<p>@happymomto3: If it makes you feel any better, now may be the worst time to visit colleges since most of them just recessed and their summer courses may not have started. Traditionally, May and Early June are probably the worst time to visit colleges and many of them don’t offer tours during that time. Just wait until the summer and take your time. </p>
<p>We did our spring visits prior to recess and will use the summer to complete whatever schools are left. In the fall, we will try and revisit her favorites before application. You have plenty of time. It is more important that your son just focus on his finals and GPA over the next few month. As far as high GPA and low test scores, most colleges place their highest value on GPA and academic rigor. There are also a ton of very good test optional colleges. Good luck!</p>
<p>Absolutely. Its finding the time to sit down with S and calendar and figure out when we can do the visit and still coordinate the visit with the coach, etc. We have a bunch of follow up emails he is sitting on. Driving me nuts!</p>
<p>My S doesn’t get out of school until the end of June. The camps for his sport, vacation basically gets us to mid July. </p>
<p>It only makes sense to try and squeeze in a few in the month of May/June. But, the schedule we all seem to be under with our Juniors is making it difficult to just sit and plot the whole mess out.</p>
<p>BobbyCT - You are probably right about the timing. I think the pressure is also the email correspondence and follow-up that seems to be getting put off. My hope is that we can just have some things scheduled or plotted out for May/June and late July. He just needs a bit of computer time with his head in it.</p>
<p>He has visited 6 schools based on coach interest. We certainly got good info out of the visits - size, people, facilities he likes, etc. At least 2 of them he won’t apply to, 2 are crazy money without a major I see him being interested in. So, 2 real contenders at this time. I hoped to be further along but, maybe this is normal.</p>
<p>Creekland - Exactly. I am always asking college students that came from our high school if they felt prepared during their first year. I haven’t heard any bad stories. All seem to be challenged where they expected to be but, otherwise do ok. My S is a good student but, not extremely focused on being a good student. Does that make sense? So, I thought a bit of one on one SAT tutoring would give him some dedicated time to focus on it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t. It would be put off like studying for a drivers permit (he failed first time). I don’t know if it will be worth it or not. But, in the end I have told him that whatever your score is, “it is what it is”. Its part of him and a school will either accept him or not. If they don’t, its not a fit. Sure hoping someone takes him. :)</p>
<p>I still do not know how to post a quote, so will just copy Kinderny’s post here:</p>
<p>“One of the Lisa’s and momofwon asked about how to find out what a college rates more highly (gpa, recs, sat scores). If you google the Common Data Set along with the college’s name and look at one of the sections (B?) it shows which areas of a student’s stats are valued more highly than others. Also I think section C gives the admitted students stats so you can see if your student really fits the demographic of admitted students. This info can indicate the likelihood of merit aid. Hope this helps.”</p>
<p>Yes, section C7 of the CDS identifies which factors a school considers in their admission process. Having said that, I have heard somewhat contradictory information in on-campus info sessions, specifically with interviews. So, definitely start with CDS but then try to confirm on college’s own admissions page or by contacting regional rep.</p>
<p>Section C9 provides the middle 50th % stats for ENROLLED students, not admitted students. Ad Coms will often quote admitted students’ stats in info sessions and I jot those down as those are the #s we actually need to hit. If a school is used as a safety by some applicants, and which school is not once you get past the +/-80% yield of HYPS, the enrolled stats will be lower than the accepted stats. Just another data point to file away. Some schools will post accepted stats on their websites but the CDS will always report enrolled stats.</p>
<p>Section H2A outlines the amounts awarded in non-need-based aid/grants. </p>
<p>And, agree with all above about attempting to schedule visits. The next month is a lost cause as colleges finish up finals, host graduation, host Reunion, and then they will be ready for us again! August will be very hectic in this household.</p>
<p>HappyMom—I also went the semi-private tutoring route and I have never hired a tutor for anything. I didn’t think my son would prep for SAT just b/c I told him to, but the weekly meetings and/or practice tests forced him to. Practice was key, at least for my son. The lack of available practice tests is proving problematic for the SAT Ii, but fortunately there are plenty of SAT I exams in circulation.</p>
<p>Been out of the loop for a few days due to work. Thanks to those who suggested looking at the CDS for additional info re: level of importance in consideration. At this point, I’m going to give it a rest and just relax since D will be taking two more SAT tests. Scores could improve significantly and then we can evaluate in the early fall when grades and scores are “final”.</p>
<p>RE: when to visit colleges. Just a reminder that many west coast schools are in session until mid-June. Some, like WSU, are already out for the summer, but UW goes for another month. A visit to schools on the “other side” might be a great option for kids who are done with HS in late May/early June. We’re doing the a August tour for schools that start in mid-late Aug but D doesn’t start sr year until after Labor Day.</p>
<p>Hi all – have been away from the discussion for several days. SATs, APs and Junior Prom all happened this past week, and as a teacher I’m swamped at this time of year.</p>
<p>Have to break it to DD today that her counselor wants her to give either the SAT or ACT (her choice) one more go in June rather than review everything again in the fall. She will not be happy, but we’ll deal with it Tired girl wants to be done.</p>
<p>Thanks to seattle_mom, fogfog, Wintriest, and idahomom for their replies. Just thanks to everyone on this thread for all your great ideas and support Hope I can be of help to all of you as well! </p>
<p>I will be in and out a bit over the next few weeks due to college reunion, birthdays for both girls, and all the end of school year craziness…yikes! Hope everyone is doing well and staying sane :)</p>
<p>@LisaK216: Enjoy reunions at MHC! Wish I could attend. I’m trying to reconnect with one of my '78 classmates in SF this summer when we drop D off at Mills. I’d like D to have a MHC “godmother” in the area!</p>
