<p>Longsx3 - I’ll be interested in your D’s opinion of University of Miami after her visit. It’s on S2’s list for their music school - but I’m worried about campus size and location. We’ve never been to Florida before, so it would be a whole new experience for S2.</p>
<p>Megpmom - We just visited U of Miami for DS12. He is not a music student, but there were several music students on tour with us and in our info session. I think the music school has a different application date (nov?) and then they arrange for your to come audition, I think. Here is my write-up of UM for my marine bio DS12:</p>
<p>Our U of Miami visit was great! It was hot, but the campus was very nice. The outside of the campus is beautiful and well designed. It has lots of open space, but is fairly compact for such a large school. Everything is within easy walking distance. The school is large (9500 UG), but the different schools within the university make a large student body feel small. DS’s major has 200 kids, which is a pretty good size for him. Enough to keep it interesting, not too many to feel lost. He can make a name for himself within the Marine Bio community, which is good. </p>
<p>Avg class size throughout the school is small; 20 or so for lower level classes (all taught by profs, no TAs) and 4 to 10 for upper level classes. 11 to 1 ratio. Pretty nice. Lots of professor involvement in student life and academics. Lots of opportunity for internships. Huge emphasis on 100% placement for graduates. Very nice. </p>
<p>Campus life feels very up beat and positive. Two large freshman dorms each with a study room and a professor and family that live in the dorms. Each dorm has an academic advisor, in addition to the academic advisor through each department at the school. Food choices are good and food is good too. The door rooms themselves were small, but nicely appointed. The dorms are not as nice, as it feels like prisons with very long and narrow cinder block halls with doors into the rooms. No open lounge area on each floor, although they are converting one room into a lounge on each floor. Kinda cramped if you ask me. So, life on the dorm floor isn’t all that great. However, considering that it is nice outside during the school sessions, it really doesn’t seem to be a problem. They do all kinds of spirit stuff during the fall and spring so that there is tons of bonding in the dorms. Seems good. All students get into every football and other sports for free and are guaranteed a seat. </p>
<p>On the positive sides for DS: scuba club goes diving once or 2ce a week for $40 a dive; semester abroad in the Galapagos islands for the same price as UM; semester abroad in Australia also for the same price as UM. Lots of travel abroad opportunities for everyone. They have club sports (you pay and travel) and intermural sports (free and on campus only) in additon to their Div I teams. Huge health center for students seperate from their sports team. Lots and lots of exercise equipment. Indoor and outdoor swimming pools. </p>
<p>The slightly negative aspects is that the inside of the science building was pretty dingy and the equipment seemed old. Not bright and shiny and new. I think it really is about the quality of the professors, but still it would have been nice to see nice labs.</p>
<p>We also visited the Rosentiel School for Marine Studies which is mostly a graduate school. Awesome. Really great science going on in that school. Amazing place to be as a grad student, even better to be able to get involved (though rarely) as an UG. The staff is really friendly and was kind enough to give us a really great tour.</p>
<p>I think this is a strong school choice for science and business students. Great academics and an overall fun college experience awaits.</p>
<p>A Public Service Announcement from a 2012 parent:</p>
<p>You may know that the 2011-2012 Common Application became available today. I just wanted to caution any 2013 parents considering getting an early start by beginning to input demographic, school related, etc. data now or in the near future.</p>
<p>Whatever you input before the 2012-2013 version launches August 1, 2012 will be lost. My twin sons and I learned that the hard way today when I tried to access their accounts to see if supplements had been updated. After a number of error messages, and an inquiring e-mail, I received this from the Comm App folks:</p>
<p>“Unfortunately if you created your application before August 1, you will need to create a new application. Last season’s account information and application are no longer available. We cannot retrieve your application since all apps are removed and placed on back-up media. Back-ups can only be accessed for legal purposes at this time. For further information, please see the Privacy Policy link, located at the bottom of each page within the online Common Application.”</p>
<p>So if your curious to see what the application looks like you can create an account any time, but any data inputted will be lost come next August 1.</p>
<p>Thanks Huxley! I don’t think D had any intention of getting that much of a head start, but it’s good to know 
Good luck to your twins as they enter their senior year!</p>
<p>So D2 will be at school at 9am tomorrow to pick up her schedule & get her locker. Yikes! How is it already August? Got good news about the math teacher yesterday (D1s old teacher does not teach pre-calc honors; Huzzah!) And she finished “The Sound and the Fury:” the bane of every AP English Language student in the area. Let’s just say she didn’t develop an appreciation for Faulkner…3 more books to read, 2 math packets and an AP Chem packet. Woot. Let junior year begin. </p>
<p>D1 gets back from England later this week. So we’ll have a week of summer normal together time before school begins.</p>
<p>Hi HeavyLidded! Welcome! This is my 2nd rodeo as they say, and yes, a good part of what I’ve done on CC is to find others to commiserate with so I don’t drive my family crazy :)</p>
<p>What I found at my kids good suburban HS is that about 50% of the kids go to 1 of 3 state schools, so I’ve stopped worrying about our GC’s (who have their hands full getting 250+ kids processed for those schools.) You are already ahead of the game of the vast majority of rising junior parents, who haven’t even begun to think about college. I mean, that’s what senior year is for, right? 
