<p>Thanks my-3-sons.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2, what didn't you like about AU? It is a possibility for D but we have not gone to visit.</p>
<p>When I'm looking at the common data sets, am I looking for the section about how much interest they show in the school. The only school on the link that was posted that we are interesed in is Skidmore. They do not consider a student's interest. Does that mean we can skip the visit?</p>
<p>Do all colleges have that info on their website?</p>
<p>Queen's Mom - I love AU! (I went there) D was the one who didn't like it much. She just didn't see it at it's best. It was over 100 degrees and there was absolutely nobody around (mid-August). We didn't even walk on campus, just drove through the back way. Really, I think the main reason she didn't like it was that I went there.</p>
<p>Sorry, warriorboy - I haven't checked the common data sets for that info. And I would guess that if the school says it doesn't consider a student's interest, you can feel free to skip the visit unless you really want to see it. And I think most colleges do have that info on their website.</p>
<p>Yes, kids can get that way about their parent's school. My D, however, would love to go to my alma mater, but it is a reach (for anybody really). I know I could never get into it now.</p>
<p>I will try to get a visit to AU in sometime this fall.</p>
<p>Fall is a great time to visit schools in DC. FYI, AU was, and still is, very generous with merit money if that's important to you. It was to me when I was applying to schools, and it will be to D as well.</p>
<p>Isn't money important to everyone? ;) Yes, I had heard that AU is generous, bu D's scores are not exactly top of the heap so we will see.</p>
<p>I'm another '10er -- my daughter's first day as a junior was Monday. It's going to be a very difficult year, I think. D has 4 classes: AP US History, AP Composition, Honors Pre-Calculus and Physics. She also takes Japanese at a community college at night. All juniors at her charter take this course load (except the Japanese, she's doing that instead of Spanish). The difficulty is that she's my "artsy" child, not my "academic" child -- getting B's is a constant struggle that she manages only by putting in huge amounts of work studying and doing exam retakes and paper rewrites and things like that. I expect she's going to spend every waking moment studying one subject or another for the next year. </p>
<p>On the other hand, she's got very clear college goals, so it's not like I have to nudge her about that. She says her goal is "to say no to RISD". :-) She's still deciding which art schools she likes most, but will probably apply to some on both coasts. She very focused on building a strong portfolio and is already looking forward to National Portfolio Day in January.</p>
<p>PS: Adding info that other threads have mentioned, she's a December birthday, but was in Georgia where the cutoff is very early, so she'll turn 17 this year. Oh, and she's not taking any SAT II's. She'll take the SAT twice, I think, and probably the ACT because I'm told she'll do better on that, but for the most part, her portfolio is more important to her schools than her test scores.</p>
<p>Dad II: Daughter started thinking about colleges when her brother was applying in 06-07, when she was a freshman. Last year, she asked for and got a guide to art schools. She attended National Portfolio Day, and is on the mailing list for a bunch of schools. Because there are so many fewer schools in her area, it's easier to do a search. She will probably only get to visit 2 or 3 of her choices, and only that many because a couple are within a day's drive.</p>
<p>My son said that I couldn't talk about college until 8/31. Unfortunately, he told me he is pushing back one day for each time I mention a college...I think we're in mid-Sept at the moment...
