sawyer, St. Anselm's, Merrimack</p>

<p>Carolyn, thanks for a great thread!</p>

158

<p>forgot to include USC..... Prefer public school tho</p>

159

<p>motheroftwogirls,</p>

<p>If your D would consider a women's college, Mount Hoyoke is good for psychology, and especially chemistry.</p>

160

<p>Blizzard, the mountain thing was huge on my daughter's list for a long time. We live in a small town in Southern Cal. that is surrounded by mountains. Ironically, several of her top choices at this point are in the flat midwest. I had a good chuckle when, while visiting Earlham, we saw signs pointing to the "highest spot in Indiana" - all of 1200 feet! That's OK, it's part of my secret plan to get her back to the west coast after graduation. :)</p>