</p>
<p>Congrats to your D on her bronze & silver awards, and her upcoming Gold award. D1 got her bronze award, then we moved & she didn’t continue scouts. I was really proud of the 4 girls in my old troop (I had been the leader since Daisy’s) who continued on to get their Gold. That is a great level of commitment. Combined with real life work experience, that gives your D a resume that a lot of schools will love to see.</p>
<p>RobD - what part of the country are you from that you go back to school in August? We have one school here that goes back August 30th; most go back after labor day, and the privates about Sept 10th (and they get out end of May, have large breaks during the year - a week for Thanksgiving; 2 weeks for Christmas (starting Dec 19th; one school starts the Christmas Dec 10th on); 3 weeks in March for winter break; 6 days for President’s weekend and only Good Friday near Easter). My d had an interesting question today since we are considering the local public school. “If we had more time off, why do we finish so early the public schools go to June 20th?” I wonder that myself. Is the curriculum harder and faster in private? Something has to give. There’s such a big difference. I don’t know that we can handle going to school till almost Christmas eve or going back before labor day and then continuing through June with no air conditioning. The only plus side is that the school would be 4 minutes away vs. the 98 mile drive daily. However both schools start at 7am. </p>
<p>HeavyLidded Welcome! Don’t worry about the process (coming from the mom who is obsessed with it night and day as I only have one child). I wouldn’t worry too much about GPA and rank, having been to so many college meetings at school (I’ve gone to the parents meetings for jr’s since my d was a freshman, and we had an admin dir come in 8th grade from Brown and Harvard). Most of my d’s friends are all in ivies only because of the area I live in - everyone is ivy-obsessed. My d is not. She looked at all the programs at the ivies and when you think about it, there really is nothing specific that they have - they all seem to list bizarre studies. My d wants to go to a school that has good depts and placements like BU, NW, Kenyon, CMU, UM (she has 4 friends who she went to theater prgs with who are going there for broadcast journalism and they loved the campus), USC, American, GWU, Georgetown - for strong journalism and international relations/global studies programs. </p>
<p>As for Duke, she had a friend who got into every ivy except Brown and was waitlisted for Harvard, and although, she also got into Duke, and she had an incredible resume and ec’s, gpa and scores (and was salutatorian), they didn’t offer any money and her parents are not well off so that was disappointing. She’s going to Yale. I liked what I saw when Duke came to visit in our area, however, we just couldn’t find a suitable major (turkish studies, slavic studies? but no communications/journalism; etc. - just can’t see spending money on a major she will not use). On the other hand, my friend on the admin comm said his good friend sent his 2 girls to Yale (she became a nurse practitioner and studied philosophy) and the other studied art history at Pomona (still unemployed). There’s a whole board out there of unemployed harvard grads as well. Schools like Berea, College of the Ozarks and some school of mining got good ratings in the newsweek book (I hadn’t heard of them). Some of my d’s friends are going into the US Naval Academy since the ed is free and it was rated number 4 in the rankings. You just never know.</p>
<p>There are 5 other friends who did NOT have top grades or sat scores, but had interesting ec’s (out of school, not in) and they got into ivies as well, so you never can tell. They say there is a pot for lid, and there are so many good colleges out there.</p>
<p>I know most people think US News and World reports is the Bible for rankings, etc., I have 2 friends who are on admissions boards reviewing applicants for 2 great universities (one an ivy) and they all say they won’t play US News’ game of “paying” in - they like Forbes reviews better as they feel they are more impartial. My d’s old school (private) said that they only interview 40 hs college counselors and this school did not have time or resources to evaluate a lot of schools other than in the area. </p>
