Parents of the high school class of 09

<p>cpq - Has he thought about the other coast? I'm thinking University of Miami, for instance.</p>

<p>Absolutely. U of Miami is on the list. Their marine biology program is located on a key and the photos look gorgeous. It seems that they might have a good honors program and they have residential colleges. There's also the possibility of merit aid there, which I'd really like, of course. We'll visit sometime this fall, I hope. I wish we had started earlier on the visits. Early on, we did visit two of the colleges that change lives located on the Fla. gulf coast, New College and Eckerd. S really liked Eckerd. It's on Tampa Bay and the students were doing dolphin and manatee research from campus. He wasn't sure that New College would be a good fit for him, though.</p>

<p>cpq1xtub</p>

<p>Tx. A&M has a degree in marine biology; the department is located in Galveston. </p>

<p>I know a top graduate from my d's hs chose to go to A&M Galveston to get a degree in marine biology; she had looked into many schools and had many choices and kept circling back to that program. Anyway, she told us that though she attends school in Galveston, the degree is through A&M (flagship school) or something like that - she'll be an A&M graduate, who's degree demanded that she live in Galveston. Not sure I understand, but look into it if interested.</p>

<p>Close to Houston, Mom. :)</p>

<p>A&M Galveston is a branch of the main campus. S attended a preview weekend two years ago. It is a good school, with an incredible alumni network, and has a great marine biology program, including scientific diving. S could graduate with a degree in marine biology, be certified as a boat captain and a scientific diver, all in 4 years, if he went there. He was even awarded a scholarship to the campus at a science fair (turned it down). However, it's a small campus and doesn't offer a broad variety of degree programs. He hasn't decided between CS, film and marine biology, so he wants to be able to take courses in all three areas. Finally, he says he's been here all of his life, and would like to live somewhere else.</p>

<p>Hi all! New here. We've toured a few colleges and DD's favorites are St. Mary's (MD) and Messiah (PA). Could someone please answer this question - When a college say it has "rolling admission", does that mean you can actually start the application process in the fall?</p>

<p>You can start the app process now - if the app is available.</p>

<p>Oldest d applied to Tulane (rolling admissions) several years ago during summer vacation. Her acceptance came Labor Day weekend.</p>

<p>Welcome, eddieodessa! Would love to hear your take on St. Mary's, either here or in the College Visit section, if you have time. We're trying to get down there, but summer is whizzing by.</p>

<p>Also, with rolling admission, remember that early is definitely better than later.</p>

<p>Hello Chintzy! Rolling admissions is for Messiah - Not St. Mary's. DD loves St. Mary's - the architecture is colonial-style. Beautiful buildings, some cobblestone pathways, etc. Reminded us of Williamsburg, VA. So much green space, 100+ year old trees. On the water - very peaceful. It's a whole honor's college - 44% of the students are in the top 10% of their class. We read in a book that the food was bad - but we read this after we had already visited, and we thought the food was wonderful. Then decided that we just must not be too picky. Ha!</p>

<p>ignatius - This is my first post, and wasn't how I'd planned to introduce myself to this forum (I've been reading this thread all afternoon, got as far as post # 470), but your report on how the U of ND rep responded to your DD's interest in math and engineering/physics really fired me up. Please tell your daughter to forge on. In 1978, I was one of 4 girls in my AP Physics class. On the first day of that class, the teacher came in and said "girls can't do physics." Two girls got up and left. My good friend (#2 in our class who went on to MIT) and I stayed. I went on to major in Physics at Wellesley and have been working as an engineer for the past 25 years. It's infuriating to me that the barriers are still there, and in young men to boot. Unfortunately, I see it all too often, but it's not everyone and not everywhere. This field is in dire need of young blood. Forge on!</p>

<p>To the rest of the posters here, I've really enjoyed reading your posts. I've learned a lot - mostly, I'm not alone in my anxiety or in having a child who remains reluctant to engage in the process. I'll post more later, but I just had to write to ignatius :)</p>

<p>My son is getting ready to graduate next year. He is looking at Rennselaer Polytechnic in Troy, NY, Carnegie Mellon, University of Michigan and Michigan Tech. For the money, I think that you cannot beat a state university but he really has his heart set on Rennselaer. Does anyone have any experience with this school, i.e. applications, admissions, children attending there, etc?</p>

<p>SueD, my son hears this from some people, "Boys cannot do English." He does not plan to major in it, but he loves it, thanks to a female teacher who made him believe that he could succeed in it.</p>

<p>momreads, your son was lucky to have such a good teacher. Boys can do English. My brother majored in it at Colgate. I never gave it a second thought, but now I wonder if he ran into the same kind of attitude that your son has.</p>

<p>Hello All :) It's been great reading about everyone's kids and your experiences with the college selection process. I wish I'd found CC much sooner. It would have made the past few months easier.</p>

<p>I've been able to identify with the parents whose kids have been reluctant to engage in the process or see no reason to act now. My son is like this. He's our only child and things have changed a lot since I went to college, so this is all new to us.</p>

