Parents of the high school class of 09

<p>thanks Historymom-very cool site-just wish they had more schools ready to view. My S has 2!!! schools on his list and if I leave it up to him that is where it will stay. AND he has not even seen one of them and not yet toured the other.</p>

<p>Ignatius: Your D's list looks a lot like my S's list did 2 years ago. He applied to Rice, ND and WUSTL and is currently studying engineering at WUSTL and loves it.</p>

<p>We visited Trinity with my D ('09). I really liked it but she didn't because "it was in Texas". I don't know what she has against Texas. We have lots of family there and have visited often. So far the only school she really likes is WUSTL and of course that can't be anyone's only choice. I'm getting frustrated because she doesn't like anything and sometimes her reasons for not liking a school seem ridiculous (i.e. didn't like SLU because she didn't like the mascot). I'm about ready to check into a 5th year at her local high school for her!</p>

<p>M's Mom it's funny how kids will cross a school of their lst for what seem like the most random reasons. A lot of times I think it might be because they can't or wont articulate to us their real reasons. They can change their minds though. My DD said she'd like to take a look at a school the other day. Apparently she had forgotton that after reading a description of the campus a few months ago she had discounted it because" the girls there sound like they are too into fashion." He best friend is applying to a school in the same city so now it apparently is OK to consider the fashionista school. They can be fickle at this age ;)</p>

<p>Hi, everybody! I'm a Minnesota mom, pretty new here, and my daughter is also HS class of 2009. </p>

<p>Her preferences:
-Interested in small to medium liberal arts colleges or small universities, nothing over 5000 students, residential, coed.
-Major undecided, but definitely wants to take art and Japanese classes.
-Would prefer the school's art program to include digital arts/animation.
-Would like to be challenged academically but doesn't want to go to a school where the students study all the time and all talk about how grueling it is.
-Prefers California or the west coast in general, but keeping her options open.
-Wants a beautiful campus; has strong reactions to the aesthetics.
-Needs a nurturing sort of place that helps new students get acquainted; she is very shy.
-Prefers a liberal or at least very open/tolerant atmosphere.</p>

<p>Academically:
She scored 34 on the ACT, a bit lower on SATs (680/690/690) which she plans to retake. Will be at least NMCS; not sure her PSAT was quite strong enough to get her to Semi-Finalist but we'll find out this fall. Unweighted GPA of 3.9; don't know her weighted GPA yet. Top 4% of her class. Taking mostly Honors and AP classes. Completed 4 years of Japanese in 3 years.</p>

<p>ECs:
Pretty modest list: pep band, symphonic band, Japanese Bowl, literary arts magazine, Humane Society dogwalker, summer jobs.</p>

<p>As her parent, I'm really worried about the financial side of things. Her dad and I are divorced, and he is not willing to share any numbers with me until it's time to do the official paperwork--so I can't use the aid calculators with any accuracy. My income is pretty good, and I've remarried so our total household income is reasonably high, but it took me years to get out of "divorce debt" so we don't have much in savings outside of retirement plans. It makes me anxious. After fall term 2010 I will get about $10K/year in tuition reimbursement money from my employer, though, which will help a lot.</p>

<p>M'sMom - You answered your own question! She doesn't want to go to Texas because you have "lots of family there and have visited often".</p>

<p>I have the same frustrations with my D. There are great schools in Iowa and Ohio - far enough away to be a new experience, but within a day's drive, but D won't consider them because, well, they are in Iowa and Ohio. I keep hoping something will click in the next couple of months so perceived charm of the location moves a bit down on her list.</p>

<p>lunitari, I'm also in Minnesota & your D's interests sound a lot like mine. We visited 4 liberal arts colleges in Oregon/Washington over spring break. Feel free to send personal msg if you'd like to chat about that experience.</p>

<p>lunitari nice test scores! Congrats to your D. off the top of my head I would suggest Santa Clara University though I don't know if they have a Japanese Language program. Also your description of your Ds personality is reminiscent of how I would describe one of my own and two schools we will be visiting are Occidental and Scripps. Scripps being all-female may be off putting for your D but because of the consortium there are always guys around. She just wouldn't be living with them.</p>