<p>However, Newsweek just came out with their version of a similar book, with Kaplan, and they even had the dean of Reed College in Oregon, write a story about why rankings stink! He also mentioned that parents and students go to sites I hadn’t heard of (I will post when I find my book). Very clever of them to do that so that they show how open they are about feedback. I liked the way they divided the colleges up too, and they also have a website where you can register, similar to Jacques Steinberg’s college admissions corner in the NY Times, and bandy about. </p>
<p>My d is so unmotivated at this point (having been sick most of the summer) to finish hs - she just wants to go straight to college and get to it. In Europe, you study just what you are majoring in and don’t have to waste your time with liberal arts. Many people like liberal arts, but to have to repeat math and science (the biggest thorns in her side) again in college is giving her nightmares. She loves literature and doesn’t mind taking some fun classes outside her major, but dreads the rest. She tried doing her sat prep by different books this summer, but her scores stayed basically the same so I will have to do sat prep in the fall as everyone around here applies early admission/early action.</p>
<p>Good luck all - we are heading down the home stretch and STILL don’t know where my d will be going to school or where we will be living; it’s horrible not knowing and spending this little bit of summer now that my d is feeling better, visiting hs’s instead of colleges!
She will be going from a school with a class size of 86 to possibly public with a class size of 300-500 per grade (scary for her) BUT on the bright side, one has a tv/radio station and a great theater dept!</p>
<p>I encourage everyone to post a college visit report in that forum after you see a school. I think they’re really helpful to others. I read all the ones at the schools in which ds is interested.</p>
<p>Ds2 is loving cross country. We’ll see if he still feels that way when he’s leaving the house at 5:40 a.m. once school starts. His initial knee achiness seems to be gone. His internship wraps up next Friday, which gives him a week off before school starts.</p>
<p>And there’s no avoiding the fact that he needs to get his license this month.</p>
<p>ETA: Forgot to welcome, HL!!!</p>
<p>medavinci: I’m in TN, but most schools is the south start in August. Our neighboring district starts this Friday; the balanced calendar district to the south of us started last week. Good news is that we are out about a week before Memorial Day. Still 180 calendar days of school, just shifted on the calendar. Took a little getting used to when we first moved here from NJ (where the teachers union decreed that the teachers cannot be forced to report to their classrooms until September 1st) but the kids quickly got used to enjoying getting out of school a month before their cousins </p>
<p>As for public vs. private schools & time off: public schools have the # of days they have to have “student contact time” mandated by the state legislature/dept. of education. Generally it’s about 180 days, give or take a few. Private schools are exempt from that requirement, the same way that they’re exempt from the mandatory testing.</p>
<p>Texas schools all start in August as well. Although the legislature passed a law a couple years ago that we can’t start until after August 20 (or some such arbitrary date) so we’re starting Aug 22 this year. But it is nice getting out at the beginning of June plus most of our schools have AC! Which is essential given that it will be 110 degrees in Dallas today! And, yes, the marching bands and football teams are still out practicing.</p>
<p>We start after labor day and now my boss just said I may be travelling early September and I’m hoping it isn’t the 1st day of school - I do not trust my DH to handle the first day packets :)</p>
<p>D2 should be getting her license today! She has her last in car session today which if all goes well counts as her “driving test” and then they’ll drop her off with her paper license. In a few months we have to appear in court where she’d get the true plastic license. Not looking forward to calling the insurance company but hopefully it won’t be too awful!</p>
<p>Here in PA, school starts after Labor Day also with about 180 days of mandatory attendance. The past few years, they’ve had to tack on days at the end to make up for snow days which doesn’t really make much sense because the grades/attendance have already been turned in. But I guess on paper, they have to comply.
