<p>SueD--well said re: the amt of $$ spent, etc. I see myself as doing the admin work & letting son lead w/his major interests & impressions, also. His major is comp sci--I have absolutely no knowledge or interest in that area (although I'm definitely learning). But that's what he wants, so we've tailored the entire process around that (plus other factors he's articulated). </p>
<p>Interesting analysis, historymom. I hadn't thought about the dad-role re: protectiveness. I think my hub's main objection is me 'talking about' it so much. Which, he may have a point on. It's just that as the last few days of summer dwindle & I look at the pile of app essays that son has to do (for 20-odd colleges [although there will be duplication]) I get a little nervous & probably naggy. </p>
<p>Chinzy & PRJ--I'm learning to tailor my discussions of things college-related w/son when hub is not around (I learned this yesterday, lol). </p>
<p>jaf--good idea--we usually chuck the college paper material, but now that we're getting close, the ones from the favorites should be filed (made these up, but didn't think we'd use them). </p>
<p>Scrappinmom--let me know if you still need a chart example & I'll send. It's just that mine's so basic that I don't know if it would be a decent role model. Excel would probably be easier (easier to manipulate the size of the cells) but I'm just more comfortable with Word, as unweildy as it can be sometimes.</p>
<p>20 colleges? Yipes! I'm hoping that I can convince my D to just do more than 1. She has decided where she wantes to go and at least at first she is just going ED. I'm thinking in Jan. she will need possibly to submit to the other 5 schools on her list. Even 5 was hard for her to find. Must be she's as picky about colleges as she is about food. Good luck to all!!</p>
<p>Okay, remember how I was dancing with glee the other day about my D having finished her first application, one that didn't require an essay? Well, thanks to a poster on another CC forum, I learned that an essay or personal statement is optional for this particular school - somehow in our glee and fervor, we missed that on the admissions website. :o</p>
<p>In this hyper-competitive and unpredictable market, I tend to view "optional" as "recommended", so D will be mighty disappointed when she comes home today to learn that she does in fact have to produce an essay, pronto.</p>
<p>And were I not "obsessed" with CC, we never would have known this......</p>
<p>I also set up file folders and insert brochsures, postcards, info, etc.. It's quick and easy to pick from. </p>
<p>I think D is now up at 12 colleges to apply to. She'll probably apply in stages, the favorites or reaches first (end of September), then October, then November.</p>
<p>I'd like to keep at it at no more than 10. I think that's the limited on FAFSA too, right?</p>
<p>Ok, I'm feeling waaaaaaaaaay behind! We did some visiting of colleges last April; more to give him a sense of what type of school he was looking for rather than narrow down specific schools. He wants out of the northeast and is leaning towards larger schools. But I've not set up spreadsheets. I've been on collegeboard.com but not Naviance. Our HS is great but the guidance dept is the weak link. Ugh. Some great advice on this thread.</p>
<p>Son just wrote a great essay (I think). Surprise, surprise--it was not a topic mom suggested, had nothing to do w/any suggestions I'd made at all. Involved his 'passion' (rock n roll instrument he plays) and was full of vivid details, connnected the topic to other areas of his life, highlighted several of his skills.</p>
<p>memo to mom (self)--stay out of it!! I keep relearning that again & again. :-)</p>
<p>My daughter has been receiving a bunch of "No Fee" applications. So far she's received them from: UPitt Honors College, Duquesne, St. Johns (NY), Rensselaer, Ursinus, University of the Sciences (Philadelphia) and Drexel University. A few of them tempt with only a personal statement (vs. a long essay) requirement. I don't remember my older daughter getting so many. She started to work on them today. She's open to many choices so......with no application fee it seems worthwhile to just send in the application....especially since a few were on her list anyway.</p>
<p>AdvicePlease--that's great. Frustrating, though, since we spent $70 at Rensselaer (they sent us a 'priority interest' app that was supposed to be 'special'!). Did get the St. John's (NY) no fee app & feel the same way--why not? You never know what will come of it!</p>
<p>Wow -- $70 is a lot of money! My daughter had been nominated for the RPI medal at her high school so that's probably why she received it. It was a called a Candidate's Choice. It came with a letter encouraging her to apply Early Decision (binding) which she will not do. The award comes with a $15k per year scholarship --- which is great -- but at $50k total for room, board and tuition she wants to consider other options. The essay part of the application is absolutely the most painful part for her...so these short essay/no fee applications are great.</p>
<p>my daughter's AP Lit teacher had them bring in their college essay draft...after reading it her teacher told my daughter,,,you've got something great going on with that...daughter texted me so excited. tonight got a long and sweet email from my '08 son, freshman at washington and lee, back at school after preorientation trip to DC. good to relish these golden moments...what life is all about, seeing our kids try out their wings and fly...</p>
<p>My D got that Candidate's Choice application offer from RPI, too. She won't be applying there...I hear they're not real strong in creative writing. ;)</p>
<p>ja1991 --- Yes -- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - RPI is known for strength in engineering, science, math, computer science - not necessarily for creative writing or literature, etc. It's definitely not a Liberal Arts college. </p>
<p>I'm not sure if it's a match for my daughter either.....but since she is interested in a science major she's planning to apply.</p>
<p>Jolynne/Jersey Shore - I don't think St John's ever requires an essay - it's optional! I believe the "special app" email went to those who had requested info or were otherwise on their email list. My D did nothing more than request info via their website an received the same email (but right now St John's is her top choice). BTW, there are certain majors there (like pharm) where an essay is always strongly encouraged so you might want to check it out online before you let them get too excited!<br>