<p>lunitari, with your D's interest in Japanese and the west coast, you should investigate Willamette, in Salem, Oregon. This is one of the schools we visited over spring break, and the stream running through campus will appeal to your d's sense of aesthetics! </p>

<p>CLA:</a> Department of Japanese and Chinese - Welcome - Willamette University</p>

<p>They even have a new Japanese-themed dining hall:</p>

<p>Willamette</a> University opens Japanese-themed dining facility - News Headlines - Willamette University</p>

<p>ChiSquare,</p>

<p>My son frustrates me because, and I know this sounds strange, he won't consider leaving the Eastern time zone. All of our travel has been on the East Coast, so you would think he'd like a new adventure. Not exactly. We have family in Minnesota, and my niece offered him a place to stay and take him to see Carleton and some of the other Minnesota schools. His English teacher offered to take him to Washington U since she's from St. Louis. He can stay with her family. And he won't consider schools below North Carolina -- all because we joked that he probably need me to send him boxes of pretzels (his favorite food), because we couldn't find any in a store in SC!</p>

<p>Aren't kids great?</p>

<p>I'm going to check with our GC about Naviance. DS is at a large public HS with two magnets, one being the only highly gifted one in LAUSD, so I assume they'd have the software. Hopefully, our HS profile will indicate the HGM which will naturally skew S ranking.</p>

<p>lunitari - I second Scripps - good merit aid there. I'm also thinking Whitman College in Washington, but she'd need to check out the art offerings.</p>

<p>Anyone else thinking we should buy stock in Naviance?</p>

<p>cpeltz, you should be able to get a copy of this year's profile ('08) from your GC, to see how exactly they position the students in the magnet program.</p>

<p>Lunitari, is your daughter definitely set on a coed school? She sounds ideal for one of the Eastern women's colleges. Wellesley's campus takes your breath away, and I believe Bryn Mawr is also gorgeous, though I haven't been there. Also I second Scripps, if she can stand the Los Angeles area.</p>

<p>ChiSquare, I'll send you a note--we visited some schools in CA this spring, so it'd be nice to compare notes. And thanks for the tip about Willamette! It looks like a pretty good match for her, and it wasn't on our radar yet.</p>

<p>D is mostly determined to go co-ed, but might consider Scripps because it's part of the 5Cs and there'd be boys around. We visited Claremont this spring--took the tours at Pomona and Pitzer, and just wandered around the others. She liked both, but Pitzer had the edge for her because it felt more artsy and hippie. Pomona gives out a lot more aid, though.</p>

<p>Ran out of time and didn't make it to Occidental, but it's still on her Maybe list. Whitman is on her radar but the town of Walla Walla didn't sound too exciting to her (except it's really fun to say!).</p>

<p>If anybody's kid is considering Carleton...I work there. Not in Admissions or an academic department, but I could offer some insights.</p>

<p>Fang Jr is considering Carleton, and liked it when we visited, but I'm afraid it won't consider him-- GPA probably not good enough.</p>

<p>GPA is a big factor, no question. I do think Carleton is better than most at taking the whole person into consideration, though. Did Fang Jr. do an interview?</p>

<p>What about Macalester? I don't think it is quite as selective as Carleton. We plan to visit Macalester later this summer. I'm sure my D will find some reason to hate it!</p>

<p>My daughter is in the Class of 2009</p>

<p>Scores SAT
Math 720/CR 680/Writing 580 -- She's planning to retake and hoping to improve CR and Writing. </p>

<p>SAT II:
Biology 770
US History 730
Math II - 670 (Surprised and thinking maybe she didn't cover the material yet?)</p>

<p>AP Scores
10th Grade
Statistics - 5
US History -4</p>

<p>11th Grade
Bio
Latin </p>

<p>12th Grade
Calc BC
US Gov
Chem</p>

<p>Class Rank - School stopped ranking but before she was #3 out of about 425. She's only had final grades of A and has had all honor and AP classes.</p>

<p>*Extracurricular *
Volunteers at a local nursing home once a week for a few hours.
Volunteer online transcriber for a genealogy site
Academic Clubs -- Math, Medical Science Careers (officer), Latin (officer) </p>

<p>Summer
Taking a summer course at local branch campus of major university
Participating in Summer Academy at another university in Molecular Science -- this is a free program to selected students</p>