I’m anxiously awaiting being able to go online and see my son’s roster for this year, since of course he can’t remember what classes he signed up for. Seriously??? I’m sure I could call the school and find out but it’s not like I would make any changes anyway. The basic curriculum is set. The only choices are in electives but I honestly can’t believe the kid doesn’t know if he requested digital film making or storytelling.</p>
<p>Shilly, my D got her temporary 90 day license in March and goes before the court week after next for her permanent driver’s license. We just paid our quarterly insurance with the addition of her licensure and it was quite painful!</p>
<p>DD’s school starts on Aug 17th. Just when my older son started at that school, they moved fall semester exams to just before Christmas. That makes the earlier start worth it in my book.</p>
<p>DD gets home from camp on the 5th, goes to the Cross Country bonding overnights on the 10th-12th, then starts school on the 17th. August 13th-14th are the ONLY days since May 31st that our family will be together in the same house. Older son off to second year of college on the 15th. Whew!</p>
<p>Here’s hoping junior year starts off on the right foot for all of you.</p>
<p>I’m interested to know what is “painful” car insurance prices for teen drivers across the country.</p>
<p>We considered buying my FIL’s 1998 Toyota from the estate for when DS is old enough to drive, but after finding out the insurance would be $2,400+/year decided against it.</p>
<p>WELCOME HeavyLidded!
I’m with you and constantly overwhelmed by the finances of college.<br>
Our income has been a moving target over the last few years. We are just moving into a rather nice middle income tax bracket after DH was out of work/under employed for a few years. Would be nice if it wasn’t aligning with college. Wish there were some method that the whole FA wouldn’t assume we always made a living. Bright side is even if we can’t afford college, at least we are getting out of the hole from those bad years. For now, our college strategy is all across the board. Looking at both the high ranked schools who don’t offer merit and many private LACs that do have merit. I’ll be much calmer oncer DS finds an affordable safety that also meets my criteria of having a decent 4-yr graduation rate.</p>
<p>For those whose high schools don’t start until September, late August is a good time to visit colleges, because most colleges are in session.</p>
<p>I would like to take my D to visit a couple of schools then, but she doesn’t really want to think about colleges yet, so I’m waiting for a more opportune moment to raise the question.</p>
<p>Longhaul,</p>
<p>My DD will be 16 next year and I have been quoted an additional 250.00 a month for a 2008 Toyota Yaris, I will say we carry high coverage amounts and have 3 cars.</p>
<p>Rates will vary so much state to state and whether the kid has his/her own car, what the coverage is, etc. Our newest car is 9yo with no comprehensive so our rates weren’t as bad as they could have been. Adding ds2 but not adding a car will be even better (he’ll be driving his brother’s while the brother is back at college).</p>
<p>S3 just passed on Thursday, I called the insurance and they added him, but they haven’t sent the bill yet so I don’t know how much it will go up. He is added as an occasional driver. In addition to D1 (20) and S2(19) who are also occasional drivers. Neither D1 or S2 has their own car and since they are away at school that helps a little. So now we have 2 cars for 5 drivers (plus DH’s work van is on his buisness insurance). D1 has crashed the car twice, so our insurance is already pretty steep.</p>
<p>I don’t remember how much it went up when I added D1 - our “newest” car is a 2005 which helps and we have 2 cars with what will now be 4 drivers. Now that D1 has had her license for 3 years with no accidents I am hopeful hers may get lower now that we are adding D2 - I want to say though overall we pay about $1200 a year now for 3 drivers. I’ve heard though we are on the lucky side of that number and it really does depend on where you are and what cars are in your possession. A former client ended up having to buy his teenager a car because adding her to the luxury cars he and his wife drove was cost prohibitive so it was actually cheaper to buy and insure her on her own car - we do not have that problem, LOL!</p>
<p>Two years ago we bought our son a standard transmission honda accord for $3,500. Both of our other cars were relatively new and were expensive to insure. We only pay for liability insurance on the Honda so if he damages his car he is not covered and he will have to pay to fix it. The result…we pay about $350 insurance on the honda per year. It started at about $500 but with no speeding tickets or claims the number came down quickly. My daughter will be added soon and she will be able to use her brother’s car while he is at college. she is insured for the others but it is assumed that she will mainly drive the honda so I anticipate a good rate. </p>
<p>It was hard work to find a standard transmission car, cheap with passenger airbags but it has been worth it. It is very hard to text or talk on the phone while driving stick so the temptation is less and you have to be paying attention, especially when you are learning stick. My daughter is complaining that stick shift is hard to learn but it is non-negotiable. If she doesn’t learn to drive her brother’s car she will not be driving independently. I figure the delay in learning stick well will keep her from getting her license until 17…</p>