<p>GKM, Lehigh is also in the same area as Muhlenberg. Swarthmore and Haverford are a 90 minute drive away. Males have an advantage applying to many LACs; I’ve read of other male seniors doing well with admissions at Vassar. </p>
<p>One of D1’s friends is headed to Muhlenberg next year with merit money. She’s very excited. D1 toured and liked the school, but wasn’t inclined to keep it on her final list. Now that she has a friend going there, she’s rethinking that. I’m keeping it in mind for D2. Great friendly vibe, significant school spirit for a small school, and both NYC and Philadelphia are near enough for day trips.</p>
<p>Lehigh, while great for math and sciences is not known for it’s theater program at all. Although Lehigh and Muhlenberg are close in distance they are far apart in feel. I’ll second the suggestion to look at Muhlenberg though, it has a great local reputation.</p>
<p>You will very rarely hear about DeSales University but this is a small LAC about 15 minutes fromMuhlenberg and 10 minutes from Lehigh that has an excellent theater program (yes, even better then M’berg’s) and a first class Physicians Assistant program. It would be a safety for GreatKidsMom daughter, but you might want to look at it. [DeSales</a> University](<a href=“http://www.desales.edu/]DeSales”>http://www.desales.edu/) The guy from the children show, Blues Clues, Steven Burns, is a graduate.</p>
<p>Awseomely helpful–Mulenberg for sure for a tour, and Haverford (another one I just found out about). My s had mentioned Swarthmore , and I know it has a great program, but I thought it was too reachy?? Maybe worth a look for another “reach” tour. I’ll also check DeSales for a safety. </p>
<p>So far, we’ve only toured some West Coast schools; S number 1 choice from that is Whitman–he also looked at Reed and U of Wash, Seattle (which he liked as a safety).</p>
<p>It seems with his stats that I’m always looking at either a reach or a safety…I spent some time on CollegeBoard this morning, and Vassar looked like a good slightly upper match or lower reach, as does Whitman. </p>
<p>As for males having a slight advantage at LACs, Slithey, that is good news…my S definitely is leaning toward one so far!</p>
<p>Muhlenberg (and the Lehigh Valley Colleges ) is about an hour from Philadelphia. This site has some good planning tips [Campus</a> Visit / Philadelphia .::. The official hotel and travel site for Philadelphia’s top colleges and universities](<a href=“http://onebigcampus.com/]Campus”>http://onebigcampus.com/) We have about 300 colleges in PA, each unique in it’s own way. Villanova is a great college between Muhlenberg and Swat. Ursinus is a beautiful LAC that’s one of the “College that Change Lives” group.</p>
<p>GKM – Since you are starting out in Boston…you might want to look into Clark in Worcester. Could be a match based on scores and GPA…and I’ve heard their theater dept is good…and know they have some strengths in psych and sciences.</p>
<p>GreatKidsMom, I assume you already have Emerson on your list since you are starting in Boston if theater/drama is being considered? Not sure I would go there for scionce though. How about BU, probably better if interested in both the arts and theater.</p>
<p>Actually, my son has applied to the summer theater program there, so it is definitely on the list! Emerson doesn 't have the science aspect, as far as I know.</p>
<p>Recap from last night’s College Night. Definitely exceeded my expectations (I thought it would be too crowded to get to talk to very many college reps). In fact, D was able to speak with about a dozen different reps at some length. She came away with positive impressions of most of the small LAC reps she spoke to - but that by the end of the evening they all kind of blurred together. A tip from one of my friends who is a Univ. of Chicago alum and who was hosting the U of Chgo. table - FOCUS ON YOUR ESSAYS! He said that they, and most other highly selective colleges, really put a lot of emphasis on the essays as a way to distinguish the types of interesting, really bright kids they are looking for. I commented that I had heard that before, but that I was a little surprised at that emphasis b/c it was so easy to play the system and have extensive assistance from a third party. Both my friend and the other rep jumped all over that and said they are able to ascertain, based on the application as a whole, if it’s really the applicant’s essay or not. Good to know (the heavy emphasis on essays, not that you can’t have someone ghost write your essay - I don’t think most of us would really do that anyway).</p>
<p>I also heard at the admissions night S’s school had with reps from BC, Stonehill, Emerson and WPI that the essay is very important. I don’t have my notes with me, but they said it should tell the them something about you that is not found elsewhere in the app. They suggested it not be about a death in the family, unless you really feel that is the only topic you can write about. They also said they can tell who had help by comparing the essay to the writing sample from the SAT, the SAT essay was obviously written quickly, but the voice should be the same.</p>
<p>The head of S’s school guidance dept also said to come to the GC with ideas before you actually start writing. Once you have put a lot of work into the essay they are less likely to suggest you use another topic even when they don’t like the one you wrote about. I am not sure how you are suppose to do that when school lets out beginning of June and the common app comes out around the same time. I will be presuring S to work on essays over the summer.</p>
<p>Great Kids Mom, has your son thought about the Tisch School of Performing Arts at NYU? Fordham University also has a campus at Lincoln Center in the event that the bright lights/big city beckon…</p>