So it amazes me when I look at all the school visits you have done already!</p>
<p>dufay - don't feel bad about that. I've mentioned this before - my D did not want to visit any colleges this year - I insisted. It ended up being worthwhile, but it was sort of risky because if she hadn't, future trips would be impossible to plan. The other schools we visited while we were in the areas - last year W&M (official info session and tour) while we were visiting Williamsburg, and the year before - Georgetown and AU - just walked/drove around for a look.</p>
<p>TrinSF - welcome! It sounds like your D is doing what is right for her. If she plans to apply to art school, than creating her portfolio is a priority. Good luck to her - with her art work, and with her classes.</p>
<p>Queen's Mom - I do think you need good grades/scores to get the merit money at AU - but not quite sure what the standards are these days. Maybe your D will qualify.</p>
<p>warriorboy- yes that is the section of the CDS I am talking about. I have no direct experience in this area, just what I have read on this board and the looking at the CDSs. Student interest would never be really high in the matrix, but it might be "considered." Here is Middlebury's as an example <a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/CDB2CFC8-96F4-403D-BAC3-6BC8920B93AE/0/CDS2007_2008.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/CDB2CFC8-96F4-403D-BAC3-6BC8920B93AE/0/CDS2007_2008.pdf</a> I'm surprised that Skidmore doesn't factor the applicant's interest considering their size and artsy bent. I looked at both of these on the college's sites by going there and searching on "common data set"</p>
<p>This is going to be an interesting couple of years. Child #4 is smart but we're not sure what his passion will be yet. Maybe engineering but also good at Latin & History. We got the college search down to a science with the other 2 boys--we know all the great schools for engineering, math, & comp sci, but maybe it won't apply to this child...he might want to major in something else and we'll have to start researching all over again!</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>
<p>Queen's Mom -- My oldest daughter just began her sophomore year at American U. She's an international studies major, and she did receive merit aid. She really likes it there. If there's anything that I can help you with regarding AU, feel free to PM me. If I recall, is your daughter into theater, and is that what she's thinking about majoring in? If so, have you checked out Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, PA? I visited there with D1 during her college search, and I remember hearing good things about their Theater program.</p>
<p>D2 and I recently made a day trip to Johns Hopkins. The Writing Seminars major really appealed to her. We went to an info session and a campus tour. I was surprised at how attractive the campus was, Writing Seminars does sound like a strong program, and Baltimore is relatively close to home. A (substantial) drawback is that she would have virtually zero chance of getting any kind of merit aid. Of course, after this visit she now loves JHU. ;) We'll see---we've got a lot more schools to visit over the next 12 months.</p>
<p>Thanks momonthehill. D is not interested in a theater major. Frankly, she is not sure yet what her major will be. She is interested in linguistics and engineering and is pretty sure it will not be anything to do with politics. She is interested in AU because it is so close to home.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins is a great place. I wish your D2 luck.</p>
<p>D1 got her class schedule today, and she was nice enough to get frosh D2's schedule also. There wasn't much unknown about her teacher choices, for some classes she is in different sections than most of her friends, but nothing major. The big news is that she has her free period the same period as chorus which she unsuccessfully fought the administration to audit last year. When we last left this story last year she had brought several teachers closer to her side after talks with them and a very well done article (if I say so myself :-) in the school newspaper. This time around I am staying out of it and leave it to her to see if she wants to take it up with the administration again or just attend the class and hope no one notices (the chorus teacher had no problem with her taking the extra class last year) She would want to audition for All State if she can work the eligiblility and has a pretty good chance of making it.</p>
<p>D2 had more variability in her schedule and we are happy with her teachers.</p>
<p>Queen's Mom - I don't believe that AU has an engineering major. I'll have to look into it.</p>
<p>jackief - Glad you got your Ds' schedules and that they are basically problem-free. Not sure what the problem is with your D taking chorus if she has a free period at that time.</p>
<p>LIMOMOF2, I do not think it does either. We are still expanding our list. We will narrow later.</p>
<p>D had her first day of school today. She is happy with her schedule (especially her French teacher). Hoping for a good year.</p>
<p>LIMOM, they want the kids to have a "safety-valve" for sickness or makeup work and not be overloaded and have time to develop intellectually outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>This concludes the party-line speech received during many discussions on this topic last year. </p>
<p>Would not even let her sit in the class last year and barred her at the door. As I said, she has been fighting against this and it would be great if she can actually cause change to happen in the school where "we don't allow that."</p>
<p>jackief, looks like no one on the PSAT prep thread has an answer for us re grading the practice tests, so maybe I will ask on this thread.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how to get answers to the PSAT booklets that college board is selling?</p>