<p>historymom, </p>
<p>We have one fantastic mp player at school. Our band director told her the same thing about them being rare. He has kind of taken her under his wing...he was a percussionist with the USMC Band. She is headed off to Tulane this fall....where I am sure she will get lots of musical opportunities even as a non music major. While I am a bit biased about my flute player, the mp player we have gives me chills when I hear her solo.</p>
<p>Good Luck to your D</p>
<p>DS1 is class of 2009 here. Maybe theater, maybe math as a major. Looked at a number of small LACs - Bard, Skidmore, Wesleyan amoung them. He's been in France this year - so we will not know how that plays out - and he is thinking of a gap year after graduation as well. Good luck to all.</p>
<p>Momreads, our S1 is a second year at UVA so feel free to ask any questions you might have on that school as you get further along in your search although you probably know dozens of kids at W&M and UVA already. My H used to tutor football players in math back when he was in grad school (Syracuse law school). He still has fond memories of that.</p>
<p>Add S to the Class of '09. Since he has older sister, we've been down this path before. But, S is much more laid back about everything, including college process. OTOH, he's pretty focused about his interests -- computer science/gaming. We've looked at WPI, RPI, & Union.</p>
<p>My D1 is '09 - wants pre-med, and has always done well in math & sciences, loves the research part of it, so she may end up doing that instead...the writing is not so strong, but she has pretty much decided on wanting an LAC, between 1600-2500 in size (she has taken classes at U of Rochester every summer and she thinks even that is too big). So far she has visited two safeties, plus Davidson (the "you had me at hello" moment) and Cornell (she liked the Human Ecology school which is state subsidized). She will visit Union over the holiday weekend since the Leadership in Medicine 8-year program with Albany looks promising, and will visit more LAC's during the summer, many with church affiliation. She wants to run XC in college, but probably only if she ends up at a DIII school...since senior XC season will be brutal she'll really be stocking up on EA schools to get applications in early in the fall. Essay writing will be the nightmare though I think...</p>
<p>My DS is an only child with an obsessive mom, so I'll be around here a lot over the next year! He's a big gamer, loves music, plays guitar, social, and goes to a small magnet HS with <300 kids. We're in So Cal, and he wants to head east and check out LAC's and other privates. Trying to keep him only halfway across the country, so we're doing a quick midwest tour (DePaul, Loyola Chicago and Beloit). </p>
<p>He doesn't do the work he should, so grades aren't great (3.2ish), but tests great (31 first ACT pass). I don't want his schools to all be reaches, and both of us need to be realistic about his chances, particularly this year - the largest HS graduating class in history in 2009!</p>
<p>Any tips on how to get him enthused about college visits? I think he's a little intimidated, and, of course, resistant to schools I've picked out, but does none of the research on his own. He's thinking pre-law, psych or history. I'm leaving him alone until the AP's are over too.</p>
<p>My DS will be our first to go off to college. He has always thought pre med but after 3 internships in area hospitals he is no longer sure. He really liked W&M on an overnight, UVA and Vanderbilt. Vandy is not a real option due to the cost and we will not be receiving F/A. He is very into D1 level sports and is currently an injured athlete whose career is probably over. We are just trying to get thru that disappointment and ap's right now. He has looked at Wake Forest and Davidson (didn't like Wake, thought Davidson was just too small). I really feel like at this point he has no idea other than W&M and UVA. Don't really want him to rely on these two as we all know how competitive their admissions can be. Looking for some good matches and safeties.</p>
<p>My only son is class of '09. Thankfully, got a 36 on ACT and is semi finalist on SAT. Looking at Purdue for Engineering or Physics. We have to visit other schools this summer. Carnegie Mellon, MIT, UIUC, I am a single mom so I hope scholarships come through. We are in Ohio and our state schools would rather give a lot of kids a little bit of money in order to give more kids a chance at college. One would think they would want to keep talented kids in state, but I guess not. Don't most kids end up working close to where they attend college? As I said, only child, so this whole process is overwhelming to me.</p>
<p>SpacedOutSax: I wish you all the best. Single mothers raising such fine children deserve all the respect in the world. I salute you! Just don't forget to breathe! :)</p>
<p>My son will also be a member of the class of 09. He is the 'separated at birth twin' of TheAnalyst's son. He is looking at LSU, Alabama, Pitt, and Michigan State, among a few others. His ideal school would have Pitt's location, LSU's football team and Michigan State's living and learning programs. Major is undecided, but leaning toward business, maybe education.