<p>Collegemaw, I find your “mellowness” refreshing already…this is my second tour of duty and my D is a completely different student/personality than my S was four years ago…there are no schools on her radar that require SAT IIs so I find that comforting at this point…this journey is definitely one that we will observe from the middle of the road…Collegeboard offers a top notch study guide…she used Barron’s for the ACT.</p>
<p>Also, could someone explain to me how my D could go about converting the grades on her numerical transcript (based on a scale of 100) into the 4.0 system (her large suburban high school does not weigh grades earned in honors and AP courses). They just started using the Naviance software this year.</p>
<p>This is how my S’s school converts grades to 4.0 system
A 4.00 95-100
A- 3.67 90-94<br>
B+ 3.33 87-89<br>
B 3.0 83-86<br>
B- 2.67 80-82
C+ 2.33 77-79
C 2.00 73-76
C- 1.67 70-72
D+ 1.33 65-69
D 1.00 60 - 64
E 0.00 Below 60</p>
<p>Nickenzie, here is how QuestBridge converts scores:</p>
<p>Grade Points 100 Point Scale Letter Grade</p>
<p>4.0 93-100 A or A+</p>
<p>3.7 90-92 A-</p>
<p>3.3 87-89 B+</p>
<p>3.0 83-86 B</p>
<p>2.7 80-82 B-</p>
<p>2.3 77-79 C+</p>
<p>2.0 73-76 C</p>
<p>1.7 70-72 C-</p>
<p>1.3 69 D+</p>
<p>1.0 63-66 D </p>
<p>“To use this table, find the grade point value of your final grade in a class (for example, a B+ is a 3.3) and multiply it by the total number of units the class is worth (for a five unit class, multiply 5 x 3.3). Do this for each of your courses in grades 9-12, adding the grade points as you go. Then, divide by the total number of units you have taken. For example, if you have taken only three classes, each worth five units, and you have received an A, B+, and A-, calculate your GPA as follows:
(5 x 4.0) + (5 x 3.3) + (5 x 3.7) = 55, 55/15 =3.67, or a 3.7 GPA (you can round to the nearest tenth for this application).
If your school does not assign units to classes, please use 1 unit per course.”</p>
<p>For those not familiar with QuestBridge, it is a highly regarded program which assists low-income, high achieving students in their college application process. Currently 27 colleges are associated with the program including schools such as Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Amherst and Williams. These schools offer generous FA to accepted students. Exact details vary according to the school. Check out the program. It is wonderful!</p>
<p>For comparative purposes, should I put all of her final course averages into the mix except for things like phys ed and health? Obviously, the goal is to determine where she stacks up to the general student population “chanced” and admitted to schools she’s interested in on this site.</p>
<p>Sigh - how much can you push the kid before getting worn down yourself?</p>
<p>At home, D is incredibly busy. School, sports, ECs - she left yesterday morning at 6.30 and didn’t come home until 8.30pm. She had dinner, finished her homework and crashed. I understand that she really, really hasn’t had the time - but we are headed out for college visits in April and she hasn’t done much about looking into these colleges.</p>
<p>I bugged her about them - she registered for the tour/info session. She is supposed to call URochester to set up an interview if possible - she hasn’t gotten around to doing it yet. Is she interested in URochester? “I don;t know yet - haven’t had a chance to look”. Well, when will she look?? Rochester supposedly is keen on interviews and we definitely will not be able to go back - so hoping she can schedule one for the week we are there…but this is so frustrating…</p>
<p>Arisamp, between school and ECs, my D gets very litle sleep. I don’t see any problem with me making appointments and researching schools…so she’s supposed to do it and get 4 hours of sleep instead of 5, while I spend my evenings catching up on Project Runway? I don’t mind taking on some of the work to make my D’s life a little more bearable.</p>
<p>^That’s pretty much my philosophy too. I do all the heavy lifting as far as researching colleges and merit aid, and try to make sure that important deadlines don’t slip between the cracks. To her credit, she does a very good job of keeping up with most things, the other day she actually wrote out an AP study schedule on her chalkboard, complete with skull and crossbones!</p>
<p>I could definitely make the appointment - but I thought I had read that it was better for the communication to come from the student?</p>
<p>From my research, URochester looks like a good fit for her - but she hasn’t really looked at the school herself. If she does have an interview setup, will they expect her to know something about the school? I read “tips for interviews” on one schools’ website and it specifically mentioned to get familiar with the school, offerings etc and be prepared with specific questions to ask your interviewer. I just don’t know when she can do this.</p>
<p>I completely understand that she’s really busy - I spend way too much time on this site and other college related websites and am doing most of the digging - but she does need to get involved at some point - if nothing else, to figure out what she likes and what she doesn’t.</p>
<p>Lots of appointments are just made on line, through email or filling out an on-line form. They don’t know who is making the appointment. She can prepare for any interview during the plane/train/car ride to get there. I have no problem being the “executive secretary.” That is how busy executives function - someone hands them materials in time for them to prepare for the next meeting or appointment.</p>
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<p>After a few interviews, the students will know the drill and will have their own questions. But at first, they are pretty clueless. The student is usually the only one in the mix who hasn’t been to college, but she’s supposed to come up with the intelligent questions about college.</p>
<p>For those first couple of interviews, I gave my son a small notebook and pen, to use to “take notes” at the interview…only I had a few questions written down in the notebookd for son to ask if the conversation waned.</p>