<p>I haven’t been able to check CC for a few days either. The fourth quarter of the school year always flies by, and as this year is my last with one of my own kids at my HS, I feel as if I’m trying to slow down time so I can enjoy every “last ________!”</p>
<p>Well, one thing we all share in common, besides having a child graduate next year, is that we’re all parents (at least here on the Parents Forum). Hoping every Mom on this board had a wonderful day yesterday to connect or reconnect (especially if they’ve been buried with AP testing, sports, etc.) with your junior and the rest of the family.</p>
<p>We enjoyed brunch with G’ma and a relaxing day! Did a 5K in the morning to help balance calories in/out. Probably not successful, but what the heck, it was my day off.</p>
<p>It’s so good to see all these options for our kids. My D has always been a pretty strong student but picked sophmore year to tank. Ended up with a 3.3 that year down from a 3.7 Freshman year. She’s doing much better this year. She’s taken 5 honors classes so far,her first AP classes will be senior year. Good EC’s ( specialized Classical drama program and nationally ranked synchronized swimmer) SAT scores solid but not spectacular (1850) Won’t leave the west coast but California is just insane. So many kids running around with 4.0’s and 2200’s. My mothers day present was her announcement that she will receive the junior honors English student of the year award. Almost fell over…she got a b and c in eng last year. Go figure…</p>
<p>McDaniel has a shuttle on campus that runs on the weekends and it takes our students locally around Westminster, as well to two major Metro stations: Owings mills (which will take our students into Baltimore) and Shady Grove (which will take our students down into DC). It will drop you off and pick you, as well as being free of charge to our students.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, go2mcdaniel…is the shuttle service new because I hadn’t heard anything about it before. Really glad to see that the students w/out cars have a way to get off campus on the weekends if they want to.</p>
<p>We had a fabulous visit at Susquehanna and Wooster last week. Susquehanna seems like the perfect fit for ds’15. The campus is beautiful. Everyone we met went out of their way to talk to us. Ds is considering business; two professors stopped us and shared info about the program. I am hoping the tour guide (who was fabulous by the way) was right when she says sports are celebrated there. That is important to him.</p>
<p>Wooster was even more wonderful than I last remembered it. The admissions office was welcoming as usual. The tour guide was just perfect. BAD fit for this particular child - way too academically intense; way too intellectual. Would have been a great second choice for oldest ds (he ended up at first choice). I have two younger kids - maybe one of them will go to Wooster. Sigh.</p>
<p>This son is determined to play baseball. I don’t even know how to begin with that. Fit is so important to me. Do we just reach out to the schools we like? Just one more thing to worry about. Gotta check out the athletic recruit board…</p>
<p>@lisabees-We visited Susquehanna for their open house last month and my daughter loved it. (I posted a viit report) Prior to the visit, she had ruled out the possibility of a small college but at the ed of the day it jumped into one of her favorites. I was impressed with the campus, facilities, faculty and the students were great. I would have no problem if my daughter ultimately chose Susquehanna. (assuming she received some type of merit since it is very pricey).</p>
<p>Thanks for offering that feedback on Wooster, it was recommended to us by her guidance counselor but we had not looked into it.</p>
<p>BobbyCT, do check out Wooster. What a good counselor to suggest it. I know two, happy students there, each doing amazing summer research as rising sophomores and juniors. Academics are taken seriously and each student has an independent study project that is worked on for years, with support from an advisor. I am not sure I can say what the typical student is like - each is unique from another. It’s not a hipster school. It’s not a preppy school. Very individualistic and independent. The admissions office is warm and welcoming.</p>
<p>lisabees… funny coincidence again about out boys( your 2012 S and my 14). As you know I have thought Oberlin would be a great fit for him… but he also has Wooster high on his list as well. It is an easier admit than Oberlin and also gives great merit aid…oh, AND has EA, which I love. Wooster ended up sending my S one of their brochures and it just sort of spoke to him. He is a VERY out of the box thinker…wicked smart, but not in the traditional way, and is an independent free spirit. I think Wooster’s intensely intellectual academics, mixed with their warm, nurturing, supportive faculty, would hit spot on. He is also interested in theater, and supposedly they have a great BA program. We were all set to visit Wooster, Oberlin and Kenyon in March, but we ended up canceling at the last minute because of weather( I am a So Cal weather wimp.) We plan on using our airline credit t go back on his 4 day school break in Oct. If you think your DS 12 would have picked it as a 2nd choice, I think mine will really like it too. The only drawback is I think he might be happier in a more urban setting. He loves constant stimulation…</p>
<p>Hey, does anyone know of any good and interesting(non-tech)majors for an average student (me) who is not particularly good at math with good job prospects, and leaves enough time on ones hands to complete pre-med pre-reqs. (Basically a biology minor.)Alongside it in four years or under? </p>
<p>Also what kind of math is in economics? Because I’m pretty good with financial-type math but when it comes to classes like calc. or even algebra 2 I become pretty lost.</p>
<p>Any response/insight will definitely not go unappreciated.</p>
<p>Hi. Does anyone have any familiarity with Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio? It’s on a list of schools that my son’s College Counselor put together for him to look at, and I had never heard of it before.</p>
<p>Collective sigh of relief at our house today. My S is one and done with the SAT. Happy to say that tutoring paid off. I checked the schools he will be applying to and auditioning for, and his scores hit the 75th percentile or above. Mind you, these scores wouldn’t get him in the door at Harvard, but he is happy and so are we. Since he will need to pass an audition, it would have been awful if he wasn’t accepted academically (of course you never know for sure if you will be accepted, even with the right GPA and scores). Hope all the other students received the scores they wanted.</p>
Tired girl wants to be done.</p>