<p>Thanks for the well wishes everyone. He says he’s not feeling any lingering soreness and will be back at shool tomorrow. I’m happy to say that he completed 2 of the 3 tasks I gave him while he was home but I’m guessing that getting college essaysout of him is going to be like pulling teeth.</p>
<p>To add to the EA information, there are some schools that reject EA applicants in December; they do not just forward them on to the RD pile. BC was one that we came across that did this, I believe there are others.</p>
<p>repeatb: Welcome! Please don’t be depressed because you weren’t there for your D’s first college visits! I can assure you that college visiting can get old, and after accompanying my college-freshman D on many visits the last two years, I have no interest in going to another information session ever (but I’ll do it to support my son!) Also, you are in a good position to help your D by giving her a chance to tell you the highlights of her visit, a conversation that might not happen when you go with her.</p>
<p>Haystack: well you will be the source for U Iowa info now, won’t you 
Right now a visit there is on the back burner. If D’s accepted to the summer writing program, then that’s when we’ll visit. If not, we’ll see. I just can’t figure out how to work a visit in there during the school year. Thanks for the (future) intel!</p>
<p>Fitting visits in during the school year is near impossible for us.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how others are able to do it.</p>
<p>I had high hopes for the week before Easter, but DS has Sat - Mon booked with his major EC. Friday is just bad because so few kids are on campus. That leaves Tues - Thur for schools which are 3-16 hours away (each way). Trying to convince myself that the whole visit thing is overrated. Next step is to convince DS to consider schools closer to home. We did live in an area with plenty of schools within a 2 hour drive.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of a good online resource for AP Chemistry? It is one subject that S is not enjoying.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the warm welcomes, it’s nice to be able to have a group to talk to when everyone around here thinks I’m crazy for looking so seriously at colleges when she’s only a junior! HA! Little do they know! </p>
<p>D13 and DH had wonderful visits yesterday. They both absolutely LOVED Wartburg and weren’t thrilled with Luther, which surprises me (not that they loved Wartburg, I knew they would, but the fact they didn’t like Luther). </p>
<p>Overview of Wartburg… loved the layout of the campus, everything was centrally located and the skywalks were a great touch… DH was impressed with the “W”…workout area, gyms, pools, climbing wall… D13 said the library was great, snack areas looked yummy (coming from a 120 lb. girl - ha!), and dorms were okay (not bad, just not brand new which was fine with her). Everything very clean and new. D13 met with the cheerleading coach and wasn’t overly impressed (her squad here is VERY good & she is one of the varsity captains), but would like to cheer in college, so we’ll see. I made the comment, that it’s nice that it’s in a small town but only 15 minutes away from Cedar Falls so if you needed something you could run get it. DH said, honestly, it’s so well organized and Waverly has a Walmart, I don’t think you’d ever need to leave. Made me smile! He’s kind of a tough sell, but they must be doing something right, because he as impressed. Good financial aid (she will get a minimum of $14,000 right off the bat with her GPA and ACT) and most likely another $750 for being a church member (evangelical lutheran), then would have the option of taking part of Scholarship Days to see if she can raise her scholarship $$. Of course, it’s early in the game for that, but just laying everything out. They will accept all of her transfer credits (dual credit hs/community college) and if she ends up getting her AA Degree while still in HS it will transfer for 18 credits (distinct possibility as she’s already over half way through the degree).</p>
<p>Luther - nice campus, although much older and further spread out. They did like the dorms tho. Both made the comment that it was a different type of student attending there versus Wartburg…not snobbier, but just a little more unique. They were on tour with another boy who was a swimmer and he was NOT IMPRESSED with their athletic facilities, said their pool was “nasty”. We’re not serious swimmers, so neither had a comment to that. Luther is very definitely in the middle of nowhere, it’s a solid drive to get to a “major” (like we have “major” towns in Iowa!) town. She ruled out Luther already.</p>
<p>Truman State…I will have to look into for sure. She wants to go to Buena Vista, Central and Coe yet (or more so, I am making her). She is definitely a small-town girl, wants a private college with not a lot of students. Really has no desire to be located in a big town to go to school (e.g. Drake). We come from a town of 23,000 and about 1200 in our HS, so she wants to stay with small classes and good student/teacher ratios.</p>
<p>If I think of anything else they told me, I’ll post an update. Thanks for listening!</p>
<p>Tina</p>
<p>Tina:</p>
<p>Academically, Truman State…IMO… blows Wartburg, Central, and Buena Vista out of the water.
Truman State 25%-75% ACT range is 25 - 31.
Central and Wartburg have a 21 - 26 range.</p>
<p>Truman sends about 50% of its graduates directly to grad school after graduation. Their curriculum tends to be a prep for graduate study…mulitiple statistics and research methods courses are required for most majors.</p>
<p>Kirksville, MO where Truman is located is small and rural. </p>
<p>Coe and Luther are more similar to Truman academically than the others.</p>
<p>With Truman State’s great scholarships, your D could probably attend for about $17,000 per year.</p>
<p>repeatb~ Thanks so much for the visit report! Wartburg sounds like it has a nice campus, and how great that your DD found somewhere that she loves! DD wants to visit Wartburg, Coe, Cornell, Drake, and Grinnell. Most of those are about 4 hrs from here, we need to get on the ball! I wish that DD had more options close to home, but nothing that she is interested in. </p>
<p>We have not visited Truman yet, but may on the visit day at the end of this month. DD has kept in on her list, but I think she thinks she wants something smaller and more liberal artsy. They also are known for their math and science, neither of which DD is interested in. But, it seems like a match for her, so definitely worth a visit.</p>
<p>Wanted to add that I don’t know any of DD’s friends that are visiting anywhere out of state, most kids in DD’s hs attend a state school.</p>
<p>Welcome to all of those new to CC!!
