<p>Hi 2boysima,
St. Johns and Xavier will be added to our list. He will probably concentrate on schools east of the mississippi, he is not the adventurous type and wants to stay a quick plane or car ride from home. We live close to Boston. </p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Over the weekend I was discussing with Daughter her career interests. She really doesn't have any. She can rule out almost everything, but has no strong interests. Her big ECs are all in dance, but she doesn't want to dance - even as an EC - in college. I know she has years to decide, but it has been so helpful with Son (a senior) to compare schools with a major in mind.</p>
<p>Sometime last year S expressed an interest in majoring in history and then continuing on to law school followed by a career as an elected official. H has been elected several times to various positions in town, not sure if that is where S's interests come from or not. H has told S he will not pay 50K a year for S to major in something like history to have S end up a teacher, something S would also love to do and would probably be good at. He will pay something, just not 50K to have S come out earning 35K as a teacher. So now S is telling us he is unsure what he wants to do. History is his love and I am pretty sure if H hadn't said anything, S would not be wavering.</p>
<p>I really hope we can find a good school that will give S lots of merit aid and has a good history program. With his grades, he will not get any of the full scholarships BC has to offer which right now is his dream school.</p>
<p>mamom--tell your H that my H has a degree in Poly Sci with a minor in History and is now a successful corporate VP. His college roommate has a degree in English w/ a minor in Italian--now a successful director of sales. My brother also has an English degree and is a VP of Compliance w/ a major corp. Liberal Arts rock!</p>
<p>S is also unsure of a direction for college, but since so many kids change majors in college, I'm not too concerned.</p>
<p>Mine's decided he wants to apply to college now, so he's been busy with his application to Simon's Rock.</p>
<p>I do NOT have a spreadsheet for this!!!</p>
<p>Lucky you, owlice! Think how this simplifies the process! You've certainly limited the number of schools to explore and you'll be saving yourself 2 years of escalating stress (come take a peek at the '09 board). Of course, you get the special treat of sending your 16 year old to college.....</p>
<p>15 year old, on savings that are two years' shy and before the already accumulated funds have recovered.... </p>
<p>(He's going to need merit aid to make this work, and with no packages to compare, iieeee!!!)</p>
<p>But focus on the good, focus on the good; just have to keep that in mind!</p>
<p>owlice,
Good luck to your son! I am impressed that your 15yo is ready for this. My 15yo is still into enjoying his HS years. </p>
<p>I do have some questions. How long will it take your S to graduate with a degree, if accepted? When do they declare a major?</p>
<p>Speaking of Simon's Rock, NPR just had something on about it.
Starting</a> College While Still In School : NPR</p>
<p>We have age based 529 plans for all three kids. Son ('09)'s money is down a bit but should be okay since most was already in cash eqivalents. I'm not worried about the 7th grader's because there is plenty of time for it to come back. But I'm quite worried about my '11 Daughter's account, as most was still in stocks. I'm wondering about future contributions...do I still keep putting the same amount in, or should I hedge my bets and put half in something very safe?</p>
<p>Both kids are in age based accounts, along with other college fund money we had just in stocks. Our money in stocks took a beating and will probably limit where S can go if no merit aid is forthcoming. D is in 3rd grade (class of '18) and I am not worried about her right now. </p>
<p>Adjusted our allocations so we are not as heavy into stocks and continue to contribute. Not enough time to recover what we lost in the stock market to help S. We knew the risk, gambled and we lost.</p>
<p>owlice, I agree with chintzy that you're lucky to be able to simplify the entire thing if the merit aid works out. </p>
<p>I feel as if D1 is Schrodinger's Cat, where the box won't open for a few months. Waiting to see what her 10th grade PSAT scores are like. Waiting to see what her first semester grades will be. Waiting to see what will happen with UC's budget problems. Nudging her to start thinking about touring local schools so she can figure out if there's any type of environment that floats or sinks her boat. Looking at spring break to see if we can squeeze in a trip to a proposed OOS safety so that she can get safeties squared away early. She feels like she has all the time in the world; I realize that no, she doesn't. Not to mention the financial piece. Will there be any job changes? Will certain revenue streams continue? Only the shadow knows....</p>
<p>Hey sophomore (but never sophomoric) parents--anyone start the dreaded Driver's Ed with your '11er? S turned 16 last fall, so we are in the thick of things. He no longer drives hugging the right side of road, which is a relief. I actually ducked as we went by a few of those mail boxes! Finding time has been a challenge, as has all the snow and ice we've had here. I'd like to prolong things until his '09 sister leaves for college so I don't have to listen to them fight over what she considers "her" car.</p>
<p>mamom, </p>
<p>It's a regular college except for the age of the students. Should take him four years to graduate, or not, same as other college students! About 60% of Rockers transfer elsewhere after two years, in part because Simon's Rock is such a small school and just doesn't offer everything. SR is part of Bard College, so Bard is one of the top five transfer destinations. (U Chicago and Stanford are also among the top five; I don't remember the other two schools in that number). </p>
<p>BTW, thanks for that link; I missed NPR that day.</p>
<p>missypie,</p>
<p>"What are y'all doing with your 529 plans? "</p>
<p>Weeping and gnashing my teeth, mostly.</p>
<p>SlithyTove,</p>
<p>It's simplified, perhaps, but only until transfer time, and I do suspect S will want to transfer. This is a big concern for me because the chances of merit aid are just so much lower for transfer students.</p>
<p>I wish The Shadow would give all of us a head's up, so we can plan accordingly...</p>
<p>chintzy, </p>
<p>Not yet for us; S is still too young (thank goodness!!).</p>
<p>And S is <em>still</em> not getting any college marketing stuff, and yes, I want him to, I want him to!</p>
<p>My daughter got her permit on her 15th birthday and her license on her 16th birthday. I try not to ride with either of my teen drivers. She SO wants her own car, but it's not in the cards for a while.</p>
<p>
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And S is <em>still</em> not getting any college marketing stuff, and yes, I want him to, I want him to!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My D received some sort of a private college catalog, over 60 schools I think. It has the profiles of the usual suspects -- Havard, Cornell, Emory, CalTech etc. and some I've never heard of. She has not received stuff directly from colleges. I've been wondering why no one shows my D any love :-)</p>
<p>owlice, ouch! I forgot about the transfer aspect. You get to got through the college admissions process twice--some of us had to have a second kid to get that joy. </p>
<p>No college mail for S; still haven't even seen the scores from his 10/08 PSAT. One of these days I might contact his GC. Our town has two public high schools, roughly equal in size. The kids at the other hs received their scores right after Christmas break.</p>
<p>missypie--how many of us are there with elevenses and oh niners? (Your comment on the 09 board about tap dancers' energy policy was hysterical!)</p>
<p>
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missypie--how many of us are there with elevenses and oh niners? (Your comment on the 09 board about tap dancers' energy policy was hysterical!)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, I wonder how many of us there are. I bet quite a few. If you're like me, your 09 and your 11 are not only not clones, but are nothing alike....different scores, different grades, different interests, thus *totally *different schools.</p>
<p>It will be a totally different search, that's for sure! They look a lot alike--people have frequently asked if they're twins--but that is where the similarities end! Watching his sister's search has been a bit of a reality check for S, who is not always the most motivated student. Admissions officers' words carry much more weight than parents', even if we're saying the same things!</p>