His search and needs are as different from DD, who is a college junior, as could possibly be. We would like him to consider schools that have some provision to group freshmen inot smaller groups for at least some classes, but unfortunately he won't qualify for Honors College at any of these schools.</p>
<p>I want to put in a plug for Ohio University. When we visited DH and I (now veterans in the college visit game) were very impressed with the school because of the compactness of campus and the student oriented feel of the school. DS didn't like it because we did, and because he doesn't want a small college town, which was another selling point for us. Great school.</p>
<p>The Analyst,</p>
<p>Thanks for the note. We do know some kids at those schools, but to be quite honest, our HS only gains one to three admissions a year to UVA and W & M. Most go to JMU, CNU or George Mason. My son's biggest concern with UVA is size. He is not into 600-person classes -- something that a friend has with chemistry.</p>
<p>SpacedOutSax: Have your son add the U. of Rochester to his list. The merit aid is good. My husband went there basically for free -- he had great scores, NM winner, etc. and his mom was a single parent. The physics program is excellent. Ask them to send you a DVD. The laser was so cool.</p>
<p>Rachacha: Your daughter should ask about class size at the U. of Rochester. My husband said he never had more than 125 students in a class, and those were the weed out classes of psychology or biology. The school could offer her some marvelous research opportunities, too. But also have her look at some place like Franklin & Marshall, which has a wonderful new science building. My son really liked the school. I also would suggest Washingon & Lee -- great merit scholarship program there. Emory also has good merit money and is strong for pre-med.</p>
<p>2nd son is Class of '09. Good student, good scorer, wants to major in Political Science. Also has an interest in economics (very intrigued by the PPE or Philosophy, Politics and Economics major that is in a few places). Claims to want a small-ish college. Would love to be in or near DC. Devout Catholic, and that will be important in his college search. Also would like a school with a good Parliamentary Debate team (is a two-time state champ in Lincoln Douglas debate). We learned the lessons well from the Class of 2008, and he will probably be applying to 15 or so colleges/universities.</p>
<p>DS is 2009. Wants to go to our in-state flagship U, which is huge. 4.0 GPA this year, 3.98 overall. SAT scores will be back in a few weeks. </p>
<p>This is our second trip down the college application aisle and it is going to be vastly different than the first one. DS has no interest in highly selective colleges. He just wants to go to college with his friends, work on his music and his photography, and study something that interests him. </p>
<p>He and his friends like to build and tinker. He builds computers for people all the time, and has a local following helping neighbors setting up and troubleshooting their home electronic and computing problems. He's taking AP Physics and AP calc this year and is doing well.</p>
<p>If I'm lucky I will be able to persuade him to apply to two colleges: the in state flagship and one backup. </p>
<p>I am having trouble letting go and accepting that this is going to be a very simple process for him if I let it be. The thing that stops me is that he is a quirky and laid back but very bright person. The atmosphere in the engineering and CS schools at his chosen school is huge and hypercompetitive. If I let him go there he seriously may not make it into a technology related program, but there are plenty of quirky laid back departments and students there. He might end up with a degree in something completely random and unexpected instead of what seems like the obvious path for somebody with his talents and interests. </p>
<p>He's built an amazing community of friends here though--this is the kind of kid who values his relationships. He still hangs out with a kid he met when he was 3. Something tells me that remaining close to his group of high school friends through college is going to be integral to his transition to adulthood, so I'm cautiously optimistic he knows better than I what is the right path for him to take.</p>
<p>It's fun reading about all your kids. What a great bunch!</p>
<p>SpacedOutSax, another school to consider might be Notre Dame. From what I've read here they have a very strong engineering program. They sweeten the FA for kids in the top 5% of their applicant pool. With that ACT score, your son could do well.</p>
<p>Deja has your S looked at Catholic University and Georgetown? Carroll College in Helena (also Catholic but nowhere near DC) also has an awesome debate team, The Talking Saints. They are nationally ranked (top ten I think).</p>
<p>Mombot my S is in the 7th grade and as DH and I enjoyed a dinner out last night we talked about how uncomplicated his college search is likely to be in comparison to our girls'. Funny how boys are often wired with a KISS gene. and are able to Keep it Simple. Your S sounds like a delightful young man.</p>
<p>Historymom,</p>
<p>My youngest S is in sixth grade. He, too, always says that he will keep his search simple. Why? He already has visited nearly every college with his older brother. He's my music kid. He wants math/science and music. Oh, and the place needs to have ice hockey if not at school just in the area.</p>
<p>Guess he's looking up north.</p>
<p>My D is a member of class 09 also ! she wants to go to Georgetown to study
international studies and would like to spend some times abroad, she speaks already French, Spanish and of course English. She is learning Mandarin this year.... good luck to all of your children!</p>
<p>Cangel, I'm glad I will have some company in this process. I appreciate hearing about some of the challenges kids face because it puts everything into better perspective. Some things are good and some things are not so good with just about everybody. </p>
<p>I looked at Ohio's web site and it does look like a good school. H is from Wisconsin, so likes the mid-west.</p>
<p>momreads...my 12 year old S changes his college choice based upon which college basketball or football team is in the playoffs. Over the course of the last year and a half his choices have ranged from USC, to UNC to Boise State to Saint Mary's CA. He so far has no interest in what college offers academically :)</p>
<p>Add S1 to the class of '09. We've been through this with D, a happy college sophomore, but as is the case with many other posters, S1 is pretty different from his sister, so in some ways we feel as if we started over. </p>
<p>S1 is very into Guitar Hero and Rock Band, wait, I mean, classics/Latin and languages/linguistics; he fences, sails, and plays guitar and bass but only wants to do them all for fun (club, intramural, put together a band for fun) in college. Actually I think he only wants to do academics for fun, too. </p>
<p>It's nice to have company for the journey! Good luck to all.</p>