Also, USP never has an essay component - simplest app in the world there!</p>
<p>sk8rmom--I'm encouraging son to apply to St. John's (no fee!--just the cost of sending the ACT score & paying for school transcript). He's hesitant though, since he's not sure about their comp sci program. </p>
<p>I'm the excited one, though, because (given the incredible reaches that make up a large part of son's college list) it would be a relief to have a decision in 2-3 weeks as a back-up. From what I've heard, community college is not a good option for a comp sci major (need to start out w/hard courses) so would be great to have some sort of guarenteed back-up plan.</p>
<p>AdvicePlease--son got the Candidate's Choice too--but we still got nicked for the fee! They said he got it because he had visited the campus. Oh well! That tuition is very, very high, definitely agree on that.</p>
<p>My son has been receiving some of the fee waiver apps too, some from schools we've never contacted (Drexel, Tulane). It must be from his testing results, but some have come because we've expressed some interest (Marquette). He still has to work on his personal statement for these, but I can't see any reason for him not to take 10-15 minutes, if nothing else, to see where he may be when it comes to the apps for the schools he's interested in.</p>
<p>We're heading back east to visit Wagner, Goucher and Ursinus. He has previously been totally disinterested in visiting any schools, but finally is somewhat interested, and I'm hoping he'll fall in love with one that is a great match with great merit aid!</p>
<p>cpeltz--we didn't get the fee waiver from Drexel! And, son attended an engineering course there during HS, expressed interest & sent his 34 ACT score to them! Oh well. There's going to be so much $$ flowing down this admissions river that you have to just not worry about it. Hope your son finds a great match/merit aid school! That's the dream..! :-)</p>
<p>This morning my husband told me I need to "hang ten." (I think he means relax).</p>
<p>D3 has not looked at one school yet and September 1st arrives tomorrow. I have been an obsessed one, according to my husband, with an Excel spreadsheet & so on. I gave up on the spreadsheet as D3 keeps changing her mind about where to visit, etc. However she has an interest in Bennington College, Marlboro College & Sarah Lawrence College. She has no interest in applying to D1's alma mater, UCONN or D2's school, St. Lawrence University-too bad, SLU gives a Legacy Grant to siblings, offspring & grandchildren, worth $2500.00/year, not based on need or academics. I am hoping that D3 makes some kind of commitment soon, as we don't want to do college visits in the blizzards! Seems to me we went through that with D2 back in 2005. They are all different & we have to go through it again with our youngest, our son, as he graduates in 2010.</p>
<p>Hmmn...just took a quick look and I think you're right that the RPI didn't have a fee waiver. Most of the other priority applications had a fee waiver and I just assumed this one was too....especially since she has the RPI medal award. She'll apply anyway but....if the merit aid is not enough she most likely won't go there.</p>
<p>My older daughter was looking at comp sci schools and she looked at RPI. It definitely wasn't a match for her....especially after her visit. Younger daughter is looking into health care sciences so it's less of a match but she'll apply anyway.</p>
<p>My older daughter actually decided to go for a degree in IST (Information Science and Technology) and is attending Penn State. She had already taken both AP Computer Science courses, Calculus and Statistics. She also had gone to Governor's School at Drexel. She loves programming but after learning about the IST program at Penn State she was sold. She thought the CompSci degree would be more limiting to her career opportunities and didn't necessarily want to be limited to a career as a software engineer -- a job that is regularly outsourced.</p>
<p>She was able to participant in 2 National Science Foundation NSF research projects beginning the summer after her freshman year. One was paid and one is volunteer -(she was able to attend a few conferences though paid for by the research grand.) She just completed an 8 month paid internship (including a housing stipend) at a major company. (Started in January of her sophomore year and ended early this month.)</p>
<p>My husband was disappointed initially that she didn't choose Computer Science (in the College of Engineering -- he is an electrical engineer) but he agrees already that this was a better choice for her. </p>
<p>Anyway --- here's an interesting article about the starting salary! Not a bad starting salary!</p>
<p>"Starting salaries for the Class of 2008 rose again this year, with the average for those with a 3.0 grade-point average (GPA) and above at $58,080."</p>
<p>Interesting, AdvicePlease! Thanks for sharing that background about your daughter's major choices. Son is very interested in being a computer programmer, so he's kind of set on comp sci. Maybe he can look into the other major you mentioned.</p>
<p>SLUMOM--I'd really encourage daughter to visit schools (not that you asked for advice!). After reading (here) about the big advantage that can come w/early applications, I'd be nervous (in our case) to wait. Then again, your daughter's situation may be different (in son's, he really needs the edge). Also--you can always apply to the ones she's interested in, then visit later. Maybe a little costly, but I'm feeling relatively free w/spreading $$ around for the app process--just to keep as many doors open as possible (not to say the $$ isn't painful..! :-))</p>
<p>Btw, for those who have a big list of schools & a reluctant essay-writer/app filler-outer...I just made a chart w/all son's schools & copied & pasted a direct link to each school's admission/online application site (link to the common app if that school used the common app). That way (in a perfect world!) all son will have to do is click & upload/fill in a few blanks. The idea of him sifting through 20-odd college websites didn't bode well for ultimate, timely success. The challenge--getting him to commit to doing the entering/uploading (he's written the essays, for the most part). I think I'm in admin assistant over-drive, here.</p>