Have been a fast track since the Holiday’s and I just now feel like I am able to catch up on life!
Track pre-season is in full swing for S13 and Finals start tomorrow. My oh my how this school year has flown!
Hope all is well with everyone…will take a few days to try to catch up :)</p>
<p>Absolutely no college talk here these days. S2 is busy, busy with voice and dance auditions/competitions (every weekend until the end of Feb). But he’s made plans to go visit his sister at American over Easter break. I want him to go do a tour of Catholic University while he’s in DC. If his sister can borrow a car, they may also drive to Shenandoah Conservatory. We’ll see.</p>
<p>megpmom~ How does your daughter like American? What is your opinion on the school? That is one that has been mentioned in the last few days.</p>
<p>My D loves American. It’s the perfect size for her and she really takes advantage of living in the city - shows, concerts, shopping, etc. She also likes the opportunity for internships and study abroad regardless of major (she is a theatre/history major). She is a sophomore and has nothing but great things to say about American.</p>
<p>What is really nice about CC is that I hear about schools that are just not on the radar here at all. I live in suburban DC and generally you only hear about the big-name schools. I really think the small, undergraduate LACs would be a good fit for my D. Keep the visit reports coming!</p>
<p>Last weekend we went to an Elon-comes-to-you presentation at a big hotel nearby. I had been to a few of these types of presentations for my son but I was floored by the turnout. There must have been over 100 students. very few kids at her school have heard of Elon (small LAC in North Carolina–sort of like a small step below Davidson) so I expected a dozen or so students. It was a shock for me coming from our diverse high school to see an audience made up almost entirely of white kids wearing what is apparently the uniform of northface fleece sweaters. The school sounded very nice and there was a lot of enthusiasm for the service/internship/study abroad opportunities but my daughter left saying “it sounds just like high school.” One teacher gave a spirited description of her history class as if field trips, classroom discussions and reading original texts was innovative…well they already do that in AP and IB classes so …</p>
<p>Anyway, we finally bought one of the college books and it sits on the dining room table and she flips to a school that gets mentioned or when a flyer comes. I really, really hate those fliers…why do the University of Chicago, Brown, etc. send fliers to a kid with low average test scores? It is a knife to a mother’s heart when she asks sadly “is it because I am hispanic?” …frankly, I told her, I think they just want to increase their “exclusiveness” and get more to apply and take in those $50 application fees knowing that only 1 in 10 is going to get a spot. I pointed out that UChicago is also known as “where fun goes to die” and Loyola in Chicago, a school that would be happy to have her, and would be more welcoming to a hispanic food lover anyway! So many good places for a kid to get an education…but, like the northface jackets, right now they all want to have a recognizable “quality” name on their future college.</p>
<p>Fineartsmajormom~ Too funny about the fliers, I was JUST coming here to ask that question! D received an email from U of Chicago today, which is high reach for her. I have no idea where that got her info, her PSAT score was in the 91%, I wonder if that is high enough to send info. </p>
<p>megpmom~ Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it. D has just started expanding her seach beyond small LACs, might be something for her to check out.</p>
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<p>This made me LOL since I’d swear that’s the uniform in my 14 yo D’s freshman class, and remarked on it on a recent mall excursion :)</p>
<p>Elon is very popular here too, we seem to send several each year, and we are in central Ohio.</p>
<p>Elon visited Ss school this fall too the only non-Ohio college. Im really enjoying reading about all of these small LACs Ive never heard of, and all of the musical/theater stuff. S is interested in engineering/research, so it seems only big research schools are on his radar. (The schools that offer big $$$ are on mine.) Although way too early to tell, Im thinking my D might go more the artsy route, so this is all good info!</p>
<p>@perazziman . . . did he try the Khan Institute (I think thats what its called)? They might have online tutorials for difficult AP Chem concepts. S is taking honors chem this year as its a prereq for AP Chem. S says he only enjoys chem if theyre talking about blowing stuff up. lol</p>
<p>@longhaul . . . I DO think the visit thing is overrated, at least for my S. For him, I think its more about the people than the place. Although, I told him I was reading that U-Alabama has a lazy river - he decided thats where hes going. Priorities! lol</p>
<p>Go figure with the fliers. My D’s PSAT scores are in the 60-85% range so Brown and UChicago MUST be trawling for applications to raise their “exclusiveness” ranking. Then again, my S indicated a goal of getting a BFA in studio art on his college board questionnaire but was heavily recruited by the military service academies!? not just fliers but emails and phone calls. I believe there is not a lot of demand for sculptors in the army and airforce…Even funnier (sadder?) were the TWO full paper applications sent unsolicited from Harvard (despite S honestly revealing not only the goal of a BFA but a poor B- HS GPA) you have to wonder what these schools are thinking when they send out this stuff!</p>
<p>I also find the mailings funny. S2 gets lots of science and engineering brochures, even though he marked the box for music major on the PSAT. I assume they must do a sort by math scores and just send it to everyone who meets a minimum score. I think his math PSAT score was at the 95% percentile. All the college mailings go straight into the recycling. He’s got a tentative list of 15 schools (based purely on reputation and word-of-mouth) and doesn’t want to even consider any more.</p>
<p>@sendemsoaring,</p>
<p>S checked out Khan over the weekend and thought the coverage of Chemistry was weak/ too general. So, I was wondering if there was something comparable any where else online?</p>