<p>The good thing is he has been able to meet challenges as they come (unlike his mother who rushes headlong into them well before she needs to) and he has done well. He has a good record, a decent GPA and rank, and solid ECs. His ACT is good but his SATs are weak, something he recognizes and will be retaking in October. In February, he announced he wants to major in Physics. Interestingly, this selection has not changed once since the announcement, so that helps.</p>

<p>But that's all he's done towards the admission process. He hardly looks at the college brochures that have come and has only recently agreed to visit a few schools. If I had my way, we'd already have visited all the schools, have essays written and the Common Application filled out. He doesn't see the rush.</p>

<p>Maybe it's an age difference thing. Time just seems to move so quickly and I see all that needs doing, it's overwhelming ... to me. Not to him though. He's laid back about it all. He's working FT this summer and keeping up with his TKD classes. His social life is healthy and full and since he works so hard during the school year, I don't want to make summer a chore also. So, I've backed off and instead here I am writing on a site where I see there are others just like me - wanting the best for their child, not knowing exactly how to get that and hoping things will work out.</p>

<p>So, it's nice to meet you and good to be here. Thanks for reading.</p>

<p>Sue</p>

<p>Hi SueD</p>

<p>Thanks for the post. I called my d in to read it also - she grinned and said to thank you for the encouragement. </p>

<p>Truthfully, I am not sure it would occur to her not to "forge on". She attends an all-girls hs and obviously the thought of gender hindering her plans is not a concept with which she is familiar. </p>

<p>The physics teacher and engineering team sponsor is a remarkable teacher - a once in a lifetime kind of teacher, actually. I know that there is a request list to be in his physics classes but no guarantees. His philosophy has always been to instill a love for the sciences along with knowledge - he believes everything else will naturally follow. </p>

<p>So I guess she has so much positive reinforcement re girls in engineering/physics that negativity has a diminished impact.</p>

<p>Again thanks for the taking the time to pass along a personal note. (And your first post too - d feels special. :))</p>

<p>I want to add: Welcome to CC.</p>

<p>SueD, if you are seeking colleges for physics, have your son look at the U. of Rochester. My husband graduated from there. A wonderful program. Lots of new stuff and of course, a new building, too. </p>

<p>Funny thing about majoring in English. My son's teacher, who is also a close friend, was here for lunch one day. The night before she came, I saw William Bennett talking about math and science and what we needed to do as a country to encourage students. He made an interesting point. He, too, took AP Calculus and Physics in HS. Why did he become so focused on the humanities in college? Because girls take English and art. He was quite honest about that! My son's teacher agreed with Bennett's thoughts. Of course, you find more girls in English, art and the social studies. Not that there's anything wrong with that, either. But she, too, is concerned that there has to be a break from this "well, boys are supposed to be good in math and science, while girls should be better in English and reading." She has had just as much success with boys in her class as girls.</p>

<p>BTW, she has been out of HS more than 20 years and truthfully, she probably can factor better than many of her current students.</p>

<p>momreads, my d got an award on awards night at hs: the U of Rochester Xerox Award for Innovation and Information. One of the side benefits of the award is that the application fee is waived and you are automatically considered for a scholarship ("considered" does not mean "get" :)). Don't know much about U of Rochester (or the award either, to be honest), but your post is intriguing. Any other words of wisdom? (D is uncertain about living in cold climes, though, which is an automatic drawback.)</p>

<p>Dear SueD: Welcome. I am on my second round through this process and so I can say Do Not Fear, the reluctant interest is fairly typical for males. Mine steadfastly refused all cues until July before senior year. Then reluctantly looked through the Fiske Guide and agreed to visit one school. But he chose the right one and it was all over by Christmas and he is a very happy rising college junior. (I admit getting the ED application in on time had some hai-raising moments but we endured.) The male of species has a different kind of brain and they can be very decisive and focused once set on their direction. I am sure this helped when hunting mastodons and there is a reason we gathered berries and nuts and kept track of children (definitely requires multitasking). Anyway, we all will make our way through this together. My second is a girl and still only vaguely interested in leaping into the process but I have more faith and less worry this time around. Another very comforting site with lots of useful information: [url=<a href="http://admissionsadvice.mywowbb.com/%5DAdmissionsAdvice.com%5B/url"&gt;http://admissionsadvice.mywowbb.com/]AdmissionsAdvice.com[/url&lt;/a&gt;] and the associated [url=<a href="http://admissionsadvice.com%5Dadmissionsadvice.com%5B/url"&gt;http://admissionsadvice.com]admissionsadvice.com[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>July is nearly over and I still can't get my D to show any interest! :o/</p>

<p>First post on this thread - Hello All. DS and I are off to CA next week to visit schools. I think we have a good variety to see (USC, UCLA, Oxy, LMU, CMC & UCSD). S has been into the whole process for a couple of years now and we are excited to start to narrow the list down. Any suggestions on places to visit on any of those campuses that aren't normally on the official tours? </p>

<p>Looking forward to sharing our upcoming experiences with all of you.</p>

<p>ignatius is your D looking at Mudd? She may want to given her love of hard-core physical science. They love girls in physics there! uhhh hows that Trinity report coming? ;)</p>

<p>Sue same goes for your S and welcome!</p>