<p>Fang, you mentioned that the students seemed differently engaged in the classes your son visited at various schools. Like most things this strikes me as a variable dependent on a lot of things: day of the week, time of day, nature of the course, what part of the term, etc. When my son visited Kalamazoo, he went to a class on a Friday afternoon in mid-winter that he described as "dead." But he chose K anyway, and assures me that his classes were anything but dead in his first year. In fact he took a course with the same professor whose class he visited and tells me it was quite lively indeed. So you just never know.</p>
<p>And in that respect it's no different than so many other variables when it comes to visits: the weather, the number or nature of the other kids visiting that day, the tour guide who is randomly assigned to you, etc. And the visitor's mood, of course. My wife took our son to visit Beloit and the visit was just a loser from the get go because he simply had gotten up on the wrong side of bed that day.</p>
<p>Not that any of this detracts from the overall value of visits, of course. More information is always better than less.</p>
<p>mmaah, best of luck to your adventurous D! It is kind of like giving birth all over again, although the pain is mostly emotional this time around. :D</p>
<p>Just returned from a visit to SUNY Stony Brook with my daughter. SUNY Stony Brook is a large public university located on Long Island in New York. I thought the school was great! It's a modern but not ugly campus. My daughter loved the idea that the #1 major is biology....she loves science. She also loved the idea that it is a major research university with a medical school and a dental school. I liked that the cost is great for OOS. She'll definitely apply and maybe get accepted into the WISE program which, as described, seems to be a good match for her. The school is academically competitive especially for a large public school...43 % acceptance rate and average SAT of 1240.....much higher for honors and other special programs.</p>
<p>It was a great visit and definitely high on the list.....as a parent and major contributor to my daughters' educational expenses -- I love the idea of a great research and reasonably priced public university!</p>
<p>The search and visits continue but Stony Brook seems like a great school!!</p>
<p>Interesting AdvicePlease. Son did a nice tour of NY schools w/another family & they didn't hit Stony Brook (did U of Buffalo, Cornell, Ithaca)..maybe we can check it out ourselves.</p>
<p>Thinking on our return trip from NC to NJ in July we'll hit U of MD College Park & VA Tech for soon-to-be comp sci major son. (unless anyone else knows of something better on that route and would like to share...!! :-))</p>
<p>Interesting about the SAT II scores, thanks for that info/perspective.</p>
<p>With son -- since he's tested very well in the past & has some gpa issues, we were really hoping for near-perfect scores. Although it's less of a factor in admission, thought it would be a high point for him...thus he wants to try again. Thinking that since he's taking a rigorous math course this summer & in fall, his 'math brain' will be well engaged & he'll do better in Math I retake & 1st time in Math II.</p>
<p>I am a little late signing in for the class of 2009. Son is a senior, wants a small school, strong psychology program, will be seeking masters. Not interested in a strong sports program. We started visits in January to Allegheny, Wooster & Hendrix. We will do K-Zoo and Carthage in July. He is ready to go to college. Just got his ACT and SAT scores, will take again in fall, but did well. I was a librarian so I have enjoyed using my skills to search for info on schools, financial aid and such on the web and in books.</p>
<p>Welcome, murmur! Your son has some of my favorite LACs on his list.</p>
<p>Just wanted to comment that, comparing my first college road trip four years ago with the one I'm currently on, having a GPS device makes things much, much, much easier. Especially in New Jersey.</p>
<p>We started the PA. and northern OH schools in Jan. I wanted him to see how bad the winter was. It didn't disappoint, it was 24 below zero and a snow storm and he loved it. He has really liked all of the schools but Hendrix was a standout so far. My DH and DD and I just returned from a MI vacation and swung through Kalamazoo and looked at K-Zoo very briefly. As some of the reports here have said, they have done a lot of work, it is quite small, but WMS is close by. I am looking forward to seeing both KZoo and Carthage in July.</p>
<p>We're leaving for our NE college tour on Saturday. D has been advised to pack light (not her inclination!) or she will have to pay if the airline charges her to check luggage. </p>
<p>Even if you're not majoring in music, or applying for a music scholarship, is there any merit to submitting a sample with your application? We'd have to come up with some DIY recording method - I suppose a tape recorder to make a cassette, then find a way to transfer the cassette to CD. I'm not sure it's worth the fuss.</p>
<p>ChiSquare--from the applications I've looked at (admittedly a small sample) the schools do not want anything extra attached unless it is part of their specific art or music supplement.</p>
<p>Good luck w/ the packing--my D insists on bringing full size shampoo & conditioner with her because hotel products are "too hard on her hair"?! And enjoy your stay in the land of "It's not the heat it's the humidity."</p>
<p>Chi Square: I have read that any talent the applicant has may be useful for some of the more selective schools. It can take her out of the general pool of applicants and place her in a smaller one with better odds. If a small LAC had only two bassoon players in their orchestra and both graduated, then an incoming freshman with mad bassoon skills may get a nod. It can't hurt to fill out the school's music supplements and it may help. It's one of those things though that I wouldn't push if your D is resistant to going through the additional hassle.</p>
<p>Late to sign in. My son is part 2008 and part 2009 as he has been partial homeschooling. He had enough credits from his HS to graduate this June but will be applying to college this fall. He's actually continuing to work on the homeschooling part of his life, though the outer world calls it a gap year. He's a very bright kid who is highly dyslexic, which was the reason for the homeschooling in the first place -- he felt like high school was painfully easy and slow from an intellectual standpoint but full of reading/writing busywork that was very tiring for him. He's strong at science and math but has concluded that he is more interested in people. Over the next year, he'll be completing (hopefully) a novel that he's co-authoring, working on building his reading fluency, working on a study at Tufts that is going to test the effects on the reading fluency of adolescent dyslexics of software he's rewriting and a protocol to which he contributed, taking an immersion Spanish course in Central America, and having a needed surgery.</p>
<p>Ideal schools for him will be schools like Brown, Wesleyan, Williams that have kids as bright as he is but that are flexible in two ways: a) few or no distribution requirements so that he can avoid having to take courses with 600 pages of reading per week; and b) willing to give accommodations relevant to his learning disability rather than willing to do so if forced to. Although he's likely to major in something like economics, political science or operations research, it would be good if the school had a decent studio art program as he is talented and he finds it relaxing. He is great at strategic thinking -- in games like chess and Diplomacy he appears to be thinking rounds ahead of other very bright kids -- and is intensely competitive. He thinks his ideal job would be a political campaign manager -- you try to out-think your opponents and there is a definite winner and loser. I'm not sure how, if at all, that interest should affect school selection.</p>
<p>Son had his first interview yesterday and managed to overcome his nerves. Fortunately the admissions rep was very sympathetic! He really liked college #2 (out of 2 visits), especially the work/career opportunities. It's starting to dawn on him that it may be hard to make a decision.</p>
<p>Dumb question...we are doing tours....guess we should be making appointments for formal 'interviews' w/admissions? These tours are w/schools he's more likely to want to apply to and are far enough that we won't drive back (likely). Guess you don't do interviews at schools you are just 'checking out as a possibility?' Or, maybe that couldn't hurt?</p>
<p>Can't believe I didn't think of this before, but all the 'interview' talk just suddenly sunk in...</p>