<p>Interests
Would like to be either a pharmacist or an MD.</p>

<p>Possible schools - wants to stay in Northeast
-Penn State
-UPitt
-RPI
-SUNY Stony Brook
-SUNY Binghamton
-UC Berkeley -- We have family in the area and she knows this is a reach and very expensive for OOS.
-Fordham
-St. Johns (NY) --- maybe because they have a pharmacy program
-NYU</p>

<p>Also, she will most definitely apply to more private schools. If she doesn't get merit money however she will probably go to either UPitt or Penn State. We've looked into the BS/MD programs but both you need a 1450 (Math/CR) to even apply. She has a 1400 (720/680) so if she gets a high enough score she will apply for the combined program.</p>

<p>OK -- so I'm looking for advice and suggestions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Guidance Counselor thinks she should have a paid job on her college application. She is young for her grade...won't be 17 until September in her senior year -- but she certainly can find a job. Is this important?</p></li>
<li><p>She would prefer a smaller school........any suggestions on schools that would give merit based on her profile? She was already nominated for the RPI medal so we know she can get money there. They also have a BS/MD program which she'll apply to but it looks very difficult to get into.</p></li>
<li><p>Her writing score is low......will this matter? She initially had a very low CR score when she took the PSAT scores in 10th grade...which was shocking to us. That problem resolved itself with no prep courses, etc. and it jumped almost 200 points. </p></li>
<li><p>We will not get financial aid as we both work and will absolutely need to borrow to finance her education. (I don't know of anyway to withdraw from an IRA without tax penalty but if there was.....I'd do it!)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks for any advice or suggestions! She is a very driven child...much more than I ever was or will be and I want to help direct her as best I can.</p>

<p>adviceplease: my best advice is to make a collegeboard.com college list or use your schools naviance if they have one. They can give you a very clear image of what the schools want. Your Ds scores BTW look great for many of the schools already on her list and her overall package is very good!</p>

<p>Re. your GC's comment. It could be that he is advsing the job because UCB looks at employment as an important admissions factor. It could also be that he thinks your D's ap needs some diversification. Most of her ecs are academic and/or related to her carer goals. A job at a movie theatre or pet supply store may may give her application more dimension. </p>

<p>Congratulations you D seems poised to have a successful admissions season!</p>

<p>D1 is in '09. GPA is 4.5(w). She'll be NMSF
SATI- 800M, 760W, 670CR. She's retaking 6/3 -she had a 76CR on her PSAT and thinks she can bring that up (tg for superscoring, so she doesn't need to worry about dropping in the others).
SATII - 800Bio, 760Math2, 660USH
4 in APLang,
took USHAP and BioAP this year
will take APCalc and APPhysics next yr</p>

<p>ECs - Marching Band 4yrs, will be secn ldr, field staff and camp staff
Scouts - Venture Crew - Scout of the Year Award
GS - troop officer positions, Council delegate, plans to do Gold Award (but not necessarily in time for apps)
Drama - loves both on and off-stage
Guitar - nothing organized, but she plays daily and often gets together with a drummer friend (in sharp contrast to clarinet which gets set down after MB season and picked up again late summer:)</p>

<p>Definitely will major in math-science area - maybe bio/psych area</p>

<p>Wants small LAC in rural or suburban area, but with big city nearby. Must be coed and have winter. </p>

<p>Current thoughts - 1st choice - Carleton (we'll revisit in June and do interview and meet with director of Neuroscience Center) After visit she'll decide if she's going to go ED. With mom, 2 cousins, 3 aunts and 2 uncles as alums, she'll have whatever edge legacy gives.</p>

<p>2nd choice -Swarthmore
3rd - Amherst
4th - Wesleyan, Dartmouth, Wheaton (MA) (tg there's a safety she likes:)</p>

<p>We'll also visit Macalester and Grinnell in June. If she doesn't want to go ED for Carleton we may check out some NW schools next year (Reed, Whitman,???)</p>

<p>washington and lee university is top small lac in virginia (rural) and has an excellent merit program-Johnson Scholarship program--academics and leadership--so having leadership ability and being prez of a club or org would be important </p>

<p>my '08 son recvd full ride--tuition, room, board, fees. and he loved the school. ck out the website--and</p>